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DURKETT COLLECTION 



THE 



DIVINE LAW OF; BENEFICENCE ; 

"" 



THE SCRIPTURAL PLAN OF BENEVOLENCE i> 



AND 



THE 



OR 



SYSTEMATIC BENEFICENCE, 




BY B,EV.'P1^S ! 6--NS*' I (3 

.- LYNS, 'MASSACHUSETTS. 



Wemember the wbi'ds of the Lord Jesus, how-he said, It isjmore blessed 
ko. give than to receive. AcTs.20:35. 



PUBLISHED BY THE v V 

AMERICAN .TRACT SOCIETY 

150 NASSAU-STEEET, NEW YORK. 






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I. 


God's design in requiring beneficence, . . . . 


5 


II. 


The Old Testament law of charity, .... 


12 


in. 


The New Testament law of charity, .... 


19 


IV. 


Law of periodical alms-giving, 1 Cor. 16 : 1 , 


27 


V. 


Reasons for compliance with the law, .... 


51 


j. 


It is one of the -most important means of grace, 


51 


2. 


This system of benevolence tends to thrift, , . . 


66 


3. 

4. 

< 


The sup 
Exampl 
Conclus 


erior efficiency of this system, . , . 
e of the primitive church, . . . 


75 
78 

84 


ion. 



THE DIVINE 

LAW OP BENEFICENCE, 



I. GOD'S DESIGN IN REQUIEING BENEF- 
ICENCE. - A . 

* 

GOD is not dependent on us for the support of his 
poor. He could have so diffused the gifts of his prov- 
idence as to have had no poor. Or he could so have 
fitted our frames to the world, and the world to them, 
that all the elements of human life and comfort would 
. have been as abundant and free as air and water, BO 
that, like .the lilies of the field, the whole hrimah 
race might meet every want without toil or spinning ; 
and he might have published his gospel to" every 
creature without our aid. He might have made his 
angels, in another sense, "ministering spirits, sent 
forth to minister to the heirs- of salvation:" Or he 

- : >^> *-- - v - ."' ' 

might have written out the whole on the face of the 
heavens, and made them in a Higher sense "declare 
the glory of God ;" and made it in a higher sense true, 
that " their line is gone out through -all the earth.*' 
He does not ask us to do this work or that, because 
of any dependence on us. He says, " Every beast of 



6 -,, LAW OF 

the"- forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand - 
hills. If I were hungry I would not .tell thee, foi 
the world is mine and the fulness thereof:" 

Whatever necessity there is of our agency he 
has purposely laid, in the present arrangement of 
things, for our good. His benevolence could have 
reached its object without our concurrence, if it had 
not made us also its object, and formed the design of 
blessing us in its course by enlisting us as coworkers. 
He knew that it was " more blessed to give than to 
receive:" And when he put in jnotiqn the broad 
mechanism of his mercy, he put upon it laws of action 
and reaction, and made the work of heavenly charity, 
in all its branches, twice blessecl- blessing him that 
gives, and him that takes. He laid on us a necessity 
of cultivating benevolent affections. If we could so 
arrange one's circumstances, and throw around him 
such influences, as to keep him habitually and con- 
stantly giving to the poor if we could attach to him 
dependent relatives, or in some other way bring to 
act upon him a constant succession.: of calls that he 
would not resist, we should bring him under the best 
means of cultivating benevolent dispositions ; and 
this is what God does with us, in laying on us this 
necessity of giving alms. ,,, 

The fact that he could have published the gospel 
and fed his poor without us, while he could not, with- 
out our concurrence in giving, secure to us the bless- 
edness which attaches to those that give, indicates 



that his main design in laying on us the necessity 
of giving, was to give scope to our benevolent affec- 
tions. For this end he has ordained that we shall 
have the poor with us always, in so many forms of 
human distress besetting our path, pleading at the 
bar of our conscience for the forth-puttings of that 
charity which is the high excellence of our nature. 
Yea, he .has placed all the interest which we have in 
evangelising the world on such a footing, that it will 
advance' no further than his redeemed people pour 
forth the means of its advance ; that in that forth- 
pouring the church may take in those riches of grace 
in which the whole work of redemption has its termi- 
nation. In other words, he will not have the evan- 
gelizing of the world advance faster than the sancti- 
fying of his. church ; and will sustain a reciprocal 
action between the two, advancing together. 

Nor do we exaggerate in presenting this as the 
main ground of what necessity there is for alms- 
giving; for all the. ends of redemption accomplished 
upon man are .comprehended in his renovation from 
a state of supreme selfishness to that of perfect benev- 
olence ; and; if :we should say that all these occasions 
for benevolent action were created for the sole pur- 
pose of furnishing means of exercising men to benev- 
olence, we should not make the means dispropor- 
tionate to the end. The whole work of Christ, his 
humiliation, ministry, death, resurrection, and medi- 
atorial government, the whole work of his gospel and 



B LAW 0,F/BENEFICENCB. , 

his Spirit, and all'the-enforcements of his providence 
look to this end. 'We speak therefore not' without 

t warrant, when w;e say that all the human suffering 
that now pleads- -for human charity, and all the 
heathen, darkness .that lingers upon the nations for 
human benevolence to enlighten, is .suffered to exist, 
among other purposes, as a means of developing 

'Christian character; 

..: But let none imagine that the necessity for giving 

-alms is ,on that account the less real. Divine wis- 
dom has appointed, it, and made it as unchangeable 
and imperious as if God himself were bound by it. 
Tne poor that God has cast upon the charity of men 
will inevitably suffer;<and die, if men' do not fe'ed 

them. The people that are perishing for lack of 
vision will continue to perish, until Christian men 
convey to them the light of life. God will not lay 
this work on men for wise reasons, and then send 

* : down his angels to take it out of their hands. It is 
by establishing such an order of things, and sustain- 
ing it after he has established it, that he gives reality 
and force to the motives to benevolence, and to the 
means of drawing out and strengthening benevolent 
affections. And all his purposes to secure the sane- 
tineation of his people and the whole ends or his 
redemption, will lead him to an inflexible support,of 
this order of things. ; '; 

The sum of the matter thus far is this, that God 
throws on us his poor, for the purpose of enriching us 



ROD'S 



^ - 

He sends >the poor, as the representative;, of himself, 
and of the cause of his gospel; put to begging ous, and 
so, as it > were, repeats the act of his .humiliation, -that , 
the din of tneir "solicitations ever sounding in our e.ars, 
and'the sighs of a ruined world borne on every Breeze, 
' may draw forth,. from us those benevolent emotions 
and acts that shall more, and more assimilate us to 
him " who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes be- ; 
came poor."" Grod takes the place of man : in his poor 
he asks, and man bestows; ihat, in bestowing, man 
may accumulate the true riches more precious than 
gold, which {perishes. It is God himself wKcv asks ; 
and our enriching with grace is 'the end for which 
he asks. He asks in the only way in which he could 
test and exercise our benevolence. For this purpose 
he must needs ask as a beggar, and not as a kirig7 
Should he come to us in regal splendor or heavenly 
glory, his asking would be a command, which w.e - 
should not dare to disobey ; but our giving would be 
no act of compassion or benevolence. 'But now He 
comes to us in the person of his poor he comes as 
the king dethroned and dependent-r-banished from 
heaven, covered with rags, pining in want he comes 
uttering, the tale of misery and real suffering, unless 
we afford relief. And now what we give, is given 
by the promptings of^compassion^and from no sor- 
did motives. Here is both a/proof and exercise of ~ 
benevolence. Yet, ta enforce his calls, he gives us* 
to know that it is He that speaks and pleads foil 



10 : LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

compassion, through the open, wounds and tittered 
agonies of dying men ; and that every donation shall 
be acknowledged by him in person when he shall 
come in i the -glory of his Father, with all the holy 
angels, and say to every one who has exercised com- 
passion on his poor, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto 
one of the least of these, ye did it unto me." It 
is not for his good but ours, that he thus beggars 
himself, and pleads as a beggar before u. "Our 
goodness extends not to him." A wise~father often 
draws out the dispositions of his child by bestowing 
gifts and then soliciting a portion in return, or getting 
proxies to solicit for him, anxious to open the child's 
heart to an expansive generosity. So Christ clothes 
himself .in rags and casts himself on our compassion, 
for no purpose so much as to give us the reflex ben- 
efit of our own benevolent acts. 

And here we wish it to be specially remarked, that 
this design appears prominent in the manner in which 
the duty of alms-giving is inculcated in Scripture. 
Like -the other graces, this charity seems to be insist- 
ed on for its own sake not because there is so much 
suffering to be relieved, but because it is good and 
right for us to engage in its relief. Grod will have 
us give, not of necessity, but from the spontaneous 
flo wings of the heart. ' ' Every man according as he 
purposeth in his heart, so let him give : not grudg- 
ingly, or of necessity ; for God loveth a cheerful 
giver." Almost in every instance, you will observe, 



GOD'S DESIGN. " 11 

the duty is enforced from, higher grounds than the 
fact that here is so much suffering to he relieved. In 
one case we are exhorted to "do good and commu- 
nicate, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." ^ 
In another, we are prompted to remember " the grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, 
yet" for our sakes became poor." In another, the 
parity of reason drawn from the other graces is urged 
" Therefore as ye ahound in every thing, in faith, and 
utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and 
in your love to us, see that ye ahound in this grace- 
also." In another case "it is, " Freely ye have re- 
ceived, freely give." In another, "Give alms of 
such things as ye have, and all things shall be clean 
unto you," as if charity were the centre in which all 
virtues meet. When the poor Christians at Jerusa 
lern were in great suffering, and the apostles went 
round to solicit relief of -Gentile churches, their in- 
spired letters, sent here and there, contained no rhe- 
torical painting of the distresses to he relieved. In 
all that they said, there appears next to nothing 
adapted to draw upon the natural sympathies. In 
this work they seem to he laboring with a single eye 
to the sanctification of the Christians of whom they 
asked relief as if no relief was wanted. The fact 
that God was to be glorified, and the hearts of men 
were to be sanctified, was their main argument. One 
of the .most distinct references to the distress was 
this: "For the administration of this service not only 



12 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

supplieth the ivant of the saints, but is abundant 
through many thanksgivings to God " And here 
the revenue of praise to God is the great considera- 
tion absorbing the other. 

Now, for a right appreciation of the views which 
we are to present, this fact, that man's sanctification 
for the glory of God is the main design of the scrip- 
tural provisions for alms-giving, and the main thing 
aimed at in the methods in which the Scriptures 
inculcate the duty, should be kept well in view ; for 
by overlooking it we have lost a principle that is 
the key to the understanding of this portion of the 
Scriptures. 



II. THE OLD TESTAMENT LAW OF CHARITY , 

From the foregoing remarks, it may appear that a 
habit of charitable giving holds a higher place in the 
divine method for saving a lost world, than most have 
realized ; and the Christian who is wont to ask, 
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" may be 
expected to go to the Scriptures, not to find there the 
vague doctrine that he ought to be occasionally gen- 
erous, and generally charitable, but something that 
will inform him why, and how he shall do it. And 
he will find that, both in the Old Testament and in 
the New, it is made a matter of distinct command, 
not that we shall do occasional acts of benevolence v 
when the appeal is too strong to be resisted, or the 



OLD TESTAMENT LAW.. 13 

public sentiment allows of no evasion, but that we 
shall enter upon a, Series of periodical acts of self- 
denial for the good of others ; and thus sustain a sys- 
tem and fixed habits of giving Whatever diversity 
there may be between the Old Testament and the 
New, they agree in this, that both, by express pre- 
cept, require habits of periodical appropriations from 
our income to sustain religion and feed the poor. 
And they require that the habit of doing this should 
be as much a part of the character of the children of 
God, as the habit of prayer. They require a man 
not simply to hold himself in. a position to be as it 
were forced to give now and then for the relief of 
iistress, but to 'enter on the formation of an active 
character of beneficence, by keeping in constant flow 
a stream of bounties, lesser or larger, in proportion 
to his means. 

Alms-giving did not originate with the Mosaic 
economy. There appears to have been a standing 
custom of giving gifts for religious ends, as an act of 
homage to God and benevolence to man, long before 
the Mosaic system was framed. Abram gave tithes 
to Melchizedek, the priest of the most high God. 
The custom is fully recognized in the book of Job. 
Jacob at Bethel vowed to give a tenth. And the 
principle of giving gifts under religious obligation is 
doubtless as ancient as religion itself coeval with 
that of sacrifices in the family of Adam. And this 
may account for the early and wide diffusion^ which 



14 - ' .;:; S. LAW OF BENEFICENCE', 

; it had among all heathen nations. And though ' 
neither the customs of the patriarchal ages, nor the 
institutions of Moses are binding on us,- they may 
serve 'to illustrate (rod's general-plan of dealing with 
his people. He having his chosen nation hefore him 
in the wilderness, and .about to enter upon the- land 
flowing with milk and honey, put them under such 
taws as might bind them, as far as laws could bind, 
to a periodical series of acts that would counterwork 
their selfishness, foster their sense of dependence, and . 
cultivate their love v to God and man. These laws 
are found inwoven with the Mosaic ritual ; and in 
their general design they concur with the New Tes- 
tament law of charity. They required gifts to be 
made at stated times, often recurring, to insure the 
formation of the habit, and not to let the heart, open- 
ed by one gift, have time to close up before it opened 
for the next. 

As to the amount required, there was as much 
definiteness as was needful to guide to a generous 
result, and as much as consisted with the other ends 
of the requirement ; while room was left for the heart 
and conscience to play between different degrees of 
' generosity. The nature of an act of charity requires 
some liberty of determining when and how much to 
give. If our Lord, after the purchase of our .redemp- 
tion, had written and hung out upon the skies a 
tariff, adjusting each one's tax for charities to his 
. income, so that he might see at a glance that his 



: TESTAMENT LAW. >r ' j / 15 

. v>;.v " . 'V-'"': 

Redeemer required him to give just s6 many dollars,: 
and cents, lie would have brought the requirement 
down to bind the conscience. ]But he wo,uld have 
constructed a system of taxation, rather than of 
charity, That. would have changed) the .whole na- 
ture of the duty, and its, whole influence upon the 
heart. 

Two things were required in the law of charity : 
the terms must be specific enough to guide us to .a 
^course of habitual and .generous giving; and they 
must be indefinite enough to .allow us to show our. 
heart, and give exercise to our love to God and man 
in what we give. And these ends were provided for 
in the .Hebrew economy. The lawgiver seemed to 
have designed to set -God's mark on the most com- 
mon articles of property ; so that .while employed in 
his fields and witH his flocks, and in gathering his 
harvests, each one should be constantly reminded of 
fiErod's claims, and of his own obligation and de- 
pendence. 

In the first place, each one was required to give 
"the first fruits both of his flocks and of his field," 
Therfirst fruits of the harvest were by custom a six- 
tieth part of the whole. Then money was to be paid 
as the ransom of the first-born male child. Then in 
reaping, the -corners of the field .were, to be left for 
the poor ; here also custom defined the requirement 
to be a sixtieth of the whole. Then whatever fell. 
f *om the reaper's hand belonged to the poor Then 



VL6 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

'""' ' * ' - . 

every seventh year all the fields were to be left un- 
tilled, to produce spontaneously for the poor. Then 
a tenth of all the .products of the fields was to be 
given to the Levites. Then there were trespass- 
offerings, sin-offerings, and specified portions of most 
of the sacrificed animals devoted to the priesthood 
and Levites. Then every seventh year all debts 
must be remitted ; and the three yearly journeys to 
Jerusalem, which were required of all the males, at 
the festivals, must have been no small tax. Added 
to these were the half shekels for the sanctuary, and 
abundant hospitalities and gifts for the poor. So 
that a conscientious Hebrew could hardly have spent 
less than one-third of his income in religious and 
charitable gifts. 

Nor did this generous charity hinder the secular 
thrift of the people. It was so adapted to their wel- 
fare, spiritual and temporal, and so sustained in the 
providence of God, 'that the people were prosperous 
or straitened in proportion as they obeyed or disobeyed 
this law. When they honored the Lord with their 
substance, and the first fruits of all their increase, 
their barns were filled with plenty. When they 
robbed God in tithes and offerings, they soon found 
that they had robbed themselves. And both in giv- 
ing such a law, and in its providential enforcement, 
God impressively taught that he would -have his 
people respond to his gifts by large and systematic . 
outlays from them. Call this law, if you please, one 



OLD, TESTAMENT LAW. l 1 ^ 

of the rigors of the Hebrew economy which Christ 
has set aside. It rigorously bound that people to 
that course for the attainment of their highest good. 
It was really no burden, except when their trans- 
gressions involved them in the penalties of the breach 
of it. 

The specific provisions of the tithe system have 
now vanished with the whole^fabric of Hebrew insti- 
tutions ; but the end for which it was framed has 
never for a moment departed from the mind of the 
Framer, and the general obligation to extend religion 
and feed the poor, by freewill offerings, was far from 
being set aside in the more full unfolding of the 
mercy of God in the gospel. In displacing the an- 
cient ritual with a simpler and nobler economy, the 
gospel has given vastly higher enforcements to what 
was of moral and permanent obligation in the He- 
brew religion ; and this is preeminently true of the 
substance of the ancient law of charity. Before the 
frame of Judaism was reared, the requirement for 
man to love God with all his heart, and his neighbor 
as himself, was recorded on tables of stone, to stand 
unobliterated for all ages. Then came in Judaism, 
specifically defining in what forms that love should, 
under such institutions, have expression. But when 
Judaism passed away, the original law stood unim- 
paired, and the gospel came in, specifying other forms 
of expressing this love. 

On the basis of the original law of love, the gospel 

tawofBenef. 2 



18 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

lays another specific law of alms-giving. The temple 
and its costly apparatus, its sacrifices and its army 
of priests are set aside, and with them many of the 
occasions for the gifts prescribed. But the provis- 
ions of the gospel bring in vaster occasions for 'the 
employment of the grateful offerings of redeemed 
sinners. The command to publish the gospel to 
every creature, and to feed the poor which we are to 
have with us always, brings upon the Christian 
world occasions as great and urgent as those of the 
old economy ; nor is there any intimation or ground 
of inference that the gifts of pious men under the 
gospel were to be more stinted than before. If the 
principle announced by Christ, that to whom much 
is given, of him will much be required, is appli cable, 
a much more generous charity is required of us. 
There .were many things in Judaism adapted to 
narrow the range of charity. It confined the view 
to one small nation, as the field .of all benevolent 
operations. It gave no hint of the conversion of the 
world as a present duty. And yet, if a good man's 
charity, confined to such narrow bounds, was expect- 
ed to consume one-third of his income, can less he 
expected of us whose ; charity is bound to embrace 
the world ? Not that the poorest of us are required 
to give as much; but taking men of all conditions, 
who shall say that our average ought not to he a? 
great ? 



NEW TESTAMENT LAW. 19 

III. THE NEW TESTAMENT LAW OF CHARITY. 

Before we come to the direct inquiry, as to what 
is the specific law of the New Testament on this 
subject, it may "be well to see how the law of gospel 
love, as written in the hearts of the first Christians, 
expressed. itself in their conduct. In other words, 
we will notice the effects produced on the church, in 
this particular, by the setting aside of the Hebrew 
law ; and watch the motions of the first converts to 
Christianity, and see if they understood the New 
Testament law of chanty as requiring less than that . 
of the Old. Charity, in the form of gifts to the 
needy, because it was a prime element of Christian 
character, was made one of the most prominent traita 
in those specimens of that. character that were first 
given to the world. There was no result of the first 
outpouring of the Spirit, after Christ's ascension, 
which the historian records with more of zest and 
delight, than the remarkable spirit of individual 
sacrifice for the good of the whole. On no other 
trait of character does he so much expand his descrip- 
tion. And after an interval of two chapters, he 
returns to it again, and gives us other particulars, as 
if here were one of the most surprising phenomena 
of the whole. But this was a specimen of Christian 
character in its first formation. And would any one 
gather from it, that the law of charity had con- 
tracted its compass in passing over from Judaism to 



20 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

the gospel ; or that the spirit of love breathed less 
freely in the heart of a redeemed sinner under the 
clearer light and intenser quickening power of the 
new covenant ? 

But a common misconception here intervenes, and 
robs us of the practical instruction of this lumin- 
ous portion of Christian history. Most Christians, 
in determining their own duty, are wont to lay this 
wholly out of view, in the conceit that it is an 
instance of the practice of the community system, 
and of course impracticable for them. And it may 
be worth the while to devote a few paragraphs in 
rescuing this instructive portion of history from this 
perversion. If, by the community system, we under- 
stand the relinquishment of all private property, and 
consolidating the goods of -all in a common stock, 
nothing like that resulted from thepentecostal revival. 
This appears from the fact, that the sequel of the 
history speaks of these and other Christians as being 
in possession of their private property after these 
scenes had passed away, and it gives us no trace of 
the common stock, nor of its managers, nor of any 
community of people gathered around it. After- 
wards, Christians are casually spoken of as having 
their own houses, here and there, like other people ; 
as in the case of Mary the mother of John, Tabitha, 
Simon the tanner, and Lydia. Nor did Paul think 
of a community system when he said, "If any pro- 
vide not for his own, and especially for those of his 



NE'W TESTAMENT -LAW. 21 

own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse 
than an infidel." 

We have, then, no reason to believe that there 
was here a melting down of all individual property 
into a common mass, to be controlled by managers 
of the common fund ; but that in laying the founda- 
tions of Christian institutions in the mother church 
at Jerusalem, and in meeting the wants of multi- 
tudes of strangers detained there long beyond then 
expectations, those Christians who had property sub- 
mitted it to the free use of the whole, as far as the 
existing occasion required. This limitation is ex- 
pressly inserted. " Distribution was made unto every 
man according as he had need;" but there was not 
an alienation of property beyond the present need. 
There was no actual formation of a common stock ; 
but, for a limited time, there was a subsistence of the 
strangers upon the freewill offerings of those at home 
in Jerusalem. Peter, after this mode of action had 
been in use, makes an express acknowledgment of 
each one's right of property, by saying to Ananias, 
" "While it remained, was it not thine own ; and after 
it was sold, was it not in thine own power?" The 
assertion that they "had all things common," had a 
parallel in this Pythagorean proverb, "With friends 
all things are common." But the Pythagoreans did 
not mean by this, that among friends each one had 
not his own wife, children, property, profession, and 
business. Nor does the community of those firsi 



22 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

Christians exclude such distinctions. The historian 
says, "Neither -was there any among them that 
lacked ; for as many as were possessed of lands sold 
them, and brought the prices of the things that 
were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet;' 
but to show that the sale of possessions went no 
further than the wants of those that " had need" 
and that it was not a general and entire alienation 
of property, one person is named who actually gave 
up all, and one who pretended to have done it. One 
would not have heen thus named, if the same had 
been done by all. 

It is not asserted, then, that all gave up all their 
property, but that all subjected their property to a 
free use, so far as the existing occasions required. 
This fully justifies the broad terms of the historian. 
In a like sense, the disciples were said to have left 
all and followed Christ. Yet they neither alienated 
their estates, nor dissolved their families. For after 
that, Christ went to Simon's house, and found his 
family, even to his wife's mother, in it. After that, 
he taught in Peter's ship, and committed his mother 
to John's adoption and support an act unmeaning, 
\ John had no separate family nor means of support. 
A.nd, after his death, the disciples seem to have re- 
turned to fishing in their own ships. Indeed, neither 
here nor in any other scripture, can we find a shred 
of a warrant for a community of goods. Such a sys- 
tem would nullify the whole law of alms-giving; 



NEW TESTAMENT LAW 23 

for, how can they exercise themselves in giving alma 
who have no property to give ? 

That development of the spirit of Christian charity, 
which was one of the greatest wonders of the pente- 
costal scene, was then no abnormal condition of the 
church, no production of a peculiar and temporary 
policy, but the natural unfolding of the Christian 
spirit, under the quickening influence of the Holy 
Ghost. It was nothing more than what would be 
required of all Christians, in the . same circum- 
stances. It was alms-giving, occupying the due 
relative position among the other Christian graces, 
[t seems wonderful to us, because so strange to 
our present habits, so above our low conceptions of 
the duty. It, involves no principle which cannot 
be shown to be universally binding. And as we 
pass from Hebrew institutions over into the first 
practice of Christian alms, we not only come into 
the sphere of a more expanded charity a charity 
well escaped from confinement to a single nation, 
and going forth to embrace the world but also find 
ourselves in a centre of light as to the duty in ques- 
tion. ' 

In the first place, this example, vindicated from 
misconception, shows by what tenure the. Christian 
holds his property. While those Christians had pos- 
sessions of property, they had them "as though they 
possessed not" Each felt that he had no claim to 
his own which could bar the claim of Christ. Arid 



24 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. ' > 

he>let Christ fully into his houses, and lands, and 
possessions, as far as the need of his people would 
carry him. Here we have the germ of the all-per- 
vading principle of Christian alms. That principle 
makes every holder of property a steward^ ;not an 
original owner. That principle was here set up, in 
the first setting up of the Christian church, claiming 
deference as a fundamental law of Christ's kingdom, 
in the whole work of raising supplies for the sacra 
. mental host of God's elect, in the conquest of the 
world. And if this principle could now fully reas- 
sert its dominion in every Christian heart, both the 
church and the world would soon be transformed. 
New -force would be given to the law of love in all 
its ramifications. Let professed Christians feel that 
they hold their property only as stewards, bound at 
any time to surrender it when the wants of the poor 
or of the church are such that the general good 
requires the surrender, and the church will speedily 
come in possession of the means for every conquest. 
Let all, then, who have perplexities and cases of 
conscience about the right use of property, come and 
solve all doubts, by adopting the simple principle ol 
those first Christians, and have "as though they 
possessed not." - . 

Another point of instruction^ in the example of the 
early Christians is, that the exigencies of the church % 
and of a spreading gospel, are not second to those 
of suffering humanity in their claims on charity. 



'-'"' '-NEW TEST AMENT L'AW '.25 

The occasion for the pentecostal contributibnsYwas'*, 
chiefly religious. Those converts were 'no paupers, 
nor beggars, but rather learners of the gospel, for 
the instruction of the world. They had come up to ^ 
the annual festival of ingathering, as usual, with' ; 
sufficient provision for their return. But, having 
themselves been gathered in, they found unexpected 
occasions to protract their tarrying. "It was needful, 
that they should " continue steadfastly in the apostles' 
doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and 
in prayers." Those were most busy and important 
days. For there were the germs of the church for 
a thousand cities and villages, sprinkled over the 
world. Jerusalem was the only centre of light 
where they could get the instruction and furniture 
of mind which they needed, to become radiating 
centres wherever they went. And the interests of 
the whole Christian cause required that -these first 
Christians should tarry at Jerusalem long enough 
to get adequate instruction, and the baptism of the 
spirit of the gospel. For, at that time, all tlie 
Christianity in the world was there. Not a word 
of it had been written ; not a preacher of it had 
gone anywhere else. And. all these Christians must 
there abide, till they got an adequate idea of 'what, 
they were to communicate to the world. These 
interests, in such hearts, being paramount to all 
others, extinguished, so far as any had need, all pri- 
vate claims to property. This first'' arid sublime 



26 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

instance of alms-giving, in the organized Christian 
church, was an instance of alms given for religious 
ends for the spread of the gospel. 

This Instance also shows what a high position re- 
ligious charity holds among other Christian duties 
These men, after embracing religion in its trans 
forming power, and then in its'" outward .ordinances, 
are. said to have attended to Christian instruction, 
prayer, and fellowship. And the next thing said of 
them is, that among these prime duties of the Chris- 
tian life they exercised this remarkable liberality. 
This duty is not located out on some remote branch 
or twig of the system, where our habits have placed 
it, but in the very heart and centre. And it is dwelt 
upon, and repeated by the historian, as one of the 
most delightful and characteristic events of the whole. 
Surely the genius of Christianity, as there developed, 
has entered but poorly into our conceptions. 

There is -also instruction in the fact, that those 
Christians " sold their possessions " to raise money 
, for the emergency. This is a hint to us, that the 
advantage of good investments of property must 
yield to the higher law of the necessities of .Christ 
Many cannot afford gifts proportionate to their 
means, because their property is so invested that 
they cannot command the ready money. And pei- 
haps some unconsciously felicitate themselves that 
they have their funds hid away from Christ, and 
dream not of any obligation to change investments 



PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVING. 27 

of fimds that are yielding good incomes, for any 
emergencies of charity. Yet here we see, that in 
the spring-time and primitive development of Chris- 
tianity, men were of another mind. 

You will next observe, that these gifts were all//-ee- 
will offerings,. Each one's right of property was re- 
spected ; no law imposed a fixed rate of contribution, 
and none required the whole of any one's property. 
One, prompted by his glowing love* for the cause, 
judged it to be his duty in his circumstances to sur- 
render the whole. Here operated that principle 
which we have already noticed, leaving individual 
hearts to spontaneous action, and yet securing a gen- 
erous action. So much for the Christian law of alms, 
as it appears on the first page of Christian history. 

IV. LAW OF PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVING-. 

God's plan, in making the wants of the church 
and of the poor a lever to bring the hearts of Chris- 
tians up to higher elevations and habits of benevo- 
lence, appears on every page of the gospel, but our 
purpose confines us to those passages wherein the 
Christian rule of alms-giving is presented in its di- 
rect and specific form. We need not a law of char- 
'ity which is every thing in general and nothing in 
particular. We need that which comes as near to 
regulating the proportion of each one's income, as 
the design of alms-giving will allow. And this we 
have in 1 Cor., 16 : 1, 2. : 



28 , LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 



CONCERNING THE COLLECTION 'FOR THE 
SAINTS, AS I HAVE GIVEN ORDER TO THE CHURCHES OF 

GALATIA, EVEN so DO .YE. UPON THE FIRST DAY OF 

THE WEEK, LET EVERY ONE OF YOU LAY BY HIM IN 
STORE, AS GOD HAS PROSPERED HIM, THAT THERE BE 
NO GATHERINGS WHEN I COME." - : ^ . 

We have here, as we propose to show, a rule 
which binds all to the principle of setting apart, 
every Sabbath, or at least statedly, a portion of their 
income or their means of living, as God shall prosper 
them, for charitable uses : it being understood, that 
this, like all other rules of its class, binds in its gen- 
eral principle and intent, but is subject to modifica- 
'tions in its details, when brought to individual appli- 
cation. ' Even the law of the Sabbath, uttered in the 
broadest termSj bends in adjustment to cases of need- 
ful mercy. And though the rule here given is as 
universal in its terms, it does not of course bind those 
who have no income to set apart a portion of income. 
Nor does it bind the man whose salary or means of 
living is received annually or quarterly, or the mer- 
chant engaged in large adventures, or any one who 
cannot know at every week's end what his income 
has %een, actually to set apart a weekly proportion 
of income. But it would seem to require that every 
one should have his stated seasons for a conscientious 
apportionment to his charity fund, either in cash or 
by entry on a benevolent account, according to his 
circumstances, and in such a mode as he shall see fit 



tfERIODIOAL 'ALMS-GIVING. 29 

to adopt. --The intent of the rule cannot be answer- 
ed without some form of stated, systematic action. 
Each one is required to adopt some, regular system 
of charity which shall come within .the spirit of the 
rule ; and it seems to have been a prominent design 
of the Lawgiver to put each one upon the exercise of 
his own judgment and conscience, in the execution 
of the general provisions of his law. 

-For illustration, and for suggestion to those who can- 
not devise for themselves a better mode, we here state 
the method in which two persons, unknown to each 
other, and in circumstances widely different, have ful- 
filled their own idea of this rule, with benefit, as they 
believe, to themselves and to the cause of Christ. - 

One, every Sabbath evening at the hour of his 
private devotion, lays aside the sum which he thinks 
he ought to devote for that week to charitable pur- 
poses. If he has not the money, he charges the 
amount against himself in favor of his charity fund 
When there is a call for donations, he takes from this 
fund what he thinks he should give. If a call of 
special urgency comes, which what he has set apart 
will not fully meet, he overdraws the fund, and 
charges against it the balance, to be cancelled by 
future mcomes. Thus in -a very simple and easy- 
way the ^qrk'isrre.duced to a system, in connection 
with the spiritual exercises of the Sabbath. 

The other is a prosperous merchant, who resolves 
that whatever his future profits shall be, he will de- 



30 *JAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

vote a certain per cent, to charity, enlarging the per- 
centage if his profits shall exceed a certain sum. On 
the first day of every month he takes an inventory, 
ascertains what have been his profits, and credits 
the percentage on his charity account. When calls 
are presented, he draws from this fund ; and for some 
years he has been surprised to find that it is so pro- 
ductive. He meets calls with pleasure, and is a 
happy man in prayer and labor to obtain means; of 
which not a stinted portion is sacredly consecrated 
to God. 

But to return to the passage before us : the first 
-point of. instruction here presented is, that this rule 
is not given as mere advice, which we are at liberty 
to disregard. Paul says, "I have given order" to 
this effect. Nor was it a rule framed for mere local 
and temporary use. He had. imposed it before on 
the Galatian churches, and now lays it on the Corin- 
thian church, whose circumstances were very differ- 
ent ; and it was laid in imperative terms by an apostle 
speaking -by inspiration. 

The next point is, that it is not a mere exhorta- 
tion to benevolence in general, but a specific rule re- 
quiring action in a particular way, and binding 
alike on all. True, it 'has, like the command to 
preach the gospel to every creature, been lost to the 
church for a thousand years. Yet man's neglect can- 
not annihilate God's command. That it was intend- 
ed for all is fully apparent. The epistle is addressed 



PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVING. 31 

not to the Corinthians alone, but " to all tliat in eve- 
ryplace call uyon the name of Jem?, Christ. 1 ' This 
is not a mere unmeaning salutation. Paul could not 
have saluted all Christians in his epistle in such 
terms, unless he intended to address to them all, the 
instructions contained in it, so far as they were in 
nature and form applicable to all. And no part oi 
his epistle is more capable of general application than 
this text. Nor does this rule here come out in a sol- 
itary instance in Paul's teaching. The same which 
he here gives to the Corinthians, he had given, in 
more than one instance, to other churches "to the 
churches in Galatia." 

It is the way of the Spirit of inspiration to speak 
to the whole church, or the whole world, through a 
small company of immediate hearers. How comes 
it that Paul's letter "-to the church of God which is 
at Corinth," with all its details of instruction, reproof, 
and correction in righteousness administered to them, 
should have been put forth as God's book of inspira 
tion for the regulation of our heart and life ? Every 
thing in that epistle which contains this rule, has tts 
much of a special direction to those Corinthians, as 
this rule itself has. For instance, this same epistle 
contains directions about the discipline of the church, 
which all churches acknowledge as binding on them ; 
yet they were given about a single case then existing 
there. It contains exhortations to purity of life, with 
a reference to impurities existing there. It gives 



32 LAW OP BENEFICENCE. 

important principles touching the law of marriage, 
. with reference to cases existing there. It gives the 
Corinthians rules requiring of them a support of 
their ministry, and instructions respecting the Lord's 
table respecting the exercise of spiritual gifts, and 
the like. -None have doubted that the instruc- 
tions and rules given, on all these subjects, were as 
much intended for us as for the Corinthians ; and a 
principle of interpretation that would set. them aside 
from present use, would exclude all the epistles from 
the sacred canon, and indeed a greater part of the 
other scriptures, for the great body of scripture is 
written on the same principle ; even the ten com- 
mandments, the eternal law of the universe, were 
uttered specially to one people, and grounded on the 
fact that God had brought them out of the land of 
Egypt, and out of the house of bondage. Scarcely one 
of the rules in this epistle is given out with as much 
formality as that-before us ; and such formal rules of 
conduct, given by inspired men claiming to speak as 
they were moved by the Holy G-host, and to speak to 
the few for the instruction of the whole world, may 
be taken as meant for all, unless there be found in 
their structure, context, or occasions, some implied 
limitation. But no limitations are here implied. 

There is another question : Did Paul require these 
weekly deposits to be made, and appoint that there 
should be no gatherings under the impulse of his elo- 
quence when he should come, in expectation that he 



PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVING. 33 

would in this way make a larger collection for that 
time? Evidently he was not providing for that 
single occasion, but fbr the permanent influence of an 
established rule. If for one occasion only, he would 
most naturally have ordered the gathering to take 
place after he had come and exerted the force of his 
eloquence upon them in setting forth the details of 
the distress which he asked them to relieve. "Who 
that knows with what force Paul could speak how 
he spoke on Mars-hill, before the assembled wisdom 
of Greece how he thundered in the ear and con- 
science of the hardened Felix what effect he wrought 
upon Agrippa who can doubt, that for, a single col- 
lection, he would have secured vastly more if he had 
said nothing of weekly deposits, and had relied upon 
an appeal to the Corinthians with the electric force 
of his eloquence, backed by the moral force of his 
apostolic character and presence ? It is clear, at a 
glance, that his object in giving that order, could not 
have been to get the greatest amount of money for a 
single occasion ; and if not, it follows that he was 
looking to permanent results forming the general 
practice of alms-giving in that church ; and if in that 
church, why not in. all churches ? 

If, then, the rule given have an evident fitness for 
sniversal application if the circumstances of those 
for whom it was first made, show no reason why it 
was more fit for them than for all if, "from reason 
and the nature of things, the rule appears to be as 

Law of Benef. 3 



34 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

well adapted to all as to any, the case is clear that 
this utterance of the divine oracle is the voice of God 
to universal man. 

And let it be well considered that all that is shown 
in, this discussion, of the fitness of this rule for the 
cultivation of, the divine life, and enlarging the 
streams of Christian beneficence, is so much in con- 
firmation of its claims to be considered a law of God 
requiring your obedience; and if it be such a law, 
you are as much required to act according to it, as 
you are to keep the Sabbath. And those professing 
Christians on the continent of Europe, who ignore 
their obligation to remember the Sabbath-day and 
keep it holy, have no more occasion to review their 
theory touching that law, than you have yours re- 
specting this. They are no more offenders against 
the one law of God, than you are against the other ; 
and the Christian minister, or Christian teacher in 
any sphere, who neglects to inculcate this rule, as 
really neglects his duty, as the teacher who neglects 
to inculcate the law of the Sabbath. 

The next point is, that alms-giving is a work for 
every Sabbath. " Upon the first day of the week, let 
every one of you lay by him in store." Here noth- 
ing is said m for or against collections made in the 
church on the Sabbath. The command is, that as 
often as the Sabbath comes, we should take out of 
our means of living a portion, and devote it to char- 
itable uses. And this, in its very terms, refutes one 



PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVING. 35 

of the commonplaces of Christian penuriousness . 
that the handling of money is a desecration of the 
Sabbath, and the preaching about filthy lucre is a 
profanation of sacred things; for here is an express 
command of God, to handle money for one purpose 
on the first day of the week. It would seem that 
the first Christians had such a type of religion, thai 
their handling of money was indispensable to Sab 
bath sanctification, and that their Sabbath prayers 
and praises could not ascend, but as accompanied 
with their alms. 

Another penurious maxim is also set aside by this 
text, to wit, that calls for charity are too frequent. 
Enterprises of Christian philanthropy are so multi 
plied and various, that scarcely a month passes with- 
out a call from Christian pulpits for new donations, 
and this is quite an annoyance to those who have 
some conscience and less benevolence. Now this 
text points out a way in which this struggle be- 
tween conscience and inclination ,ean be forestalled. 
Let every one come into a habit of not waiting for 
any calls, but of setting apart every Sabbath, or at 
other stated periods, the portion' which he ought to 
give, and he will experience no annoyance from the 
frequent calls of agents. Until he does this, he fails 
to come up to the apostolic rule as to the frequency 
of his alms. This is the way to "make up before- 
hand your bounty, that the same may be ready as a 
matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness ." . 



36 LAW OT 1 BENEFICENCE. 

It will naturally be asked, Why this duty musi 
needs be done on the Sabbath? "Whatever may 
have been the reason of this provision, it is a matter 
of fact, that the converted Jews 'had been accus- 
tomed to a like arrangement. -Both Philo and Jose 
pirns inform us that the Jews were wont every Sab- 
bath to make collections at their synagogues, of their 
tithes and spontaneous gifts, to be sent to the temple. 
This custom was adopted into the Christian church 
with such modifications as the new dispensation re- 
quired. The appropriation required to be made al 
home, irrespective of a church contribution, would 
secure a more universal compliance, than if it was 
to be made in the church from which some would 
be detained ; and yet it did not hinder public collec 
tions, when convenience required them. 

One of the reasons for connecting alms-giving with 
the Sabbath doubtless was, to secure the -periodical 
and constant action of the heart in the work. To 
make this action sure, a particular day of the week is 
named when it should be done, and when it. would 
be less liable to be crowded out of mind by other 
cares. And this order being obeyed, the habit of 
frequent giving is secured. The mind as often as 
the Sabbath comes round, is put upon reviewing the 
course of providence, and the prosperity experienced, 
and deciding in view of it how much pught to be 
given, and so is kept in the constant exercise of be- 
nevolence, and holding constant checks on avaricious 



PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVING. 37 

aspirations. So tliis employment, while it secures its 
main end upon the heart of the giver, harmonizes 
with all the other employments of the Sabbath. For 
the sanctification of the soul in its Sabbath work, it is 
required, not only to bring the mind under the quick- 
ening influence of the gospel, read and preached and 
meditated upon, not only to engage it in acts of 
prayer and praise, but to enlist it in acts of love to 
man, and in conflict with selfishness. Our Sabbath 
religion must be not ox; ly a matter of thought and 
feeling, but of self-denying action. " It is lawfulto 
do good on the Sabbath-day." This action, steadily 
and habitually sustained, plays upon the very citadel 
of our selfishness, which is the great enemy of our 
sanctification our keeping up a sleepless warfare 
at this point, brings assistance to the other appropri- 
ate operations of the mind, and employs the whole 
mechanism of the soul in harmony with Sabbath 
engagements. And the "constant repetition of small 
gifts does more towards a benevolent formation of 
heart, than the same amount given in larger sums 
at wider intervals. . - 

Another reason is, that gifts so often repeated, 
most effectually secure a large amount. The rule, 
in its structure, bears an evident design to favor the 
poorer classes, and give them an effective share in 
the blessedness of benefaction. Living more from 
hand to mouth, they have not the means at hand, if 
they would, to make large donations, but by weekly 



38 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

additions to their charity-treasure, they may produce 
-a rich result at the year's end ; arid in all this process 
of laying aside the little that they can spare, they 
are making just as much sacrifice and cultivation oi 
heart; and of course doing as much towards the prime 
purpose of giving, as their wealthy neighbors who 
give ten times as much. The little sums thus laid 
aside fall into their place in the ordinary calculation 
of expenses, and are provided for at the same time 
with our meat and drink ; and in thus sharing, as it 
were, our daily sustenance with the poor, and bring- 
ing the toil- worn missionary, as it were, to eat at our 
table, we come into a most affecting form of com- 
munion with Christ, and all who love his cause, 
while we are taking the best course to enable us tp 
make the most of our contributions from a slender in- 
come. Without some plan like this, the constantly 
recurring calls for things needful and superfluous 
would absorb our income, and for the most part ex- 
clude our charities. But were all who acknowledge 
the obligation to give at all, including old and young, 
rich and poor, to come under this rule, a vast increase 
of charitable funds would be realized. 

The first application of this rule in its definite 
form, which we have oil record, was to the churches 
in Galatia, in which the poor abounded. And then 
it was found to be equally suitable to the ivealth- 
ier Christians at Corinth, situated amidst tempi- 
tations to luxury and extravagance. At any rate, 



PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVINb. 39 

it ft: at; once adapted to operate kindly among the 
necessities of the humbler classes, and to hold salu- 
tary checks upon the extravagances of the rich. 1^ 
brings each one, once a week, to a reckoning with 
himself as to his use of the gifts of Providence, 
Is there a Christian whose easily "besetting sin is 
extravagance, who is spending more than a- good 
conscience .would dictate, in the matters of_-style, or 
in the elegances and superfluities of life, this rule 
would seem to have been made on purpose for him. 
It arraigns him once a week before his conscience and 
his God, to debate questions touching, this very sub- 
ject. Let him adopt the rule, and he is led at once 
to a course of mental exercises, in which he cannot 
retain both his peace of mind and his habits of ..extrayr 
agance. The Sabbath comes, and after engaging in 
the devotions of the day, both public and private, 
he sits down, under the full impression of all he has 
heard and read of Christ and his salvation, and of 
all that he, has himself uttered in his prayers and 
praises, and makes his decision as to how much the 
Lord has prospered him, and for what end, and what 
obligations that prosperity confers ; and he must be 
slow to admit reproof if some of his superfluities are 
not, soon lopped off. If he fail to take the hint at 
first, this debate in conscience is of course renewed 
once a week, and he is brought back- to the subject in 
all varieties of circumstances and modes of feeling , 
and if any thing can cure a Christian's habitual ex- 



40-; LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

travagance, this must be the remedy. By imposing 
this rule, God, as it were, every Sabbath takes each 
Christian aside and puts to him the delicate question, 
how he has been prospered, and how much he can 
afford tp give to Him from whom he receives all. 
And he does this at the time when the rational pow- 
ers and spiritual affections may be supposed to be in 
'the most vigorous exercise. 

But there may be a more specific reason why this 
day, and not any other of the week, is set apart for this 
purpose. We may be invited to bring our grateful 
offerings to the Lord's treasury on this day, because 
the very design of the Sabbath makes it a day of 
thanksgiving and of grateful remembrance of the 
work of redemption. The Christian Sabbath cele- 
brates a new creation as a subject of more elevated 
praise than that on which " the morning stars sang 
together." And it is fitting, that our grateful joy 
should have expression in substantial acts, as well as 
in words and songs. He who made the mind, and 
who best knows how to touch all its springs and 
cause us to make melody in our hearts to the Lord, 
knows that the giving of gifts is a natural expression 
of grateful joy, and that the incense connected with 
freewill offering, sweetly blends with our songs o! 
praise for redeeming love. 

Again, the religious nature and obligations of the 
duty of alms-giving, make the appointment of the 
Sabbath for the time of doing it, peculiarly proper. 



PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVING. '41, 

The several . Sabbath employments naturally aid' 
each other. Prayer and praise quicken and elevate 
the mind for more effectual meditation on the worJ 
of God, and so all the fit employments of the Sab- 
bath may tend to revive our sense of obligation, and 
our benevolent emotions, and thus serve as prompters 
to our acts of charity. The Christian mind as really 
communes with God, in the act of devoting to a cliar-" 
itable use a portion of the'gifts of God, as in prayer 
and praise. God's authority binds the conscience, 
and the love of Christ constrains the heart to the 
act, and the mind -moves responsive to the known 
will of Christ. Such acts are a proper expression of 
that charity of which Paul says, " Now.abideth faith, 
hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is 
charity." This is, then, one of the graces of the Spirit, 
and as the design of the Sabbath is for the quicken- 
ing of grace, this grace should be called into action 
on the Sabbath; and as this grace is in many minds 
one of the most difficult of exercise, the aids which 
other Sabbath exercises give should be called in, and 
our prayers and our alms should go up together as a 
memorial before God. The fitness of this connection 
of tilings has illustration in the experience of minis- 
ters, who, after the exercises of the Sabbath, find their 
minds vastly quickened in forming conceptions of di- 
vine truth, and in all spiritual exercises. 

God has established this connection between our 
Sabbath employments, and set the duty of alms- 



42 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

giving high among them, doubtless with the design 
that it may have a more effective performance. A 
time has heen chosen when the mind may be sup- 
posed to be in the most favorable posture, a time 
when we have retreated farthest from the world and 
its excitements to avarice, and are most susceptible of 
spiritual motives. If we wished to get a large dona- 
tion from one, for some benevolent object, we should 
choose our time to approach him, and especially the 
time when the realizings of eternity were most upon 
him. Thus God does, and comes to us for our gift 
in the midst of our Sabbath devotions in the midst 
of our professions of gratitude and love. He comes 
in and takes us at our word. We have perhaps been 
singing, 

"All that I am, and all I have, 
Shall be for ever thine ; 
Whate'er my duty bids me give, 
My cheerful hands resign." 

He then comes in with an opportunity for us to give 
what our duty bids ; hence the admirable fitness of 
the time. If there is to be a set time, who will not 
say that this is the time ? If it had been a uni- 
versal custom to do this work on one particular day 
of the week, and that not the Sabbath, and if now a 
transfer were to be made, and the work were to be 
brought within the Sabbath, a great advance in the 
amount given would doubtless be realized. Even 
the merchant, who monthly or at other stated times 



PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVING. 43 

carries to a benevolent account the sum devoted to 
charity, may derive great advantage from sotting 
apart 'on the Sabbath a little season for " grateful 
communion" with Christ in reference to the claims 
of the various departments of benevolence, and in 
prayer for direction and a blessing on his humble 
offerings. 

Further, the duty is laid on every one. "Let every 
one of you lay by him in store." Though those who 
are themselves objects of charity and have nothing 
to give, would not come within the rule ; and though 
those whose incomes do not admit of so detailed a 
distribution, would be allowed to answer the intent 
of the rule in the form which their circumstances re- 
quire ; yet, with such modifications, the rule is univer- 
sal with rich and poor. If it be thought an objection 
that too much of religious charities must thus come 
from the gifts of the poor, we answer, it will not be 
so, provided they do not go beyond the measure of 
the prosperity which God has given them. Hither- 
to religious enterprises have been mainly sustained 
-by the confluence of small streams, coming in from 
those in moderate conditions. Yea, it is one of the 
excellences of these enterprises, that they unite the 
hearts of rich and poor ; and convey to the poor aa 
much of the benefit of giving as to the rich. And 
will any count it treason to allow the poorest to share 
in the luxury of sending the gospel tathe poor ? Has 
not the gospel done enough for the poor to warrant 



44 LAW OP BENEFICENCE. 

such responses of gratitude from them ? Has no1 
God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and 
heirs of. the kingdom ? And has he denied to these 
heirs of the kingdom all share in the work of ad- 
vancing his kingdom ? His order to the churches in 
Galatia, where the poor abounded, was, " Let every 
one of you lay \yf him in store." 

Nor did he intend to impose a "burden, but to con- 
fer a privilege. And he has so shaped the require- 
ment, because unwilling to exclude the poor from a 
needful means of grace. He who was anointed to 
preach the gospel to the poor, would not so frame 
his system as to cut off the poor from the channels 
through which he conveys the riches of his grace ; 
and most impressive is the assurance which he has 
given us of this, in the value which he stamped on 
the widow's farthing. While sitting in the temple 
and watching the people casting their gifts into the 
treasury, and after some had made princely dona- 
tions, he saw a poor widow come and drop in two 
mites, which made a farthing. That went to his 
heart ; and with solemn emphasis in the use of that 
"Verily," or Amen, which only he ever used in such 
a way, he asserted that the value of the widow's gift 
exceeded the sum total of all the rest ; and why ? 
Because there was more of sacrifice made, more oi 
benevolent heart expended, and so a deeper and rich- 
er participation of sanctifying experience had, which 
is the ultimate end of all gifts. 



PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVING. 45 

Here is presented such a scale of valuation of om 
gifts as brings the rich and poor upon one level, and 
puts to flight all reasons that would exclude the poor. 
Whatever others may think, Christ makes the small- 
est gifts, of the poor as indispensable, and of as much 
value, as the large donations of the rich. Ever 
watchful for fit incidents from which to flash forth 
instruction upon all ages, he here seized upon a case 
of the smallest donation made by extreme poverty, 
and held it forth as our warrant to value all gifts ac- 
cording to the sacrifice made, and so make the gifts 
of the poor, not only as acceptable to God, but as val- 
uable towards the ultimate end of filling the world 
with the glory of God, as the proportionate gifts of 
the rich. And so when he said, " It is more blessed 
to give than to receive," he intended not to utter 
startling paradoxes, but to declare a plain matter of 
fact in that divine plan which in many ways betrays 
a generous partiality to the poor, in the distribution 
of spiritual favors ; and to sustain this partiality, he 
must give the poor an equal share in the blessedness 
of giving, and this, and even more than this, they 
have ever had. 

But if it be .a general law of Christ's kingdom, 
that gifts in charity weigh in the balance of the sanc- 
tuary according to the amount of the sacrifice made, 
the concurrence of; those of the smallest income is 
indispensable. Suppose you can give but a cent a 
week, that shall introduce you to all the soul-enrich- 



46 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

ing influences of giving. As an instrument of com- 
munion with Christ, and of "binding your soul to him, 
your copper coin is as effectual as the gold of others. 
And who can tell, that carrying a special blessing 
with it, and guided to its result by the partial re- 
gards of the Redeemer, it may not actually produce 
more than the larger gifts, made with less sacrifice 
and prayer ? Cases are not wanting of the single 
penny-tract having originated trains of light and sal- 
vation, branching forth and extending beyond human 
computation. And who can tell that these small 
grains of mustard-seed, that have produced the great 
trees, have not come from those whose " deep pov- 
erty abounded to the riches of their liberality.' 1 

Make the small gifts of the poor a matter of indif- 
ference, and confine to the "rich the obligation to give, 
.and you would render the whole commandment a 
nullity. If God had left to all but the poor the com- 
mand to give, this would have been a poverty-stricken 
world. To make it of any effect, it must run impar- 
tially from the highest to the lowest. It must hold 
the pence as carefully as the pounds. 

Indeed, imperfectly as this rule has been understood, 
the greatest aggregate of gifts has come from those 
of more limited means. Never did charities more 
abound than in the primitive ages ; never did evan- 
gelizing go forward with greater rapidity and power : 
yet, "not many wise men after the flesh, not many 
mighty, not many noble were called." It was tk* 



PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVING 47 

gifts of the humbler classes, flowing in countless 
minuter rills, which cut the channels to convey the 
riches of salvation over the civilized world. That 
broad and fertilizing shower that in the space of one 
generation made the wilderness bud and blossom as 
the rose, was composed of single drops. And so i& 
every other shower. He who is the Father of the 
rain, and who begets the drops of the dew, finds it 
not beneath him to produce the single drops and the 
smallest drops, without which there can be no show- 
ers. Sometimes when the ground, under a scorch- 
ing sun, is opening the seams on its bosom, implor- 
ing from heaven the mercy of a shower, a thin cloud 
comes over, dispensing a large drop here and there 
a fair similitude of what the work of charity, confined 
to the rich, would be. The drops are large and gen- 
erous in themselves ; but they are too few, and do 
but mock the distress. It is the constant distilling 
of the small rain by 'which God gladdens the earth. 
And this law of charity lays itself on men in all 
varieties of condition, with an admirable equality 
of pressure. It requires each to give according 
to his means, and according to his, own judgment, 
formed with an enlightened conscience -and a be- 
nevolent heart. It puts into the hands of each ono 
a scale of duties, ascending and descending with 
the increase or decrease of his means. The poor 
man is expected to " labor, working with his hands, 
that he may have to give to him that needeth." 



48 LAW .OF BENEFICENCE. ( 

If : ' this lulev presses heavily anywhere, it is on 
those who have difficulty in meeting their urgent 
wants from week to week. But even they could 
make a cent a week sacred to the cause of benev> 
olence, without ' any sensible increase of their bur- 
dens-; and that for them might answer all the ends 
of the requirement, and make them equal co-part 
ners in the soul-enriching and world-enriching com 
merce of henevolence. But to an amount lesser ' 
or larger, each is hound to form the hahit of giving 
a portion of his income to act every week on the 
question of apportioning his gifts to his income. 
Among the duties of the Sabbath, comes that of di- 
viding off a portion for alms. And this is a duty no 
more to be forgotten than that of prayer. The act 
involves an exercise of conscience and of heart of 
love to God and man, in giving back a portion of 
Grod's gifts. The Sabbath's sun invites you anew 
to settle the question, how much you ought to deny 
yourself for Him who gave his life for your ransom. 

The flexibility of this rule is one of its advantages. 
It bends in -perfect adjustment to eacJi one's circum- 
stances, and to all changes of circumstances. It does 
not require, that one shall, at the beginning of a year, 
commit himself to give so much for the year, not 
knowing whether his present ability will continue 
through the year, or whether it may not be increased ; 
he may determine on the proportion, or percentage 
of income which he will contribute, and that, if his 



PERIODICAL ALMSGIVING. 49 



income shair exceed a certa^ ^m;r{lie will give a 
larger percentage, " as God sHall prosper him." ' It 
does not require ""each one to give just so great a 
proportion of his income; but' it makes each one 
to judge for himself; ^ in view of all his "circum- 
stances. There may" be 'circumstances which 'Vroulcl 
require one to give twice the percentage *bf his 
income which another gives. One may be under 
obligations to creditors, and bpuiid to be just before 
he; is generous ; while the other, with the same in- 
come, is free from debt -though the man who early 
adopts and,: adheres to the scripture rule, will find 
it operating as a powerful dissuasive from contract- 
ing needless debts. There are a thousand other cir- 
cumstances which may vary the proportion that 
different persons ought to give ; and these are wise- 
ly committed to be judged of by each one's own 
conscience. " r 

There is still another important point of instruc- 
tion in this text : " That there be no gatherings when 
I come" This detects a capital error in our present 
policy of benevolence ; in that -we are %pnt to wait 
to be lashed up to our duty by the periodical visits 
of the agents of the several benevolent societies. 
Paul was operating as an agent for gathering funds 
to relieve the distress of Christians at Jerusalem 
But he did not tell the Corinthians, Wait till I conic 
and lay before you the thrilling details of that dis- 
tress, and by dint of eloquent appeals, moy% you to 

law of Benef. 4 -" 



50 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

an amount of donations which you would not other- 
wise reach. He placed no reliance on such means. 
He preferred that all should be done without a word 
from him. He would have every dollar that was to 
be given, actually in the treasury "before he came, 
- ! that there be no gatherings when I come." This 
uncovers a grand feature in the .divine plan, and it 
may show us the error in our policy which makes it 
so hard to bring the churches up to this duty. We 
begin at the wrong end. We make the great reason 
why we should give to be, that somebody will suffer 
if we do not. And we depend on our agents to set 
forth that suffering, with an energy of eloquence 
which those only can command who give themselves 
wholly to a single branch of the work. And the re- 
sult is, that the main spring appointed to move the 
soul to this work, is left untouched. The animal 
passions and natural sympathies are quickened, the 
understanding is convinced of the fitness of the work, 
and the justice of its claims upon us ; in a second- 
ary sense the religious affections are enlisted ; but the 
whole energy of the heart is not roused, becaube we 
do not place the main reliance on the main motives. 
We wait for Paul to come first, and tell us all about 
the sufferings of the poor saints at Jerusalem ; ex- 
pecting by that communication of intelligence, to bo 
led into the great and moving inducements to give. 

But Paul just reversed this process. He relied on 
the intelligence of higher and more moving facts, 



PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVING.. 51 

which had already been communicated to them 
He reminded them of their obligations to Christ, who 
had given himself for them of the fact that they haa 
already " given their own selves to the Lord," which 
gift involved all the 'donations that were needed from 
them ; he reminded them that he was proving the 
sincerity of their love that he was seeking the cul- 
tivation in them of one of the parent graces that 
all their supplies came from God, who would cause 
them to reap bountifully, from a bountiful sowing 
and that the great end which he sought, was the en- 
riching of their souls " to allbountifulness" These 
were the motives on which he relied. His great care 
was, not to stir their sympathies in view of the dis- 
tresses of the needy, but to make those distresses 
an occasion of their exercising one of the Christian 
graces. And this he did by reminding them of their 
relations" to God and Christ. His argument was 
purely evangelical made out of the prime elements 
of the gospel. He was thus saved the necessity of 
descending to lower themes. .He put the Corinthi- 
ans upon the formation of habits of giving constantly 
and from principle, and so secured the gifts in actual 
preparation, when call should be made for them. 

Now, so far as our present system has departed 
from this principle, we shall sooner or later be com- 
pelled to retrace our steps. There has long been 
with many, a desire to save the necessity of employ- 
ing agents in the collection of funds ; and yet, there 



52 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

has been a prevalent conviction, that in the present 
condition of the churches, they could not be safely 
di&pensed with;: Most experiments of dispensing with 
(.hem have resulted unfavorably. And it is plain, 
that any change of the temper and habits of the pub- 
lic mind, that will warrant our dispensing with them, 
muse have a gradual introduction. If we are not 
mistaken, that change, so much desired by all and 
by none more than by our most efficient agents 
can be secured by the restoration of this rule of 
alms- giving, and by our ministry returning to the 
scriptural method of inculcating the duty. If a 
display of facts and statistics, and the communica- 
tion of intelligence respecting the particular charity 
for which the agent pleads, is to be the great lever 
to lift the church up to an apprehension of its duty, 
then we shall ever want .agents to do the work. 
But if the more excellent way be found to be, to 
.bring the obligations to bear on Christian hearts first 
and mainly for their own sanctincation, then the 
regular ministry" -will be the best of all agencies 
And while we find it necessary to employ agents, 
they will find it for their advantage to take a stand- 
point nearer the heart and centre of the gospel, and 
xnake less reliance on their facts, statistics, and pa- 
thotic appeals. The nearer they come to the plan 
of Christ and his apostles in this matter, the more 
effective will be their command over the hearts of 
their hearers. Their main endeavor should be to dig 



PERIODICAL ALMS-GIVING 53 

broader and deeper fountains of benevolence in the 
heart of the church, and not to eke out the largest 
possible stream from the shallow fountains ^ ia ^ ncrvv 
exist. 

There is then great wisdom in that single stroke 
of the inspired pen, " that there be no gathering* 
when I come." It tells us, that, our gatherings have 
been so meagre, because not before prepared in hab- 
its of giving, and in affections of the soul previously 
cultivated under the application of motives more 
purely evangelical. And it reveals a capital error 
in our present mode of action, and shows the remedy 
for existing deficiencies. Let the work of charity be 
taken up, like that of repentance; to be done because 
it is right, because the wants of the soul require it, 
because it is due from us as homage to God, and in 
gratitude to Christ. Let the ministry urge it on 
these grounds mainly, and let the great themes of 
redemption come to bear on ; the heart in a way to 
enlarge its fountains of benevolent .feeling, and the 
result will be most happy. ... 

Thus have we endeavored to give the spirit of 
Paul's injunction, to engage in alms-giving every Sab- 
bath. In this we show a definite rule, formed by 
divine wisdom, binding by divine authority, requiring 
us to sustain a constant habit of giving more or less 
according to our means, and independently of particu- 
lar calls ; and so as to be beforehand, and ready for 
them when they come. This rule we propound to 



; 

54 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

every one, as claiming his obedience. It is as defi- 
nite and authentic as any of the rules by which the 
revenues of the Hebrew church were gathered. 

But you will perhaps plead, that it has become 
obsolete; and say, that it has for many centuries 
been unknown to the Christian world. And so have 
many other things, which are as clear as the sun 
when attention is effectually turned to them, been 
unknown to the Christian world. The great duty 
of evangelizing che world, which is in some sense 
the sum of all duties, has, -till within a short time, 
been buried from the sight of the church. The com- 
mand to " go into all the world and preach the gos- 
pel to every creature,'' stood plainly forth on the 
inspired page. It was "read' and conned by rote" 
among the lessons of childhood. It was a theme for 
the pulpit and the commentary. But it was but 
yesterday when its true meaning, simple as it is, 
began first in modern times to flame forth, and 
awake the hearts of a slumbering church. And it 
is nothing more strange, that this other command, 
written by an apostle, clear as a sunbeam, has slum- 
bered so long. 

Facts compel us to open our Bibles with the im- 
pression, that the church is committing some great 
eiror somewhere,, in her practical sense of her duty, 
as to furnishing the means of evangelizing. There 
must be something out of joint. Some principle to 
which God has committed a moving power, is dis- 



A MFANS OF GRACE. ' 55 

ocated and bereft of its power. And previous to 
examination, who can say that the oversight has 
not been committed on this very page? The lan- 
guage is plain, binding every one to make alms-giv- 
ing a matter of business, of habit, and part of his 
Sabbath work. And the fact that all Christians 
have so strangely overlooked this duty, is by no 
means a solitary fact. Nor can the united vote or 
non-user of all Christendom, vacate such a Christian 
duty. Remembering what a new impulse was re- 
ceived when the church began to recover the mean- 
ing of the command to evangelize the world, let us 
seek to recover the force of the command which binds 
us to furnish the means of that evangelizing. 

Such is the law 'of the New Testament, binding 
us to interweave with our Sabbath-keeping, a con- 
stant habit of consecrating to God a portion of our 
means of living. We pass now to some reasons for 
a compliance with this law. 

V. REASONS FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE 

LAW. 

1 , IT IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MEANS OF GRACE. 

This we place. first in order, because it is the first 
in importance. We have shown, that all other ends 
of alms-giving terminate in this ; and that the duty, 
in Scripture, is enforced chiefly on the ground of its 
being a means of sanctification to the heart of the 
giver We have shown, that it is indispensable to 



56 LAW OF BENPFICENCE 

the growth of Christian character, that Christian be- 
neficence have exercise ; that it has been appointed 
that we shall have the poor with us always, as the 
means of exercising us in those hahits which will 
promote us to true riches. If God's poor suffer, or if 
God's cause suffer, it is to give scope for cultivating 
the graces of those who exercise compassion. So 
when the poor saints at Jerusalem were in distress, 
and claiming the compassion of gentile Christians, 
the apostles were with divine skill making their suf- 
ferings an occasion of growth in grace to others. 

See how Paul uses the occasion with the Corinthi- 
ans : " Therefore as ye abound in every thing, in faith, 
and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, 
and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this 
grace also" Here, this grace, which has exercise in 
alms, is seV into one and the same family with faith, 
love, and Christian diligence. And the same rea- 
sons why w.e should abound in one, are made good 
reasons why we should abound in the other. This 
^branch of benevolence is here recognized as a grace. 
And what is a grace, but one of those qualities of 
'. mind, gratuitously imparted. by the Spirit of God in 
regeneration, and put forward in sanctification one 
of those qualities which make out the Christian 
character? It is one of a sisterhood that is never 
separated from the rest. Those who think that they 
can be good Christians, and have nothing to do with 
charities those who abound in verbal faith and or 



A MEANS OF GRACE. 57 

thodoxy, and in fluent prayers, while they aye deal 
to all calls to give for the love of Christ, are strangers, 
to the power of godliness. The Spirit of God never' 
committed such an oversight, as to regenerate a soul 
and then leave it under the power of covetousnesa 
complete. The product of the new hirth is a new 
man, with all the members of a man developed ; and 
not one mutilated and wanting in this or that limb. 
Every grace of the Spirit has a proportionate, though 
it may be a feeble development. And it would be 
no more absurd to speak of a Christian without faith, 
than of a Christian without beneficence. ^.Chris- 
tian infidel is no more a contradiction in terms, than 
a Christian without charity. 

True and healthy piety involves, in,, itself $n ad 
vance of the several graces in fit prppbitJQjjg;,; ; as the 
growth of the body advances in, all its; se^earal limbs. 
And to say that such a one is an earnest C,h|i|tiiah in 
every thing else, but that he will give nothing and 
sacrifice nothing for the .cause of Christ, is aij. abuse 
of language. Of such a one the Scripture says, " Hovlr 
dwelleth the love of God in him?" "When we-jSee 
large developments of Christian character in other 
respects, connected with small developments pf be- 
nevolence, the large must be taken wfth some allow- 
ance keeping good the principle, that as ye abound 
in the other, ye will "abound in this grace also." 
This grace has its, root in our self-consecration to 
- For the apostle in the same connection, en- 



58 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

forcing this grace from the example of liberality in 
the churches of Macedonia, says, they " first gave 
their own selves to the Lord, and to us by the will 
of God." Here is the beginning of all charity. The 
man ceasing to live to himself, and beginning to live 
for God, asks himself, not how shall I most success- 
fully rear a separate and selfish interest ; but how 
shall I best employ my means, great or small, tow- 
ards the true end for which I live ? He has in his 
soul a propensity to acts of Christian generosity ; 
and this propensity is the grace that is to be culti- 
vated in harmony with the rest. 

This propensity has its main impulse in the love 
of Christ. As Paul intimates in the same connec- 
tion, it "knows the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became 
poor, that we through his poverty might be rich." 
In every .gift, the Christian, acting as a rational be- 
ing, has a reason for his act. And though he may 
not have analyzed his feelings, so as to be con- 
scious of it, his chief motive is, that he acts in har- 
mony with the will and benevolent design of the 
Saviour, who embraced poverty to confer on the re- 
deemed the riches of heaven. The loss which he is 
to incur by his gift, reminds him of the amazing loss 
by which Christ bestowed on him an unspeakable 
gift. When his selfishness begins to rally, and he is 
half resolved to withhold his reasonable share in any 
good work, the thought comes back, that He who 



A MEANS OF GKACE. 59 

was rich in all the wealth of heaven, emptied him- 
self of all, and had not where to lay his head, that 
he might hereafter have a house of many mansions 
to open, and an inheritance ' incorruptible to make 
over to him. Seeing what Christ has done and lost 
for him, to confer the wealth of the eternal God as a 
free gift, and seeing that all he demands in return is 
the natural response of a grateful heart, he becomes 
ashamed of his best gifts, and says, 

"Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
That were a present far too small ; 
Love so amazing, so divine, 

Demands my soul, my life, my all." 

If such a thing could be, as a redeemed sinner in- 
flamed with the love of Christ, and now and then 
lifted to rapturous elevations and well-nigh mingling 
with the white-robed harpers before the throne, in 
that song, " Worthy .is the Lamb," and yet this same 
redeemed sinner with a heart of stone against every 
appeal to benevolent feeling, he would be a monster 
for which we have no name. 

Thus the same motives which actuate every other 
grace, are the motives to this ; and these .may all be 
i educed to one, the love of Christ constraining us. 
It is as important that this love should have ex- 
pression in this form, as in other appropriate forms. 
And this grace, like the rest,, grows by exercise by 
bringing the motives to bear; and calling it into fre- 
quent action. That the love of God may be called 



60 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

forth, and cultivated to be. a strong and permanent 
principle of character, it is made our duty to "be much 
in acts of prayer and communion with him. So alss, 
that our henevolent affections may have strength, it 
is made our duty to hold ourselves to constant rep- 
etitions of benevolent acts. For this reason, divine 
wisdom has appointed that each Christian shall en- 
ter upon a series of such acts, and hold himself to 
them while the weeks^ and years go round, that he 
may bring to bear upon his soul a divinely construpt- 
ed mechanism, for its grad.ua! transformation into 
the divine image. You have then the great reason 
for this rule of habitual and systematic charity, in 
that it is the will of God for your sanctification in 
that it is among the most important means of grace. 

And that it may still further appear to be such, 
let us contemplate it in the opposite view in the 
antagonism which it presents to the native covetous- 
ness of the heart. That which most effectually pro- 
motes our benevolent affections, best counterworks 
our avarice ; for our evil affections are displaced only 
by .bringing in their opposites. And these habits ot 
constant giving are prominent among the means 
which G-od has appointed for our habitual resistance 
to that love of the world which is idolatry, and that 
lawless will to be rich which involves'us in a " snare, 
and in many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown 
men in destruction and perdition." 

The purpose to accumulate money for its own 



.. 61 

Bake, or for the selfish -gra,|ifications which it minis- 
ters, when once admitted to rule the mind, takes 
possession and spreads and fortifies dtself, and leaves 
no place in the heart for homage to God. Every 
power of the soul submits, as if smitten with a palsy. 
All motions are excluded that do not obey the im 
pulse of this ruling passion : the understanding can- 
not entertain the thoughts of God, for it is tasked to 
its utmost in gainful contrivances ; the memory is 
imbecile as to all remembrance of God, for its main 
power is exhausted upon other things. The affec- 
tions are so occupied with treasures of earth, that they 
set no value on the pearl of great price. In short, 
this love of accumulation is the easily besetting sin 
of the world, and one of the most dangerous enemies 
of our salvation; and the strategy of our spiritual 
warfare needs to be specially directed against it. 

Selfishness is the parent form and central element 
of all sin ; and the love of money is one of the main 
branches of selfishness, " the root of all evil ;" and 
upon this " root of all evil," this dangerous enemy of 
our salvation, the enginery of redemption is made 
effectually to play, in the formation and nurture 
of habits of benevolence. Aware that this was our 
great point of danger, Christ said to them that "trust 
in riches," that is, them that come under the power 
of this love of money, that it is easier for a camel to 
go through a needle's eye, than for them to enter 
heaven. And having given command to take heed 



62 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

and beware of this covetousness, he has also shown 
the way of resisting it, by bringing the benevolent 
affections into vigorous and constant play. The 
Christian law of alms-giving he has made to give 
a benevolent character and a sanctified direction to 
our necessary employments for gain. 

He who, out of a principle of true benevolence, con 
secrates to a benevolent use whatever can be wisely 
spared from his income, and possesses the rest as 
though he possessed not, holding it as God's steward, 
does in fact write " holiness to the Lord" on all that 
he acquires. In all his labor of acquisition he is as. 
much actuated by a benevolent design, as if he were 
laboring with the intent to give- every cent of his 
gains to the poor ; and in all his labors he is as much 
accepted of God, and is doing as much for the sanc- 
tification- of his own heart, as if his own* and his 
family's support being provided in other ways he 
was laboring exclusively for God's poor. Accord- 
ingly the apostle says, "Let him that stole, steal- no 
more ; but let him labor, working with his hands, 
that he may have to give to him that needeth." 
Here, it is not labor to supply his wants, or support 
his family ; but he must be actuated by a design which 
looks beyond these, while it embraces them both. 
The adoption of this principle of laying off the Lord's 
portion from our income, if done from .right motives 
changes the whole direction of our labor for. gains, 
and enables us to " do it heartily as unto the Lord," 



A MEANS OF GRACE 63 

to make his glory the end of our ordinary employ^ 
ment ; and this inverts the whole machinery of the 
mind, that had before labored to accumulate foi 
selfish gratifications. 

Most have need of the diligent pursuit of some 
methods of gain, as the means of living. They arc 
put upon constant toil and care to keep up theii 
supplies ; and they make more or less acquaintance 
with anxious solicitudes about the future. This ex- 
perience will operate to promote inordinate desires 
to be rich : the details of gathering cents and dollars 
by the hardest, for subsistence and for children's 
bread, tend to form habits of inordinately desiring 
riches ; and these habits, with no counteracting force, 
would soon fearfully contract the heart. 

Then the multiplicity of cares which come upon 
one devoted to worldly accumulations, and the keen 
solicitudes employed on money- ad ventures, are so :. r 
exhausting to. the benevolent affections, so adapted \ 
to fix an undue value on money, that we need, for 
our own safety, all possible engagements of mind in- 
opposite directions. No apology, for neglecting the 
soul is so much in use as that of the multiplicity of 
cares, the want of time occasioned by labors and en- 
terprises for gain. Risks must be run ; the issue of 
pending adventures must be anxiously waited ; new 
plans must be framed ; the eye must be out on all 
turns of times and shifts in the currents of business. 
Alternations of hope and fear, of success and disaster. 



<)4 LAW OF BENBFIOENOE. 

must keep the mind upon a stretch. And here is the 
occasion for the action of some counteracting element ; 
for this is the reason, why the gospel, preached to 
anxious worldlings, is a precious seed thrown away 
among thorns. The cares of the world and the deceit- 
fulness of riches choke the word ; they follow a man 
like his shadow, engrossing his thoughts, ahsorbing his 
soul, even while his body is in the house of God. 

.Now the more one is exposed to this deluge of 
cares, all tending to put forward the growth of selfish 
affections, the more he needs that method of counter- 
action provided in the divine rule under consideration. 
The mind acting so much in one direction, needs to 
regain" its health and balance by much action in the 
other ; and God has interposed to bring relief to this 
point of danger, and laid on us the duty of combat- 
ing our love of money by making sacrifices of money. 
In this way he engages us to put one of our greatest 
enemies to the torture, and crucify him till he dies. 
This is a main branch of that great duty of mortify- 
ing the flesh with its affections and lusts : we give 
our love of money a new wound as often as we make 
a sacrifice in a gift to the poor. It comports with 
the economy of grace, that our giant enemy shall not 
(jlie by a single blow ; his destruction must be the. 
work of time, of our whole life ; and the plan of war- 
fare best suited to its design, and to our natures, is 
one which engages us to a constant repetition of 

wounds, under which he dies by inches. 



A MEANS OF GRACE. 65 

We have often seen those who, when in compara- 
tive poverty, were generous with their little^ but who 
nave become penurious in becoming rich. While 
their means were small, their outgoes trod close 
upontheirincom.es; their habit of giving was exer- 
cised and strengthened in some proportion to that of 
receiving, and the passion for accumulating had not 
room to spread its roots. But when the gains began 
sensibly to advance beyond the outgoes, a habit was 
formed of calculating how long it would take to reach 
such and such a sum ; and with no active principle 
of benevolence proportionally counterworking' 'the 
growing passion' for gains, every little increase served 
to feed the passion, and every call for charities was 
resisted, because it postponed the time of reaching 
the proposed 1 amount to be laid in. Aware of this 
principle of human nature, divine wisdom has given 
the caution, "If riches increase, set not your heart 
upon them ;" hinting to us that the " setting of the 
heart upon them" is a common result of increase. 

How many thousands have said in their hearts, 
if I were. as rich as such a one, how would I multiply 
the streams of my bounty ; I would do nothing 
else than employ my wealth in doing good. But all 
such talk is vain ; the process of becoming so rich 
would expose you to the fiercer heats of temptation, 
consuming all benevolent affections. The process of 
increasing wealth, without the outgoes of benevo- 
lence, is a process^ of confirming a feelirig of poverty 

taw of Benef. 5 



66 JUAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

a grasping desire for more, which like the grave will 
be ever crying, Give, give. A case has been known 
of a man at the age of threescore and ten, with hia 
hundred thousand dollars, free from debt, and well 
invested, and yet crying like a child in apprehension 
of a possible experience of poverty. And this state 
. of feeling was induced by a most natural process, by 
a mind given up to the passion of accumulating, with- 
out the counter-process of distributing. This is an 
invariable result of human experience in like circum- 
stances, and it shows the importance of some law of 
conduct to keep our benevolent activities in use. Our 
condition is like that of a leaky vessel, which needs 
the constant labor of the pump in throwing out, to 
prevent its being submerged. 

This fact in human nature should be well consid- 
ered by the young, who are just entering upon a 
course of business, and upon the formation of char- 
acter. Here is a powerful element in the production 
of character, which one cannot overlook without great 
damage to himself. "Whether the young person re- 
gards his happiness and usefulness for time or for 
eternity, it is immensely important that he adopt this 
divinely appointed method of enlarging his heart. 

And the church as a whole, and each professed 
Christian, has a special interest in this matter, be- 
cause covetousness is more especially the sin of the 
visible church. It is so, because it is of such a nature 
that it can better conceal itself under a Christian 



A MEANS OF GRACE. 67 

profession. Spurious conversions more often consist 
of a change of the dominion of one lust for that ol 
another ; and as long as the heart remains unchanged, 
the lesser changes must consist in some substitution 
like this an outward reformation must have its com- 
pensation in indulgences of inward lusts. It is nc 
easy matter to he a drunkard, or profane, or dishon- 
est, or, licentious, and maintain a reputahle standing 
among Christians ; but one may indulge his supreme 
love of the world in the form of covetousness, and 
yet maintain a specious semblance of religion, and a 
fair standing in the church : indeed, the church ia 
quite too charitable towards her uncharitable mem- 
bers, and that because her own standard of benefi- 
cence is too low, and-her own perceptions of Christian 
obligation in this matter are dim. There is now and 
then in human society what is called a miser a man 
of large means, whose selfishness is so extreme, as to 
defeat its own purpose and inflict misery on himself. 
Such a one is held in general abhorrence, as a vio- 
lator of the primitive law of society. Living only for 
himself, and refusing to contribute to the pleasures 
arid advantage of "society, he is by the common con- 
Bent of men degraded to a lower order of beings ; 
men make themselves merry at his expense, and 
find amusement in discourse of his 1 strange habits. 
But the man who, under more decent appearances, 
lives wholly to himself in the church of Christ, is 
even a more gross violator of the primitive law of 



OF BENEFICENCE. 

that society, and his character deserves no more in 
diligence. Yet, for the reasons which we have given, 
it finds a degree of indulgence ; and worldly minds in 
the church can indulge their covetousness, when they 
could not other forms of sin as gross ; and for the 
same reason, there are probably many in the church 
in supreme devotement io this form of sin, without 
being conscious of it. Hence, this sin should be the 
more guarded against in the church, by extending 
and confirming those habits of beneficence that coun- 
terwork it. . 

The grace of God first finds us in love of the world, 
inveterate, and supreme. It comes "teaching us, 
that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should 
live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present 
world." But its most effectual form of teaching this, 
is by experience and active resistance. It uses not 
only the word of instruction, but the power of action. 
All must be wrought into us, and wrought out by 
us. We cannot be put into the possession of a be- 
nevolent temper, and delivered from the tyranny of 
selfishness, by mere intellectual processes by a mere 
presentation of reasons and inducements to benevo- 
lence. There is a work for the Holy Spirit ; and, 
under that, there is occasion for all the processes of 
She human mind, by which the temper and habits 
are changed. And in the gospel law of alms, every 
Christian is bound to address himself to the cultiva- 
tion, of the benevolent affections, as one great end of 



A MEANS OF GRACB. 6& 

life. Christ made it the duty of every one to pray, 
because his soul has need of all the quickening in- 
fluences which prayer attracts ; and so he has mada 
it the duty of every one to be constantly giving, be- 
cause the heart has need of all these acts, for its c \vn 
enlargement. 

It is very possible, however, that some have nevei 
felt any want of the aid of such habits, and have 
never thought of giving as a means of crucifying the 
old man just as many a prayerless man has never 
felt any need of those influences of the divine life 
which the good man secures by prayer. Of course, 
they have nothing in their own experience by which 
they can appreciate this Christian law of alms. They 
have no conflicts with the power of selfishness, 
because they have always been submissive to it. 
Such, however, would soon discover what is want- 
ing, should they set this Christian rule before them, 
and endeavor to adopt it as the law of their conduct. 
Ye who have no need to cultivate a more benevo- 
lent heart, will of course find no reluctance to put in 
practice a lule of benevolence so reasonable. And 
if ye are reluctant, that reluctance is proof of your 
selfishness, and your need to enter a school of vigor- 
ous discipline. This reluctance is proof that you 
have need to exercise your heart to self-denials as 
constantly as the rule contemplates. 



70 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

2. THIS SYSTEM 0* BENEVOLENCE TENDS TO THRIFT, 

Another reason why each one should enter upon 
theso habits of systematic beneficence is, that God so 
attaches his blessing to them, that even the temporal 
interests of the giver are usually promoted by them 
Out of the gifts of God tp us, we bestow our gifts , 
and out of our gifts he brings the elements of our 
increase. There is here a circulation not unlike to 
that between the clouds and the earth watered by 
them. Suppose the clouds should withhold their 
gifts, and all the waters in the bottles of heaven 
should be hoarded there, for fear of exhaustion ; the 
earth would soon become parched, and its lakes and 
rivers dry, and the supplies of rising vapor to fill the 
clouds would be diminished. But let the clouds 
freely dispense their treasures, and these treasures 
will have prompt returns. -- 

In order to illustrate the principle that benevolence 
tends to thrift, let us now leave out of view every 
3ther purpose, and treat of the habit of giving simply 
as a means of benefiting ourselves. The Scriptures 
speak abundantly of this result. Take one example 
out of many, and one wherein temporal and spiritual 
benefit are intimately blended in the result. -" He 
that soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly ; and 
ha that soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully. 
Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, 
f so let him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for 



TENDS TO THRIFT. 71 

the Lord loveth the cheerful giver; and God is able 
to make all grace abound towards you, that ye 
always, having all sufficiency in all things, may 
abound in every good work." The increase here 
promised is "all sufficiency in all things," to enable 
us to "abound in every good work." And as the 
giving of alms is one of the good works, a supply of 
the means for future gifts must here be included 
with the increase of grace which is promised. The 
imagery holds forth the idea of a rich soil, well pre- 
pared, and which requires only a generous dispensing 
of seed, in the shape of alms, to produce abundant 
increase of the seed sown. It tells us, that if we 
withhold the seed, we shall lose the advantage of a 
richly prepared soil ; and if we dispense with a liberal 
hand, we shall have proportionately liberal returns. 
In other words, a wise and generous use of our prop- 
erty to charitable ends is, like the sowing of seed, a 
means of enriching ourselves, both spiritually and 
temporally. 

That is, indeed, a narrow view which sees a re- 
ward in nothing but what terminates on ourselves. 
"None of us liveth to himself." The Christian 
blends his spiritual prosperity with that of the cause 
of his Redeemer. If he gives his money to carry 
and deposit the seed of the word in the most distant 
climes, and afterwards finds that that seed is bear- 
ing fruit sixty or a hundred-fold, he has^his reward 
that increase is a rich compensation for his money. 



72 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

His own soul is enriched, both .by sowing the . seed 
and reaping the harvest. This is one of the. most 
encouraging views of this work. By " dispersing 
abroad" and "giving to the poor," we "sow beside 
all waters," and deposit seeds which God watches 
over with delight. We have a wide and hopeful 
field on which to plant. And if the field be over- 
grown with briars and thorns, such agencies, under 
the divine economy, go along with the seed such a 
powerful hand "of a divine Cultivator prepares for it 
a place,, that it will not return void. . 

<c He that goeth forth bearing precious seed," goes 
in the strength of all the agencies that, in the econo- 
my of salvation, precede and enforce the word dis- 
pensed. And he that gives his alms to give wings 
to gospel truth, mingles his agencies with those of 
the Redeemer, labors in an enterprise which fills the 
heart of a God of mercy, which commands the minis- 
try of angels, and which is sure to give glorious 
returns to all benevolent action. He casts his seed 
on a field where showers of grace are to fall, and 
over which the life-giving breath of the Spirit of God, 
like the winds of heaven, is to sweep, This is doing 
more than to give impulse to the most powerful 
human agencies. It is touching the springs of divine 
power, and securing results proportionate to that 
power. We also enter into the advantage of -the 
precious nature of the seed sown, v It is the living 
word of the living God, '"the incorruptible seed, 



"TENDS TO THRIFT. 73 

which liveth and abideth for ever," which lives by 
an; ever-expansive life, shooting forth new roots and 
branches, and yielding seed for new plantings, long 
after th,e hand that planted is laid in the grave. 

By contributing to convey the gospel into contact 
with the minds of men, whether through the pulpit 
or press, we are sowing seeds for a glorious harvest. 
We are applying .heaven's remedy to the deadly "* 
wounds of a world. True, some of the seed will be 
devoured by the fowls, some will be choked with 
thorns, and yet, in the general result, the sower will 
not be disappointed. The. purpose and promise of 
God insures him. Thus saith the Lord, "A? the rain 
cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and re- 
turneth not thither, but watereth the earth and 
maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give 
seed to the sower and bread to the -eater, so shall 
my word be, that goeth forth out of my mouth. It 
shall not return unto me void. But it shall accom- 
plish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the 
thing whereto I sent it." God has "magnified his 
. word above all his name." The more it has been 
dishonored hitherto, by a world's rejecting it, the 
more is he pledged to magnify and vindicate it in 
time to come. And among the great events yet to 
transpire upon the face of this world, tio event, or 
series of events, will compare with the lustre of that 
in which G-od will bring forth to view the power and 
glory of his own truth. ; 



74 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

Into this work we enter when we contribute for 
the sowing of this seed. We not only cultivate our 
own. benevolence, in acts of giving, but in the par- 
ticipation of the hopes, and prayers, and efforts for 
a world's conversion, we are holding our hearts in 
communion with God, and enriching them with all 
divine communications. 

But, in a narrower sense, these habits of giving 
tend to thrift, and promote our temporal interests 
Jacob, in that crisis of his history when he was 
thrown out from his father's house, empty upon the 
world, with his Whole fortune to make, made a vow, 
responsive to the heavenly vision which he had at 
Bethel, that of all that God should give him he 
would give a tenth. He adopted essentially the 
same rule which we here recommend a rule which 
is within the reach of all. And how he prospered 
under it we are well informed. And, in the general 
result, it will be found that men will accumulate 
property faster under the rule of habitually giving 
a due proportion of their income, than they would 
without it. Nor does the fact that men often come 
into possession of property in disregard of this rule, 
show the contrary. For though men often acquire 
property without diligence, economy, or honesty, yot 
these virtues tend to thrift. So, all other things 
being equal, one may be said to be more sure to 
thrive with habits of beneficence than without them. 
Sometimes the reciprocity between the incomes and 



TENDS TO THRIFT:' v 75 

- '_.'-- 

outgoes is sc manifest as to strike the most careless 
observer. Providence has a thousand ways of sus- 
taining it. 

Habits of giving favor the formation of other habits 
that tend to thrift. This rule, operates as a law of 
conduct in .tliQ; jise of one's 1 income, which excludes 
the waste 'made upon many frivolous, not to say 
hurtful gratifications. Most are wont to -spend on 
needless things many small sumsj< whose aggregate 
is a large sum. But he who taxes. his income to do 
good, soon finds in doing it a gratification greater 
than" in all those Jittle wasteful expenditures, and 
saves more than the amount of his charities. He 
has a better estimate of the value and use of mon- 
ey, and he feels a steadier impulse both to benev- 
olence and to a wise economy. He has inserted 
into his mind a better regulator, and so saves what 
without it he would have wasted*upon his 'vices, 
And not only his economy, but his industry, and 
indeed the whole sisterhood of thrifty virtues, are 
fostered by his habits of charity. Then these vir- 
tues, by a natural attraction, draw him into connec- 
tions with others of like .mind, and so secure him 
against temptations to wasteful expenditures. 

This habit of benevolence also involves a practi- 
cal acknowledgment of God and his blessing as the 
source of all thrift, which acknowledgment is a di- 
rect means of securing blessings. Then, as it is a 
general law of Providence that thrift shall follow 



76 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

diligence, so it is a general law that thrift shall fol- 
low benevolence. There is in this what may be 
called a secondary rule of retributions, having rela- 
tions to human society somewhat similar to those 
which the retributions of the last day have to the 
kingdom of God. God, when higher interests do 
not interfere, sustains a providential retribution in 
the secular affairs of men, that they may learn from 
others' experience how to regulate their own con- 
duct. These retributions are conducted according 
to general laws, which exist for reasons similar to 
those for which he sustains the constancy of nature's 
works. Nature in all her processes is unvarying, 
that we may use her best by knowing and obeying 
her laws, that we may know before we try it, that 
fire will burn, and water will drown. And for a 
like reason, God maintains a law that the benevolent 
shall thrive. I* is written in the book of his prov- 
idences as well as in that of his -revelation, "Cast 
thy bread upon the waters, and thou shalt find it 
after many days." And there is nothing in human 
experience that gainsays it. There are indeed ex- 
ceptions. For now and then God has some better 
and higher ends to answer, which require him in 
individual cases to suspend the rule. 

That it is. really a rule of divine Providence, is 
abundantly asserted in such scriptures as these: 
V Honor the Lord with thy substance, and the first 
fruits of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be 



TENDS TO THRIFT. 77 

filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out 
with new wine." " 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." " He that hath pity on 
the poor, lendeth unto the Lord ; and that which ho 
hath given, will He pay him again." " He that hath 
a hountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his 
bread to the poor." " Bring ye all the tithes into 
the storehouse, and prove me now herewith, if I 
will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour 
ymi out a blessing, that there shall not be room 
enough to receive it." These scriptures have a 
meaning, and the meaning which they plainly ex- 
press, and one which an observant eye will see veri- 
fied in human experience. You hear God himself 
saying, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be 
measured to you again. Give, and it shall be given 
unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken to- 
gether, and running over." Thus is the liberality 
of men paid first in their own .coin, and then paid 
again in the coin that goes current in heaven. While 
bad crops, bad debts, midnight fires, and the like 
disasters may soon consume what is gained by with- 
holding more than is meet. 

But you will ask, If this principle have been in 
operation, why is not the wealth of the world con- 
centrated in the hands of the benevolent, or of the 



78 I/AW OF BENEFICENCE. 

church? ,0he reason is, that there has' "been, with 
professed Christians a sad want of habits 'of testing 
the power of this principle. "When the Jews were 
under a blight and curse for withholding their tithes, 
their poverty was no disproof of the principle. And 
the like to .some extent may he said of us. Bui 
there is another view. Christianity usually begins 
to work on the lower strata of society, arid thence 
works upward, with a steady elevating influence on 
all. Leaving the mountains of hoarded wealth, she 
comes to preside over the countless agencies that 
work for the elevation of the humbler classes. Her 
influence in this particular may be best seen as 
exerted on a whole community. For instance, the 
foundations of New England were laid hy self-sacri- 
ficing men, whose "deep poverty abounded to the 
riches of their liberality." With smallest ability, 
they secured the best means of mental and spirit- 
ual culture then had in all the world. And they 
did it iii a spirit of self-sacrifice for the honor of God. 
And all this was done in the rigors of a life in a 
newly opened forest. The gifts of gold and precious 
stones which they contributed to adorn their taber- 
nacle of God, were gifts made while dwelling in the 
wilderness. And to that wise generosity every sub- 
sequent year has been bringing in returns in secular 
advantages. The present vigor of the New Eng- 
land character, and all that it has achieved for this 
country and the world, is traceable to that liberality. 



EFFICIENCY OF THIS SYSTEM .. 79 

A-iid there "are luminous illustrations of our princi- 
ple wherever the descendants of the pilgrims are 
found. 

But if any doubt the soundness of the principle, 
they have an easy and satisfactory way of resolving 
their doubts. Let them try it. Let -them begin by 
giving a due proportion of their income for charities, 
and observing the result. There would be less ol 
doubt if there were more experiments. But tnere 
have been some examples of those who, in some 
good degree, have lived not to themselves. Most of 
these, occupying humbler stations, have been little 
noticed ; yet their record is on high. But some 
have stood forth conspicuous, both in wealth and 
liberality; and also as illustrations of the principle, 
that "he that watereth shall be watered also him- 
self." Andrew Fuller says the poor people of Glas- 
gow used to say, " David Dale gives his money by 
sho'elsful, and God Almighty sho'els it back again." 

3. THE SUPERIOR EFFICIENCY OF THIS SYSTEM. 

It belonged to ; divine wisdom to lay the pUn for 
raising supplies for the wars of the cross the plan 
for gathering from a people, few, scattered, and poor, 
as the first Christians were, the funds for the wide 
propagation of the gospel. And the plan which 
divine wisdom devised for this purpose is above the 
products of human wisdom in its measure, as much 
as is the plan of salvation by the cross. In its sim- 



80 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

plicity, there is a comprehensive and far-reaching 
skill. In its seeming foolishness, there is the wisdom 
of God and the power of G od. 

Lot us contemplate this rule of beneficence given 
by Paul under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as a 
part of the system employed to gather resources fur 
the first propagation of the gospel. Here was, so to 
speak, a great and expensive war to be sustained. 
The little company of Christians were about to en- 
gage with the powers of darkness, entrenched in the 
strongholds of heathen Ilome. Jehovah had sum- 
moned them to conquer the empire that had conquer- 
ed the world ; and he gave them a plan for raising 
the supplies, that was equal to the emergency. He 
saw that if all Christians, as fast as they became, 
such, adopted this rule of Sabbath-gifts, the wax- 
would be self-supporting in its progress and cumu- 
lative in its energy. Look then at the merits of this 
rule, considered simply as a part of a system of 
finance for such a vast enterprise. 

And let not its great simplicity conceal its merits ; 
for this itself is one of its great advantages, betoken 
ing its divine origin. All that comes from God unites 
simplicity with comprehensive utility and grandeur. 
And this, unlike the complex .systems of national 
finance, requires not the profound skill of the states- 
man to execute it. Its simplicity puts it into the 
hand of the merest child ; it makes each person a 
treasurer for the Lord, and appoints his conscience a 



EFFICIENCY OF THIS SYSTEM 81 

collector of the weekly dues, and disbursing agent to 
meet all demands upon the treasury. The great 
wisdom of the plan consists much in this, that so 
many and great ends are secured by a provision so 
simple, so easily and universally applicable. 

Nearly allied to this feature is that .of its great 
economij. Most systems of finance consume a large 
percentage, of the funds in the expense of collecting ; 
and the same is true of our benevolent agencies. 
But the universal adoption of this rule will, as we 
have seen, save what is now a great loss, which we 
suffer as the penalty of our neglect of the heaven- 
taught plan. We., may, if we will, retain our old 
habit of passive giving under casual appeals, and 
pay for working the machinery that gives the im- 
pulses ; but if one and all should adopt the system 
which makes each a vigilant and conscientious treas- 
urer for the Lord, there would be, through the length 
and breadth of Zion, an omnipresent and spontane- 
ous inflow, every cent of .which would be available 
to the main purpose. 

Then this rule secures its against ruinous bur- 
dens. Our revolutionary statesmen were often at 
their wit's end to find how to get adequate supplies 
for so exhausting a war without absorbing the means 
and alienating the hearts of the people. But in this 
war of the cross, the wealth of the people from 
whom the supplies must come is in still less propor- 
tion" to the wants ; yet here is a rule of finance which, 

6 



82 LAW OF BENEFICENCK. 

if fully adopted, would fill the treasury, and leave 
every contributor none, the poorer and more attached 
to the cause ; for its whole tendency is to nourish 
and cultivate our love to the cause, to widen and 
deepen the fountains of our benevolent feeling, while 
it guards against laying heavy burdens, by leaving 
each to judge of his own obligations. 

The equity of the rule is another advantage of it 
in a financial view. Paul says, " I mean not that 
other men be eased, and ye burdened ; but by an 
equality, that now at this time your abundance may 
be a supply for their want, that their abundance also 
may be a supply for your want : that there may be 
equality." In respect to the equality of the press- 
ure of the burdens, the universal adoption of this 
rule would effect a great change. Now the main 
burden is borne by a part of those whom it concerns. 
Probably one half of professing Christians contribute 
nothing. And it deserves to be considered, whether 
their neglect has not,^at least in part, come from our 
neglect of the scriptural mode of laying the demands 
upon them from our neglect to convince them that 
there is such a specific and universal law of benevo- 
lence binding upon them. But if this rule of Chris- 
tian finance could be restored, and set in the place 
where the Holy Spirit has put it, every Christian's 
conscience might be reached. 'Let those who are 
now in a habit of giving, contribute by their exam- 
ple to make it a common law of Christian life that 



EFFICIENCY OF THIS SYSTEM. 83 

each shall keep his treasury for Christ, and the time 
will soon come, when it will not be easy to hold a 
fair repute among Christians while avoiding every 
pecuniary burden of the Christian cause. "Why is it 
a matter of common law in the church, that all pro- 
fessing Christians shall habitually partake of the 
communion ? That is not more expressly and re- 
peatedly enjoined in the Bible than this duty. But 
there is in the case of the Lord's supper a specific 
rule generally acknowledged. Let such a rule be 
generally acknowledged as to acts of beneficence, and 
it is easy to see how the restoration of this rule 
would tend to equalize the burden and work. 

But the inculcation of this rule is desirable not 
so much for the purpose of equalizing the burdens, 
as for multiplying the bearers of them. If it be 
true, that one-half of professing Christians, to say 
nothing of others, are practically disowning their ob 
ligations to give alms of such things as they have 
for evangelizing the world, some means not now in 
use are requisite to awake the public conscience 
where it slumbers. "What is wanted, in order that 
the work should advance with the requisite rapidity 
and all-pervading energy, is, that every individual 
of the church should be an actual coworker in it 
that every church, lesser or larger ; that every fam- 
ily, rich or poor ; that every individual Christian ; 
yea, every one who means to maintain a practical 
sense of allegiance to Christ, shall become a regular 



84 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

source of supply. And it is natural to ask, In what 
way shall this result be secured ? The present mode 
of presenting the claims of Christ upon his church, 
has, for the last quarter of a century, made little 
progress in this direction. The proportion of persons 
in the church who contribute next to riothing, has 
scarcely diminished in that time. It is hence plain 
that some different mode of reaching the public con- 
science is requisite. And who will say that this 
requisite lies not in a restoration of this apostolic 
rule? If those who now sustain habits of benefi- 
cence were to adopt the rule, and in their practice to 
commend it to the public mind as an acknowledged 
law of Christian life, it would soon acquire a livirg, 
moral force upon the public conscience, such as it 
cannot have while it is treated with neglect, and 
such as it would not be -easy to resist. For who 
does not see, that a requirement taking this specific 
and imperative form, and laying its grasp on "every 
one," would reach many that cannot be reached by a 
mere general exhortation to benevolence. Every one, 
indeed, thinks himself already benevolent, after some 
sort. Every one thinks he is in a degree complying 
with the spirit of the general requirements, even if 
he give not a cent a year. But ask him to do this 
.thing in this way, and he will see that you require 
what he is not doing. T,ell him -that God requires 
him to do it in this way. Let him see that the 
church are practically regarding this rule as binding 



EFFICIENCY OF THIS SYSTEM. 85 

on each and all, and that in his neglect of it, he is as 
much setting aside a law of the divine life as he would 
be in the neglect of daily prayer, and you would 
reach his conscience, with a force entirely new. So 
it strikes us, that here is the remedy for that wide- 
spread neglect of this hranch of Christian obligation 
over which Zion mourns. Give to this specific rule 
of beneficence the binding force of a living command 
of God, addressed to every man ; let it live and 
breathe and speak through the common practice of 
those who sustain the work of evangelizing, and very 
soon all professing Christians would either adopt the 
rule, or disburden the church of their connection 
with it. 

. It also, gives omnipresence and ceaseless activity 
to the collecting agencies. It saves the expenses of 
itinerant agents by establishing a local agency in 
every man's mind, and so commanding the gratu- 
itous services of a thousand agents where it dismisses 
one. It gives to each conscience an agent's com- 
mission, a pulpit to occupy, a sermon to preach, and 
a collection to take up. every Sabbath. And as 
every Christian's conscience is supposed to be quick- 
ened and guided by the ever-present Spirit of God, 
these countless agents are supposed to act under the 
guidance and control of one central mind. So that 
the universal adoption of this rule would secure a 
countless host of collecting agents, all acting harmo- 
niously under the omnipresent agency of the Spirit 



86 L&.W OF BENEFICENCE. 

of Christ. Seen from this view, this system has a 
simplicity and grandeur unrivalled. 

And then no odium attaches to these collecting 
agencies. Having learned the excellence of the 
work of gathering treasures for beneficence, we are 
in the best way to be reconciled to such agencies. 
If an appointed agent of some benevolent society, 
were, like Paul, to come to receive the gatherings 
made before he came, we should receive him as an 
angel of mercy. Now, when an agent comes, some 
give him a cold reception, because they think he 
wants their money ; but if they had first com- 
menced acting under their appointment as the Lord's 
treasurers, having a portion of his funds in charge, 
they would welcome the agent as a convenient 
bearer of the Lord's funds to the point of their des- 
tination. - 

In some rare cases, this rule is needed as a check 
on those who, giving .from casual impulse, give more 
than they ought. Some may perhaps do injustice to 
themselves and families, by an inconsiderate profu- 
sion of their gifts. One excellent minister's wife 
said, that she rejoiced that her husband had adopted 
this rule, because she was now sure that his gifts 
would be regulated by his deliberate judgment, and 
not exceed his ability. And if the reader has a like 
amiable weakness, here is his protection. Let all 
your gifts go first into the Lord's treasury, kept in 
your own house ; then, when a case of want appeals 



EFFICIENCY OF THIb SYSTEM. 87 

to you, the simple question will be, how much of 
that portion of the Lord's money under your hand 
you ought to appropriate to that case. And when 
demands are made for undeserving ohjects, or when 
you are tempted to give, as the easiest way to dispose 
of a troublesome applicant, the question will be, 
Shall I take this portion of my Lord's money, which 
is sacred to his uses, and thus throw it away ? 

This rule also aids to a discrimination between 
what are, and what are not objects of charity. There 
is such a gradual shading off between gifts in charity 
and gifts for other purposes, that we are likely to 
credit ourselves too much on the score of charity, 
unless we have first made it a rule to take every 
gift in charity out of a fund already distinctly appro- 
priated to the Lord. In that case, we should avoid 
underrating our obligations through our overestimate 
of our actual gifts. 

This financial rule works admirably, in producing 
targe results from small means, in that it both gen- 
erates wealth where it gathers it, and makes mas- 
sive ingots out of the carefully-garnered grains and 
dust of gold. A financier for a nation plans to gather 
into the public treasury the needed percentage of the 
existing wealth of the people. But Paul's plan of 
finance was laid to work where wealth was not 
among those required to labor, working with their 
hands, that they might have to give to him that 
needeth. God has not set in progress a kingdom of 



88 LAW OF BENEFICENCE., 

poor men, and put it upon a work that involves great 
expenses, without, putting it upon a course of action 
that will furnish the supplies. This is done by grad- 
uating the value of the gift of each by the ability 
and sacrifice of the giver by putting the widow's 
farthing as high as the rich man's pound ; thus mak- 
ing sure of the small grains, that will grow into the 
mass of a mountain. As it is not the dash of a sin- 
gle water-spout here and there that fertilizes the 
broad bosom of the earth, but the countless little 
drops falling thick and fast over the whole surface, 
BO it is with the accumulations of evangelical finance. 
The wonderful capacity of that system lies in its 
power of generating and gathering up the minute 
grains, till they produce effective funds ; and the 
secret of the power ; which brings forth even the 
smallest gifts, lies in the consideration given to the 
smallest gifts proceeding from the love of Christ 
The plan which puts the poor man's cent on a par 
with the rich man's dollar, generates furlds where 
there are none, gathers the thick and pregnant cloud 
from accumulations of vapor too thin to be visible. 
It enables the poor to join in making many rich. 

But we have not the whole of this idea, till we 
have seen how this system increases the giver's 
ability. Other systems only transfer a portion of the 
people's wealth to the public treasury ; but this goes 
in among the contributors, and disciplines them. to 
economy, diligence, temperance, and all the virtues 



EFFICJlE-NCY OF THIS SYSTEM. '-- 89 

that tend to thrift, and so generates more wealth 
than it gathers. Tf the poor man wishes to enter 
upon a thrifty course, he does well to begin where 
Jacob did, when, an exile and a penniless wanderer, 
he lodged in Bethel, with a rock for his pillow and 
heaven for his canopy, and when he made that vow, 
'! Of all that thou shalt give me, Twill surely give 
the tenth unto thee." It is no miracle, but the 
ordinary process of providence, that makes this habit 
of returning a portion of God's gifts contribute to our 
wealth. And this process of providence challenges 
our observation as much as the miracle by which the 
widow's handful of meal and cruse of oil wasted not, 
according to the word of the Lord. 

A special beauty of this system is, that whatever 
it brings' into the Lord's treasury, it brings by means 
most purely voluntary. There is not even the com- 
pulsion of eloquent appeals to sympathy. The Lord 
loves a cheerful giver, and will have his conquests 
made with no forced supplies. He will have the 
energy of his cause sustained by the concurrence of 
willing hearts. For this reason, he frowns on all 
attempts to sustain his gospel in its purity by com- 
pulsory means. Those battles of the warrior which 
are with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, 
may well be sustained by supplies raised by force. 
Before them is the garden of Eden, and behind them 
a wilderness. But Zion's King seeks this as his espe- 
cial honor, that when his conquests shall be complete 



90 - LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

ami the world shall have welcomed his sceptre, it 
may be seen that all the supplies of his armies have 
come from : the spontaneous gifts and the loyal hearts 
of his people. He has a right, indeed, to make forced 
loans ; for in them he would only he drawing upon 
his own funds, since the silver and the gold, and the 
cattle upon a thousand hills, are his. And he does 
in many ways force an unwilling service from hearts 
and hands that intend it not. Yet his wisdom has 
appointed, respecting the carrying forth of the gospel 
to the benighted, that through your mercy they shall 
obtain mercy that thus faith shall come by hearing 
the preachers of your sending. He will have it ap- 
jpear in the grand result, that the very essence of his 
kingdom and its self-expansive power, consists in that 
love to God and man which has expression in gifts 
for the spread of salvation. And that mode of be- 
nevolent action most intimately harmonizes with his 
plans, which is most purely spontaneous on behalf of 
his people coworldng with him. 

Another desideratum in public finances is, that the 
supplies shall be steady and reliable. And were 
this plan generally adopted, there would be no need 
of the expenses of our evangelizing societies running 
beyond their income no need for extra and spas- 
modic .efforts to throw off a crushing debt ; for the 
income would be a steady stream, supplied by count- 
less overflowing springs. 

Another advantage of the rule is, that it has that 



EFFICIENCY OF THIS SYSTEM. 91 

in its own structure and use which disarms objec- 
tions. If one absolutely refuses tribute to Christ, 
and denies that he has any money-account to keep 
with him, he has indeed no use for it; but let any 
one admit his obligation to give alms of such things 
as he has, and he can give no valid reason why he 
should not do it in the way which this rule describes. 
If alms-giving be no part of your religion- if you 
think that your having been "bought with a price" 
confers no pecuniary obligations, you must be left to 
settle your accounts with the Iledeemer at the final 
reckoning. But those who think alms-giving as much 
a duty as prayer or honesty, have here a rule which 
God has given for its performance. It claims their 
adoption by divine authority, and by reason of its 
intrinsic excellence and manifold advantages. And 
any one who refuses to adopt it, may be asked to 
bring against it a reasonable objection. Is it, that 
it would bind you to do more than you are able ? 
The terms of the rule show the contrary. Is it, that 
your ability is small, and your gifts would be incon- 
siderable ? It was for just such cases that the rule 
was more especially made. Is it, that you cannot 
always be sure of having the money in hand at "the 
time? That is not needful. Is it, that you cannot 
so often judge of your ability ? You do as often judge 
of your ability, in graduating your ordinary eipendi 
tures. Do you say that many have gone well through 
life without such a rule ? Now, a command of (rod 



92 LAW OF BENEFICENCE 

which has slumbered for a thousand years is coming 
to life, and you will do well to heed it. 

Furthermore, this plan of finance exceeds all oth- 
ers in its enforcements. In these the great Contriver 
employs his infinite wisdom, and shows his control of 
the springs of our minds. He proposes an end to be 
accomplished upon ourselves by what we give to 
him ; and he asks our gifts, riot so much because he 
or his cause needs them, as that he may have them 
as proofs of our self-devotement to him. ' He comes, 
not so much to awaken our sympathies for the suffer- 
ing, as to constrain us by the love of Christ. When 
he calls us to beneficence, he speaks not so much of 
the sufferings of man, as of the mercies of Christ. 
He says, "Ye know the grace of pur Lord Jesus 
Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes 
he became poor." And by a substitution, -warranted 
by his having stood as surety for a dying world-^-his 
having come to seek and save the lost, and his hav- 
ing made the lost his own he says, "Inasmuch as 
ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have 
done it unto me," So he causes the wants of the 
world to plead with us out .of his own mouth, and 
to plead all that he has done for us, and all the 
claims which he has upon us. And the Whole is 
backed by eternal sanctions. He does not bind this 
law upon us with civil pains and penalties. If men 
prefer to set aside his claims, and snatch and hoard 
ail that he gives them, he holds his peace for the 



EFFICIENCY OF THIS SYSTEM. 93 

time. It may be, he lets the stream of his bounty 
flow on, and lets them pass with credit among onen, 
and without censure in the church. But in a com- 
ing day he will say, " Inasmuch as ye did it not to 
one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." 

This rule then commends itself to our adoption by 
its superior efficiency as a mode of financial action. 
It was evidently appointed by divine wisdom, not 
only because of its being best adapted to cultivate a 
benevolent character, but because best adapted to 
increase the amount given- in charity. 

It opens a way in which the poor can contribute a 
considerable amount. Indeed, there is no other way 
for a large class of Christians, many of whom are 
the excellent of the earth, the true nobility, to bear 
any considerable part in the most excellent of all 
enterprises. The amount which they can give at 
any one time, without the previous process of laying 
aside a little now and a little then, is so small, that 
they would be discouraged from attempting any 
thing. But let this rule be adopted in the church, 
and restored to its proper place, and secure a general 
concurrence in it, and you will vastly multiply the 
hearts and hands engaged to swell the general 
amount. The single deposits of each will be small : 
but even the poorest at the year's end will bring 
you a handsome donation. And the aggregate dona- 
tions of the, poor will' surpass all previous- expecta- 
Of those whose means are smallest, there are 



94. LAW OF -BENEFICENCE. 

some who, taught by an instinctive benevolence and 
sagacity, have adopted the substance of this rule as 
tlieir only means of procuring their share in the lux- 
ury of beneficence, and are now actually laying aside 
their penny at a time, to nurse it up to the pound, to 
be devoted to the cause of Christ. But while this is 
true of some, the greater part are discouraged and 
excluded, in our exclusion of God's appointed rule, 
which is their deed of partnership in the enterprise. 
A restoration of this rule would then bring at once 
a strong reinforcement to -the army for subduing this 
world to Christ. 

But the reinforcements would come, not alone from 
the poor. Let this rule be recovered from oblivion, 
and let "it come to be a universally admitted truth, 
that every Christian is bound to" obey it, as much as 
he is bound to keep, the Sabbath, and the .habits of 
a large portion of professed Christians will be revo- 
lutionized. 

But the greatest increase will be from the opera- 
tion of the rule on those who now sustain the bur- 
den of these enterprises. Let them come under a 
regular system, and from week to week set apart a 
portion "as God has prospered them," and they will 
soon find themselves giving more, with less of seem- 
ing sacrifice. They will come out at the year's end 
with much greater amounts deposited in the treasury 
of the Lord, and with their own funds not lessened 
by that increase. They will find their .beneficence, 



PRIMITIVE EXAMINES. 95 ''';-. 

as it has become a matter of more frequent recur- 
rence, and more constant business, to have become 
.also a matter of more substantial satisfaction ; -thus, 
more-will be done with more pleasure, and with more 
ability for doing it. . 

: Here then is a method by which, if the church -ia . 
willing to obey a simple and plain command of her 
Lord, a vast increase may be secured to the means of 
evangelizing the world. And tljis fact pleads with 
unlimited power, when we reflect to what rich ac- 
count all means can now be turned when we reflect 
that the whole world is one inviting field of mission- 
ary labor that Bibles will be received and used as 
fast as they can be .made and given that preachers 
will find a hearing in as great numbers as they can 
be sent that colporteurs might advantageously be 
increased a hundred-fold, and that Christian presses ' 
might find employment in unlimited numbers. This 
is the time to sow abundantly beside all waters, and 
if there is any principle' of action, that can put us. in 
possession of ten-fold the present incomes of our evan '".-. 
gelizing societies, we want it now. 

4. EXAMPLE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH.'" 

The example of the primitive church may instruc. 
us in this duty. The type of benevolence that ap- 
peared in the pentecostal revival, was nobly sustained 
in the church for several ages. The church first 
gathered at Jerusalem being scattered abroad, went 



06 LAW OF BENEFICENCE 

( 

everywhere preaching- the word .and kindling the 
fires of their own zeal and love ; and apostles testi- 
fied of the new churches reared in Gentile nations, 
that " their deep poverty abounded to the riches of 
their liberality," and that they extended their gifts 
even " beyond their power." Next to bringing their 
own minds into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 
their chief care was the conversion of others. 

The history of the first two centuries of Christi- 
anity abounds with remarkable facts, showing with 
what zeal and entireness of soul, the church went 
into the work of converting the world. Those who 
perilled their lives and suffered the loss of all things 
in preaching, were not the only ones who made sac- 
rifices for the spread of the gospel. Some spent all 
besides a bare support of themselves, to furnish the 
means of evangelizing others; those who had no 
property gave the avails of their labor ; and it is re- 
corded of one man that he sold himself as a slave to 
a heathen family, to get access to them for their con- 
version, and for years cheerfully endured the labor 
and condition of a slave till he succeeded with the 
whole family, and took hisjiberty from the gratitude 
of the converts. The same person, on a visit to 
Sparta, again entered himself as a slave in the fam- 
ily of the governor of Sparta and served two years, 
and again succeeded in his design. The fires of such 

c o 

a benevolence, burning wherever a company of Chris- 
tians was gathered, could not fail soon to overspread 



PRIMITIVE EXAMPLES. 97 

the world, and in the space of one generation most " 
of the nations then known to the civilized world, 
were more or less evangelized. And if such a tone 
of benevolent action could be ,now restored to the 
church, another generation would not pass before the 
earth would be "full of the knowledge and glory of 
Grod, as the waters, cover the sea." 

And their kindness to the" -poor was boundless. 
Christians felt as much bound to this as to' prayer, or 
to the hearing of the gospel. Contributions and act- 
;aal exertions for their relief, were made indispensable 
parts of Sabbath exercises. ,At the close of public 
worship, lists of the needy, the widows and orphans, 
were produced and considered, and additions were 
made from'time to time as new cases occurred ; and 
the wants of these were supplied from the funds 
gathered by free contributions. No heart-stirring 
appeals were needed to awake dormant sympathies. 
The spontaneous flowings of the fountains of their 
benevolence supplied every stream. There were lio 
hospitals for the poor and sick except of their creat- 
ing, and few of the heathen ever entered abodes of 
suffering on errands of mercy. The Christians sup- - 
ported not only their own needy, but bore the burden 
which hardness of heart in their heathen neighbors 
cast upon them ; and the zeal with which they 
entered into every labor of love is well-nigh incredir 
ble. Ladies of highest rank acted as nurses for the 
sick, exposing themselves to contagions, and devoting- 

liiiwof Benef. / 



98 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

their purse, their toil, their prayers, and their in 
struetions, to pour consolation into the- cells of ex- 
tremest wretchedness. It was a day when scenes of 
wretchedness specially abounded when the world 
was often visited by famines and pestilences, and 
the heathen had become shockingly -corrupt in mor- 
als, and desperate and reckless .under the fearful 
visitations of heaven ; and the miracles of Christian 
benevolence shone brighter through the daikne.ss, 
and contrasted strangely with the cold indifference 
of the heathen towards their nearest friends. For 
instance, in the time of Cyprian, the -plague came 
upon Carthage with fearful and protracted visitations. 
The heathen abandoned their sick and dying. -The 
highways were strewed with corpses which none 
dared to bury. But Christians faced every danger, 
and often sacrificed life in alleviating sufferings and 
burying th,e dead, whether of Christians or heathen. 
While, among the heathen, parents deserted their 
own children, and children trampled on unburied 
corpses of parents. 

But oiie of the greatest taxes on primitive benevo- 
lence was laid by persecution, which now and then 
went through the church like a tempest. No sooner 
did the report go abroad that a fellow-Christian was 
in a dungeon, than crowds of Christians came around 
the prison-doors begging admission, meekly bearing 
the insults of surly guards, and using every, means 
to procure the.prisoner's release. Some would beset 



PRIMITIVE EXAMPLES. 99 

the prison walls days and nights, praying for the de- 
liverance, or the triumphant deathvof the imprisoned 
martyrs. When any were doomed to waste their 
lives in toil in distant and unwholesome mines, con- 
tributions were sent for their relief, by the hands of 
those who undertook long journeys to convey the 
sympathies and offerings of the church. To show 
the temper .of the times, a party set out from Egypt 
in the depth of winter, to -relieve some brethren in 
the mines of Cilicia. They came to Cesarea, and 
there the heathen seized a part of them, put out their 
eyes, .and horribly mutilated them. But in spite of 
such dangers, such journeys were often performed. 
No floods of persecution could quench the desire to 
convey consolation to those suffering for Christ's sake. 
And those who lived to return and tell what they 
had seen of martyrs in the mines how they toiled, 
and bore their chains, and honored" their Redeemer, 
were loaded with many honors. V 

To supply resources for this great variety of press- 
ing calls for charity, there was the Sabbath contri 
bution, commenced by order of Paul, in which all, 
rich and poor, concurred. Then, in case -of great 
public calamities, the people held fasts, and gave to 
the church what they saved by abstinence from food. 
In pressing emergencies, the plate which the church 
had acquired in more prosperous days was melted 
down and sold. Others bound themselves to set 
apart a certain p'ortioh of their income ; others held 



100 LAW OF BENEFICENCE. 

periodical fasts, devoting the saving thereby to the 
church. Some wealthy individuals, when converted, 
sold their whole estates, and betook themselves to 
manual labor for their own support. Others man- 
aged their estates, devoting the whole income to the 
cause. '..-.". 

Indeed, so much did the first Christians excel in 
acts of charity, that these constituted their peculiar 
characteristic, and the wonder of the heathen world. 
If the church had any thing whereof to boast, it was 
this. This is illustrated by the well-known act of 
the deacon of the church at Home, in the time of 
the emperor Decius. The tyrant demanded .that 
the treasure of the church should be surrendered. 
The deacon required one day's, time to. gather it. 
In that time, he assembled all the blind, lame, sick, 
and poor, that were supported by the church, and 
then called in the emperor, and said, these are the 
treasures of the church ! In the time of Chrysostom, 
the church under his care had on its catalogue of 
sick and poor, three thousand regular beneficiaries, 
besides extraordinary applications every, day for, as- 
sistance. 

. Indeed, so glorious and impressive was the robe 
of Christian charity worn by the primitive church, 
that Julian. the apostate, seeking to effect in his da) 
a resurrection of the prostrate heathen institutions 
endeavored to put this robe upon paganism, expect- 
ing that it would, like the bones of Elisha, give life 



CONCLUSION. 101 

to the dead. Here is the ever-memorable testimony 
of that crafty and politic emperor : " Let .us consider 
that nothing has so much contributed to the progress 
of the superstition of Christians, as their charity to 
strangers. I think we ought to discharge this obli- 
gation ourselves. Establish hospitals in every place. 
For it would be a shame for us to abandon our poor, 
while the Jews have none, arid the impious Galile 
ans provide not only for their own poor, but also foi 



ours." 



CONCLUSION. 

Place, now, distinctly before the mind, what, if 
we have rightly read the New Testament, the Lord 
requires of youj be your property less or more. It 
is, that you shall now commence, if you have not 
already, a habit of setting apart a portion of your 
income on the Sabbath, or at other stated times, for. 
charitable uses,- regulating with a generous heart and 
a good conscience the amount appropriated by the 
ability which God shall give you. Knowing this to 
be a plain requirement of Christ, can you hesitate ? 
If you can, you are not able to say, " The love of 
Christ, constraineth us." Indeed, what right of choice 
have you in the case ? "Ye are not your own : ye 
are bought with a price," and are bound to " glorify 
God," not only with your money, but with "youi 
body and your spirit, which are his." " Ye are bought 
with a price" "not with corruptible things, as si] 



102 LAW OF BENEFICENCE 

ver and gold, but with, the precious "blood of Christ." 
Where Christ asks your silver, he has given his 
blood. Do you realize that he 'has home the curse 
for you, and snatched you from the gates of hell? 
And yet, have you no generous emotions when he 
asks for these gifts, in token of your love ? Do you 
forget the mercy of " our Lord Jesus Christ, who, 
though he was rich, yet for your sakes became poor, 
that ye through his poverty might be rich?" And 
now that through his poverty you are becoming rich, 
or think you. are, now that the riches of his grace 
begins to flow in upon your soul, and God is endow 
ing you with the wealth of the divine nature, and 
he comes to you in the person of his poor, and asks 
for a portion of his own gifts to be returned, have you 
a heart to deny him ? After all your hopes and pro- 
fessions, is this the real temper of your mind ? Look 
the thing in the face again. By becoming poor, he 
has made you rich ; and in his poverty, which pleads 
in the mouth of hi&poor, he asks you to return enough 
of the gifts which he has put into your hand, to serve 
as a substantial token of your grateful love. And 
have you no heart to give it ? "We ask you, 'then, 
just to realize what is the state of your heart. "We 
ask, how dwelleth the love of G-od 'in you? We 
ask you to realize with whom you are dealing, and 
to whom he will say, " Inasmuch as ye did it not to 
one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." 
Furthermore, this mode of consecrating our prop 



.CONCLUSION. - 10S 

erty to Christ was included in the terms of our oath 
of allegiance, or surrender to him. That surrender 
included all that we are and have. Any thing short 
of this would not fating us into covenant with God. 
And if we have really covenanted with him, we 
stand pledged by oath to make such a use of our 
property. And as far as we are coming short of this, 
are we not keeping hack a part when we had sworn 
to devote the whole ? And how does this differ from 
the sin of Ananias and Sapphira ? 

But you say, perhaps, that the great body of pro- 
fessed Christians, and those of reputable standing 
have gone through life without any such rule of ac 
tion, and why should more be required of you ? ' ' The 
times of this ignorance God winked at." A veil rest- 
ed upon the minds of most 'respecting this matter; 
but the views of the Christian world are in the pro- 
cess of a great change. As new enterprises have 
been thrown upon our hands, new light has come 
into .our minds. We now begin to see this thing as 
it is, and are now without the excuse which our fa- 
thers had. 'We are in a state of transition to posi- 
tions of purer light and more scriptural benevolence ; 
and soon the church will "look upon neglect of this 
rule as we now look upon preceding "ages, that for a 
thousand years gave scarcely a dollar for the conver- 
sion of heathen. We faust the time is not distant, 
when the professed Christian who has no habit and 
system of alms-giving, will be regarded in the church 



104. LAW OF -BENEFICENCE. 

as, the miser now-is in society; This living to one's 
self, and withholding from Christ, will be as odious 
as is now the trade of the swindler. 

But perhaps some will still say, -that they admit 
the obligation to practise a generous charity, but 
they hold that the gospel leaves every one to decide 
for himself how much he ought to give; and why 
not let each one decide as to the mode of giving ? 
Why insist so much on its being done in this particu- 
lar way ? You might say the same about the duty oi 
Sabbath-keeping. You admit the obligation to preach 
and hear and pray and praise ; but why insist on its 
being done on that ; particular day ? We could in 
both cases give many reasons. But this is enough, 
that God has commanded it ;. and the command to 
do this work of charity 'on the Sabbath, or at other 
stated times, is as explicit as the command to keep the 
Sabbath. Some individuals might devote as many 
hours to spiritual exercise^ if there were no Sabbath ; 
and some individual might give as much in charity, 
if there were no law requiring this stated appropria- 
tion of portions of income. But to make the matter 
sure with all, divine wisdom has made this appoint 
,ment , and who are we, that we set it aside? 



Z AC CHE US; 



OR, 



THE SCRIPTURAL FLAN 



BENEVOLENCE, 



BY REV. SAMUEL HARRIS, (&/<(-*-. f ( 

CON.WAY, MASS. ' / 

' - ^ , *';.-> i ' 

' t X O v* " 



And-Zaccheus stood and said unto the;Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of mj 
goods I give to the poor. LUKE 19: 8. - 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT ^SOCIE 

J50 NASSAU-STREET, N'EW YORK. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
PLAN PRESCRIBED IN THE BIBLE, --- 



CHAPTER II. 

, PRINCIPLES WHICH GUIDE IN REDUCING THE SCRIPTURAL 
PLAN TO PRACTICE, - - 13 

CHAPTER III. 

THE 'DUTY OF SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE INFERRED 
FROM THE NATURE AND MOTIVES OF PIETY, 19 

CHAPTER IY. 

SUPERIOR ^EFFICIENCY OF SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE IN 
PROVIDING *UNDS FOR BENEVOLENT ENTERPRISES, .25 

CHAPTER V. 

TENDENCY TO SECURE GOD'S BLESSING ON BUSINESS AND 
TO ENLARGE THE MEANS OF GIVING, 37 

CHAPTER VI. . - 
THE ANTIDOTE OF COVETOUSNESS,--- --.--- 49 

CHAPTER VII. 
ESSENTIAL TO THE HIGHEST SPIRITUAL ATTAINMENTS,' 61 

CHAPTER VIII. 
INCREASES THE SPIRITUAL POWER OF THE CHURCH, 71 

CHAPTER IX. 
PROMOTES HAPPINESS,--- ------ 74 



SCRIPTUKAL 

PLAN OF BENEVOLENCE, 



CHAPTER I. 

PLAN PRESCRIBED IN THE .BIBLE. , 

THOUGHTFUL readers cannot but observe the im 
portaiice ascribed in the Bible to acts of charity; 
the boldness with which the inquirer for salvation 
is commanded, "Sell that thou hast, and give to 
the podr ;" the preeminence in deadliness assigned to 
the love of money as " the root of all evil ;" the ear- 
nestness and frequency with which men are warned 
of its perils, and of the absolute incompatibility of 
serving God and mammon -; the elevation given to 
the standard of benevolence, "Let this mind be in 
you, which was also in Christ Jesus ;" and the vital 
connection everywhere implied between alms-giving 
and the highest attainments of piety, of spiritual 
power, and spiritual joy. They cannot but be star- 
tled, sometimes, with the apprehension that there is 
a strange contrast here between the Bible and the 
church ; that the faithful applying of scriptural truth 
on this point, might" make many a professed disciple 



6 SCRIPrURAL BENEVOLENCE 

go away, like the young ruler, sorrowful, or cry, as 
they did of old when Christ had been preaching on 
this very subject, " Who then can be saved ?" And 
they cannot but be justified in inferring that this very 
contrast between the church and the Bible is a promi- 
nent cause of embarrassment in our benevolent en- 
terprises ; of the prevailing worldliness of Christians ; 
the limited success of efforts for the conversion of 
souls; the fewness of those who. enter into the deep- 
est experience of the spiritual life ; and the absence 
of that rapidity of enlargement and energy of action 
which marked the apostolic church. 

But the Bible not only teaches the importance of 
charity, it lays down principles systematizing it. To 
secure its divinely appointed prominence in advanc- 
ing the enterprises^ the piety, the power, . and the 
blessedness o"f the church, it is necessary to under- 
stand and to practise the divinely appointed plan oi 

SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE. 

. .-" UPON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK LET EVERY 
ONE OF YOU LAY BY HIM IN STORE, AS GOD HATH PROS- 



PERED HIM." 



This requires that charitable appropriations be 
systematic. It requires some plan, deliberately and 
prayerfully adopted, assessing on the income a deter- 
minate proportion for charitable purposes: It forbids 
giving merely from impulse, as under the excitement, 
of an eloquent charity sermon, or the accidental sight 
of distress It forbids giving merely at random what 



PLAN PRESCRIBED. <: * ^ 

happens to be convenient. It transfers the control 
of charity from the capriciousness of sensibility and 
the parsimony of convenience, to the decisions of rea-- 
aon and conscience. It regulates impulse by princi- 
ple. It brings the whole subject into the closet, to 
bo determined by prayer and -deliberation, according 
to the rules of the Bible, in the fear of God, and the 
spirit of consecration to him. In carrying into effect 
the plan thus deliberately adopted, .charitable appipr 
priations will enter into the calculations as much as - 
the necessary expenditures on the person, the family, 
or the business ; they will be managed with as sys- 
tematic exactness as any branch of business ; they 
may with advantage be as regularly booked. A line 
written on a memorandum o his charities, kept by a 
systematic giver and found; after his death, suggests 
an important reason for keeping such a record : "I 
keep this memorandum lest I should think I give 
more than I do." 

They who obey the scriptural rule of benevolenbe, 
do not wait to be solicited, tike the impoverished 
but liberal Macedonians, they are " willing of them- 
selves." If a way of conveying their gifts is not 
,at hand, they seek one out, as Paul describes the 
Macedonians : " praying us with naiich entreaty that 
we Would receive the gift, and take upon us the fel- 
lowship of the ministering to the 'saints." Thus, ac- 
cording to the inspired plan, the urgent solicitation is 
not on the part of the agent of benevolence to draw 



8 - SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

charity from the giver, but on the givers' part to find 
the agent to receive and disburse their qharities. Let 
this system be adopted, and the funds of benevolent 
societies would flow in unsolicited, and the expense 
of collecting agencies would cease. 

The scriptural rule requires frequent and stated 
appropriations. " On the first day of the week, let 
every one lay by -him." If it is allowable some- 
times to depart from the letter of this law, the 
spirit of it must be regarded. Having adopted his 
plan of giving, the giver is required at frequent and 
stated times to, examine his income, assess on it the 
prescribed proportion, and set aside -the amount sa- 
cred to benevolence. His appropriations must be 
frequent, to keep pace with his earnings and with 
the constant calls of benevolence ; stated, that they 
'may not be forgotten. This is inconsistent with giv- 
ing a large sum, and then for a Jong time nothing, 
and with the intention of giving only or chiefly at 
death. 

The text cited requires that charities be propor- 
tionate to the income. In the laws regulating the 
Jewish tithes and offerings, God prescribed precisely 
what proportion should be given. This was prac 
ticable in a system of laws for a single agricultural 
people, among whom every family was entitled to 
an inalienable inheritance in the soil; but the gos- 
pel, designed for all nations and ages, could not with 
equity fix the precise proportion. And it fits the en- 



PLAN PRESCRIBED. 9 

tire. character of- the gospel free grace from God, 
free love from man to leave the decision of this 
point to the unconstrained love of those who have 
freely given all to Christ; for "God loveth a cheer- 

. ful giver." But the principle by which the pro- 
portion to be given is determined, is most explicitly 
stated. " Let every one lay by him in store, as God 
hath prospered him" Nothing can satisfy God's 
claim less than a consecration to benevolence of an 
amount proportioned to the prosperity God has giv- 
en. Do you think yourself benevolent because you 
give something much ? If you give less than "ac- 
cording as God hath prospered you," yours is but the 
benevolence of Ananias and Sapphira.' 

This principle of proportionate benevolence is re- 
peated in various forms in the Bible. " If any man 
minister, let him do it as of' the ability that God 
giveth." "As every man hath received the gift, 
even so minister the same one to another, as good 
stewards of the manifold grace of God." " As we 
have opportunity, let us do good unto all men." 
"I am debtor" to put forth benevolent efforts "as 
much as in me is." "Honor the Lord with the 

, 'first-fruits of all thine -'increase." There are three 
points in this requirement, of benevolence propor- 
tioned to the income. " . 

I. All must give. "Let every one" The gos- 
pel does not release the poor from giving. The 
smallest income can pay a proportion. Nothing 

8 



tO SCRJi'TURAL:BENEVOLENCE. 

( 

short of the tpta" cessation of God's gifts can exempt 
from the law, " As God hath prospered him." The 
Macedonian; church were praised for giving in " their 
deep. poverty." The story of the widow's two mites 
settles for ever the acceptableness to God of offerings 
from the popr r . .And one dpllar thus given, has 
often a moral power greater than a thousand. The 
benevolence of Louisa. Osborn the colored, domestic, 
who, from the wages of one dollar a week, paid 
twenty, dollars a year to educate a : youth in Geylon.- 
as it has been brought to light by the missionary 
who witnessed the unusual benefits of her donation 
to the .mission, has thrilled the hearts of American 
Christians. The widow's two mites, which were 
all her living,, lifted to the gaze of the universe and 
illuminated by the Saviour's commendation, have^ 
exerted and will exert a power which no mine of gold 
can equal as if a dew-drop, expending its whole; 
being to refresh one tiny flower, had been trans^ 
formed, as it exhaled to the skies, into a star, and 
fixed- in the brightness of the firmament to bless the 
creation for ever. . . 

2. Donations should increase with the increase of 
ability to give, " As God hath prospered -him." 
This requires the rich to give proportionally to theij 
increasing wealth, though, in order to do it, they 
must give thousands of dollars where they used ..to 
give one. And these great donations are not to be 
regarded as specially praiseworthy, mpr0 than small- 



PLAN PRESCRIBED. 11 

er .gifts: which cost as great sacrifice and are propor- 
tionally as much. In both cases the giver has but 
" done what it was his duty to do." 

3. The rich must give a larger proportion oj 
their income than the- poor. -A poor widow with a 
helpless family cannot give a tenth of her earnings 
, without taking bread from her children. Will, any 
. imagine that a man who has wealth, or even a com- 
petency, is required to give no larger a proportion 
of his income than. that widow?. A poor laborer 
may be subjected to more inconvenience by giving 
five dollars, than a man of wealth by giving five 
thousand. Hence, the greater a man's wealth, the 
larger must be the proportion, of income which he 
gives. Hence the propriety of a rule' adopted by 
Mr. N. R. Gobb, a merchant of Boston : to give from 
the outset one quarter of the net profits . of his busi- 
-ness ; should he ever be. worth $20,000, to give one 
half of 'the net profits; if worth $30,000, to give 
three quarters; and if ever worth $50,000, to give 
all the profits. This resolution he kept till his 
death, at the age of 36, when he had already acquired 
$50,000, and was giving -all his profits. 

Different individuals, who have aimed at system- 
atic benevolence, have come to different conclusions 
as to the proportion which they ought to give ; and, 
perhaps, each one to a correct conclusion, in his .par- 
ticular circumstances. Zaccheus gave half of 'his 
goods to the poor, besides restoring fourfold his unjust 



12 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

gains. The first converts at Jerusalem, to meet theix 
peculiar circumstances, sold their possessions and 
made distribution of the avails, as '.every man had 
need. Paul repeatedly intimates that he had suf- 
fered the -loss of all things. Others have adopted 
p]ans similar > in the main, to that of Mr. Cobb, al- 
ready cited. Others, after paying what has been 
needful for a most economical support, have given all 
their income. John Wesley is an example. " When 
his income was 30 a year, he lived on 28, and 
gave away 2 ; the next year his income was 60, 
and still living on 28, he had 32 to give. The 
fourth year raised his income to 120, and steadfast 
to his plan, the poor got 92." Others, again, have 
given a tenth of the gross amount of their receipts. 

Such is the scheme of Christian beneficence de- 
vised in heaven and enjoined by inspired wisdom. 
Let every man consider that in neglecting it, he sets 
at naught ;the authority and the wisdom of God. 
Men may deride it ; and so it is written of one 01 
our Lord's many discourses on the right use of prop- 
erty, " The Pharisees, ivho were covetous, heard these 
things., and they derided him " 



REDUCED TO PRACTICE. 13 

CHAPTER II. 

PRINCIPLES WHICH &UIDE IN REDUCING 
THE. SCRIPTURAL PLAN TO PRACTICE. 

WE now suppose that the child of God, convinced 
that the foregoing is the scriptural plan of benefi- 
cence, has retired to his closet solemnly to adopt this 
plan, -and to determine the details of its application 
to himself. We direct -his attention to three princi- 
ples which should guide him. 

1. The aim of all business- must be to glorify 
God. This aim must give simplicity and imity to 
the entire life. Property is to be sought, not as- the 
chief end, but. as -a means of doing good.- The Chris- 
tian is not to ask, " What part of my income shall I 
consecrate to God's service ?" By the very act of 
becoming a Christian, he consecrated ALL. to God's 
service in doing good. He has only to ask-what part 
he must devote to this particular way of -serving 
God charitable gifts in order that. his whole pro]^, 
erty may accomplish most for G.od's glory. He is 
to remembeiy that the same principle is to regulate 
every step in the conduct of business, every new en- 
terprise, every investment, every expenditure ; that 
he is not at liberty to appropriate a dollar in any 
way, except as he can see that by so appropriating 
it he can do most to glorify God. He is not to think 
of setting aside a certain proportion for God, and 



14 SCRIPTimAL BENEVOLENCE. 

ing what he pleases with the rest ; he is to devote 
all to God's service, and expend; invest, or give it, in 
such proportions as will effect mosf for that end. 

The law of systematic benevolence, therefore, does 
not forbid spending money on ourselves, educating 
children, laying aside something for the future. It 
does not forbid acquiring property ; we may make 
the five pounds, ten. We are even required so to do 
serving God in the act; "not slothful in business 
serving the Lord." But no act of acquiring or spend- 
ing money can be justified, unless it appears that by 
it most can be accomplished for God's glory. 

The Bible everywhere exhibits business as wholly 
subservient to this great end. "Whether ye eat, or 
drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of 
God." /'Seek ye 'first the kingdom of God.'" It 
teaches that Christians are stewards, having nothing 
but the talents which God has intrusted to them to 
be increased for him. The requirement, ." Sell that 
ye have and give alms," the similar direction given 
by Christ to the young ruler, cannot mean less than 
that all worldly business and possessions are to be 
entirely subservient to doing good. 

Benevolence, then, must be not only systematic; 
but systematizing, pervading aiid regulating the whole 
business How is it possible to be seeking first the 
kingdom of God, when, practically, the controlling 
aim of all the transactions of business is to make 
rflbney; when giving to the treasury of the Lord 



^REDUCED TO PRACTICE. 16 

is only occasional and secondary, seldom occupying 
the thoughts ; called forth, perhaps, only by solicita- 
tion ; trifling 1 , it may be, in amount ; and determined 
only by the impulse or convenience of the moment ? 
It is as if the steward of an estate' should devote its 
income to himself, making only an occasional and 
trifling gift to the family of the absent owner, nay, 
leaving its members to. suffer without caring for their 
wants. It' is reversing, the sentiment of the humble 
suppliant, " The dogs eat of the crumbs which fall 
from their master's table," and giving the crumbs to 
the master, "while the dogs eat at the table. 

In view of this principle, let the Christian decide 
what part of his income the promotion of God's glory 
and the advancement -of "his cause require him to ex- 
pend on himself and his family, what part to invest, 
what part to give. 

2. The Christian will recognize the duty of self- 
denial. Does he say, " I give all that is conven- 
ient?" This language has widely, different mean- 
ings on different lips. Some do not find it convenient 
to dispense with the most costly, or even the most 
hurtful luxuries. Some do : no : t find it convenient to 
give half as much in a year as they spend on a sin- 
gle article of luxury, or in the indulgence of .a single 
pernicious habit. The Bible does not say, "Do 
good as much as is convenient," but, " as much as 
in you is." The necessity ;of self-denial is too plainly 
revealed to allow the thought that the scriptural 



16 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

,1 
law of benevolence can "be obeyed -without it.. It is 

not only reiterated' in direct commands, but is woven 
into all the inspired teachings respecting the Chris- 
tian, life. The spirit that breathed on the cross is 
presented as the spirit which must breathe through 
the whole church. If the church is "the body oi 
Christ," Christ's heart beats within it, sending to the 
remotest limb -the thrpbbings of its own love. He 
who is not thus " in Christ," and imbued with his 
self-sacrificing love, is none of his . The C hristian, 
then, must make his appropriations to charity in the 
spirit which says, ""What things were gam to me, 
those I counted loss for Christ." 

Here, however, every Christian is left to the decis- 
ion of his own mind, guided by the rules and ani- 
mated by the love of Qhrist. The following fact 
shows Wesley's practice : " In 1775 -the Accountant- 
General sent him a copy of the excise order for the 
return of plate : ' Rev. sir, as the commissioners can- 
not doubt but you have plate for which you have 
hitherto neglected to make entry, etc.' -to which he 
wrote this memorable answer": 'Sir, I have two sil- , 
ver tea-spoons at London,, and two at Bristol. This 
is all the plate which I have at present, and I shall 
not buy any more while so many .around me want 
bread.' " Normand Smith of Hartford^ deeming his 
house, too expensive to be consistent with his rules of 
Christian benevolence, determined to sell it. An ac- 
count was published in the newspapers a few years 



REDUCED TO PRACTICE. 17 

since of a man who lived in a garret, on "bread and? 
water, that he might have the more to give. The 
writer, knows a minister and his wife who lived 

.,, , '--*. -V 

without many of the comforts of life, for the same 
object. Admit that some have gone to an extreme. 
But is not this nobler and more acceptable to (rod, 
than to go to the .extreme of indulging, self) without 
any denial 1 And where one goes to/an extreme in 
this direction, are there not thousands in the church- 
es who have never learned by experienceLwhat self- 
denial is? And which is, most like Him who had 
not where to lay his head ? As to the extent to 
which .self-denial must be carried, "let every man be 
fully persuaded in his own mind;" as to its necessity 
to full compliance with:the scriptural rule of benev- 
olence, let every one heed the Saviour's words, "If 
any man will come after me, let him deny himself." 
And it is to be supposed that the rich are not excused 
from the duty, nor debarred from the privilege, more 
than the poor. . 

- 3. The Christian will regard his charities, how- 
ever great, as the discharge of an obligation. The 
right to give or withhold at pleasure belongs to God 
alone. To his creatures God says, " Ye are not your 
own ;" and emphatically to his ransomed children, 
"Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price." 
The very beginning of the religious life is an act of 
entire consecration to God. The Christian's profes- 
sion is a constant proclamation to the world, that the 

Zachens 



18 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

claim of Him who bought him with his blood, covers 
Kis estate, his faculties, his all. "What hast thou 
that thou didst not receive?" Therefore, ransomed 
sinner, whatever, thou givest, thou dost but "render 
unto God the things that are God's." So Paul felt : 
"I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbari- 
ans." But why a debtor rather than a giver ? Be- 
cause he was not his own, but bought with a price. 
So are we all debtors to the ignorant, the wretched, 
and depraved of whatever nation ; and when we pay 
into the Lord's treasury for their benefit, must say, 
"Oh Lord our God, air this store that we have pre- 
pared cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own." 
Hence the terrible declaration of God not against 
those who gave nothing, but against -those who gave 
what was of inferior value "Ye have robbed God,'-, 



MOTIVES OF PIETY 



CHAPTER III. 

- ( - 

DUTY OF SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE INFER- 
RED FROM -THE NATURE AND MOTIVES OF 
..PIETY. ' 

PIETY begins with a change of heart. The great 
er part ( of life is usually occupied with the acquisi- 
tion and use of property: A change of heart, if reaV, 
cannot leave this principal part of life unaffected. 
The subject of it must be expected to show that he 
has found a more valued treasure in heaven by his 
new aims in getting, his new principles in using the 
treasures of this world. If, in. that chief part of life 
occupied with gaining aiid using property, the pro- 
fessed subject of a change consisting in placing the 
affections on things above, continue to show the same 
estimate of property as the great end to be sought, 
the same .eagerness in getting, the same tenacity in 
holding, the same self-seeking in using it, need it 
be surprising that his worldly competitors doubt the 
reality of tlje change? Must hot Christ repel such 
professors" With his own searching question, "What 
do ye more than others?". There is nothing less 
than absurdity in the idea of a change, in which the 
man becomes " a hew creature in Christ," in which 
''old things- are passed away, behold, all things are 
become new," which yet does hot carry a hew spirit 
through the business and consecrate the property as 



20 SCEIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

well as the heart to God rin which the theory is 
all for the glory of God ; ' the practice, all for making 
money. 

Religion is love. And love is active. It is as' nat- 
ural for love 'to act beneficently, as for a fountain to 
flow, or a star to shine ; and its action is ungrudging, 
unstinted, delighting in toil 'for the, loved .object. 
Witness, for instance, the toils of parental love. 
Can love to God and mail be the very essence of the 
character, while beneficent efforts are left to hazard, 
crowded into the by-corners" of life, supplied by chip- 
pings and remnants? Can love control the heart, 
and not control the action of the life.?. 

Christians are laborers together -with God. God 
is always giving : if we labor with him> we must la- 
bor in his work; we must give. God is love ; if we 
labor with him, we must labor in the work of love. 
God would form. us into his likeness; to this end., -we 
are no sooner brought into his kingdom, than we are- 
put to doing his work. In revealing his will by in- 
spired men, in the conversion of every soul, in the 
whole work of. spreading the gospel through the 
world, we discover this sublime partnership in labor 
between God and his children. 

Behold, then, believer, your sublime position, work- 
. ing with God in delivering 4he world from ruin. To 
reclaim men to holiness is God's great work ; to it 
he has moulded his plans, and for it ordered his prov- 
idence, since time began. May you be a laborer with 



MOTIVES OF PIETY. 21 

God, and make that secondary which, lie regards as 
first ; pursue without plan, energy, or steadfastness, 
the object which he seeks with a steadfastness which 
knows no abatement, a zeal which spares no sacri- 
fice, an outpouring of treasure which arithmetic can- 
not calculate? A laborer with God, and yet that 
object to which with him the destiny of nations, and 
the movements of heavenly hosts are subordinate, be 
with you secondary to money-getting, to furniture, 
equipage a mere appendix to business? Let the 
great fact possess your soul with the fulness which 
its reality demands, that you are a laborer together 
with God, and you will lose sight of self in the'great- 
ness of man's salvation, and instead of beneficence 
being an appendix to business, business itself will 
become but a means of beneficence, 

The cross of Christ urges to systematic benevo- 
lence. ," Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your-sakes 
he became poor, that ye through his poverty might 
be rich." This is one of the most touching appeals 
to Christ's- sufferings. Yet Paul wrote it expressly 
as a motive for taking up a charitable collection at 
Corinth. This beautiful sentiment in such a con- 
nection may seem sadly out of place to those who . 
are wont to regard a charitable collection as an an- 
noyance; but it shows the apostolic view of the 
connection of 'this duty with all that is sublime and 
affecting in the cross ;of Christ. 



22 SCBIPTTJRAL BENEVOLENCE. 

The. peculiar rnqtivs, of Christianity is expressed 
iii ^he-vEiffecting wordl so often on the lips of Jesus;* 
<; For my?, sake." , "Blessed are ye when men shall 

' ' ' - , JF,/ " 

revile; you, and perse|ute you, for my. sake" -V hated 
of all men for my sake" -" hath left houses and 
lands for my sake" "loseth his life for my sake. !J 
He presents this motive as; effectual, to induce the 
greatest sacrificeSi, even of property.and life. And it 
would seem that a sinner, pardoned through Christ's 
blood, could not, for very shame, lift his eye .to meet 
the melting look of his dying Saviour, if he felt not 
the overcoming power of that, appeal if he could 
net. like the apostle, say, "I take; pleasure in infirm- 
ities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in 
distresses, for Chat's sake." . " What things were 
gain to me, those I count loss for Christ," 

In a world so mtengely selfish, it was needful that 
tiis cross of the divine Redeemer, sacrificing himself 
to save transgressors, should stand in the centre of 
the plan of salvation : the first qhject, which greets 
the eye of the convert, and the last which cheers the 
dying saint ; the source of the Christian's hope and 
strength through all his warfare^ his joy on earth, 
aiuLthe anticipated theme of his everlasting song; 
that the great lesson of self-denying, all-consecrating 
benevolence may always he before the view that 
with every look at the bleeding Author of salvation, 
may fall on the soul, with an eloquence too deep for 
words, the admonition, " Forasmuch as Christ, hath 



MOTIVES- OK PIETY. j$ 

suffered for u,s in the flegh; ?y ,arm r yourselves likewise 
with; the same mind ;"' " he thai; saith he abideth in 

.'<- 

Christ, ought; himself also 80^ walk^p-as he 

walked."' ; - :fH'*-V """"' _; v 

If God himself were in bur circumstances, hp\y ' 
would he measure his efforts for the good of men ? 
Receive the answer in. the conduct of Christ, " God 
manifest in the flesh." He would sacrifice his riches 
and lay aside his glory; he would consume, all the 
energies; of his earthly existence ; he would lay down 
his mortal life; to do them good. The-first promise of 
the arch-deceiver was, "Ye shall he as gods" ^ye 
shall "become so by gratifying self. Christ has uttered 
the same, promise, "-Ye shall be partakers of the di- 
vine nature ;" but ye shall become so by denying self. 
" Gratify self, get, and ye. shall be as gods,"'is Sa- 
tan's lie. " Deny self, give, and ye shall be partak- 
ers of the divine nature," is Christ's truth. Satan,; 
has blinded mankind by this lie, so that they l6ok 
for bliss and exaltation* only by getting ; Christ over- 
turns this whole scheme, and teaches to find godlike 
bliss and exaltation by giving. This is godlike in 
man, to sacrifice self for the good of others. That 
was the highest elevation of human nature when it 
was lifted on the crgss in the bipod of its own agony 
for man's redemption ; then human nature was ex- 
alted to participate in the sublimest of all the dis- 
plays of God's glory. And there is no elevation of 
man to the godlike, except as he is elevated to the 



24 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

spirit of the cross. Who then can imagine that he 
has been made by regeneration a partaker of the 
divine nature, if he does not systematically devote 
of his choicest treasures, as God hath prospered him, 
for the good of men. And how little even that gift 
appears in the light of the cross |;how little in con- 
trast with the offerings of many who have laid down 
their lives for Christ's sake ! 

Thus systematic benevolence, instead of being an 
isolated and uninteresting topic, is seen to be a duty 
based on the very nature of piety, and enforced by its 
most affecting motives. 



SUPERIOR EFFICIENCY. 25 



CHAPTER IV; 

SUPERIOR EFFICIENCY OF 'SYSTEMATIC BE. 
NEVOLENCE IN PROVIDING- FUNDS FOE 
BENEVOLENT ENTERPRISES. 

SYSTEM qhvays promotes efficiency. What would 
become of a man's worldly business, if lie managed 
it without system, never executing a plan or making 
an investment till solicited, and abandoning labor to 
the control of impulse or convenience ? And can he 
hope for any better results from a like disregard of 
system as a steward of God? From sucliilack of 
order, what but embarrassment and failure can result 
to the enterprises of benevolence ? And what shall 
we say of those professors of Christ's religion who 
show so thorough an understanding of the necessity . 
of system in worldly business, so utter a neglect of 
it in their contributions to benevolence : who are full 
of forethought and anxious calculation to realize the 
utmost of 'worldly acquisition; deliberate and far- 
sighted in planning, cautious in executing, lynx-eyed 
to discern an opportunity of gain, exact to the last 
fraction in their accounts, but heedless and planless 
in all they do for charity? 'Verily, "the children oi 
this world are wiser in their generation than the 
children of light;" but "the- children of light" -show 
no lack of that wisdom," till they come to use 
' rty for the benefit of others than themselves 

:" 9 



26 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

Systematic benevolence will usually ( dispose the 
giver to increase his contributions. If a man gives 
without system, lie will commonly give too little. 
Under the hallowed influences of the closet, let him 
estimate the claims of a world lying in wickedness, 
and the means of benevolence with which God has 
blessed him ; let him ponder what amount of charity 
would be acceptable to Grod.and is demanded by the 
love of Christ ; and it will be strange if he is not con- 
vinced that he ought to increase his donations, 

It is more convenient to set apart money for char- 
ity in frequent instalments. He who neglects to pro- 
vide for his charities until the call for them is made, 
may find it inconvenient or impossible to raise at the 
time the one dollar, or the hundred dollars, or what- 
ever summit is his duty to give. But had he set 
apart a proportion from his earnings as they were 
received, he would, not be incommoded by giving the 
bum required. Persons even in the most moderate 
circumstances, adopting the practice of systematic 
benevolence, are often surprised at the amount they 
can give without serious inconvenience. 

System will enlarge the amount of money expend 
ed in beneficence by being a barrier against the 
temptations of selfishness. Many a man means to 
answer the calls of charity, but does not weekly or 
monthly set apart a specific sum as sacred to the 
Lord. Hence, when he sees some tempting article 
of luxury, having by him unappropriated the money 



SUPERIOR EFFICIENCY. 27 

which should have been the Lord's, he buys it; 
when some tempting, though perhaps hazardous in- 
vestment presents, having the money by him unap- 
propriated,^ invests it. Thus, through lack of sys- 
tem, many sums in the purses even of the benevo- 
lent are turned aside from the Lord's treasury. Self- 
interest has the advantage in being beforehand and 
having constant access to our Jhearts. Systematic 
charity helps to put the interest of Christ's cause on 
an equal footing. 

System prevents yielding to second thoughts and 
withholding a purposed charity. Many a man, under 
the influence of a charity sermon, or of the teachings 
of conscience, or of the sight of distress, purposes in 
his heart to give .a certain amount. As the subject 
first strikes his unbiassed judgment, such an amount' 
seems not too large. for the urgency of the case and 
his own means. But selfishness steps in and argues 
the point ; it presents to the man his various wants, 
and pretty soon convinces him that the purposed sum 
is quite too much ; then; forgetting Paul's injunction, 
"Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, 
so let him give," he gives little or nothing. But let 
a man have a fixed plan,, in accordance with which 
he consecrate^ a fixed proportion to the Lord as reg- 
ularly as he meets his notes when they fall due, or 
pays the expenses of his family, and the matter is 
settled. Here is a breastwork by God's grace im- 
pregnable against all the pleading of selfishness. , > 



28 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE, 

System increases the contributions by making it 
more pleasant to give. "When a man has no sys- 
tem of charity, efery call to give is unprovided for : 
if he comply, he must' give from money which he 
was expecting to spend otherwise ;' it is so much 
taken from what he had reckoned his own; it seems 
so much dead loss. Hence, every donation chafes 
him; he is tempted to make it .as small as possible ; 
giving comes to be surrounded in his mind with un- 
pleasant associations ; he often looks' back with re- 
gret, when he gives any thing, that he gave so much ; 
and the call of charity becomes repulsive. But when 
he systematizes his charities and at stated times sei& 
apart to benevolence a sum proportioned to his in- 
come, he no longer reckons that consecrated money as 
his own, or depends on it for the supply of any want 
When the call of charity is heard, he is not obliged to 
take from what he had reckoned his own, but from 
what was already consecrated to the Lord. He can 
give both largely and cheerfully, and with s no draw- 
back from the blessedness of doing good. " : 

.- System removes many common excuses of selfish- 
ness for "withholding more than is meet:" "I have 
lately given to another cause;" "I give as much 
as convenient;" "I have so many expenses;" "1 
give as much as others." 

System increases the amount of charities lay form- 
.ing habits of .benevolence. From earliest life, habits 
sf gaining and using' money for 'self have been 



SUPERIOR EFFICIENCY., 29 

strengthening, and these consolidated habits have 
never been overcome. Even in the church the cov- 
etous use of property is too generally the habit, the 
benevolent use of it only an occasional act. And it 
is but dimly apprehended that the gospel requires it 
to be otherwise. Hence, the gifts of the church are 
exceedingly stinted. To remedy this evil, it is neces- 
sary to make the beneficent use of property the habit 
of the Christian'SsUfei and thus turn to the advantage 

* "' "" "*. . ' - ',^-si-. ; " - 

of Christ's caiiselt; Eat law of habit which has been all 
against it. To; do this, there must be systematic be- 
nevolence. It were the extreme of folly to think of 
subduing these consolidated habits by desultory ef- 
forts to send up now and then a; platoon of light 
troops against these most massive and well-appointed 
fortifications of selfishness. We must approach them 
by well-concerted, persevering siege, till they fall into 
our hands. and the guns are turned against the foe. 
Mere occasional, unsystematized donations scarcely 
make a perceptible impression in subduing selfish and 
forming benevolent habits. But when beneficence, 
is systematized, the. habit of doing good is formed, it 
moulds the whole life, it becomes second nature, and 
shows in all its results its efficacious vigor. . 

These considerations show the duty of Christian 
parents, to train their children to the habit of system- - 
atically making a benevolent use of money. 

One 'of .the greatest difficulties in the way of ob-A 
tabling an increase of funds, is found in another influx 



30 " SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE 

ence of this same law of habit. Of those who con- 
tribute regularly to. particular causes, and thus have 
made an approach to system, a large portion are in 
the habit of giving from year to year about the Same 
sum. The same twenty -five cents, the samo dollar, 
or five dollars, stands from year to year^ against their 
names. The wants of benevolent enterprises in- 
crease, the property of the giver increases, but the 
contribution is stereotyped. The attempt to increase 
this amount breaks up their settled habits of thought 
and action. They have never thought that perhaps 
Christ requires a revision of their whole plan of be 
nevolence. The adoption of the divine plan of fre- 
quent and proportionate appropriations would remove 
this difficulty. '.-''.' 

It must be added, that systematic benevolence- may 
be expected by God's blessing to increase the giver's 
means of usefulness. But this thought, will be re- 
served for a more extended examination in another 
chapter. - 

In these various ways the scriptural system increas- 
es the funds of benevolence. Were it universally 
adopted by the churches, nothing but the experiment 
would show how immense would be the resulting 
increase. Without expense of collecting agencies,, 
thousands in the churches who now give nothing, 
would begin to give ; and a permanent and growing 
increase would, be realized af, once from those who 
have given occasionally. Then would the channels 



SUPERIOR-EFFiCEINeY. 3] 

of benevolence be, like "the river of God whidh is 
full of water/' and the waters :of life 'issuing from 
the sanctuary with their healing power, would flow 
as the prophet saw in vision, ever swelling to the 
ends of the earth. >; ' 

The following facts confirm the argument of thi_s 
chapter. In 1844, Uev. Dr. Baird received, in two 
payments, thirty-eight dollars for some benevolent 
cause, from "one of the poor disciples of Jesus;" in 
acknowledging which he says, "The donor of it 
commenced giving, in a strictly systematic manner, 
the" tenth part of all the money which he earned 
from the time of his conversion, and through God's, 
blessing he has been enabled to give -sums from time 
to time, to many, if not all the great enterprises foi 
building up the kingdom of our Lord, varying from 
five to twenty-five dollars." 

There is a farmer in one of the retired mountain 
towns of Massachusetts, who began business on his 
farm in 1818, being six hundred dollars in debt. He 
began with the determination to pay the debt in six 
years, in equal instalments, and to give all his net 
income, if any remained, above those instalments. 
The income of the first year, however, was expended 
in purchasing stock and other necessaries for his farm. 
In the six next years he paid off the debt, and hav- 
ing abandoned the intention of ever being any richer, 
he has ever since given his entire income, after sup- 
porting his family and thoroughly educating.-his six 



32 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE.. 

children. . During all this period he has lived with 
the strictest economy, and every thing pertaining to | 
4is house, table, dress, and equipage has been in .the \ 
most simple style ; and though he has. twice been a ii 
member of the state senate, he conscientiously re . ' 
tains this simplicity in his mode of life. The farm 
is rocky and -remote from the village, and his whole 
property, real and personal, would not exceed in 
value three thousand dollars. Yet sometimes he has 
been enabled to give from $200 to $300 in a year. . 
Let it be further considered in, this connection, 
that some feasible plan of enlarging the funds of 
benevolence must be adopted, in order to realize the 
hopes of the churches from their missionary enter- 
prises. This is apparent from the difficulty of sus- 
taining these enterprises on their present scale. This ' . 
deficiency is not owing to a want of means in the 
church. There is money in profusion for railroads, 
manufactories, any. enterprise which promises a re 
turn to self. But where is the money for the Lord ? 
.'?The great current of Christian property isas yet 
undiverted from its worldly channel. The scanty 
rills of charity which at present water the garden 
of the Lord, and the ingenuity and. effort employed 
to bring them there, compared with the almost 
andimmished tide of selfish expenditure which still 
holds on its original course, remind one of the, slen- 
der rivulets which the inhabitants of the "East raise 
from & river by mechanical force, to water their 



SUPERIOR EFFICIENCY. . 33 

t 

thirsty gardens ; the mighty current meanwhile, 
without exhibiting . any sensible diminution of its 
waters, sweeping on in its ample and ancient bed." 

The aggregate o v f gifts from its members to the 
church was probably larger in the times of its great 
est corruption than now. "When it was believed that 
salvation might be .bought by charity, wealth from 
the poor and the rich was lavished on- churches and 
monasteries. But as, in the advance of the Refor- 
mation, .charities with this motive have ceased, the 
churches have failed adequately to bring in the gifts 
of gratitude and love in their stead. It should make 
the ears of him that heareth it to tingle, that in this 
boasted age of progress, this nineteenth century, less 
is probably bestowed in .charity by the Protestant 
churches to spread the true gospel .through the world, 
than 'was given in the darkest ages to heap up the 
treasures of the church of Rome that the_ love of 
Christ constrains to less valuable gifts than the arts 
and deceptions of a corrupt priesthood. " , 

But the church is aiming at the conversion of the, 
world. It is plain as sunlight that the world cannot 
be supplied with the means of grace without an 
immense enlargement of these operations. It was 
this contrast bejtween the greatness of the enterprise 
which- Christians profess to prosecute, and the little- 
ness of the means which theydevote to it, that wrung 
from the godly Abeel.the exclamation respecting our 
.missionary work. "If the great God could despise 

ZacTieufl, 



34 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

his creatures, it would be despicable in his sight." 
There must be some way devised of realizing such 
enlargement,- if - the world is to be converted. Nor 
is the expectation of realizing it vain. The scrip- 
tural system of benevolence, generally adopted, would 
realize it without embarrassment to the church. 

Let it also be considered', that when God by his 
providence proclaims, " Behold, I have set before you 
an open door," "he openeth, and no man shutteth' 1 
Then, if his church will enter, no obstacles or opposi- 
tion can prevent her triumph. But if 'his people 
will riot enter; presently the door is shut ; and " he 
shutteth,. and no man openeth." Ages may pass be- 
fore, in the revolving cyclessof his providence, he will 
open it again. And when thus shut, the costliest 
labors of his church are labors where God is not. 
One day God opens Canaan to the Israelites and 
urges them to go up, assuring them that the Anaks 
and the cities walled and great shall not retard them. 
They will not go. Next day they are all "eagerness 
to go, but the door is shut ; the pillar of cloud 
- moves not they go up only to perish before their 
foes. All history demonstrates this principle- de- 
monstrates, that as we must follow God's movements 
in the circling seasons, would we reap in harvest ; so, 
in the enterprises of benevolence, we must not fall 
behind the workings of his providence, would we 
achieve success. When God in his own spring-lime." 
drives the ploughshare through the nations, as with 



SUPERIOR EFFICIENCY. 35 

such startling energy he of latie has done, then must 
his people cast in the .seed of truth; lest, neglecting 
it, they be compelled to fruitless toil till another 
spring-time returns. And when the time is come to 
set the fore-front of liberty and.. Christianity face tc 
face with the hoary forms of Asiatic despotism and 
idolatry when God reveals from the bowels of the 
Dearth the treasure which he had kept hid for this 
very juncture, and calls a population together from 
every land, and a nation is born in a day then must 
his church bind the new-born state with the sweet 
influences of religion, and guide it to the advance- 
ment of piety in the earth, or it will lift its young 
and giant energies to smite her. G od's providence 
never stands still. His church must move with it, 
if she ^ would move effectively if even she would 
avoid disaster. Hence, the necessity of adopting 
- some mode of increasing promptly and efficiently the 
contributions of the church, so as to improve at once 
the precious opportunities which God opens. 

It only remains to add, that the prophecies foretell 
that, in accomplishing the renovation of the world, 
an increase of appropriations to, God's treasury, like 
what has been urged, will take place. " The daugh- 
ter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; the rich 
among the people shall entreat thy favor." "The 
wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gath- 
ered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great 
abundance. In that day shall there be upon tho 



36 . SCRIPTURAL BBNEYOLENCfi. 

bells of the horses, HOLINESS TO THE LORD." " Sure- 
ly the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tar- 
shish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silvej 
and their gold with them, to the Holy One of Israel.' 1 
'I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all na- 
tions shall come. The silver is mine, and the, gold 
is mine, saith the Lord." Psalm 45 : 12 ; Zechariah 
14 : 14, 20 ; Isaiah 60 : 9 ; Haggai.2 : 7, 8. 

Thus the necessities of benevolent societies, the 
claims of a ruined world, the indications of Provi- 
dence, and the predictions of the Bible, unite in de- 
manding a great increase of benevolent contributions. 
These contributions, as now usually conducted, war- 
rant no hope of realizing this increase. But the 
general adoption of the scriptural plan of frequent, 
systematic, and proportionate charities, will easily 
meet the demand. 



ENLARGES MEANS OF GIVING. 37 



CHAPTER V. 

OF SYSTEMATIC- BENEVOLENCE 
SECURE GOD'S BLESSING ON.BUSINESS, 
AND TO ENLARGE THE M;EANS OF -GIVING. 

THIS is a subject -of "difficulty, yet of importance. 
There is danger of extravagant theories on the one 
hand, and on the other, of an unbelief which,, shuts God 
out oC the daily business, and practically denies 1 that 
" godliness has the promise of the life that now is." 

It is not to be supposed that systematic benevo : 
lence will insure wealth. "Wealth is, in God's judg- 
ment, too cheap a gift to be made the reward of his 
servants. . '-'._ : > / 

" Wealth on the vilest often is bestowed, '', '' = 

To showlts vileness in the sight of God," - ,, 

Multiplied as are God's warnings of the dangers 
attending wealth and the love of it, and his exhqrta- 
tions to set the affections above, it would be prepos- 
terous to suppose that he offers wealth as the reward 
of obedience the gratification of cupidity as the re- 
ward for Denying it. And he whose heart is on a 
better portion, whose longings for God and holiness 
forbid his finding satisfaction with any thing less 
than being with God and like him, would feel it the 
bitterest mockery to be turned off with the promise 
of riches as his reward. - 

But there are various ways in ivhich systematic 



38 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

beneficence tends to promote prosperity. It promotes 
industry, energy, and enterprise. The man has 
placed before himself a lofty object, suited to draw 
.put all his energies. Henceforth he is no trifler, but 
an earnest man, sharing in the very sentiments of 
earth's purest and greatest ones. The grand idea of 
toiling to rescue the world from sin never mastered 
a man's soul without enlarging it, without stimulat- 
ing all his faculties to unprecedented vigor,- unfolding 
resources not imagined to be in him, and producing a 
concentration and perseverance of action, which can- 
not fail of realizing great results. An account, was 
published some years ago of two shoemakers whose 
hearts had begun to glow with zeal for the salva- 
tion of men. The elder proposed to tlie younger to fit 
himself to preach, promising to support him by his 
labor. The proposal was accepted ; the promise was 
kept. The sublime purpose which had mastered that 
man's soul, and which surrounded his humble shop 
with- a grandeur that never ennobled worldly, great- 
ness, gave him an energy and industry which enabled 
him to educate his companion, and to sustain him as 
he went out to preach to the destitute. "When Chris- 
tendom shall be full of missionary merchants/farmers, 
and mechanics, plying their business ^with the sub- 
lime aim of saving mankind from sin, no doubt it 
will be full pf energy and industry unsurpassed. 

Nor does the practice of scriptural beneficence 
stimulate the active powers alone. It promotes so 



ENLARGES MEANS OP GIVING-. 39 

briety and economy. With an object so glorious in 
full possession of his soul, the man will have no time 
nor money for gratifying either vicious or luxurious 
flesires. What others waste on dress, delicacies, 
equipage, and show, he will save for the Lord. He . 
finds, in advancing the cause to which .he is wedded, 
a gratification, compared with - which the daintiest 
gratifications of selfishness are insipid. 
, Such a course attracts the favor of the good, wins 
their, confidence', and if the man be poor, or a youth- 
ful beginner, their friendship gains him employment 
and otherwise promotes his interests. Besides, be- 
ing thrown into company with such, he avoids the 
temptations of evil associates. 

The habits of fidelity, to his trust, of watchfulness, 
system, and exactness, which systematic benevolence 
forms, are the very -habits to win for a young man 
respect, employment, and friends, and to lead to a 
judicious management of business through life. 

Systematic benevolence tends -to restrain from 
hazardous 'adventures. In prosperous times, when 
business is brisk and its returns speedy and large, 
men become discontented with slow and steady gains ; 
they " make haste to be rich " and "fall into a snare ;" 
they become inflated with a rash confidence ; they 
rush into hazardous and ruinous adventures and 
speculations ; or the ostentatious desire of displaying 
a large 'business, tempts to an enlargement beyond 
their means, and to consequent ruin. But when a 



40 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

man has consecrated his business and its gains to the 
Lord, according to the scriptural law of benevolence, 
the feverish haste to be rich, abates, and he is less 
tempted to dangerous speculations. Accustomed to 
do business with a sense of constant dependence on 
God, he is not puffed up with rash confidence by 
temporary prosperity. Accustomed to determine 
every enterprise with prayerful seeking God's will, 
and to regard property as sacred to his service, he 
will not thoughtlessly risk the Lord's money in. haz- 
ardous adventures. Absorbed with the grand desire 
of aiding Christ's cause, he will be in little danger d 
ostentatious but unsafe expansion. Thus, " he that 
considereth the poor, shall be blessed upon the earth ;" 
but " he that hasteth to be rich, considereth not that 
poverty shall come upon him." " . - - 

It may be added that benevolence, in an impor- 
tant sense, identifies the giver ivith Christ's inter- 
ests, and therefore may naturally be expected to se- 
cure Christ' s blessing. The Saviour says, ' ' Inasmuch 
as, ye have done it to /one of the least of these my 
brethren, ye have done it unto me." He receives 
into his own bosom every favor to his church. Nor 
is there any surer ground of expecting the continued 
prosperity of an individual, a church, or a nation, than 
that by their abundant efforts for Christ's kingdom, 
they have identified themselves with his. cause, and 
are likely to be carried on in its triumphs. The very 
beast of which it was said, " The Lord hath need 



ENLARGES MEANS OF GIVIN&. 41 

of him," had his way strewed with palms and gar- 
ments, as it bore the Saviour to Jerusalem; The in- 
dividual or the community that gives abundantly to 
advance religion, is-the humble instrument of be'aring 
the. Saviour onward ,in his triumph. Of such it may 
reverently be said, " The Lord hath need of them ;" 
and it may reasonably be expected that their way 
will be made prosperous before them. 

In -these several ways compliance with the scrip- 
tural law of benevolence may tend to temporal pros- 
perity. There may be other ways known only to 
Him who holds all the invisible lines of influence in 
his hand. 

If now we open the Bible, we find it full of prom- 
ises- of temporal blessings to tlie benevolent. A few 
must serve a,, specimens of the many. " Thou shalt 
surely give, thy poor brother, and thy heart shall 
not be grieved when thou givest unto him, ; because 
that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless 
thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest 
thy hand unto." Deut. 15 : 10. " He. that- giveth. 
to the poor shall not lack." Prov. 28 : 27. " Honor 
the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits 
of all thine increase ;. so shall thy barns be filled with 
plenty,, and thy presses shall burst out with new 
wine" Prov. 3 : 9. "The liberal soul shall be 
made fat; and he that watereth' shall be watered 
also himself." Prov. 11 : 25. : "Seek ye first the 
kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added 

10 



42 ' SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

unto you." 'Matt. 6 : 33. "Give, and it shall be 
given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and 
shaken together, and running over, shall men give 
into your bosom." Luke 6 : 38., And in urging the 
Corinthians to give, Paul said, ," He which soweth 
sparingly, shall reap also sparingly ; and he which 
soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully." 2 
Cor. 9 : 6.*- To these special promises the benevolent 
are entitled. Resting on them, they may give with 
the expectation that the Lord will follow them with 
his blessing and protection. They will not fear want 
while they can hear God saying, " Trust in the Lord 
and do good, and verily thou shalt be fed. " The same 
Being who made the Bible, orders the events of prov- 
idence ; and by what he does in the latter, he will 
not contradict what he says in the former. The prin- 
ciples of the Bible fit into all the windings of provi- 
dence, like a key to all the wards of a lock for which 
it was made. Hence, however obscure the plan of 
Providence, and however uncertain what shall.be on 
the morrow, he that conducts his business in con- 
formity to all the rules of the Bible, may be sure that 
he has found the track of God's goings in, the world, 
and that, if he continue to follow it step by step, it 
will guide him in the way of- the divine blessing. 

* See also Matt. 6 : 3, 4 ; Psa. 37 : 3 ; Prov. 11 : 24; 19:17, 
22:9; 25:21; 24:11, 12; 13:7; Psa. 41:1, 2, 3; 112:5, 
g, 9 ; Eccl. 11 : 1 ; Isa. 32 : 8 ; 58 : 6-11 ; Mai. 3 : 9-12 ; Dan 
4:27; 2 Cor. 9: 6, 7, 8, 11. 



ENLARGES MEANS OF GIVING. f 43 

It will be seen from the foregoing reasoning, that 
it is not pretended that God's servants will be uni- 
formly led in the way to worldly prosperity, and sin- 
ners visited with adversity in this life. The Bible 
makes 116 such representation. It teaches, that in 
this probation temporal benefits are scattered on the 
good and the evil, and refers us to the other world 
for the solution of this seeming confusion of right and 
wrong. " "When the wicked -spring as the grass, and 
when all the workers of 'iniquity do flourish, it is 
that they shall be destroyed for ever." It teaches 
that wicked men are prospered, but " the prosperity 
of fools shall destroy them." It teaches that God 
sometimes gives men " their request, but sends lean- 
ness into their souls." Their selfish, wishes are grati- 
fied ; but the gift comes, like the quails to the longing 
Israelites, attended by God's curse. Their riches in- 
crease ; but they wrap the soul in the flames of cov- 
etousness, and " eat as it were fire." "Their riches 
increase, but their ."portion" is "in this life, and 
in the labor that they take under the sun." They 
are rich as Dives ; yet soon will they be impover- 
ished to beg " a drop of water to cool their tongues." 
Thus, inspiration explains these inequalities, and 
teaches, that "a little which a righteous man hath, 
is better than the riches of many wicked ;" that Eli- 
jah, fed by unclean birds, but receiving his portion 
with God's smile, has no need .to envy Ahab, curse.d 
in the riches of a palace ; that Lazarus the beggar 



44 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

with a home nowhere but in Abraham's bosom, 
is more blessed than Dives with a home nowhere 
but in his .own luxurious palace. -But at the same 
time it teaches, that he who humbly uses what God 
has given for the honor of the Giver, freely giving 
as he has freely received, may feel at peace in the; 
thought, that all his business is blessed with his 
Father's smile. 

Facts corroborate the foregoing sentiments. There 
are, indeed, comparatively few facts to furnish ; data 
for this argument. Yet the writer knows a consid- 
erable number of instances, in which a greater or 
less approach to scriptural benevolence, has been 
attended with unusual prosperity. Mr. Cobb, whose 
case has. been mentioned, giving away a quarter, 
then half, and then three quarters of his income, not 
only became worth $50,000 before the age of thirty- 
six, but gave besides more than $40,000. Normand 
Smith, a saddler of Hartford, Connecticut, after prac- 
tising for years an elevated system of benevolence, 
bequeathed in charity $30,000. An anonymous 
writer says of himself, that he commenced business 
and prosecuted it in the usual way, till he lost $900, 
which was all he was worth, and found himself in 
debt $1,100. Being led by his trials, through God's 
grace, to trust, as he hoped, in Christ, he, at the age 
of forty, determined to take God's word for his guide 
in 'his business, and consecrated his earnings to the 
Lord The first year he gave $12. For, eighteen 



ENLARGES MEANS OF GIVIN&. 45 

years, the amount has increased by about 25 per 
cent., and the last year he gave $850 ; and he says, 
he did it easier than, during the first year, he paid the 
$12. : Besides, though with nothing but his baids 
to depend on when he began this course, he paid the 
whole debt of $1,100 with interest, though it took 
him nine years to do it. Jacob went out from his 
father's home " with his staff," a poor man ; .but at 
Bethel he vowed to give to God the tenth of all that 
God should bestow on him. Commencing thus, G-od 
blessed him, and in twenty years he returned with 
great riches. 

We may also refer to the history of communities, 
in confirmation of the argument. ' .When G-od issued 
his laws to the Jewish nation, he required, besides 
other liberal offerings, the tenth of all their income. 
We are not to suppose that every specific regulation 
for the Jews is the best for all nations. But in his 
dealings with the Jews, God meant to illustrate the 
principles on which, as to worldly affairs, he deals . 
with all ; and this is one reason why their history is 
so minutely recorded. - Thus, we find the law of 
tithes and offerings incorporated into their system as 
an exemplification of a universal principle in God's 
dealings with men. Many have pitied their unhap- 
py lot in being 'Compelled to give so much ; infidels 
have delighted in the objection that the wretched 
Jews were taxed so terribly for the support of relig- 
ion. But the All- wise knew best what regulations 



46 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLErfCE. 

would harmonize with the course of his providence, 
and prescribed accordingly. And it ever proved that 
the nine tenths were worth more to them than the 
ten tenths, If ever, to increase their gains, they 
rohbed God by hoarding the tenth, or by bringing 
the lame and the blind, disaster and loss were sure to 
follow. Say not this was all a miraculous interposi- 
tion. Inspiration has only lifted the veil here from 
the workings of that providence which, unseen, un- 
trace,.d, is ever working in the affairs of men on the 
same principles and with the same aim. Say not, 
either, that the tithe was a positive institution. 
True ; and as to its specific form it might, therefore, 
pass away, as it already has. But was there ever a 
positive institution of God not founded on something 
permanent, either in man's nature or God's scheme 
of providence and grace? Therefore was the law 
of the tithe founded on a principle as enduring as 
God's government on earth ; and as the tithe was a 
blessing to the Jews, so regard to that principle will 
be always a blessing. We may find facts of the same 
import in modern times. Those churches which are 
most systematic and liberal in their contributions, 
are, without exception, the most prosperous. The 
same is true of nations. The history of New Eng- 
land is a striking instance. The first settlers were 
men who, in a great trial of affliction, and in deep 
poverty, abounded in the riches of their liberality, in 
sustaining schools, and ministers, and colleges, and 



ENLARGES -MEANS OF GIVING. 47 

in laying deep a foundation for Christ's kingdom in 
this new world. It is not so fitly said that they con- 
tributed much, as that they offered all to Christ. 
And it is admitted that New England is, and in all 
her history has been preeminent in contributions and 
efforts to sustain every benevolent institution and en- 
terprise. . And where is the state or the nation which 
has ever possessed more of all the elements of true 
prosperity? 

But an appeal to facts in the history of churches 
arid communities must rest on imperfect data ; for 
where is there one in which the efficiency of the 
scriptural iaw of benevolence, in developing and en- 
larging the resources of benevolence, has been fully 
put to. the test? 

In closing the argument,. the thought maybe sug- 
gested, that business, conducted as it is on the max- 
ims of 'selfishness, when viewed as a -system in its 
management and results, presents- a picture of any 
thing rather than of permanent ,and healthy pros- 
perity. The number of business rnen who fail once 
or oftener in the course of life ; the numbers doing 
business who, should they pay up the as yet unpaid 
debts of their past lives, would strip themselves of 
all or a large part of their present property ; the 
small proportion ,of those commencing mercantile 
life in cities, who, in the final winding up of their 
affairs, possess a comfortable independence ; the fact 
that the property of those who die rich so often proves 



48 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

a curse to their children, and that so many who are 
born rich, die poor ; the periodical recurrence of a 
"crash" in the commercial world ; the alternation of 
commercial prosperity and distress, which for genera- 
tions has marked the history of business, realizing 
the inspired declaration, "He hath swallowed down 
riches, and shall vomit them up again;" all these 
facts indicate any thing rather than, a system of busi- 
ness which, as a whole whatever may be true of 
individuals receives the smile and blessing of God ; 
-they present evidences' of the divine displeasure such 
as might be expected to mark a selfish and ungodly 
system of business. 

The discussion of this part of the subject will not 
nave been in vain, if it help to remove the impres- 
sion, that the rules of the gospel cannot be obeyed to 
the last jot and tittle in business, consistently with 
its successful management ; to rebuke the practical 
atheism which shuts God out of the details of daily 
life ; to make men's hearts alive to the thought that 
the hand of God is on their ships, their merchandise, 
their .cattle, and their shops ; that the claims of his 
law and the promises '.of his gospel are twined about 
all the acts and gettings of daily toil, not less than 
about their -destiny for the life to come ; and that 
there is a reality here on earth in God's smile on 
those who heed his claims, in his blight and curse 
on. those who disregard them. 



ANTIDOTE OF COVETOUSNESS ' 49 

CHAPTER VI, 

.THE ANTIDOTE OF COVETOUSNESS'. , 

COVETOUSNESS is deadly in its influence. " Covet- 
.nsness is idolatry." It is inconsistent with piety. 
It is unmitigated rebellion against God. It is the 
object of God's abhorrence and curse. It is classed 
by inspiration with fornication, drunkenness, theft, 
and extortion. It is "a temptation and a snare." 
It is unsurpassed in its power to harden the heart 
and make it impervious to divine truth, to deaden 
all the religious sensibilities, and to resist the Spirit 
of God. 

Covetousness is prevalent. The miser is one of, 
the most universally abhorred of men. But p]ume 
not yourself that you are not covetous, because you 
are not a miser. Misers are the rarest specimens of 
this sin. Under other .forms, it rankles everywhere. 
.You "are warned .against a covetousness of a more 
respectable appearance. It may exist unsuspected. 
Thfere may be covetousness in saving parsimony 
under the "alias" of frugality, avarice, which nevei 
parts with money without a twinge. - Oftener there 
is covetousness in getting -sometimes rapacity which 
i-cruples at no means if money may be gained ; but 
much more generally the more respectable form qf 
worldliness, keeping within the limits of honesty but 
swallowing all the energies in money-getting, deaden-, 

Zoohetw. 



50 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

ing the benevolent susceptibilities, pinching and shriv- 
elling the soul, living only to " buy .'and sell and get 
gam." Covetousness may be found even in .connec- 
tion with prodigality : greediness' to acquire, to supply 
the extravagance of expense.' It enslaves multitudes 
who are neither misers in hoarding, .nor rapacious 
nor extortionate in getting. In its diversified forms 
it is one of the most prevalent of the vices, and often 
under its various disguises, honored rather than con 
demried ; as it is written, " The wicked blesseth th< 
covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth." 

A.nd there is a liability to become covetous and tf 
grow in covetousness, to the existence and dangers 
of which the most of men seem not to be awake. 
In the prosecution of business, the love of money is 
freezing deeper and harder into their souls, and seal- 
ing up the springs of benevolence, and they know it 
not. One remarkable feature in the Saviour's teach- 
ing, is the frequency and earnestness with which he 
rebuked this sin, and pointed out the dangers of 
wordly acquisitions. He exposed it in the mansions 
of wealth and the circles of devotion, in the temple 
and in the street, in amiable inquirers after salvation, 
in pharisaical professors and vicious publicans. His 
Warning was, "Take heed and beware of 'covetous- 
ness. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." The 
frequency and earnestness of his warnings contrast 
strangely with the eagerness and security with which 
his professed followers make haste to be rich, and 



ANTIDOTE OP COVETOUSNESS. 51 

show that he saw a danger imminent and prevalent 
to which they are strangely blind. We do not vary 
from the spirit of his teachings in saying, that covet- 
ousness is the most common, the most insidious, and 
the most dangerous form of selfishness; the one which 
the most deadens the church, and is the most likely 
to crush it. 

A little consideration will show the reality of this 
danger. "Money answereth all things." It is the 
representative 'of all commodities and the means of 
procuring them. It is natural that selfishness should 
fasten with peculiar strength on an acquisition which 
is the quintessence of all objects of desire. Besides, 
men are necessarily occupied during the most of their 
waking hours in earning money. To this end the 
thoughts must plan and the hands must toil. It is 
natural that what so occupies the man should grad- 
ually grow upon his mind ; as a picture long gazed 
at intently, gradually fills the eye and enlarges to the 
dimensions of a real landscape. Especially must 
'this result be expected, when the object which thus 
occupies the attention is one so pleasirig to the selfish 
heart. < 

Besides, it is the nature of covetousness to grow by 
\v hat it feeds on. Acquisitions increase its strength 
In accordance with this well-known fact, the ten- 
dency of gainful Irasiness is to make the man more 
covetous. 

These tendencies would be exceedingly strong, and 



52 SCEIPTUllAL BENEVOLENCE. , - v 

would need to be most diligently guarded against, 
under circumstances the most favorable to benevo- 
lence. But they are strengthened by outward cir- 
cumstances. - ' , 

There "is a perverted public sentiment, a prevalent 
overvaluing of wealth, which silently sinks into the 
inmost soul the scarcely acknowledged, yet control- 
ling feeling, that wealth is the great good of human 
existence, which has incorporated itself into our very 
language; so that " to., do well," "to be success 
ful," "to accomplish much in life," are phrases sy- 
nonymous with making much money ; " gain " is 
equivalent in our language, to " filthy lucre " in Good's, 
and "goods" on our lips,- is "the unrighteous mam- 
mon" on Christ's; and a late writer has suggested 
the idea, that we speak of a man as being "worth 
much," or " ivorth nothing," as if all worth centred 
in money. 

Worldliness, too, is the general character of the- 
community, and a man finds few examples of scrip- 
tural benevolence, to show "him his own selfishness, 
by contrast, and to stimulate him to beneficence. 

It is also an important circumstance, that the man 
has been trained. from childhood under worldly influ- 
ences ; he has seen, perhaps, that whatever their pro- 
fessions, the chief actual anxiety of his parents con- 
cerning him has been to have him making money, 
-and that to get him "a good situation," and a "situ- 
ation where he can make money," x and to "give him 



; ; . ANTIDOTE 0V COVETOUSNESS. -53 

a good start,": and to "start him well in 'the, career 
of acquiring property," mean in their minds about 
the same thing ; and that in all his training for 'Busi- 
ness, he is taught that "the main chance" is to, 
make money, and in effect, that a man's life does.- 
consist in the abundance of the things that he pos- 
sesseth, From childhood he has been indoctrinated 
by precept and example with the maxims of worldly 
policy, rather than the principles of benevolence 
with the proverbs of "Poor Ilichard" respecting 
property, rather than the precepts of Jesus Christ. 

All these circumstances tend to make wealth the 
central idea of the mind, to beget a -materializing, 
deadening worldliness, to blight benevolence, and to 
make men as laborious and untiring in their business, 
and at the same time as callous to the interests of 
others, as so many iron steam-engines at their work. 
The pious and benevolent, who mingle constantly in 
Business, know, that the danger is imminent ; they 
know that the maintenance of benevolence is opposed 
by silent but powerful influences, with which contact 
with the world every day surrounds them ; and they 
tremble at their own liability to fall under the insid- 
ious 'but fatal power of covetousness. It is alarm- 
ingly easy for gold and silver to "canker," and the 
love of it to become an eating cancer on the soul. 
Hence, the multitudes whose benevolence never grows 
with their riches ; who, when rich, give nothing like 
the proportion which they gave, when poor ; nay, 



54 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE^ . 

who give no more who give less than, they 
then. Hence is explained the admitted fact, that the 
greater part of the funds of benevolent associations 
comes from those of moderate means. Hence arises 
the general necessity of agents for collecting funds; 
and of the most pungent appeals for contributions. 
Have you ever considered seriously you-r own danger, 
and taken measures to guard against it ? If not, your 
very thoughtlessness is presumptive, evidence that you 
are already consuming with the love of money. 

We see, then, that the path of worldly business is 
fraught with constant danger .of a deadly evil. He 
who sets out on that path -must climb a snow-capped 
mountain, where every step is along icy precipices, 
where- the air chills to the heart the spiritual life, 
where every touch is upon nipping frost, and where 
the cold is perpetually producing a sleepiness almost 
resistless, .but which, if indulged, will be the sleep oi 
death. It is, then, a question of spiritual life or 
death, " How shall I do my necessary business, and 
escape covetousness benumbing, paralyzing, deadly 
covetousness?" Alas, that Christians so seldom ask 
this question so little take the tremendous meaning 
of Christ's assertion, " Ye cannot serve God and mam- 
mon " so little realize the danger which gives the 
thrilling emphasis to his warning, " TAKE HEED AI.ID 
BEWARE of covetousness." -." 

He who knows what is in man, has provided a 
safeguard against this danger. He has, indeed, so 



ANTIDOTE ;PF COVETOUSNESS. 55 

' contrived the plan of salvation, that all the motives 
of the gospel, radiating as they do from the cross of the 
Son of God offering the stupendous sacrifice of himself, 
may bear directly against selfishness and .tend to unfold 
self-sacrificing benevolence. But this is not all. He 
has enjoined.systematic benevolence.- This is God's 
remedy for covetousness. Infinite wisdom would not 
trust to urisystematized contributions, knowing that 
irregular efforts, sustained by no habit, no fixed time, 
no predetermined plan, giving way to every casual 
expenditure, would be but a slender barrier against 
a tendency so constant and powerful. ,God requires 
systematic and proportionate benevolence. 

This plan is most beautifully fitted to this design. 
It accords with the laws of the human mind. There 
is no way of subduing one of our active propensities, 
but by refusing it indulgence, and so starving it to 
death. This the scheme of benevolence does to the 
sinful love of money. As fast as treasures are gained, 
it tears them from the gloating eye of covetousness 
to consecrate them to the Lord. It compels the-man 
to give something from the wages of. every day, from 
the profits of every enterprise and investment. Thus, 
drop by drop, .it drains the lifeblood of that giant pas- 
sion. And as the gains enlarge, God follows with 
his -enlarging claims: should money come into the 
hands by thousands a year, there would be none left 
as food-c for? covetousness, and the man would be ne- 
cessitated to obey the command, " If riches increase, 



56 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

set not your heart 'upon them." And there is no 
way of strengthening our active propensities but by 
exercising them. Therefore God's rule requires ap- 
propriations to charity every week, that benevolence 
may be strengthening itself by frequent exercise, and 
the disposition to give be consolidated, by habit ; it 
requires appropriations from all the earnings, that 
benevolence may preside in every department, and 
the heart, kept always open; may have no opportu- 
nity to contract ; and it requires appropriations pro- 
portionate to the means, that whereas covetousness 
naturally grows by increasing acquisitions, this ad- 
vantage may be wrested from it and given to benev- 
olence. Thus the practice of this scheme becomes, 
with God's grace, like a fire-proof coat, in which the 
wearer may walk collectedly in the fiercest furnace 
of worldliness, and "not the smellof fire pass on 
him." It is impossible, according to the laws of the 
rnihd, to practise on this plan without continually 
weakening covetousness and strengthening benevo- 
lence ; nay, the wonted influence of worldly .pursuits 
is reversed: by pouring treasures into the lap avarice 
is starved, while even by the toils of money-getting 
benevolence is exercised and strengthened. Thus, 
by the very processes of business the power of benev- 
olence goes on enlarging, till .she stands up in-hei 
godlike majesty, the queen of the soul, and crushes 
beneath her heel the tyrant that had enslaved it. 
We must not leave this part of the subject with- 



ANTIDOTE OF COVETOUSNESS. , 57 

out considering its bearing on the community, as we 
have already Considered its -bearing on the individual. 
Since, the revival of commerce, the warlike spirit of 
chivalry,' the love of martial glory and of conquest 
have been gradually giving place to the spirit of 
trade ; this spirit has been gradually extending, till 
it has become, more than any other, the controlling 
influence "in the world. This change constitutes an 
era in history, the causes, development, arid effects 
of which are worthy of the most serious study. 
While it has produced many happy effects, as in mit- 
igating the spirit .of war, it is yet a problem what 
results it will finally work out a problem which, 
alarming as already, is the tendency of the public 
mind to cbvetousness, is one of the most momen- 
tous subjects now demanding the attention of phi- 
lanthropists. There is an absorption of all interests 
.and energies in money-getting, such as was never 
witnessed in the' world before. Under this stimulus- 
the country is filling with power-looms, steam-en- 
gines, and telegraphs^ and energies and resources are 
employed in the prosecution of peaceful business; 
which would once have been more than enough to 
build the pyramids or to conquer the world. We 
acknowledge all the blessings of these . inventions. 
But .while every orator and every newspaper is 
dwelling on our commerce whitening every sea, our 
enterprise penetrating every country, on. the mir- 
acle* working of the iron horse and the lightning 
. 11 



58 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

messenger, on our boundless territory and exhaustless 
resources ; and while a manufacturing city is laid 
out in an uninhabited spot, and built up in a year or 
two, as the early settlers would have built a frame 
house^we cannot blind- ourselves to the. alarming 
tendency in the public mind to regard these things 
as the sum total of all prosperity and the essentials 
of all blessedness ; nor to the fact that the energies 
which are so effective in aiding the acquisition of 
wealth, are scarcely less effective in stimulating the 
love of it. We cannot blind ourselves to the danger 
that the love of money will become more and more 
the ruling influence, absorbing into itself even that 
powerful-passion, ambition ; swallowing up the love 
of office in the love of the salary ; overshadowing the 
enterprises of religion by the gigantic and spirit-stir- 
ring achievements of .business ; drawing the church 
into the current of the world, and making its mem- 
bers imdistinguishable in. their pursuit of money from 
worldlings ; nullifying the influence of the means of 
grace, choking the word and making it unfruitful, 
and finally "overwhelming in worldliness the piety of 
the church the danger that the spirit of trade, not 
checked as it should be,~ by a contrary example from 
the good, will engulf the nation in a Dead sea of 
cupidity and luxury, or degenerate into that merce- 
nary spirit which, reckless -of honor and virtue, un- 
scrupulous, imtrusty, rapacious, despicable, has no 
principle but the Judas question, " "What will ye give 



ANTIDOTJi OF COVETOUSNESS. 59 

me ?" no measure of good aixd evil but the profit 
and loss of dollars and cents. 

Systematic benevolence is God's appointed safe- 
guard against this danger. Practised generally and 
from- the heart, it will introduce a loftier end of exist- 
ence than the acquisition of property ; will ennoble 
the pursuit of business by the spirit of love ; will 
hold up a spiritual and sublime principle in antago- . 
nism to the materializing tendencies of the spirit of 
Uade ';. will make civilization centre no longer on 
wealth, but on ; " charity that seeketh not her own," 
and .thus will form it into a civilization pure, gener- 
ous, heavenly, expressing in every aspect the godlike 
purpose of doing goo'd ; a civilization uncursed by 
want, ignorance, and . crime, unblighted by oppres- 
sion, unclouded by irreligion, because wherever were 
misery and degradation, millions of hearts will throb , 
in pity, millions of hands be extended and purses be 
opened to relieve ; a civilization which we see only in 
bright glimpses revealed- in the prophecies of God. 

From all these views of the -relations of the sub- 
ject to covetousness, it is plain that, to the church, 
systematic benevolence is a first duty of self-preser- 
vation. She has no walls and battlements but her 
own active benevolence, no army with banners but 
her sons and her daughters toiling to do good. . If the 
church do not bless the world, she must be buried in 
it. If the piety of the church, as it makes its way 
through this wilderness, do not, like a fertilizing 



60 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

stream, make all its banks " rejoice and blossom as 
the rose," it must be swallowed up in it like a river 
lost in the desert sands which it fails to make fruit- 
ful. But let the scriptural law of charitable appro- 
priations be adopted, and thus let benevolence keep 
pace with advancing business, following it into every 
new path, and laying her gentle hand on all its un 
folding resources, -then will covetousness wither amid 
increasing enterprise, and benevolence will unfold 
with an energy rivalling the energies of business, and 
making them her ministers. Then the enterprises. oi 
religion, no longer cast into 'the shade by the achieve- 
ments of worldliness, will encircle the earth with a 
vastness and a vigor more amazing than the triumphs 
of commerce and manufactures, and the miracles of 
modern art. 

We must gratefully notice tlie remarkable coinci- 
dence of God's providence in calling his children to 
great enterprises, and in opening the world for un- 
limited effort, at the very time when, from the 
unprecedented pressure of worldliness, there is un- 
precedented"need of su6h counteraction to covetous- 
ness. . Let Christians understand that it is God's 
mercy which multiplies the calls to give, to sate 
them from the multiplied assaults of covetousness. 
Let them know that they neglect these calls at 
their peril the peril of perishing in covetousness, 
of drowning in the "destruction and perdition" oi 
them " that ivill be rich." - ^ 



SPIRITUAL ATTAINMENTS. 



CHAPTER VII. , 

SYSTEMATIC BENEYOLENCE ESSENTIAL TO 
THE HiaHEST SPIRITUAL ATTAINMENTS. 

x , - - * 

AMIS-GIVING was thought so important in the an- 
cient church, that it used to be called one of the wings 
of prayer ; .and the angel seems to have placed them 
side by side as means of access to God's favor, when 
he said to Cornelius, " Thy prayers and thine alms 
are come up for a memorial before God." So Christ 
said, ''If ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous, 
mammon, who will commit to your trust the true 
riches ?" plainly declaring the. intimate connection, 
now so little appreciated, between high spiritual at- 
tainments and the right use of property.. In the 
duty of systematic benevolence, then, may be found 
an essential requisite, seldom thought of, for securing 
that elevated tone of piety, the' want of which is so 
much lamented. - 

It produces a more vigorous and elevated tone of . 
piety by giving to love that exercise ivhichis essen- 
tial to its health and growth. Love is the essence 
of piety ; and it is as preposterous to expect it to 
thrive without the habitual exercise of beneficence, 
as to, expect the body to be 'healthy in perpetual in- 
action. Piety cannot thrive as an ineffectual sen- 
sibility, exhausting itself on its own emotions in 
the heart ; but from the spiritual affectiond of the 



62 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

inmost soul, it must' issue, a transforming and control- 
ling influence, pervading the whole life. . It- is a life- 
blood, which it is death to drive back on the heart 
which as the only condition of health, must flow 
through the whole "being, and throb with living 
power in the remotest and minutest acts. This con 
dition of spiritual health systematic benevolence is 
indispensable to secure ; and thus it is essential to 
meet one of the greatest wants of the churches, and 
to remove one of the greatest, though not one of the 
most noticed obstacles to higher attainments in the 
spiritual life. , 

It aids growth in grace ,by promoting a constant 
intimacy with God. It requires the will of God to 
be considered in every act of business, and links every 
expenditure with a" regard to his glo'ry. " The hand 
of God is recognized in our worldly affairs ; his pres- 
ence isinvited, so to speak, into the very heart of oux 
prosperity, whence the world is most anxious to ex- 
clude him, invited to audit the account of our gains." 
Thus it leads to "walk- with God." 

It awakens a deeper earnestness for the salvation 
of men, and of course, a greater fervor in prayer. 
It is a law of our natures, that doing kind deeds- to 
others strengthens our love for them more than re- 
ceiving kind deeds from them. We love most those 
for whom we do most. Hence, the more we do lor 
the welfare of men, the more we shall feel and pray 
for them. Thus systematic charity keeps the spirit 



SPIRITUAL ATTAINMENTS. 63 

of prayer lively and the religious, feelings tender and 
fresh. He who practises it will be likely to become 
an eminent Christian, entering with all his heart 
into every effort to do good, sympathizing in every 
feeling with the soul of Christ, and electric to every 
. touch with his loving and self-sacrificing spirit. 

It concentrates the energies, -and thus favors spir 
itual growth. Lt prevents the division of purpose 
which is the great hmderance of success, fills, enlarg- 
es, and nerves the soul with the sublime purpose oi 
doing good, and bending every power to that one 
object, enables us to say with Paul's earnestness, 
" This one thing we do." 

But its most important influence in promoting the 
spiritual growth, is in counteracting the deadening 
influences of worldly business. It has already- been 
considered as the antidote for covetousness. - In thus 
grappling directly with this mother sin, it withers 
the strength of some of the most .powerful tempta- 
tions, and exerts a varied and extensive influence in 
unfolding the whole Christian character in its beauty. 
It .extracts the poison from worldly pursuits ; it- coun- 
teracts their usual periiiciousness ; and not only so, 
it compels them to become actually helpers to growth 
in piety, as the exercise and discipline of heavenly 
Election.; so that Christians, may be , . 

'"Like ships in. seas, while in, above the world," 
and all the agitations of busy life be but the bounding 
billows which bear them on their appointed course. 



,64 : SCRIPTUJIAL BENEVOLENCE. 

~Jt is a common impression, that the highest exer- 
cise o-religion is incompatible with the highest ac- 
tivity and: enterprise in worldly business ; that as 
business increases, the activity of piety must decline; 
and that revivals are not to be looked for in- r thoso 
periods when business is .peculiarly urgent. This im- 
pression is wholly unscriptural. .The Bible requires 
us at, the same time to be "not slothful in business, 
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord" a requirement, 
plainly, that fervor and activity in (rod's service go 
hand in hand with" fervor and activity in business. 
Nothing is plainer than that the whole system of pre- 
cepts, promises, and warnings hxthe Bible, is adapted 
to man amid the annoyances^ temptations, and cares 
of eyery-day business. Should a man become a her- " 
mit'for the better exercise of -religion, he would find 
a large part .of the Bible,with no applicability to his 
circumstances. Besides, such a withdrawal is im- 
possible, for necessity is on the most of men to spend 
their time in business. God requires them to be in- 
dustrious in some useful calling. To suppose God 
requires a' piety which it is impossible. to exercise in 
its higher degrees in the midst of that business which 
his providence makes necessary and his law enjoins, 
is to charge God with unreasonable and inconsistent 
requirements. ; " .,. ? 

But such an impression prevails. Not only so, but 
it is certain that business, as usually conducted, jus- 
tifies it ;. for it has tendencies almost sure to check 



SPIRITUAL ATTAINMENTS. . 65 

the growth of the Christian, so that the good feeling 
aroused in the closet or on the Sabbath is benumbed 
as by the shock of a torpedo, as soon as he takes his 
worldly affairs in. hand ; and it has tendencies to pre- 
vent the unconverted from attending to religicn, and 
to harden them in hopeless' inpenitence. Business 
occupies the time so that the prayer-meeting is neg- 
lected, and sometimes the family altar, the cjoset, 
and the word of God ; so that the fatigue of exces- 
sive toil through the week causes slumber in the sanc- 
tuary, or is made an excuse for absence. /Sometimes 
the pressure of business, or the 'fear that machinery 
will lose a few hours in the" week, leads to flagrant, 
perhaps habitual profanation of God's day. Busi- 
ness occupies the thoughts, so that all the week long 
nothing else obtains a lodgment in the mind,- and 
though the body be in God's house on the Sabbath, 
the thoughts are on the world; and thus, like one 
perishing in the water, the. man of business scarcely, 
gets his. head above the worldliness which ingulfs 
him, to catch a breath, of the pure air of heavenly 
life. And worse than all, his business seizes his 
heart ; there is a fascination, about it which draws to 
itself all his affections and energies. "He makes 
gold his hope, and says fethe most fine gold, 'Thou 
lit my confidence.' " In short, -it is. tending perpet- 
ually to. make him at last a r worldling, for whom thq 
claims of benevolence and the schemes of philan- 
thropy have lost their charm, who has no eye for the 

Zacheus, 



66 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

glories of heaven, no ear for the terrors - of hell ; 
who heeds his "piece of land," his "merchandise," 
his "five yoke of .oxen," more than the invitations 
of mercy and the attractions of the cross ; whose 
heart is in his purse, and his life circumscribed to his 
farm, his counting-room, or his shop ; who as to spir 
itual life is dead and buried in worldliness, and his 
prosperity is "but the magnificent monument of his 
soul's burial-place, on which all who weep his un- 
timely ruin, may read with shuddering the inscrip- 
tion which God's finger has engraved : " Lo, this is 
the man that made not God his strength, but trusted 
in the abundance of his riches." "So is he that lay- 
eth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toivard 
God." 

Systematic benevolence restrains this pernicious 
influence of business. But mere restraint is not all. 
It is not enough to ask how business is to be kept from 
injuring the church. Doing business is not necessa- 
rily serving mammon, therefore not necessarily the 
antagonist of serving God. It is dangerous for Chris- > 
tians to stand merely on the defensive here, and 
think merely to shield religion from the onslaught of 
worldliness. We must go further. The question 
must be, " How shall we bring business within the 
pale of religion, make it a part of religion, and an 
aid to its growth ? How make it help in exercising 
and strengthening piety, as really as does prayer?" 
The Bible requires business to be thus identified with 



SPIRITUAL ATTAINMENTS. 67 

God's service, and never will the church "be saved 
from wasting worldliness and grow to her full stature 
in piety, till she carries the war into the enemy's ter- 
ritory, "overcomes the world," and makes it tribu- 
tary to herself; and that, not merely by securing the 
silver and gold for her enterprises/ but by securing 
in the very acts of worldly business a discipline of 
piety and an exercising and strengthening of grace. 
Business must occupy almost all the time of the 
most of. God's children : how preposterous to expect 
them to make great attainments in piety if this busi- 
ness, like a poisoned atmosphere, is perpetually en- 
feebling their strength; if their religion is confined 
for its sources of nourishment to the Sabbath and the 
closet; and during almost their entire waking exist- 
ence, is helplessly exposed to an ever-blighting agency 
from their own pursuits. They must bind" their 
business on God's altar, or it will bind them on the 
altar.of mammon. ~ ' - 

The practical separation of business from religion, 
the belief that the former is necessarily antagonisti- 
cal to the latter, and conducting it so as to make it 
so, are among the principal causes why the tone of 
piety is so low, and the mass- of the church are but 
babes in Christ. Nor till this difficulty is removed 
have we a right to expect the church to " look forth 
as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, 
and terrible as an army with banners." 

Systematic benevolence is a most important and 



68 SCKIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

ait indispensable agency in making business a helper 
and not a foe to the religious growth. When a man 
acts on this principle, his place of business becomes 
a Bethel ; every transaction becomes like a renewal 
of his consecration to God ; money and bills and la 
bor are -associated with his obligations to his Master, 
and fragrant with the memory of the cross ; and like 
the attraction drawing every part of the earth and 
binding it to the sun, divine love fastens its attrac- 
tion on every possession, on every toil, and every 
gain, and binds him with all that he has to God 
the centre of his whole life ; s orbit. Then he is 

"^ 

intimate with God not less on the exchange or the 
farm, than in -the closet. Then, his whole course oi 
life becomes a help and not a hinderance to his spirit- 
ual progress ; and like a healthy child, he grows 
/ steadily and unconsciously amid the ceaseless activ- 
ity of life. 

Normand Smith, when roused to a more entire con- 
secration to God, falling in with the common notion 
that a life of secular business is incompatible with a 
life of eminent usefulness and piety, seriously pur* 
posed to abandon it:' But more scriptural views led 
him to continue in business, consecrating, it^ to God. 
He put on record the " purpose to engage in my busi- 
ness, that I may serve God in it, and with the expec- 
tation of getting to give." His biographer says, 
" From that time it was observable by all who knew 
him, that he rap.de rapid progress in religion. Thero 



, SPIRITUAL ATTAINMENTS. 69 

was a fervor and engagedness of spirit, a ptirity and 
elevation of aim, that could not be misunderstood or 
concealed. He rosy towards heaven like the -lark of 
the morning." From that time "he found no ten- 
dency in his worldly engagements to chill his piety, 
or to enchain his affections to the earth. His busi- 
ness became to him a means of grace, and helped 
him forward in the divine life, just as truly as read- 
ing the Scriptures and prayer." ' - x 

When a similar habit shaU become general in the 
church, one of the most important steps will have 
been taken to secure that elevation of piety for 
which as yet we sigh in vain ; and the law of love, 
now written in Christ's word, will be written on the 
hearts of his disciples and read by all the world in 
their lives. _ "- 

Says President Edwards of alms-giving, " There is 
no external duty, by which persons will be so much 
in the way, not only of receiving temporal benefits, 
but also spiritual blessings, the influences of God's 
Spirit in the heart in divine discoveries and spiritual 
consolations." " That this is one likely means to 
obtain assurance, is evident from 1 John, 3 : 18, 19, 
' My little children, let us not love in word, neither 
in tongue, but in deed and in tr-uth. And hereby 
we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure 
our hearts before him.' " " If God's people in this 
land were once brought to abound in such deeds oi 
love, nothing would have a greater tendency to bring 



7Q 'SCRIPTURAL BE : N,EVOLENCE. 

the God of love down from heaven to earth ; so ami- 
able would be the sight in the eyes of our loving and 
exalted Redeemer, that it would soon as it were fetch 
him down from his throne in heaven, to set up his tab- 
ernacle with men onthe earth and dwell with them." 
" The late remarkable revival of religion in Saxony, 
which began by the labors of the famous professor 
Franke, and has now been carried on for above;ihirty 
years, and has spread its happy influences into many 
parts of the world, was begun and has been carried 
on by a wonderful-.practice in this duty." Thoughts 
on the Revival, part 5, sect. 3. 



BLESSING THE 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SYSTEMATIC BENETOLEN GE INCREASES/THE - 
SPIRITUAL POWER OF THE CHURCH. 

THE. increase of spiritual power will be the neces- 
sary-consequence of the increase of piety. And by 
promoting an increase of piety, systematic benevo- 
lence imparts an efficacy to 'the prayers and teach- 
ings of the church^ an influerice to her. character, a 
success to her enterprises, a mightiness through God 
to the pulling down of strong holdsVsuch as money 
cannot bestow. 

Here, also, we may consider principally its influ- 
ence in counteracting worldliness. No argument is 
ofteiier urged against religion than that founded on 
the alleged inconsistencies of its .professors. The 
chief foundation for tliis plea, so far as it lias any, is 
the conformity of Christians to the world in jail the 
aims, the maxims, and the manner of getting and 
spending money, so that too -commonly, Christians, 
away from their ' devotions, can scarcely be distin- 
guished from the better sort of worldlings. Let the 
scriptural law of benevolence be usually obeyed ; let 
the world behold Christians actuated by the sublime 
desire to do good in all their gettings and their expen- 
ditures, and consecrating spontaneously to the Lord 
as he hath prospered them ; let it be seen, when men 
become Christians, by the change in their pursuit of 



72 SCRIPTURAL BENBV.OLEN-CE. 

8 

earthly treasure, that they have found a better poi- 
tion, and now have their hearts and their treasure in 
heaven ; and the church 'will stand up before the 
world with a consistency and elevation of piety which 
will prove that gainsaying springs only from opposi- 
tion to goodiiess-^ with a triumphant power which 
will compel :.the exclamation,'" God is in the midst 
of her; she shall not be moved" -with a manifest 
and practical renunciation of the world, like that 
which in the apostles' days compelled both Jews and 
Gentiles to confess the reality and feel the power of 
religion, and which, reappearing in the church, will 
go far towards restoring the like rapidity and glory 
to her conquests. 

It would- be ungrateful, indeed, 'not to acknow- 
ledge, among the striking characteristics of this age, 
the revival, in a degree, of the benevolent and mis- 
sionary spirit of apostolic times. "We hail it as an 
omen of good'; we have marked already its happy 
results ; we wait as " they that watch for the morn- 
ing," for " the glory that should follow." But alas, 
how much in vain ! For the icebergs and snow- 
fields of the long winter still linger, and the piercing 
winds from them wither the plants of righteousness 
arid keep back the buds of promise, and when we 
might be looking for the luxuriance of summer, be- 
hold the lingering, frost-bitten growth of a backward 
and chilling spring. 

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and 



... BLESSING THE CHURCH 73 

prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I 
will not open you the windows of heaven, and pom 
you out a blessing, that there shall not be room 
enough to receive it." We so constantly spiritual- 
ize this text, as to forget that its literal and proper 
application /is to contributions to the+ fiords treas- 
ury. Paying these fully is declared here to be the 
condition of God's great blessing. ' Let this chal- 
lenge of the Most High be accepted. Let his sin- 
cerity in it be as for generations past, by the church 
generally, it has not been put to the test. Let his 
disciples "prove" him, by giving all that he requires, 
and see if, through its direct and indirect influence, 
it will not elevate the piety and enlarge the power 
and successes of the church if spiritual stupidity 
will continue to be, for the larger portion of the time, 
the lamentation of the churches at home, arid slow 
and limited success the history of benevolent opera- 
tions abroad. - " 



12 



74 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 



CHAPTER IX. 

;: SYSTEMATIC BENE.VOLENGE PROMOTES 
HAPPINESS. 

IT is a privilege to give, and a reason for thankful 
ness to have the opportunity and the means. ' Money 
given to the Lord leaves a sweetness like the per- 
fume of the alabaster-box, of precious ointment, fill- 
ing the soul long after the offering has been poured 
out. Those who have given most regularly and in 
the largest proportion, remember with the most joy- 
bus gratitude what God has enabled them to do. 
When Pavid and his people had contributed im- 
mense treasures /'willingly" to build the temple, we 
read that "the people rejoiced, and David the king 
also rejoiced with great joy. And David said, Our 
God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. 
But what am I, and what is my people, that we 
.should be able to offer so willingly after this sort ? 
for all things come of thee, and of thine own have 
we given thee." The first Christian converts, after 
"parting their goods to all men," "did eat their meat 
with gladness." Mr. Oobb said, "By the grace oi 
God nothing else by the grace of God, I have been 
enabled to give more than $40,000. How. good the 
Lord has been to me!" Said a man in- moderate 
circumstances, who was giving his whole net income, 
" I could not feel happy to spend the money on my- 



PROMOTES HAPPINESS. 75 

self, while so much is to be done for the needy and the 
perishing. I could not enjoy myself if I should do 
it." At another time, when necessary extra expen- 
ses greatly diminished his charities for a time, .fig". 
said, "I find it one of my greatest trials^ that I can 
not 'cto more for the heathen." 

" Systematic benevolence promotes happiness by its 
influence in subduing covetousness and strengthen' 
ing benevolence. 

As we have already seen covetousness to be a 
principal hinderance to the spiritual growth and the 
spiritual poioer of the church, so now we find it a 
hinderance to spiritual enjoyment nay, to human 
happiness in the broadest sense. And that same 
divine scheme which we have already seen to be 
essential, chiefly by its influence in subduing covet- 
ousness, to the growth of the church's piety and the 
advancement of its triumphs, we now see to be es- 
sential, in the same way, to happiness. This com- 
bined view of these arguments may show us at once 
the far-reaching and appalling dangers of covetous- 
ness, and the 'simplicity, efficacy, and unfailing adapt- 
edness of God's scheme of prevention. 

The covetous or selfish scheme of doing business 
is always tormenting. It is accompanied by great 
anxiety. He who does business on this system is 
perpetually anxious and, chafed, feverish with an ex- 
citement and perturbation, which are avoided by him 
who calmly does business for the Lord, and. asks only 



76 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

what the Lord would have him do, "What shal) 1 
do for the hundred talents which I have given to 
the king of Israel ?" is like the feverish questioning of 
the former. "The Lord is able to give thee much 
more than this," is like the trustful reply of the latter. 
Normand Smith incidentally shows what a preser 
vative he had found for unruffled calmness amid the 
annoyances of business, by the following entry in his 
diary : " I have forgotten and broken my resolutions 
to conduct all to the glory of God. This has been 
manifested in my being fretted at what I deemed 
untimely calls for : settlement and for debts." He 
seems to imply that so long as he adhered to his 
"resolutions," fretting at the annoyances of business 
was not a thing to be expected. A mail ""who for 
years has been doing business in one of our cities on 
the scriptural plan of benevolence, but who had pre- 
viously done business otherwise, says of himself, that 
"the anxiety, the feverish excitement, and the im- 
patience to get the news and the results of sales, or 
the results of their own business operations, which 
merchants, speculators, and others are continually 
burdened with, and at tunes almost to distraction, 
and from which there seems to be little or no pros- 
pect of relief, all such perturbations of mind, com- 
mon to others, were once common to his experience ; 
but he now seldom feels any thing of the kind ; for 
he has learned in his Bible to ' cast his burden on 
the Lord.'" 



PROMOTES HAPPINESS. 77 

Besides, upon the covetous or selfish scheme of 
business, a man can never be satisfied. '-He that 
loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he 
that loveth abundance with increase." This senti- 
ment has been in the mouths of the wise from Solo- 
mon's day till now. Its truth must for ever cut.off 
the covetous man from solid contentment. The 
more he acquires, the more he wants; and in the 
midst of the greatest acquisitions, he remains the 
very realization, of those lean and ill-favored kine 
which devoured all that was fair and thriving before 
them, only to remain as lean, as. ill-favored, and as 
voracious as ever. There has appeared in the news- 
papers a horrible story about a man who had> an 
enormous tape- worm in his stomach : however much 
the man ate, it was devoured by the ugly reptile 
within, nourishing itself to greater bulk and voracity 
thereby, while the wretched man was wasting in the 
torment, of perpetual starvation. Whether the story 
be true or false, it is a lively picture of covetousness. 
That is a worm in the soul, nourishing itself to 
gieater strength and voracity by -every acquisition, 
and wasting the soul in the agony of perpetual want. 
Relief, sought in vain by trying to satisfy, can come 
only by killing the devouring desire by killing it 
speedily, before it proves itself "the worm that never 
dies." 

It is related in the history of ancient Rome, that 
an immense chasm once opened in the midst of the 



78 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

city- The superstitious Romans, to appease the god 
whose anger, they suppose^., had opened the abyss, 
threw in the ^costliest garments and the ricliest treas- 
ures ; but in vain. At last one of the most distin- 
guished nobles put on his richest armor, and mounting 
his steed leaped into the abyss, and it closed. Covet- 
ousness, in. its insatiability, realizes this fable. It, is 
an abyss yawning in the covetous man's path. He 
gathers treasures, and casts into it, but it closes not 
He toils harder, he gathers more and richer treasures 
and casts into it, but it closes riot it closes not, till 
the wretched man himself sinks into the widening 
chasm j^and; it shuts on him in the gulf of perdition 
for ever. . : 

Theiiiery opposite is the result of love, which the 
adoption of God's scheme of charity cherishes. There 
is " comfort in love." In every act of relieving the 
wretched which it requires, is a present bliss, which 
partakes more of- heavenly than of earthly joy. It 
produces trustful peace amid annoyances, perplexi- 
ties, and calamities. It leads to, satisfaction, even 
with little. In peace of conscience, the conscious- 
ness of doing good and of receiving God's smile, it 
imparts blessedness which gold selfishly used jean 
never buy. It gives a lasting joy. Spend money on. 
self, and. how quick the gratification. is gone. But 
the joy of beneficence grows and brightens in the 
remembrance. To know that by foregoing a selfish 
gratification I have relieved the misery of a fellow- 



PROMOTES HAPPINESS. 79 

man; that for my gifts and selfrdenial there is less 
ignorance, less vice, less wretchedness in the world ; 
to know that I have helped to/vindicate truth and 
right, and to establish the blessed reign of Jesus ; to 
hope that, by God's blessing on my charities, even 
one dark soul has been made acquainted with the 
Saviour and led to everlasting bliss ; what can thrill 
the. soul with a richer, and more lasting joy ? And,* 
at the bed of death, when all earthly treasures are 
slipping from the grasp, and the memory of selfish 
gratifications, now past for ever, but imbitters .the 
spirit, these memories of charities and sacrifices, 
offered for Christ's sake and by his grace, wiU statid 
like angels of mercy, fanning the soul witti airs of 
heaven, and cheering it with an undying joy in the 
agonies of dissolution. 

No language oftener meets a pastor's ear, than the 
complaint, " I do not enjoy religion." The churches 
present a painful contrast with the habitual happi- 
ness of the apostles, whose writings, though written 
usually in the depths of distresses, more than any 
human compositions overflow with a deep and exult- 
ant joy. But there is little apprehension of what 
is a prevalent cause of this lack of spiritual joy the 
withholding of charity, and the consequent increase 
of worldliness and the stagnation of holy love. Hap- 
piness cannot be poured into the soul from without, 
like water into a cistern ; the water of life is not said 
to fkrw into a man, but to flow " out of him" To 



80 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

regain lost enjoyment, the Christian must increaso 
the exertions and self-denial of love. Let him fill life 
full of efforts and sacrifices to do good, and;. he will 
fill it full of bliss. He can be blessed -only in/ac- 
cordance with that law of the entire moral universe 
expressed in the comprehensive words of Christ, " I 
is more blessed to give than to icceive." 
- Consider, now, the universality of this law. God 
is love. So far as any addition to his blessedness is 
concerned, God never received any thing. If, as many 
imagine, every thing given is just so much taken from 
the comfort of the giver, God would have lost more 
happiness than all his creatures, for he is always giv- 
ing. But he is the" most blessed of beings; and he 
is so, not so much in spite of Ms ceaseless beneficence, 
as by means of it. His infinitude of bliss is an eter- 
nal expression of the law, "It is more blessed to give 
than to receive." 

Angels .toil for others, happy in what to selfish 
hearts would be the humiliating and self-denying ser- 
vice of ministering to those- immeasurably their infe- 
riors in character and rank ; waiting upon the very 
" babes in Christ " in this nursery for heaven, 

In hell is neither giving, nor blessedness. Selfish- 
ness reigns alone. 

Thus the spirit of Christ's self-sacrificing love is 
the spirit of all heaven, and the essence of its bliss. 
The spirit of selfishness is the spirit of hell, and the. 
eource of its misery. The principle of the cross, 



PROMOTES HAPPINESS. 81 

" Give, give," carried out to all its results, makes 
heaven. The principle of the worldling's search for 
happiness, " Get, get," carried out to all its results, 
makes hell. , 

-i 

The same law is discernible even in the confusion 
of probation on earth. The purest joy- is found, not 
in halls of wealth, power, or gayety, nor yet in cot- 
tages where covetousn^ss is always craving ; but, 
whether in palace or hut, in the heart most com- 
pletely filled, the life most completely controlled by 
self-sacrificing love. Even at the' martyr's stake are 
witnessed scenes of most ecstatic bliss, because there 
selfishness is most effectually crushed, because there 
love enfolds the martyr's soul brighter and purer 
than the flames which enfold his body, .and is the 
chariot of fire and horses of fire which bear him up 
to heaven. - ^ 

Imagine a young lady surrounded with wealth and 
luxury, who, instead of living to strew around her 
blessings, is the spoiled child of indulgence, the vic- 
tim -of a selfishness that has always reigned un- 
checked. She passes her existence, full of fretful- 
ness and discontent, in the vain; attempt to satisfy 
desires which indulgence has made numerous and 
insatiable as an army of locusts, and which, in their 
devouring march through life, turn all the anticipa- 
tions and- opportunities of enjoyment opening invit- 
ingly before her, into unhappiness, and make the life 
of their victim to be alwavs "like the garden of 

Zaehens. 



82 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE. 

' v < 

Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wil- 
derness." - - " 

Contrast with this, imaginary case an historical 
personage. She was one of the first missionary 
band that left our shores, when every step was un- 
certain and hazardous, and war redoubled the dan- 
gers of the untried undertaking. Arrived in Asia, 
she is driven from the country, tossed again-upon the 
ocean, and buffeted with discomfort, sickness, and 
difficulty, till she dies. But her life was blessedness, 
and her death was peace. For the former, all out 
ward circumstances combine to produce happiness; 
but. selfishness makes her miserable. For the latter, 
all outward circumstances combined to bring discom- 
fort ; by her own self-consecrating act she had rushed 
into the midst of trials ; but all the floods of afflic- 
tion could not quench the fire of her love, nor drown 
the flame of joy which ever mounted from the altar 
of her consecrated heart. The former will vapor 
life away and die, and she and the silks that clothed 
her will decay and be forgotten together ; but the 
memory of HARRIET NEWELL will always refresh 
the earth, and hope, and love, and self-denial will 
spring ever with new freshness from her sea-girt 
grave. Yes ; better is it, greater is it, that, in doing 
good, we be like the sweet incense burned before the 
Lord, consumed ourselves while spreading a sweet 
savor of beneficence about us- better that we be like 
the sacred oil of the seven-branched candlestick, con- 



PROMOTES HAPPINESS. 83 

sumed ourselves, while giving a holy light to others, 
than to gain for our own enjoyment all that selfish- 
ness ever won. 

Paul and Silas, having " suffered the loss of ail 
things," bloody with scourging, fastened painfully in 
the stocks in the inner prison, hroke the silence of 
midnight with songs of joy. And love always sings : 
toiling, sacrificing, suffering, yet it sings. And in 
proportion as that love fills OUF hearts, controls our 
lives, subdues the tormenting coverings of selfish- 
ness, and makes it our " meat to do the will ,of Him 
that sent us," in that proportion will be the fulness 
and the continuity with which we shall join the 
song of love that song which no prison walls nor 
stake of martyrdom can silence; which, ceaseless as 
the exhalations from the bosom of the earth, is going 
up everywhere from humble hearts toiling- and suf- 
fering to do God's will that irrepressible song, 
which, when death shall have broken down the bars 
of this mortality, shall burst into the shout of eter- 
nal arid heavenly praise. , 

Thus has God made the universe according to that 
law, ".It is more blessed to give than to receive." 
Let any intelligent being cease to seek the good of- 
others, and he ceases to be blessed himself. Let the 
gun cease to pour his beams abroad, let him gather 
his rays only into his own bosom, and he- will not 
only cease to shine on others, -but will become black 
and unseen himself in the universal night. So, while 



84 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE; 

any spirit that God has made lives not for itself, but 
for its Maker and its Maker's works/ it shines above 
the brightness of the sun in glory. But when it be- 
gins to gather its efforts into itself and to pour its 
blessings only into its own bosom, that moment its 
glory goes out in night, and it becomes a part, of " the 
blackness of darkness for ever." 

In vain, then, do you look for happiness, while the 
business of life is not penetrated and controlled, by 
benevolence. It were a contradiction and disorder- 
ing of God's whole scheme of providence to permit 
it. And it were equally a contradiction of God's 
word; for as the word of God is true, they who 
" will be rich," and therefore neglect in their business 
the beneficence which God requires, must "pierce 
themselves through with many sorrows." 

Hasten, then, thankfully 'to adopt God's plan for 
saving you from these many sorrows, and learn by 
your own experience that " it is more blessed to give 
than to receive." 

Nor think that these sorrows are for this life only, 
Grod has lifted the veil from the awful future, and 
recorded the decision, " No covetous man hath any 
inheritance in the kingdom of Christ." " Be not de- 
ceived ; neither thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards 
shall inherit the kingdom of God.". If there be one 
cause more effectual than any other in satisfying men 
with false, hopes, or in turning the attention quite 
away from religion, hardening the heart in impeni- 



CONCLUSION 85 

^ 

tence, and peopling the realms of woe, that cause is 
woiidliness. If you value your immortal interests, 
if you have any just apprehension how many and 
powerful are the obstacles to your salvation, and 
how imminent your danger of being snared into a 
fatal negligence of your soul, it will be presumptuous 
trifling with your eternal welfare, if you adopt not 
the scriptural plan of subduing, by God's blessing, 
that worldliness which -is the deadliest of all these 
opposing influences, and which the apostle so solemn- 
ly warns you is sure, if not subdued, to plunge you 
" into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish 
and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction 
and perdition." , 

Such are the motives to systematic benevolence ; 
and such its vital and extensive connections with the 
Christian life and the prosperity, of Christ's kingdom. 
And the force of these motives is enhanced by God's 
own revealed estimate of the importance of the duty 
of giving to relieve the wretched. There is some- 
thing peculiarly interesting in the language of Christ, 
when guarding his disciples against selfish motives in 
alms-giving, and enjoining the precautions useful to 
secure an eye single to the glory of God. " Thy Fa- 
ther, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee 
openly." As if the Monarch, of the universe felt a 
eculiar pleasure in the humble disciple whose aim is 
;o honor him by his secret charities, and would bring 



86 SCRIPTURAL BENEVOLENCE 

him before the assembled universe and with his own 
royal hand encircle his brow with the incorruptible 
crown. And verily, one " Well done, good and faith- 
ful servant," from the lips of the King of heaven, 
may well outweigh all human applause, all selfish 
gains. And as if to show the intensity of his interest, 
and the particularity with whi'dh he notices and re- 
wards what is given and what is withheld, G-od has 
revealed from heaven that even so insignificant ^ a 
gift as " a cup of cold water only," given with right 
motives, shall not lose its reward; and has trans- 
mitted to all generations the solemn record of his ap- 
probation of the widow's fartliing. 

And the Saviour has invested the d.uty with an 
immeasurable 'sacredness, even with all the sacred- 
ness of love to him and regard to his suffering's ; for 
he declares^ from the -throne of judgment, that every 
gift, given -with the. pure desire to aid his church, 
he receives as given, to. aid. himself; and every re- 
fusal to give, he regards as a refusal to minister to 
his own wants. He puts himself in the place of his 
church; he bares his bosom to receive every neglect 
of her in her necessities ; he opens his heart to treas- 
ure up as a favor bestowed on himself, every favor 
bestowed on her. " Inasmuch as ye did it," or "did 
it not, "to one of the least of these my brethren, ye 
did ,it," or did it not, " to me." 

Having thus invested these objects of charity .with 
the sacredness of his own person, and, as it were, 



CONCLUSION. .87' 

linked the performance or neglect of the duty with 
every sensation of his own throbbing heart, he in- 
vests it with a new solemnity, and reveals in it a new 
importance, by declaring, that in the final judgment 
the duty of charity to the distressed will be selected 
as the key to the whole life and the test of the whole 
character. " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of 
the world; for I was a hungered, and ye gave me 
meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; I was 
a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and ye clothed 
me ; I was sick, and ye visited me 1 ; I was in prison, 
and ye came unto me." " Depart from me, ye cursed, 
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
angels ; for I was a hungered, and ye gave me, no 
meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I 
was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and 
ye clothed me not ; sick, and in prison, and ye visited 
me not." < 

Behold, then, in God's own estimate of this duty, 
that we have not overrated its importance. Behold 
your hardihood, if you leave, unsystematized, to ca- 
price and chance, a duty which is held so important 
in the solemn estimation'of God, and is presented by 
the Judge himself, as the key and test of the char- 
acter in the final decision. Behold with trembling 
your peril, lest, though you have even sat at Christ's 
table, you be found at last with those who have not 
ministered to Christ. - . 



THE 



MISSION OF THE CHURCH 



OE, 



SYSTEMATIC BENEFICENCE. 



BY REV. EDWARD A. LAWRENCE, 

MARBLEHEAD, MASS. ;> , 

\ l\ "^ 



rftcl shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with frui' 

ISAIAH 27: 6. 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

160 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 

13 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER. I." 

THE SPIRIT OB. ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF 
BENEFICENCE. 

The elements of Christian beneficence are, 

1. An intelligent spirit, 7 

2. A diffusive spirit, 10 

3. An equitable spirit, 14 

4. A benevolent spirit, - 15 

5. A self-denying spirit, .- 17 

6. A spirit of grateful love, 18 

7. A spirit of prayer, 22 

CHAPTER II. 

PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 

First general proposition. Every man's charitable contributions 
should be proportionate to the vastness and importance of the 
objects sought in beneficence, ' 25 

A brief survey of the field Statement of the objects, 25 

Second general proposition. Every man's charitable contribu- 
tions should be proportionate to the adequacy of the instrumental- 
ity .'to be applied, ...... - - 37 

The ' insufficiency of certain alleged remedial agencies The gospel 
the only adequate instrumentality Harmony of the instrumental- 
ity with the objects of beneficence, 38 

Third general proposition. Every man's charitable contributions 
should be proportionate to -his pecuniary means and facilities for 
applying the instrumentality, ; 55 

1, The beneficence of the Jewish church, 56 

2, The beneficent spirit of the early Christian church, 63 

3, The scripture declarations concerning property, and the duty of 
liberality, 68 

Particular propositions. Every man's beneficence should be pro- 
portionate, 



4- CONTENTS. ; ; 

"* 

1. To the sum total of his property, ^ 76 

2. To his annual income, 83 

3. To what he can earn by industry, 90 

4. To what he can save by economy, ....... r 96 

5. To what he can spare by self-denial, " 102 

Motives. Beneficence gives to wealth its greatest value, secures our 

own highest interests, and promotes the glory of (rod, 107 

CHAPTER III. 

SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 
I. Provisions of system. 

1. Instruction concerning the use of property, and communicating 
information respecting the condition and wants of the world,.- 116 

2. The appropriation by every one, at stated times, of a due propor- 
tion of his property to charitable purposes : 1. The weekly period. 
2. The monthly period. 3. The annual period. 4. Setting 
apart a portion of each gain in every enterprise, 121 

3. Some plan by every church for collecting its contributions, and for 
applying them to their objects, 130 

II. Tendencies and advantages of system. 

1. To diminish the expenditure of benevolent societies, 134 

2. To secure a larger number of contributors, 135 

3. To secure from each contributor an amount more proportionate to 
his ability, - - - '" - - - 136 

4. To give "to ^charitable contributions the more scriptural form of 
free-will offerings, , 139 

5. To make-these free-will offerings the fruit of a more cheerful 
spirit, :- - 142 

6. To give consistency and efficiency to the character of Christians, 
by bringing their life into harmony with their doctrines and profes- 
sions, 145 

7. To raise the church in its charitable contributions to a more ele- 
vated Christian devotion, - 149 

8. To promote union among Christians of different denominations, 
and thus increas.e the power of the whole church for the good of 
the world, 153 

CONCLUSION, 159 



'THE 



MISSION OF THE CHURCH, 



- CHAPTER, I. 

THE SPIRIT, OR ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES 
- " OF BENEFICENCE. 

THE mind that was in Christ, the spirit that 
moved him through/the whole period of his'earthly 
life, was a deep, ever-flowing spirit of love. It was 
an illimitable -and inexhaustible benevolence. Every 
stage .of his history, from the manger tb the cross, is 
a peculiar expression of "good wilt towards men." 
By his life ^he became an example, and in his death 
he made atonement for sin; thus illustrating the 
spirit of Christianity, and opening a way: whereby it 
might be infused into the hearts of his disciples. In 
its impulses and operations, both in the Head of the 
church and in its members, it is the spirit of benefi- 
cence. To be Christian, therefore, beneficence must 
be prompted by the Christian spirit,.. and be in 
harmony with the great design of Christ in .his 
redeeming work. . 'This gives it the fullest scope -in ' 
the objects of the gospel, and the highest character 
in the spirit of the gospel. By the development of 



G THE Mll'SION OF THE, CHU'ltC^ ; '.,./ 

this. spirit in the church, through the perfecting of 
the Christian life of its members, it "finds its -true 
mission in seeking the salvation of the race. It thus 
answers its fittest description "the salt of the 
earth," " the light of the '.'world." f 

The 'spirit of Christian beneficence is distinguished 
from mere human kindness, which is neither uni- 
versal in its extent, uniform in its operations, nor 
Christian in its principle. It is distinguished from 
natural pity, in that this arises from spontaneous 
sympathy, and does not take into account the praise 
or blameworthiness of its objects. It differs from 
generosity, which is not scrupulous to abide by the 
rules of justice, and has no end in the honor of God, 
or the highest welfare of man. It is unlike that de- 
sire of applause, which in the spirit of Phariseeism 
often prompts. to liberal donations, but only "to be 
seen of men." Its bestowments are dissimilar to the 
grudging remittances made to purchase relief from 
the wearying importunity of persevering applicants. 
It is distinguished from the reluctant yielding of the 
crumbs, which fall from , the table of abundance, in 
order to pacify a clamorous conscience, and. procure 
exemption from its upbraidings. It is the antagonist 
of that almsrgiving which is relied on as the ground 
of justification- before .God, thus making salvation 
by grace superfluous and impossible. 

Between all these and that beneficence which is 
truly Christian, there is a wide difference. Chris- 



- tian beneficence -neither disowns the = constitutional 
principles or emotions, nor takes its character from 
-them. Incorporating into itself all; the elements of 
joy and sorrow; pity and sympathy, honor and gen- 
erosity, it constitutes a complex principle/ aboye and 
beyond any one or all of them. Jesus was kind, 
and sympathizing, ancl compassionate,, and generous. 
But he was something more than these. Purer mo- 
tives urged him- a higher .impulse moved him : a 
notler spirit inspired him. It was the impulse of 
love, whose spontaneous outgushings made his life 
an example of the most sublime beneficence. 

Among i the peculiar and, positive elements of be- 
neficence, distinguishing it as Christian, is, 

1. An intelligent spirit. '"Whosoever would dis- 
charge the duties of life, must first Joiow what they 
are. In nothing is this more manifest than in efforts 
to do good. As all alms-giving is not from benevo- 
lence, so neither is it all beneficent. It is as essen- 
tial to the latter, that it should be directed to a. right 
end, as, to the former that it should spring from 
a right principle. Nor does even a good motive in 
the donor necessarily secure to his deed the character 
of beneficence, unless it is well directed; the ac^ 
tion may be praiseworthy in its purpose, while, from 
want of knowledge, it may be disastrous in its effects. 
Under' the incubus of ignorance, well-meaning men 
may multiply the ills which they would remove. 
Through unacquaintance with the condition of those 



8 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

whom they wish to benefit, or through ignorance of 
the proper remedial agencies or modes of- applying 
them, they may diffuse the bane instead of the anti- 
dote, propagate darkness instead of disseminating 
light, and carry havoc and dismay where they in- 
tended only healing and consolation. And the 'more 
munificent is such ill-directed charity, the greater the 
waste: the more wide-spread the ruin. 

Christian beneficence walks not forth blindfold 
amidst the world's mendicity and its mendacity, 
scattering alike to both. She wields not her full 
hands, as the, Cyclops his huge limbs, at random. 
Her zeal is an enlightened ardor, never roaming in 
the dark, and nevei impatient of results that come 
only through the gradual operation of appropriate 
causes. . . 

In this age of busy reform, all kinds of objects have 
tlieir solicitors. Men who aspire to philanthropy 
even, must discriminate : much more does Christian 
beneficence demand a wise and careful circumspec- 
tion. She wishes to know what the work is, and 
where it is, and how it is to be done. She sends 
out her pioneers to survey the ground: and gauge the 
difficulties. She takes the altitude of mountains to 
be brought low, and the depth of valleys to be filled. 
She examines the crooked places to ,be made straight, 
and the rough places to be made smooth, and trav- 
erses " the wilderness and solitary place," which, by 
her culture, are to "bud and blossom as the rose.". , 



SPIRIT OF BENEFICENCE. 9 

By this pioneer service, in which such men as How- 
ard 'and Buchanan and Hartyn, and Marshman have 
been most successful explorers, 'benevolent men are 
better enabled to adapt means to jtheir ends. They 
obtain a quicker discernment of the various phases of 
wickedness and want, and of the avenues of access 
to them. The delusive fancies of sentimental phi- 
losophers concerning the virtues and happiness of 
the savage state, have been thus dispelled.;. The 
glowing eulogies pronounced upon the mythology of 
modern paganism^ have, by the testimony of honest , 
and indefatigable examiners, been thrown into entire 
discredit. The principles of evil, inherent in fallen, 
humanity, are found to hold their woful empire over 
the comparatively mild inhabitants of Southern Asia, 
"with such an absoluteness of possessive power, and 
displaying this disposition in such wantonly versatile, 
extravagant, and monstrous effects, as to surpass all 
our previous imaginations and measures of 'possi- 
bility." ':..--; 

For those who desire information concerning these 
things, the means are at hand. Let them sturdy the 
character and operations and claims of the various 
humane and benevolent associations, as exhibited in 
their lucid and condensed reports 'and other publica- 
tions. Let them study the providences and 'prophe- 
cies, and promises of God, in his works and word. 
His providence is casting clearer light upon the 
prophecies, and his .Spirit is fulfilling the promises, 



10 THE MISSION 0]? THE CHURCH. 

to a degree that illumines the whole Christian world. 
The spirit of Christian beneficence, in her reforma- 
tory power, is entering the convict's cell, and is 
applying her benign and recovering agencies to the 
condition of the poor, the orphan, the sick, .the insane, 
the 'deaf, the dumb, and the blind. She is penetrat- 
ing the darkest nooks of heathenism, inspecting its 
habitations of cruelty, and scattering light concern- 
ing the wants and woes of the race. A goodly 
cluster of eleemosynary institutions of almshouses, 
hospitals, and asylums, is diffusing an ameliorating 
and remedial influence throughout Christendom. A 
bright constellation of Bible, Missionary, Tract, and 
other kindred and affiliated societies, is pouring a 
flood of light upon the world, demolishing the tem- 
ples of paganism, hastening the wane of the crescent, 
dissipating the delusions of Judaism, and discovering 
the hoary abominations of the man of sin. The Sun 
of righteousness begins to gild the hill-tops of India, 
Southern Africa, Syria, Persia, and Turkey, and has 
generated moral greenness and beauty in many of 
the islands of the sea. These things, all .who wish 
to know, can know, and all who can know, should 
.know. . ... . 

2. The spirit of Christian beneficence is a diffvr 
sive spirit. The distinctions of home and foreign, far 
off and near, it knows only as different spheres for the 
occupancy of the same general agency, and for the 
achievement of the same lofty ends. Remoter guilt 



SPIRIT OF BENEFICENCE. \\ 

and misery affect the heart of the benevolent, if not 
as sensibly, yet with as really a moving power, as 
do those more near. Moral wretchedness makes 
its appeal as urgently from India as from Ireland s 
from the Celestial empire as from Wisconsin. And 
yet, in his beneficent mission to the far distant, the 
benevolent man averts not his eye from sin and 
suffering at his own door. No one is more eagle- 
eyed to espy the mute signs of contiguous want, or 
more ready to respond to the^calls of charity at hprne, 
than he who, overstepping such narrow limits, car- 
ries the blessings of his bounty to the farthest verge 
of sin and woe. * , 

The plea of " charity at home" has passed into a 
proverb, the significance of which seems often to be, 
hoarding all one gets, and getting all he can. It 
is sometimes only, the sanctimonious garb of parsi- 
mony, put on to cover the shame of its nakedness 
the formulary by which covetousness seeks baptism 
at the hands of the Christian priesthood a broad 
phylactery worn by one who "devours widows' 
houses." " Charity begins at home." True. And 
where else should she begin? She is born at home, 
and she begins to act where and when she receives 
her birth. This is the order of nature. All vital 
principles work from the centre outwards. It is the 
order of Providence also. But it is contrary both to 
nature and to Providence, for charity to seek only 
''her own," and allow her cultivated and fertile fields 



12 THE MISSION OP THE CHURCH. 

to do no more than " supply their own w'ants and 
replenish their own wastes." 

He, therefore, who in Christian beneficence ends 
with the, beginning, cannot be said to have begun. at 
all. And he 'who bestows nothing to relieve the 
misery of which he only hears the description, will 
be likely to turn away from that of which his eye 
gives him the living picture. Or if perchance, by 
some sudden antagonistical impulse, his iron-nerved 
grasp be tremulously relaxed, it is but to let slip a 
pittance much, nearer the mockery of woe than its 
mitigation. He who thus contravenes the order of 
nature, of Providence, and of the word of Grod, gives 
no equivocal proof of being tight bound in the chains 
of icy selfishness. Oovetousness has cast him into 
her iron-cage, and crushing out of him all humane 
and generous feelings, has contracted his aims to the 
narrow circle of his own selfish involutions. Doing 
good to his fellow-men is not his mission. He has 
lost the primal dignity of man. He has set himself 
aside from the human brotherhood, and his ear is 
bored in servitude to mammon. He no less needs 
a mission of mercy from the abode of angels, to re- 
assert in him the power of conscience, and restore 
him to his lost human fellowship, than does the poor 
idolater who makes to himself a god of one piece of 
his wood, and warms himself at the fire kindled by 
the other. .T1c\e one worships a god of wood the 
other, a god of gold. 



SPIRIT OF BENEFICENCE. 13 

The spirit of Christian beneficence neither halts 
nor hesitates at geographical boundaries. Contiguity 
of guilt and misery has the advantage only as afford- 
ing opportunity for speedier relief. Hence, the faint- 
est sigh of want, and the softest wail of sorrow, from 
whatever source they come, touch a responsive chord 
in the soul of the benevolent man, and vibrate there 
as the voice of God. . . 

Thus .diffusive is the spirit of Christian benefi- 
cence. Her " field is the world." Her. own nature 
allows her no narrower limits as the sphere of her 
action, and the circle of -the globe no wider one. 
With "onward" for her motto, she shrinks from no 
region however rigorous, and from no clime however 
sultry or remote, No barbarism is too rude, and no 
forms of error too venerable, for her assailment. No 
human condition is so degraded and no misery so, 
woful, no wretchedness is so appalling and no terror 
so intimidating, as to check her flowing sympathy or 
daunt her adventurous courage. The arm of power 
may be raised to protect or to repel her, yet, with 
her eye upturned to the throne of the Eternal, and 
her hand fast hold of the cross, she goes forth to her 
work. See the illustration' of her diffusive energy in 
the propagation of primitive Christianity, which, in 
Less than three centuries, she made the sole accred- 

"5 - 7 

ited religion of the civilized world. See her too, in 
this age, planting her standard amid the snows of 
Greenland, and on the burning sands of India. She 



14 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

1 

is unfurling the banner of the cross in every quarter 
of the globe. She is climbing the snow-clad sides of 
the Himmaleh and the Andes, crossing the Rocky 
Mountains and ranging the coasts of the Pacific, 
bearing in one hand the torch of truth, and pointing 
with the other to the Lamb of God. Nor will she 
rest, till every son and daughter of Adam is blessed 
by the gospel,' and the whole earth smiles with the 
beauty and verdure of heaven. 

"Breathe all thy minstrelsy, immortal harp, 
Breathe numbers warm with love, while I rehearse 
Thy praise, Charity; thy labors most 
Divine, thy sympathy with sighs, and tears, 
And groans ; thy great, thy godlike wish to heal 
All misery, all fortune's wounds, and makp 
The soul of every living thing rejoice..'' 

3. The spirit of Christian beneficence is an equi- 
table spirit, recognizing the principles of steward- 
ship. From just views of man's relations to his 
Maker, arises the idea of right ; and from the idea 
of right, comes the sense of moral obligation or 7 duty. 
It is inde.ed essential to true beneficence, that.it 
should be voluntary. " God loveth a cheerful giver." 
But it is also essential that respect should be had to 
a higher than human will, as the rule of duty. Thus 
then stands the case. Man is free to give, and free 
in giving. But he is also, bound to give, and to give 
equitably. 

Every man is a, steward of God, t All that he 



SPIRIT OF BENEFICENCE. 15 

possesses is committed to. him in trust, with, the in- 
junction, " Occupy till I come." At a future day it 
will be said, " Give an account of thy stewardship." 
Of every one who hides his Lord's money by hoard- 
ing, or embezzles it by squandering, it shall be said, 
"Bind the unprofitable servant, and cast him into 
outer darkness." He, on the other hand, who em- 
ploys it for the glory of his Master and the good of 
mankind, shall receive the faithful servant's approv- 
al, " Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 

Give to this idea of stewardship a practical preva- 
lence in the church, and it bar,s out covetousness, and 
raises multitudes of nominal professors from guilty 
worshippers of mammon, into 'honored cowqrkers 
with Christ in the world-'s redemption. : 

4. The spirit of Christian beneficence is a benevo- 
lent spirit. " Love thy neighbor, as thyself," is the 
great philanthropic principle of the gospel. It anni- 
hilates selfishness, and brings men into the sweet 
bonds of one common brotherhood. It plucks from 
the heart the "root of all evil," and plants in its-, 
stead the" seeds of a universal charity-. . 

We love our children, in some sense, as we love 
ourselves ; but this is not benevolence : our instincts 
prompt it. We make common cause upon some sub- 
jects, and on some occasions, with 'our kindred or 
friends ; but this is not benevolence : self-interest dic- 
tates it. We join in civil compact, and pledge "our 
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor," and some- 



16 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

times pour out our blood like water for the common 
weal ; but this is not benevolence : call it patriotism, 
of what we will, it has no Christian element, and 
oftentimes conflicts with every gospel principle, and 
charitable feeling. Benevolence makes a man the 
denizen of the world-. By its inherent tendency to 
"do good unto all men," it annihilates distance, and 
by Sympathy brings remote evils near. It knows no 
demarcation lines of sect, or tribe, or color. Its boun- 
daries are the limits of humanity. In its expansive 
schemes, it regards men as under one common condi- 
tion of guilt and. suffering ; subjects of one common 
righteous government ; liable to one common woe ; 
and for whom there is provided one 'common divine 
dispensary one Gilead of the world. The African 
is our "neighbor," and has fallen "among thieves;" 
benevolence calls for the appliance of our " oil and 
wine." The Hindoo is our brother, and is "sick;" 
it bids us bear to him the "balm" from "Gilead," 
and tell him of the "Physician .there." -' 

To what enlarged schemes of beneficence would the 
prevalence of this spirit prompt the church. What 
masses of wealth would it consecrate to the cause of 
humanity. What thousands of devoted men, glow- 
ing. with the spirit of Mills and Martyn and Brainerd, 
panting to carry the light of truth to lands darkened 
by sin, would it bring into the educational processes, 
preparatory to such a work. What fleets would it 
. give to the winds, taking their course towards the 



SPIRIT OF BENEFICENCE. 17 

heathen world, laden with the printed word, and the 
living preacher. How sublime the spectacle the 
whole Christian church moved by such a spirit of 
beneficence. 

5. The spirit of Christian beneficence -is a self- 
denying spirit. It is the nature of sin to exalt self 
to preeminence. This disorders our relations both 
to (rod and to our fellow-men. It subverts the 
law of love. It discards the divine will as the rule 
of action, and substitutes each man's own will. Its 
tendency is to convert the world into an arena of 
ceaseless and sanguinary^ conflict, for as many sepa- 
rate interests as 'there are individual combatants. 

Now, the tendency of Christianity is directly the 
reverse of this. It casts down self and enthrones 
the Creator in the soul. It meets the selfish spirit 
in all its vicious cravings, with an imperative denial. 
The foundation of the Christian faith was laid in a 
sacrifice, " Jesus Christ himself being the chief cor- . 
ner-stone." And as 'each disciple is built on this 
foundation, he receives from it a subduing power, 
which imparts to him this self-denying spirit. The 
beneficent career of Jesus on earth was marked in 
every period by humiliation and suffering and sacri- 
fice. And shall his followers have no fellowship 
with him in these ? Is the vital sap of the branches 
unlike that which flows in the vine ? Shall there be 
self-sacrifice in the head, and self-indulgence in the 
members? Self-denial is the condition of spiritual 

Miss, of Church. 14 



18 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

progress. ' ''-A despicable indulgence," says Henry 
Martyn, " gave me such a view of my character, that 
on my. knees, I resolved to live a life of -greater self- 
denial. . The love and vigor of my mind rose 'rapidly, 
and all those- duties from which I usually shrank, 
seemed recreations." Self-denial is the very condi- 
tion of discipleship. "If any man will come after 
me, let 'him deny himself, and take up his cross 
daily, and follow me." 

See this spirit burning in the bosom of the apos- 
tle to the Gentiles. With unsurpassed devotion, he 
lays'his ease and learning and cherished hopes joy- 
fully at 'the feet of his Saviour. He is "in perils of 
waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by his own coun- 
trymen, in perils 'by the Heathen, in perils in the city, 
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in 
perils among false brethren : ; in weariness and pain- 
fulness, nvWatchings often, in hunger and thirst, in 
fastings often, in cold and nakedness,"- And does he 
complain that his labors and sacrifices are too weari- 
some, or too costly ? Rather does he glory that to him 
is "this grace given/' that he may "preach among 
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." The 
same flame glowed in. the breasts of the martyrs, and 
the same holy fire should be kindled in the bosoms of 
the whole company of the disciples, consuming selfish- 
ness, and converting their hearts into censers, whence 
should perpetually ascend sweet incense unto God. 
6. The spirit of Christian beneficence is a spirit of 



SPIRIT OF BENEFICENCE. ' 19 

grateful love, The .most concise definition- of 'the 
Christian religion is love. " G-od is love," and "love 
is the fulfilling of the law." "Though I bestow all 
my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be 
burned, and have not love, it profite'th me nothing." 
The love of Christ takes the deepest hold of all the 
principles of our being. It allows no rival. It ad- 
mits no equal. It must reign supreme in the soul, con- 
trolling all its e'motions, and directing all its energies. 
Under the influence of, this love, benevolent impulses 
become permanent affections. Our strongest desires 
for the welfare of man and the glory of God, assume 
the character of fixed principles. Beholding the 
world as the scene of moral achievement, surveying 
.its desolations, its poverty and misery, its hatreds 
and strifes, its malice and murders, how sublime ap- 
pears the enterprise of its recovery* Ascending the 
mount of vision fast by the cross, and witnessing the 
vast funeral processions bearing annually on their 
biers to the world of woe, twenty-five millions of lost 
souls, how moving the spectacle,: how imploring the 
scene ! Yea, Christian, mounting up to the throne 
of the Eternal, see Him whom your soul loveth 
casting down his cross upon the golden pavements 
of the celestial city, and by all his agonies upon it, 
by the accumulated worth of six hundred millions 
of guilty human spirits, to whom the church has not 
these eighteen hundred years carried his saving gos- 
pel, see him interceding for that church, that it may 



20 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. . 

be filled with his own spirit, that it may become more 
self-denying, that -it may cease its strifes at home, 
and go on its mission abroad : see this, and iflove does 
not burn like a fire in your bones, if apathy does not 
seem madness, and the consecration of all fit means 
to such an end but 'a poor return, the very least you 
can offer, thou hast not known the love of Christ. 

When Dr. Doddridge, having procured a pardon for 
a condemned criminal, entered the prisoner's cell, the 
grateful man threw himself at his feet, exclaiming, 
"Everjr drop of my blood thanks you, for you have 
had mercy on every drop of it Wherever you go, 1 
will be yours." So entire is the devotion prompted 
by grateful love. But redeeming lave ! Oh, it is this 
which awakens all that is tender in affection, all that 
is generous and self-sacrificing in devotion, and which 
gives direction to all that is executive in energy for 
high moral achievement. It imparts to the meanest 
sacrifice a divine fragrance. It gives to " a cup of 
cold .water'/ a preeminence on the catalogue of be- 
neficent acts, not reached by the pharisaic donor of 
millions. It clothes the simplest prayer of the poor- 
est disciple with, a power for the world's conversion, 
to which the most skilfully adjusted moral machinery 
can make no approach. It is the divine alchymy, 
which transmutes in its crucible the baser metals 
into gold, and sets the smallest gift as a priceless 
jewel in the diadem of Him on whose 'head are 
"many crowns." ^ 



SPIRIT OF BENEFICENCE, . 21 

As Christ's mission was to the poor, these,, whom 
we "have always" with us, should be regarded as 
his representatives. To each of his disciples, he says, - 
"In these I am 'an hungered;' feed me: 'thirsty;' 
give me drink: I am 'sick' in the islands of the sea; 
minister to rne there : I am a prisoner in Asia ; procure 
my release : I am bound in Africa; seek my deliver- 
ance. ' Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
least of these, ye have done it unto me.' " And when 
you have? laid all your possessions and yourself with 
-them, at the foot of the cross, and viewed him sus- 
pended upon it, how insufficient seem all human en- 
ergies and offerings as a requital of 'his love. You 
wish that gold had a million times more value, and 
you a million times more gold to devote to him ; that 
your energies were augmented into superangelic pow- 
ers, that in the consecration of them all, your grateful 
love might find more fit expression. 

"Oh. thou who keep'st the key of love, 
Open thy fount, eternal Dove, 

And overflow this heart of 'mine ; 
, . Enlarging, as it fills with thee,' v 

Till, in one blaze of charity, 
Care and remorse are lost, like motes in light divine. 

"Till, as each moment wafts us higher, 

By every gush of pure desire,. 

And' high-breathed hope of joys above, 

By every sacred sigh we heave, 

Whole years of folly we outlive, 
In His unerring sight who measures life by Zove." 



22 THE MISSION OF 

7. The spirit of Christian beneficence is ya- spirit'. 
of prayer. It is tmV which distinguishes the enter-* 
prises of the church from all' other 'schem'es-for amel- 
iorating the condition, and relieving ; the- wants- and ; 
woes of the race; Yfhile it does *not impair the fQeif 

- --' .-* ..._ -;. I . 

ing of responsibility, it impresses the seh'se of depend- 
ence. It impels, the heart to look upward for wis- 
dom to direct: its efforts, and for power to render them 
efficacious. Plans of moral achievement which, on 
any other principle than that of the divine efficiency, 
would be Utopian, by this, are rendered rational and 
hopeful. It clothes the most gigantic- and daring 
moral heroism with the garments of humility, and 
elevates the simplest efforts of faith and love to the 
most honorable position of successful instrumental- 
ity. Recognizing the divine agency as the sole effi- 
cient cause of all beneficent human agency, his peo- 
ple lay their gifts upon the earthly altar, and in 
answer to prayer, the angel presents them as an 
accepted offering upon the golden altar before the 
throne. "Without prayer, alms fall like, lead to the 
ground. On the wings of prayer they seek the skies, 
and come up as an acceptable " memorial before 
God." 

Even Jesus the Son of the Most High labored not 
to do good without prayer. His life was one fervent 
intercession, the ardor of which abated not when it 
had consumed him on the cross. It mounted up to 
heaven. It still breathes and burns in the ear of 



" - ', > SPIRIT OP BENEFICENCE. . ' 23 

God, -with a prevalence that gives birth, in the mis- 
sion of the Spirit, to all human prayer, and efficacy 
to all human instrumentality for the good of the 
world. ' " . - . 

t See too how the apostles prayed when entering upon 
their beneficent work. Returning from the mount 
from which .they had seen their Master ascend, 
they retire to "an upper room," and continue with 
'one accord in prayer and supplication, until their 
baptism by the Holy Ghost. . They then go forth to 
their labors praying with the conviction that they 
can do nothing without prayer, and laboring as it" 
they could accomplish all things without it. Behold 
the martyrs, kindling their ardor at the altar of 
prayer, and pouring out their blood on the altar of 
sacrifice. The period of the Reformation was a pe- 
riod of intense, concentrated prayer. And the, effi- 
cient power of all beneficent enterprise is a power 
answering to the voice of prayer, going up from the 
, heart of the church. . Here is a field into which all 
may enter as reapers. The pathway to the throne 
of grace is barred to none, and none are more ac- 
cepted laborers than those who, having nothing else 
to bestow, pour out their strongest desires and their 
richest affections upon the angel's " golden censer." 
Here is the divine philosophy of Christian benefi- 
cence. The church lays down her offerings at the 
cross, and sends up her prayer to him who died upon 
it, and one angel descends into the "Bethesda around 



24 .THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

which earth's " impotent " are gathered, and another 
" angel having the everlasting gospel," is seen flying 
through the earth, " to every nation, and kindred, 
and tongue, and people," and " great voices are heard, 
saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the 
kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall 
reign for ever and 'ever." 

t Such are the leading elements which give charac- 
ter to beneficence as a Christian work. 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE,' : 25 

i 

CHAPTER II. 

.PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 

EVERY man's charitable contributions should evi- 
dently be proportionate to the vastness and impor- 
tance of the objects sought ; to the adequacy of the 
instrumentality ; and to his pecuniary means and 
facilities for applying that instrumentality. 

FIRST GENERAL PROPOSITION. 

EVERY MAN'S CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS SHOULD' 
BE PROPORTIONATE TO THE VASTNESS AND IMPOR- 
TANCE OF THE OBJECTS SOUGHT IN BENEFICENCE. ; 

"What, then, is the object or end which Christian 
Beneficence proposes to secure? Comprehensively, 
and in a word, it is, THE RECOVERY OF THE HUMA"N"' 
RACE FROM SIN TO HOLINESS. " The field is the 
world" . Ascend some mount of vision and behold 
the spectacle a world in ruins. Sin has- entered 
and strode across it, and death follows, mercilessly 
sweeping its guilty generations into the Unfathom- 
able abyss. .- . > 

-1. Look at Protestant Christendom, and what 
do you see ? In the most favored lands, where the 
governments are popular and the people free, where 
science is cherished and the arts flourish, where civ- 
ilization smiles and the word of God has free course, 
how do ignorance of the divine law and defiance of 



26 T'HE MISSION OF THE CHURCH-. 

right join in unhallowed compact, and generate a 
race of giants in wickedness ! How are such lands 
covered, over with houses of correction, and jails, 
and dungeons, and filled with the insignia of deprav- 
ity the proofs as well as preventives of. dishonesty, 
treachery, and crime. How are all remedial and 
sanative agencies despised or disregarded by multi- 
tudes of the people ; while cupidity gloats on _gain, 
and ambition strives to supplant and trample on a 
rival, and lust reeks in her dens of infamy, or saun- 
ters forth in the guise of innocence to capture and 
destroy. 

2. Inspect those portions of the earth's surface, 
designated as Roman-catholic Christendom. They 
are left to the occupancy of a religious system that 
incarcerates in dead languages the prophets and 
apostles, and dispenses its dry dogmas and uncom- 
rnanded ordinances where the Saviour has '.appoint- 
ed the nutritious bread of heaven and the healing 
waters of life a system, in whose fiscal arrange- 
ments sin is set down as, a marketable commodity, 
by traffic in which, the -guilty may purchase indul- 
gence to any amount, and with no penalty except 
the prescribed pecuniary one, may escape from De- 
lilah's lap into Abraham's bosom wherein prayers 
and pardons, births and burials,, suspensions of the 
divine law and its satisfaction, every thing, in short, 
is paid for in gold, except the liberty to believe and 
. to teach the pure gospel wherein the living are laid 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 27 

under tribute for the benefit of the dead, whom, not 
content with assessing while in the flesh, it consigns 
to purgatorial torments, release from which can be 
procured only by purchased Pater-nosters and Ave 
Marias : a system in which freedom is fettered, and 
conscience is bound, and the right of private judgr 
ment has fallen among thieves, 'and the priest passes 
by on the other side in which the Redeemer of the 
world is displaced from his mediatorial office by the 
elevation of his virgin mother ; , and the holiness of 
the poor canonized saint, is made transferable for 
the benefit of the rich repenting sinner in which 
" science and ignorance, refinement and barbarism, 
wisdom and stupidity, taste and animalism, mistaken 
zeal and malignant . enmity, may sanctimoniously 
pour out their virulence against the gospel, and cry, 
'Hosanna,' while they go forth to shed the blood, 
and wear out the patience of the, saints of the Most 
High." 

And if in any thing the workings of this match- 
less machinery for deceiving the people and destroy- 
ing its opponents, is -less wasteful than formerly of 
human blood, as the means of giving prevalence to 
its dead but- gigantic formalism, it is because its for- 
mer plenary poiver has departed, and it is hemmed 
in by moral and political influences which "render 
such means both impolitic and impracticable. It is 
not, we believe, from any essential improvement in 
the system. That is unchanged and unchangeable. 



28 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

Keform in the spirit and principles of the church of 
Home, would be its ruin. Let it hut give an open 
Bihle to the people, with liberty to read and think for 
themselves, and it "bites the dust. Yet, to the bale- 
ful nurture of this "mother of harlots," more than 
one hundred millions of the dwellers on the globe are 
subject, displaying the full " effects of knowledge de- 
nied" of " a famine of. the words of the Lord." 

3. Next, turn your eye to the followers of the fake 
Prophet, of whom there are over one hundred mill- 
ions more. Here, instead of the Bible, you find the 
Koran instead of the cross, the crescent. If the tu- 
telary genius of Mohammed complimented the patri- 
archs, it was to " beguile the Jew." If the Saviour 
of the world was admitted as among the prophets, 
it was as a lure to nominal Christians. And by hold- 
ing out to the faithful the certainty of sensual grati- 
fication, it was seen that a more easy conquest would 
be secured over papists, pagans, and infidels. The 
moral maxims from the Bible incorporated into the 
system, were only sufficient to give plausibility to its 
claims, and durability to the compact. Strong and 
resolute in the ignorance which it inculcates, its 
darkness has " strangled the travelling lamp " of 
truth, and its pride beaten back even the precursors 
of knowledge. - To make discijples was , its first ob- 
ject. Its second, was to make them iron-nerved and 
ferocious. The third, was to crush all "whom it 
could not lure or compel to the faith. Occupying 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 29 

for centuries the fairest portions of the earth, it has 
converted them into a wilderness, and covered^ them 
with moral desolation. Thanks to an overruling 
Providence, Islamism is in its dotage. " The keepers 
of the house tremble, and the strong men bow them- 
selves. The daughters of music are brought low ; 
fears are in the way, and the grasshopper is a bur- 
den." 

4. To complete the view of the field which benefi- 
cence seeks to occupy, cast the eye over lands shroud- 
ed in Paganism. Bereft of the idea of one all-perfect 
and controlling divinity ; with no standard of truth 
and right no guiding demonstration, leading to a 
comparison of the false with the true, the malignant 
with the good the 'appetites and passions rising 
into supremacy and Converting the enfeebled remains 
of moral sense into auxiliaries of debasement, what 
can Paganism be but one "mighty labor of human 
depravity to confirm its dominion ?" Vedas and 
shasters, filled with interminable genealogies, and 
transmigrations of the human soul, and of male and 
female divinities, are its holy books, containing neither 
precept nor example of moral excellence. Brahma, 
Vishnoo, and Siva, the consecrated patrons of the 
vices, are its chief deities. Yain theorists, skilful, 
impostors, and lascivious sorcerers are its only guides 
and intercessors. Parricide, infanticide, sutteeism, 
self-torture, laborious pilgrimages, and obscene rites 
are its most approved forms of religious service. 



30 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

Caste, with its impassable walls, fixing unalterably 
the station of, each individual, annihilates all motive 
to improvement in the lower classes, and gives to 
the higher free course in vice and crime, by securhig 
them against deposition or disgrace. "The entire 
empire of polytheism," says Harris, "is a realm of 
diabolical dominion. It assembles its votaries only 
to blaspheme the name of God ; erects its temples 
only to attract the lightning of the impending cloud : 
on their devoted heads ; calls them around its altars, 
only that, in the very act of supposed atonement, 
they may complete their guilt; and gives them a 
pretended revelation only. that 'they should believe 
a lie.'" 

And the worst feature of all is, that in the systems 
of Paganism, there is no element Q$ improvement, no 
principle of progress, except in the road from bad to 
worse. Time only deepens- the gloom, and legitimizes 
among them the processes of ruin. Even the moral 
sentiments that here and there shone out of ancient 
heathenism, like stars in deep night, and the skill 
and taste apparent in the temples and divinities of- 
Greece and Rome, find no place in modern Paganism. 
It has no recuperative, biit only a degrading and de- 
stnictive^power. 

And does no Macedonian cry, coming up from such 
an Aceldama, make its appeal to Christian hearts 
for some more vigorous and sustained beneficent ef- 
fort ? Behold poor, abused, bleeding Africa, pillaged 



PROPORTIONS BENEFICENCE. 31 

and plundered by lawless and inhuman marauders, 
yielding up 'her tawny, barbarous sons to still more 
barbarous strangers from Christian lands. See Asia, 
" wholly given to idolatry," her miserable poor crushetl 
under the heel of an oppressive and polluted priest- 
hood Asia, the cradle of the race, torn by intestine 
feuds and foreign aggressions, pouring her dense 
population of wretched and guilty spirits into the 
abyss of woe Asia, with no Bible and no Sabbath ; 
with no Saviour but the Ganges and her countless 
idols ; with no worship but that of demons, or rep- 
tiles, or monsters of vice ; and with no morality ex- 
cept what hastens the desolating work, and hurries 
human souls to perdition how does she lift up her 
imploring voice, and call on us for a deliverer. 

" Oh., could I picture out fo&full effect 

Of tliat soul-withering power, idolatry, 
. I'd write a page which, whoso dared to read, 

His eye, instead of tears, in crimson drops should bleed." 

Now, it is the object of Christian beneficence to . 
recover this guilty and lost world to the service and 
enjoyment of God. It is to purify the .earth from 
all its vile abominations, and clothe it in the loveli- 
ness of moral beauty. It is not her work to admire 
the proportions of ancient architecture, or the state- 
liness of modern palaces ; to imitate the great mas- 
ters in statuary and painting, or to gather the results 
of modern science ; it is not to adorn the galleries of" 
art, or enrich the collections of antique curiosities ; 



32 THE MISSION 'OF THE CHURCH. 

not to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics, or muse 
on, the remains of ancient grandeur, laudable as all 
this may be ; but it is her work to found hospitals, 
open dispensaries, and establish asylums, wherein 
the poor may be cared for, the sick visited, the~blind 
be made to see, the deaf to hear, and the dumb to 
speak. For such beneficent institutions, there was 
no place among all the public edifices, or structures, 
or organizations of ancient heathenism, as for them 
there was no name in all their languages. "We might 
say, it is the MISSION OP THE CHURCH to raise up 
debased and brutalized mind, oppressed and degraded 
almost to extinguishment, and impart to it vigor and 
fertility ; to give exercise to the kindlier sympathies 
and more elevated sentiments of the heart, and to 
restore liberty and supremacy to conscience. .She 
aims to bury every tomahawk, to " beat swords into 
ploughshares and spears into pruning-hooks," to bear 
the olive-branch into all climes, plant the tree of 
peace in every soil, and bring wandering, warlike 
tribes into a social, civil, and religious position, sur- 
passing that of the happiest and most prosperous 
community on the globe. What objects of temporal 
good are comparable with these ? What career more 
like the earthly mission of Him who went about 
doing good ? 

.But beneficence has a still higher object than to 
bless men in this life. She carries her projects for 
consummation, across the boundary of time, into the 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. ,33 

vast and indescribable eternity beyond. 'In the ac- 
complishment , of , : her design, she seeks to open a 
moral Bethesda ift every land, and to make the Bible, 
God's. directory to heaven, the book of the world ; to 
"preach the gospel to every creature," and to make 
it '"the power of God unto salvation " in every heart. 
She aims to break the frightful coalition of ignorance 
and. crime, formed by -the prince of the power of 
the air," and to transfer the wretched captives frorn 
the power of Satan unto God. She seeks to tear 
down 'the funeral pile of the miserably devoted wid- 
ow, and to give her, in her 'affliction, to the benign 
influences of the heavenly Comforter ; to detach from 
the blood-stained car of Juggernaut its murderous 
human, propellers, to raise up from before its ponder- 
ous wheels the deluded human victims, and to send 
them to the shrine of a pure worship, and to the al- 
tar of the living God. She enters the precincts of 
the 'demon-temples, surveys the abominable, soul-de- 
.stroying rites, weeps over -the appalling spectacle, 
and wrests .from "the ruler of the darkness of this 
world " the prostrate human " spirits there trampled 
into the dust. She points them to the cross of Christ, 
and tells .them that " God so loved the world, that 
he gave his only begotten Son, that, whosoever be- 
lioveth in him, might not perish, but have everlast- 
ing life." She stands by the Ganges, and assures 
the suicidal worshippers that the path to heaven- is 
not through its .turbid" stream, opens, to them Jesus 

Miss, of Churth, . 15 . - 



34 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

as " the way," ancTbath.es them in the pure waters of 
the river of life. Like a visitant from the. bosom of 
love, she sits by the shrines of Brahma, Vishnoo, and 
Siva, and proclaims to the millions of eager votaries, 
that these " cannot answer, and save them out oi . 
trouble."' ;She would bear, the cross into the very 
heart of Mohammedan imposture, and plant it with 
in the grand mosque at Mecca, sprinkling the multi- 
tudinous mass of deluded pilgrims with the blood 
which " eleanseth from all sin." She would pour 
. the light of a pure Christianity upon .the darkened, 
domains. of Homanism, ,and introduce "the power o) 
godliness", to a, region wherein is found littl(3 save 
its gorgeous, but lifeless forms. She would dispel the 
dark, and inveterate disbelief of the, Jews, scattered 
and peeled and oppressed, and lead them, through 
their own prophets, to the acknowledgment of Jesus 
as the s Messiah, and unite all the dwellers on the 
earth under his tranquil and happy reign. . 

And is it nothing to you,- that a mission is pro- 
posed for the accomplishment of such an obje'ct? 
Are there found in such forms and fruits of sin any 
sufficient remedial agencies to .justify apathy and in- 
action ? And is it thus you would shield yourself 
from the urgency of appeal which the case presents, 
and baffle the beneficent design of Immanuel in giv- 
ing his life a ransom for the world? vCan you think 
.that, pollution is as good as purity ; that idolatry is as 
likely to lead to heaven as the service of G od ; that 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 35 ' 

blasphemy and defiance :of divine command are as 
efficacious for salvation as faith in Jesus ? Will the 
eternal law of truth and rectitude "be . repealed, in 
consideration of the prevalence of .error, imposture^ 
and crime ? "Will ahlutions in the Ganges, or the 
declaration of pardon by a darkened and ambitious 
priesthood, make their robes white, as if washed in. 
the blood of the Lamb ? Will the flames of suttee- 
ism purify the guilty soul like the sprinkling of the 
clear waters of the gospel ? Do the rumblings of 
Juggernaut's bloody car make sweet music in the 
ear of God, like the prayer and. praise of, redeemed 
spirits, uttering their thanksgiving and love ? Oh, ' 
speak it not think it not. " Without faith it is 
impossible -to please God." "-But how shall they 
believe on Him of whom they have not heard-? And 
how shall they hear, -without a preacher ? Arid how 
shall they preach, except they be sent?" Such is 
the resistless logic of the apostle, which divinely de- 
monstrates the necessity of a mission to the ignorant 
and guilty in every land ; and which proclaims the 
gospel as the sovereign balm for all wounded'spirits 
the grand panacea for all human ills the "pharos 
of a benighted world." ' 

To carry this gospel to the guilty and miserable 
of earth's teeming population, is the appropriate 
MISSION OP THE CHURCH. It is to tell them of tlie 
amplitude of God's love to man, and raise them to 
him by the efficacy of that love. It is to efface the 



36 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

font blot of sin from the polluted soul of man, to re- 
store primeval paradise to earth's outcast inhabitants, 
to people heaven with redeemed and blissful dwellers, 
and to give back to God his revolted, dismembered 
kingdom, in sweet and peaceful subjection. 

How lofty is this aim ! How sublime the end ! 
It is in agreement with the end of Jehovah in creat- 
ing the race. It is,j)romotive,of the object for which 
Christ died. It is included in the grand sweep of 
God's providential plan for the government of the 
world. It is identical with the main design of Heav- 
en in the constitution of the church, and the continu- 
ance of redeemed ones for a time, as pilgrims on the 
earth. All holy motives converge to this one point, 
the glory of God in the salvation of men. All moral 
arguments, in their loftiest bearings, strengthen and 
confirm this. All spiritual appliances, in their ulti- 
mate reference and highest utility, minister to this 
one comprehensive and sublime end, the healing of 
the nations by the gospel of Christ, "to the praise 
and glory of God's grace." Nor will the period ar- 
rive when it can be said of -the work, " it is finished," 

till : -'- 

" The dwellers in the vales, and on the rocks 
Shout to each other, and the mountain-tops 
From distant mountains catch the flying joy- 
Till, nation after nation taught the strain, 
Earth rolls the rapturous llosanna round.". 

Now, if we have succeeded in impressing the read- 
er with the vastness and importance of the objects 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 37: 

of Christian beneficence, he has probably been led 
to the following conclusion : if there is an adequate 
instrumentality for the accomplishment of this object, . 
the question of expense is worthy to be considered 
only so far as -to ascertain whether at "is within the 
limits of "possibility to meet that expense. 'He will 
say, the cost is nothing in comparison with the end 
to be gained. If the work, is practicable, it cannot 
cost too much.. He feels that it is paltry meanness, 
with such an object in view, to haggle about dollars 
and cents ; that it is treason against, humanity to 
withhold giving, .where such motives urge to liber- 
ality. He sees that he may never have taken a just 
view of his own duty and responsibility in this mat- 
ter, and he resolves that his rate.of benevolent contri- 
bution, in time to come, shall be more proportionate 
* to the value and importance of the end sought in 
beneficence. And he also determines that what is 
done, should be done quickly. "Roma deliberat, 
Saguntum perit" While the church deliberates, the 
heathen perish. / - '*' 

- . - SECOND GENERAL 'PROPOSITION. 

.EVERY MAN'S CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS SHOULD 
BE PROPORTIONATE TO THE ADEQUACY OP THE INSTRU- 
MENTALITY TO BE APPLIED. ' 

The fallen world what can raise it up from its 
revolted and degenerate state, and give it back to 
(rod redeemed, and clothed in its primeval loveliness 



38 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. ., 

and beauty? What can make atonement 'for sin, 
and give satisfaction to the dishonored Jaw o~f God, 
and repair the ruin wrought ? What can penetrate 
the obdurate heart of man, and turn its selfishness 
into benevolence, and impel the tide of its sympa- 
thies, ever tending inward to the contracted ce'ntre, 
to flow outward to the circumference and upward 
towards its Maker? Is there an adequate redeem- 
ing power ? Are there, sufficient remedial agencies 
for a work so vast, so momentous ? These are ques- 
tions which press upon the spirit of every earnest 
inquirer concerning the means of man's redemption, 
and of the mission of the church to the world. 

The great desideratum with Archimedes, for mov- 
ing the world, was a place whereon .to stand. This 
was his necessity. A similar necessity meets .the 
Ohristian philanthropist in the scheme for bringing 
back the revolted world into the sunlight and favor 
of heaven. The philosopher could obtain no such 
stand-point ." The Ohristian can. The one -could 
find no place outside of, or above the world which 
he wished to move. The other takes --his stand on 
the Gospel of Christ, which is "from heaven" and 
not "of men.'.' This gives him a position and. a 
powei fully adequate to his most enlarged and com- 
prehensive benevolence. All other expedients for 
the conversion of the world are cumbered by the 
game unremovable difficulty which met the Syia- 
cusan philosopher ' - 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 39 

'WitM-n the most costly .temples of Paganism, no 
divine Ijght illumines the benighted worshippers, 
and no celestial fire warms their devotion into life. 
In the very act of giving " the fruit of the body for 
the sin of the soul," they but enhance the evil which 
they would remove. Notwithstanding the smoke of 
their ten thousand sacrifices, ascending to blacken the 
.heavens they would appease, the sting of conscience 
rankles in their guilty bosoms still. In all these 
things, " they feed on ashes." " Pass over the isles 
of Chittim and see, send unto Kedar and consider dili- 
gently, and see if there be such a thing. Hath a 
nation changed their gods, which are no gods ?" 

Nor is there more hope in the alleged recuperative 
power v of reason, and the progress of science. For 
nearly six thousand years, there have been promul- 
gators of the doctrine of human perfectibility, and 
dreamers of such a result through the devices of rea- 
son and -the advance of science. And successive 'gen- 
erations have been working' out demonstrations of the 
futility of the doctrine, as decisive as they are hu* 
miliating. -Human reas*on has no such recovering 
moral energy. It caiv never relieve itself from the 
dominancy of the passions, or rise from its subjection 
to the perverse will. It may intimate, in some 
things, the right, the true, and the good; but it can- 
not compel to their observance. Reason and science 
may polish the exterior into a degree of comeliness 
and decency, but they cannot successfully resist the 



40 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

on-workings of the law of sin. They cannot remove 
from the soul its appalling sense of guilt. They can- . 
not lead man to ".deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, 
and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this 
present world." See their boasted triumphs in the 
reign of terror which < swept across France at the. 
close of the last century, deluging the land with 
blood, and leaving it in a state which forced/from 
the republic the humbling confession, that their 
"children are without any idea of divinity', with, 
out any notion of what is just or unjust." 

And what are the. claims alleged in favor of civil- 
ization as a remedial agency ? It should be a suffi- 
cient answer to say, e that civilization contemplates 
man only as an inhabitant of this, terrestrial globe, 
and provides not for his weal beyond. And its most 
beneficent instrumentality is. composed of the imple- 
ments of agriculture, and of the mechanic arts. It 
sends to the savage tribes of the earth," as its best 
boon, the plough, the spindle, and the loom, whereby 
they may clothe themselves " in purple and fine linen, 
and fare sumptuously every 'day ;" but it leaves the 
soul a. prey to remorse, and under the frown of heav- 
en. It excites no hope of future good; awakens no 
gratitude to the Father of mercies; -points to. no 
(divine, . atoning work ; tells of no redeeming love,' 
through which is seen, 

" Up earth's dark glade, 
The gate of heaven unclose." 



ra.Ol'ORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 4} 

The Bible, the Sabbath, and the cross constitute no 
elements of beneficent power, in all its boasted in- , 
strumentality. In its happiest influences, it leav&s 
man as it finds him, guilty and miserable, in darkness 
and distress, where lie- most needs light- and relief. 

Nor can there be more reliance upon the enact- 
ment of civil law. This is only a defensive expedi- 
ent, adopted by communities to prevent such overt 
crimes as are injurious to the social compact. But 
in preventing the criminal ac,,can it dictate to the 
'heart, and sway a resistless sceptre over its stormy 
passions, and hush its wild discord into harmony and 
peace ? Can it carry tEe force of truth into the dark- 
caverns of the soul, combating and conquering ini- 
quity, dethroning selfishness, purging away lust, cast- 
ing, out revenge, and turning the plottings of villany 
into plans "of benevolence ? Can it restore to the 
conscience its legitimate supremacy, and cast down, 
pride, and introduce love and mercy and meekness ? 
Can it break up ','-' the fallow ground," and "scatter 
the good, seed," . and fructify the barren, soil, and- 
cause -it to. bring forth a rich, harvest unto God? 
"Canst thou x draw put leviathan with a hook ; or 
bore his jaw through with a thorn?"- Lawis , a rule, 
not a remedy. Its language to the guilty is of pun- 
ishment, and not of pardon. " The letter killeth." 
It is the Spirit that giveth life. " It is not the twelve 
tables and the Justinian code that man nee'ds, but the 
four gospels and the twenty-one epistles. 



42 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

Literature and its refinements are no more ade- 

I 

quate to the ends of Christian beneficence, than is 
civilization or law. If we look to the periods of an- 
tiquity in which the arts were carried to the highest 
degree of refinement -, and the muses were most suc- 
cessfully wooed ; if we take our stand at Athens, the 
eye of ancient Greece, and muse on the hanks of the 
Ilyssus with Socrates, or sit in the academy with 
Plato, or walk in the grove with the Stagyrite ; or 
if we ascend Parnassus to Apollo and the muses, .or 
sit hy the Castalian foumVwhat do we see and 1 hear? 
Poetry, the enchanting priestess of Nature, by her 
creative genius originating a popular, pantheistic my- 
thology, breathing an ideal divinity into, inanimate 
objects ; singing of Elysian fields, and delighting and 
deluding the people by allegory,- fable, and fiction 
Sculpture, setting forth her matchless skill in the 
works of a Phidias and Praxiteles, to maintain, amid 
the perfection of physical development by gymnas- 
tic exercises, the 'endangered preeminence of 'the 
gods Eloquence, with ease, -with grace, with action, 
".pouring the persuasive strain,'-' and stirring the 
soul to deeds of. daring and of bloodand "Philos- 
ophy, flitting across the night of Paganism like the 
lantern-fly of the tropics, a light unto herself, but 
alas, no more than an ornament of the surrounding 
.darkness." 

In surveying the wide field of ancient literature, 
the Christian eye scarcely rests upon one spot' of 



PROPORTION. IN BENEFICENC.E. 43 

moral greenness and beauty. Rich in intellectual 
productions, abounding in the fruits of taste, acute 
m metaphysical discrimination, and sparkling some- 
times with admirable moral precepts, the mass of 
ancient literature is nevertheless, in its moral infiu 
ences, corrupt 'and corrupting. 

Nor has the literature of modern times, when di- 

i 

voiced, from Christianity, accomplished any thing 
more beneficent for the world,: The offspring'; of 
scepticism and ^sensuality, baptized by the priests of 
mamm'on, it has sold itself as the servile minister of 
selfishness, the base pander to lust, to pride and 
power. . It is the arsenal of evil, rather than an 
auxiliary of good to mankind. The unsanctified lit- 
erature, the prostituted press/ of the nineteenth cen- 
tury opposes one" of the greatest obstructive forces 
to the progress of Christianity. 

Almost equally -imbecile has a corrupted Christi- 
anity been found, in the work of repairing the ruin 
.of sin. When its doctrines are adulterated -by the 
subtleties ,of the schoolmen, and its morality is dis- 
placed by the refinements of Jesuitical expediency ; 
when the church, instead of transporting the word 
of -God to the benighted abroad, locks it up in clois- 
ters at home, practically teaching salvation through 
the efficacy of sacraments, rather than by the power 
of the cross ; when priestcraft joins unholy alliance 
with kingcraft to pervert the pure gospel into an en- 
gine of state, fettering freedom: and forging chains for 



44 THE MISSION. OF. Ttt'E' OUtfRCH. 

conscience ; when pride and power put on the sacer- 
dotal garb, and ambition, strides into, the metropoli- 
tan chair, and wicked men lord it over God's heri- 
tage, and shut up the fountains of living waters frorri 
'the thirsty people, and 'give the hungry children's 
bread to dogs then Christianity is shorn .of its 
mighty power, and grinds in the prison-house of its 
enemies. Such dreadful perversion blots out the 
sunlight of heaven, and leaves men to walk in dark- 
ness. It intercepts them, in their approach to the 
inner court and the mercy-seat, and leaves them to 
wander around, their heavenly Father's house as 
orphans or criminals. It bolts the windows of heav- 
en, pushes back the hand reached down > for human 
deliverance, and turns out .of its appointed channels 
the current of divine life gushing forth for the cleans- 
ing of human souls. Oh, how has such corruption 
made the .church, instead of light and life, and -sal va- 
tion, a kind of pestilence and plague, the occasion of 
a more malignant development of the general dis- 
ease, rather than of its cure ! " If the light that is 
in " her " be. darkness, how great is that darkness !" 
From allsuch instrumentality, Christian benefi- 
cence studiously withholds herself. Instead of rely- 
ing upon such means, it is her appropriate work to 
assail them, and by rectifying reason, sanctifying gen- 
ius and taste, and leading men to the pure foun- 
tains of divine science, to transfer them from the 
heathen to the Christian si4e of the conflict. For 



'PROPORTION IN B-ENEF-ICENCE. 45 

this she levies no armies, except those bearing the 
weapons of a spiritual warfare. She sends out no 
fleets, save those under commission from the great" 
King. . She lays no siege "but for the bombardment 
of the strongholds of principalities, and powers, and 
to pour forth the "junipers of hot conviction" into 
the' ancient battlements .of spiritual wickedness in 
high places. She has no gaudy trappings, no glit- 
tering pageantry,- no bewitching mysticism for the 
vain-glorious and imaginative." She comes to us with 
the Gospel of Jesus. The hopes of the race are sus- 
pended on the simple but powerful doctrine of the 
cross, rendered effectual by the Holy Spirit. 

See now its operation. It lays its account directly 
with the heart, and in the attire of simple truth, 
seizes the conscience, piercing the innermost soul 
with the conviction of sin,' and pointing the guilt- 
stricken sinner to the cross of Christ. Subduing the 
heart, its first conquest gives the pledge of victory in 
all its subsequent encounters. It unites the believer 
through a living faith to a divine Redeemer, by whom 
he is borne up into the dazzling visions of the spirit 
ual world, and permitted to look upon glories that 
eclipse the brightness of all earthly splendor. /It 
presents to him the great overmastering truth, that 
" God is love," and illustrates it to him by the cross. 
" Herein is love." : - . 

'" God so loved the world, that he gave his only be- 
gotten. Son, that whosoever belieyeth in ,him should 



46 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

not perish, but ha ve everlasting life. " " What words 
are those you read ? "What sounds are those I heard .? 
Let. me hear those words again," exclaims a poor 
South Sea islander, as the missionary Nott- is read- 
ing this passage from tlie gospel of John. "Is that 
true ? Can that he true ? - God loved the world 
when, the world did not love him- ! Can that ^he 
true?" .And. when assured that it is true, with a 
heart too full for utterance, he retires to meditate on 
the amazing love' of God, wliich has reached and 
subdued his soul. A wretched pilgrim on the coast 
' of Malabar inquires of his priests how he can make 
atonement -for his sins, and is directed to drive iron 
spikes through his sandals, and walk four hundred 
and eighty miles. While he reposes under a shady 
tree, and waits for healing and strength, as from 
the loss of blood he is often compelled to do, the ' 
herald of the gospel comes forth, and preaches to 
him from the words, "The blood ,of Jesus Christ 
cleaiiseth us from all sin," The victim of Pagan 
delusion rises- from the ground", throws off his tortur- 
ing sandals, and crying out, " This is what I want," 
becomes a living witness of the power of the truth 
to which he listened, " That is what I want, that is 
what I want," exclaimed a poor Hindoo, on hearing 
that ''the Son of man came to seelcand to save that 
which was lost." And this is what the heathen 
want. rwhat all men want. It is light in darkness, 
hope in * despair, life in death. . 



PKOPOETION IN BENEFICENCE. 47 

., And this is just the instrumentality which heaven 
-has provided. To the polluted, the gospel opens a 
fountain of cleansing waters. To the condemned, 
it presents a forgiving God. , TO the thirsty, it is a 
river of life. To the hungry, it is' the bread of heav- 
.'en. The weary it lays in sweet repose on the "bosom 
of a loving Saviour. The fallen 'heir of glory it 
makes a king and a priest unto God. It illumines 
the darkened understanding. It rouses the slumber- 
ing conscience. It subdues the rebellious will.. ' It 
descends into the- affections," and like the angel- visit-, 
ant at Bethesda, imparts a purifying and healing 
power, and recovers the whole man. 

See, too, the harmony in the operations of this in- 
strumentality, by principles seemingly paradoxical. 
The doctrine of man's apostasy is most impressively 
taught by the means appointed for his ..recovery. 
The soul is impressed with a sense of its .ruin by 
that which takes from it the deep gloom of despair. 
Provision is made .for the pardon .of sin in a way 
which demonstrates that it cannot be palliated. The 
gospel provides for moral purity by a transaction 
which deepens the sense of moral pollution, and dis- 
pels the terrors of -guilt by a fact that proclaims 'the 
turpitude of transgression. It awakens the keenest 
sensibility to the claims of duty by that which, makes 
propitiation for the sin of neglected duty. It. recti- 
fies reason and subdues the will by a process which 
elevates the moral sentiments. It nurtures zea; 



48- THE MISSION. OF THE CHURCH.- 

withput making zealots, and leads to the contem-. 
plation of mysteries, yet has no tendency to make 
mysti.es. " It fosters alike reflection, and action, joins 
fait.h and charity, teaches' dependence and respon- 
sibility, harmonizes the discordant ' elements of our - 
nature, and turns all our energies into the channel 
of sweet obedience and love. It unites sublimity 
with simplicity, gives high moral dignity to the 
smallest act of obedience, and clironicles for the ad 
miration of the "world the donation of ".two mites" 
as' the testimonial of love. Prudent, it is neither 
temporizing nor timid; cautious, it is "nevertheless 
decisive and energetic; "sorrowful, yet always re- 
joicing ;,as having nothing, yet possessing all things." 
Thus radically and thoroughly, and almost paradoxi 
cally, does the gospel work in the heart of the indi - 
vidual, preparing, its way to permeate and pervade 
society. . 

Going forth into the world, the gospel knows no 
truce with error, no compromise with sin, no compact 
with artifice, -no resort to stratagem. Openly and 
boldly it lays the axe at the root of every evil tree, 
and destroys its fruit, not by clipping off the twigs, 
but by hewing down the trunk. -It dries up the 
streams of human woe, not by artificial processes 
of heating the air, but by closing up the fountains. 
And it gives good guarantee of, its effectual working 
by the class among whom it begins. "To the poor 
the gospel is preached ;" and from this class it works 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. *49 

upward through all the intermediate strata of society 
to the highest. 

The, gospel comes to man as a benefactor in his 
social relations. Prescribing his duties, it utters its 
severest anathemas against those who rudely trench , 
upon the lights and privileges, or overleap the boun- 
daries of the social state. It raises woman from ser- 
vile, almost soulless barbarism, to civilized and Chris 
tian refinement, and leads her, as among the CafFres, 
to regard the missionary as " the snield of woman," 
and to consider his approach, as the female savages 
of New England did that of Eliot, the "advent of 
an angel." It nurses feeble infancy, and trains the 
opening mind to virtue and happiness. It extends 
its protecting arm' to infirm old age, and adminis- 
ters rebuke to the "child" that demeaneth himself 
"proudly against the "ancients," All "the lesser 
charities that soothe, and cheer, and bless, ",the do- 
mestic virtues, the sacred endearments which consti- 
tute the bliss and charm of social life, all find their 
source in the gospel of Christ. 

With equal efficiency and success, does the Chris- 
tian religion operate upon, the civil] condition of man. 
By creating a sense of individual responsibility, it 
awakens a desire for personal freedom ; and through 
the restraint which it imposes, by motives drawn from 
higher than human enactments, it makes that free- 
dom safe and salutary. It presents the Bible as the 
great statute-book of heaven for men, and creates 

Miss, of Church. 16 



50 THE MISSION OP THE. CHURCH 

loyal subjects, by securing just rulers and the enact- 
ment of jusklaws. It maintains incessant warfare 
.with pride and ambition. and false honor, the three 
grand procurers of barbarism, brutality, and Wood- 
shed- It. sets forth the law of equity, humility,: and 
love as the rule of international commerce, and 
binds kings as well as subjects by the principles of 
individual responsibility and honesty. Under the in- 
fluence of the gospel, oppression shall cease from the 
earth. The clarion of war shall no more call hostile 
armies to the field of sanguinary conflict. The hero 
shall be stripped of the guise of false' glory, in which 
men 

" Smile assent at giant crime, 
And call the darkest deeds sublime ;" 

and he only whose works of love and mercy procure 
for him the approval of heaven, shall receive the 
applause of men. A new standard, of glory will 
Christianity present to the nations of the earth,- and 
challenge kings and potentates to a new atyle of 
achievement. To do good and not evil, to save man 
and not destroy him, will characterize that day when 
love shall smile in every, eye, and peace shall dwell 
"in every bosom, and earth shall become a type and 
foretaste of heaven. , 

The auspicious .dawn of such a day already gilds 
the eastern horizon. What has swept -idolatry with 
its diabolical abominations from the Tahitian, Sand- 
wich, and Society Islands, and from nearly a hun- 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 51 

dred adjacent and other islands of the sea, and is 
leading to its downfall in Iridia ? The Gospel. "What 
has brought nearly half a million of the worshippers 
of stocks and stones to the knowledge of the true 
God, and gathered half as many more youthful and 
adult pupils into schools in the process of intellect- 
ual and moral improvement? j The Gospel. Behold 
a New Zealand chieftain, the veteran warrior of 
many hattles, rising in the midst of a group of New 
Zealand children assembled by their native teachers 
for examination in the presence of their parents, 
Hear him, exclaim with irrepressible emotion, "Let 
me speak; I must speak. .,0 that I had known that 
the gospel was coming ! that I had known that 
these blessings were in store for us ! Then I should 
have saved my children, and they would have been 
among this happy; group, repeating these precious 
truths ; but alas, I destroyed them all, and now I 
have not one left." Then bursting into tears, and 
cursing, the gods which they had formerly worship- 
ped, he continues, "It was you that infused this say- 
age disposition into us ; and now I shall die childless, 
although I have been the father of nineteen children. 
that some one had seized my murderous hand, and 
told me the Gospel is coming to our shores." "What 
has wrought this change ? The Gospel. What has 
enabled the missionary to exclaim of two hundred 
thousand converts gathered into more than a thousand 
Christian churches, as Paul did of the Ephesians, " Ye 



52 THE MISSION OF THE' CHURCH. 

were sometime darkness, but now are ye light in the 
Lord?" The G-ospel. What has "borne up before the 
throne that bright throng of ransomed ones,-" out of all 
nations and kindreds and people and tongues," from 
South Africa, from Eastern Asia, from Greenland, 
from the savage tribes of North America, and from 
the islands of the sea ; and has put a new song into 
their mouth, "Salvation to our God which sitteth 
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb?" The Gospel 
proclaimed, by the missionary. Oh, it is this pre- 
cious doctrine, Christ and him crucified, that shall 
be the instrument of bringing down out of heaven 
the new Jerusalem from God, " which shall have no 
need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it ; 
for the glory of- God shall lighten it, and the Lamb 
shall be the light thereof." It is by this only, that 
guilt is cancelled and sin taken away, the polluted 
cleansed, the outcast called home, and the miserable 
filled with "the peace of r God" and "the comfort of 
love." "Who can compute the .results of such an 
instrumentality ? They are measureless as the bliss 
of heaven, endless, as the duration of God. Who 
can estimate the importance of such instrumental- 
ity,? It is wise as the councils of heaven, " precious 
as the blood of Christ," .necessary as the salvation, 
of the soul, and commensurate with the most wide- 
spread and disastrous consequences of sin. 

But can this instrumental agency prevail over' all 
the mighty and malignant foes which set themselves- 



1 PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 53 

against it ? The trial lias been met, the experiment 
made. Benevolence has prevailed over selfishness, 
love over hate, God over man. The church has sur- 
vived, and not only so^but she has nourished in her 
bitterest persecutions. Fire cannot burn her, water 
cannot drown her, nor the "wild beasts, out of the 
wood" devour her. Two converts are born, for 
^every one that- is burnt. " The blood of the mar- 
tyrs is the seed of the church." The res burnish 
her, and the -waters purify her. ' Dangers enlarge 
her, and the rack emancipates her. Her opposers 
help her on, and her foes build her up. . The fulmi? 
nations of kings and cardinals - against her hasten 
the accomplishment of the , purposes of the King ot 
kings in, her favor. From ' temporary defeat, she 
rises with renewed energy for permanent triumph. 
Every external pressure she .throws off by the op- 
eration of an internal divine power. Decrees and 
bolts and bars and fire and -faggots hinder not her 
progress. Bonds and tortures and terrors and death 
prevent not her increase. Yea, in all these, and by 
means of these, she triumphs. "What would destroy 
other things, deyelopes the mighty< power of the gos- 
pel. "What would put back other causes, advances 
this. Under those circumstances in which other 
organizations would perish, the church prevails. 

. Do you ask how these wonders are to be accounted 
for ? By the inherent divine power, by the elements 
of increase and of immortality residing in the Gospel 



04 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

r 

of Jesus. The covenant of the church, in carrying 
out its grand beneficent work of converting the world, 
is with her almighty Head, who sits above the storms, 
and infuses his own insuppressible and indestructible , 
spirit of energy into the hearts of -all his followers. 
" The Lord, her God in the midst of her is mighty." 
" The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the 'eyes 
of all nations," therefore, " all the ends of the earth 
shall see the salvation of our God." Is not this an 
instrumentality adequate to the most sublime and 
comprehensive benevolence of the church ? Is it not 
adapted to every want of man, in every clime and 
every condition? It is the "power of God." "What 
can resist it? It is "the wisdom of God." "What 
can counterwork it ? It involves the highest moral 
energies, the purest moral influences, .and the wisest 
adaptation of moral means to their ends. It is heav-- 
en's matchless instrumentality for accomplishing 
heaven's own most gigantic purposes of love. . 

See now, how this instrumentality harmonizes 
with the ends sought in beneficence. Are they, vast ? 
It is commensurate in its achieving power with their 
mightiest and most far-reaching aspirations. Are 
they important ? It is equal in efficiency to the ac- 
complishment of their weightiest results. The im- 
mortal soul, with its expanding capacities for happi- 
ness or misery, may be safely trusted to its redeeming 
efficacy. " It has borne millions of such, souls from the 
pollutions and miseries of earth, to bask in the sun- 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 55 

light and bliss of heaven, clothing them in robes of 
spotless purity, and placing on their Jieads crowns of 
fadeless glory.- Millions more, now on the earth, it 
is bearing on to the same glorious consummation. 
And of the countless spirits yet to pass through this 
world of sin and sorrow, not one, to whom its mighty 
power may be applied, shall fail to reach that "bet- 
ter land," where faith passes into bright fruition, and 
hope melts away into the fulness of x in expressible 
bliss, and love achieves her seraphic heights and 
burns with more than seraphic fire. 

" Rise, kindling with, the orient beam ; 
Let Calvary's hill inspire the theme ! 

Unfold the:garments rolled in blood. 
touch the soul, touch all her chords 
With all the omnipotence of words, 

Arid point the way to heaven 'to 'God." 

THIRD GENERAL PROPOSITION. 

/ 

EVERY MAN'S CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS SHOULD 
BE PROPORTIONATE TO HIS PECUNIARY MEANS AND FA- 
CILITIES FOR APPLYING THE INSTRUMENTALITY. 

This is the divinely established rule of proportion. 
"According to the ability that God giveth." "As 
God hath prospered you." "Everyman according 
to his several ability." In these and similar passa* 
ges of the word of God, it is implied that every one 
is able to do something, and it is affirmed that each 
one should do according to that ability. The only 
question on which there can be doubt or difficulty is, 



56 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH> 

What .is each man's ability ? In determining this 
question, we shall be assisted by the three following 
references, .,;.-... 

1. By reference to the beneficence of .the Jeioibh 
church. There is a tendency to make the benefi- 
cent economy of the former dispensation a directory 
in the Christian dispensation ; and most men feel 
that by employing a tenth of their income for char- 
itable purposes, they are meeting the requirement of 
the Mosaic law, and consequently fully discharging 
their duty. But .there are two errors, in such an 
hypothesis. One is in supposing the proportion re- 
quired by the Jewish system to be only a tenth ;<.and 
the other in assuming that the measure of liberality 
which answered the law of Moses, equally harmo- 
nizes with the. law of Ohiist. '. . 

After their deliverance from Egypt, the first-born of 

. 

every creature was .required to be consecrated to the 
Lord, in memory of. that signal -event.. The first- 
born child belonged to the Lord, and was to be re- 
deemed at the -age of one month, by a- price paid to 
the priest. ''. Such beasts as it was not lawful to offer 
in sacrifice, as horses and camels, .might be redeemed 
or exchanged for such as were lawful to be offered, 
as sheep or oxen. The first-born of all clean beasts 
were to be sacrificed, and their flesh given to the 
priest. At the harvest/and vintage, the first-fruits 
of the fields, the corn and wine and oil, were to be 
brought to the .priest, and the gleanings and the 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. ;' 57 

comers, of the -fields were to "be left for the poor. 
Also, the" first-fruits of the wool when the sheep were 
shorn, of the wheat when threshed, of the dough 
when kneaded, and of the bread^when baked, were 
to he offered before, the Lord. Of fruit-trees, they 
were allowed to gather nothing for themselves, until 
after the fourth bearing year. All fruit till this 
period was considered sacred to the Lord, and was 
given, to the poor, as was also the spontaneous fruit, 
of the fields, every seventh year. In addition to. these, - 
one tenth was paid to the Levites, as a remuneration 
for their services to the church and nation; and 
after this, what 'remained was again assessed,, and 
another tenth was expended in the feasts, and sacri- 
fices of the temple, and for the .poor. At their " 
feasts, besides the Levites, widows, orphans, stran- 
gers, and the poor of. every .description, were to be 
invited. I And at the close of every third year, that 
there might be' no evasion of the law, all were re- 
quired to make solemn asseveration before the Lord, 
that the whole of this second tithe had been applied 
to the prescribed objects. Lev. 27 : 30^34 ; Dent. 
12 : 17, 18 ; 14 : 22-29 ; 26 : 12-15. 

And what- was the chief point of instruction which 
J ohovah designed to impress upon his people by such 
an admirably arranged system of .beneficence? That 
he was the proprietor of their fields, their flocks, and 
their herds, and that they were dependent on him 
for sunshine and rain, for seed-time and. harvest- 



58 ~THE MISSION OF -THE-CHUROH. 

\ 

How expressively,; then, does the patriarchal and 
Mosaic doctrine of tithes carry along with- it the 
Christian idea of stewardship. How suited to meet 
and to counteract the tendencies of the human heart 
to cayetousness. It should also .be remembered, that 
this proportion, large as it is, was the minimum meas- 
ure of Jewish liberality, the least which their system 
allowed.; while the attractive and exciting circum- 
stances under which they presented their tithes and 
offerings, and the influence of the temple service, 
especially of their public festivals, led them often 
greatly to exceed the rule. 

But there were peculiar exigencies in the history 
of the Jewish church, which illustrate the 'spirit of 
their beneficence even better than the., annual im- 
posts levied upon them by the law of M6ses. The 
liberality of the. Jews in the construction of the tab- 
ernacle, and the erection of the temple, has seldom 
been equalled in the Christian church, and perhaps 
never surpassed. Just emerging from the oppressive 
bondage in Egypt, and destined to be wanderers for 
forty .years in the wilderness, we should hardly have 
expected them to be called on to make large offerings 
for any purpose. Yet scarcely were they free from 
their pursuers, ere the word of the Lord came to 
Moses, saying,- "Speak' unto the children of Israel, 
that they bring n>e an ofTe,ring : of every man that 
giveth it willingly with his heart, ye shall take my. 
offering. And this is the offering that ye shall take of 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. , gQ 

them; gold, and silver, and trass > and blue," and pur- 
ple, and scarlet/ and fine linen, and goats' hair, and 
rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim- 
wood, oil for the light, spices for anointing oil and for 
sweet incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set in 
the ephod, and -in the breastplate." Oat of these, 
the tabernacle and its utensils and appurtenances 
were to.be constructed, the ark of testimony, th& 
mercy-seat, the ; altar, and laver and candlesticks, a]l 
wrought of the most precious materials, and'overlaid 
with pure gold. See now this people, just frtai their 
degrading servitude, with 'comparatively small pos- 
sessions, and little means of adding to 'them. When 
religion is to be promoted at the call of x God; they 
'Withhold nothing, until the end is accomplished. 
All give- with "a willing mind, not a certain portion 
of their income, but a large part of their possessions. 
They devote it, freely and joyfully to^ the service of 
the church. And they thus give an example of lib- 
erality which it has pleased tlie/Almighty to trans- 
mit to all following generations, as an incentive; to 
the same devotion, arid a proof that inauspicious cir- 
cumstances are not always an excuse for refusing the 
calls of benevolence. - - 

x Pass now to the reign of David. It was not for 
him to build the temple, although it was in his heart 
so to do. Yet, before the affairs of his kingdom were 
settled, and he was quietly seated on the throne, he 
began the work of gathering materials for the mag- 



60 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. - 

V 

nificent structure. " Behold," says he to his son, " in 
my trouble I Jiave prepared for the house of the 

, '^ ' 

Lord a hundred thousand talents ' of gold, and a 
thousand thousand talents of silver ; and of brass and 
iron without weight, for it is in 'abundance ; timber 
also and stone have I prepared-; and thou mayest add 
thereto.." " Of the gold, and the silver, and the brass, , 
and .the iron, there is no number." With, these im- 
mense* and other additional materials, the vast and 
splendid .edifice was reared, at an expenditure esti- 
mated by some at three thousand millions of dol- ' 
lars. How did they respond to this extraordinary 
call ? Reluctantly ? No. Did they allege pleas of 
poverty, or of concurrent claims for other objects ? 
Not one. The- people rejoiced, for they offered will- 
ingly, and more -than was needed. .And David 
blessed the Lord before all the congregation, and 
said, "Who am -I, and 'what is my people, that we 
should be able to offer so willingly after this sort ?"-" 
. Now, what is the .principle upon which is made 
this voluntary consecratiori.of treasure unto the .Lord? 
This happy monarch's eucharistical prayer .contains 
its announcement : " Lord our God, all this store 
that we have prepared to build thee a house . jbr 
thine holy Name, cometli of thine hand, -and is all 
thine own;" "for all things come of thee, and of 
'thine own have we given thee." 'It is the Chris- 
tian principle of stewardship, which inheres as an 
essential element of every dispensation from. Gene- 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 61 

sis to Revelation. It is the doctrine, that " the silver 
and. the gold are the Lord's ;" that he has an indis- 
putable right to all that his creatures possess ; that 
there are higher uses to which it may he applied, 
yielding purer and more elevated and- permanent 
enjoyment ,than personal aggrandizement or selfish 
gratification ; and that when God calls, whatever 
may be the proportion or amount, man's cheerful 
response always secures the divine favor., 

When Christians refer to the tithing system of the 
Jews> as a guide in adjusting the proportion of their 
income which should.be devoted to objects of benefi- 
cence, it is. important to take into account the free- 
ivill offerings which accompanied the working of 
the-system, as well as the regular imposts laid upon 
the people. The deep, underflowiag spirit of the 
economy should be understood, as well as the simple 
letter of its statutory enactments. Yet, the careful 
collation of these laws will be sufficient to explode 
the popular idea, that the devotement of a tenth of 
our ( income brings our beneficence .into agreement 
with the divine rule given to the Jews. The Old 
Testament doctrine upon the subject of beneficence 
cannot be fully exemplified by a less proportion, , as 
we have said, than one fourth of a man's income 

And this proportion was required of the Jews, 
under circumstances,-in some respects, widely differ- 
ent from those under which Christians are -called to 
live, - It was simply for chatty, -and the .mainte- 



'62 -THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

nance of religion at home. The Jewish 'church had 
received no commission to diffuse her religion abroad 
The difference in this particular, between the dispen 
sations of Moses, and of Christ, is great. .The formei 
was simply, conservative and defensive. The latter is 
essentially reformatory and aggressive. The. one was 
a system of special rules and of a cumbersome ritual 
service. The other is a system of .religious principles, 
and of spiritual .worship. One was for 7 the twelve 
tribes; the other is' for the world. In the one, IHE 
TRUTH dwelt in gorgeous symbols and attractive cer- 
emonies ; in the other, -He manifested himself in " the 
( fulness of the" Godhead, bodily," and still is present 
by his spiritual and subduing power. , 

Can those living under dispensations so diverse, 
vyith blessings so unequal/ have devolved .upon them 
only an equal measure of xluty and effort ? Can we 
make the rule, of Jejvish beneficence in a conserva- 
tive system, the measure/of our own in a diffusive 
and, an, aggressive one? ; Can the Christian con- 
science be satisfied with a scale of liberality, for both 
domestic and foreign beneficence, less than half as 
large as that which -tl^e claims of one of these ob- 
jects made upon the Jewish conscience ? . ; 

An opulent .man deducts one tenth from his. in- 
come for charity. Half of the .remainder maybe re- 
quired for his necessary family" expenditures.'- After 
this he adds four times as much to his stock in trade, 
or capital at interest, as he ajlows for -charity. . He 



PROPORTION IN, BENEFICENCE. .63 

i 

reserves for himself nine parts of all that with which 

he has been blessed, and allows, one part to God for 

-.- . 

tne salvation of ihe world. Is he benevolent? . 

There are circumstances, it is true, in which a< 
tenth of a man's income, would he a large proportion. 
33ut there are other circumstances, in which it would 
be a small proportion. In some, it would cost self- 
denial. In others, it would not be felt. Three 
fourths of a large income might be a less proportion 
than one tenth, or even one fiftieth of a small one. 
So that', he who gave .leafet would, in an important 
sense, give most, for he would do it at the greatest, 
sacrifice. Such is the inequality which would result 
from adopting any fixed proportion as applicable in 
all cases. ' . -'-..', 

2. A reference to the beneficent spirit of the early 
Christian\church. . It will be admitted, that the. 
early Christians were in a condition, as favorable at. 
least, for, forming a correct judgment in the matter 
of beneficence, as any who have come after them! 
Sonic of them were jcalled by the Savjour himself. 
They received, instructions from his own lips, :The 
sweet and elevating influence of his personal pres- 
ence and conversation, embalmed in their memory 
the recollection of all that he did and said and suf- 
fered. Under this 'influence, they went forth ,to the 
world, bright examples of Christian beneficence. 
They " sold their possessions and goods, and parted 
them to a3l men as every man. had need." They 



64 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

felt tliat they were made the executors, of their Sav- 
iour's -last will and testament to a lost world^ and 
.that whatsoever :of their possessions could subserve 
the accomplishment of the sacred' trust, should .be 
Yre'ely laid 'upon the altar of sacrifice. Nothing short 
of the dedication of their entire substance and lives 
to the cause of such a Master; in the execution -of 
such a testament, met their ideas of .duty,,, or ex- 
pressed their sense of gratitiide and love. Their 
renunciation of the world in its .pride and pomp 
and power, was. actual and entire, .They lived in 
it only to do good. The glad tidings, which they 
had received, it was their great object to. communi 

t* ' ' , f 

cate. They had- contemplated the infinite, riches 
of the grace of God, and had lost the desire for 
all other riches.- Honor, power, .-wealth, learning, 
eloquence, were valued -. by them only as they -con- 
tributed to 'diffuse the blessings of the .cross, or con- 
stituted the means of a .more costly sacrifice to Him 
who -died upon it. The cross ! :Fpr this, .they could 
relinquish all, .and endure all. In this, they gloried. 
And in the ardor of love, inspired by this, they " took 
joyfully the spoiling of their goods," and the crown 
of martyrdom. Selfishness was nearly annihilated 
by the antagonist, power of the, cross. Covetousness 
was quite dead, from the withholding of all that 
whereby it lives. A parsimonious. .Christian would 
speedily have obtained among them the unenviable 
riotorie.ty of an Achan, or a- Judas* In giving them- 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. fig 

selves tp Christ, they gave all, and 'were made rich 
by. what they gave. More than, this they could not 
do ; less, -their love would not allow. And to make v ' 
more sure to themselves the blessings of such liber- 
ality, and as a safeguard against the growth of a 
penurious spirit, " On the first day of the week, 
they laid by in store as God had, prospered them." 
Of the Macedonian churches the apostle says, "In, 
a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their 
joy, and their deep poverty, abounded unto the 
riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear 
record, yea, and beyond their power, they were will- 
ing of themselves ; praying us with much entreaty^ 
that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the 
fellowship of the ministering to the saints." . 

The test and the fruit of discipleship among these 
early Christians, was a spirit of entire devotion. 
But were their obligations more imperative than 
ours ?, "Was the ; command "to do good and to com- 
municate," more binding then, than now? "Were 
the blessings promised to the liberal soul, more rich 
or full, or the danger and evils of covetousness less, 
or the calls of sorrow and of want more urgent ? 
Were souls in greater peril then than now, or was 
the Gospel more effectual ? No ; the difference is 
not in the gospel, but in the spirit of the men re- 
ceiving it. They understood Christianity ; they felt 
its beneficent power, and they exemplified it. Taking 
their divine Master as their model, they "pressed 

Bliss, of Church. 17 



66 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

towards the mark for the prize of their high call- 
ing." " Our blessed Lord," says one of the early 
'fathers of the Christian church, " ate his food from a 
common dish. He sat upon the ground, and washed 
his disciples' feet 'without a silver "basin. Nay, he 
quenched his .thirst from the earthen pitcher of a 
poor Samaritan woman. And are we better than 
he ? Will not a table contain our food, unless its 
legs be ivory ? Certain it is, that a lamp made by 
a potter will give light as well as if it were the 
work of a silversmith." 

The spirit of beneficence among these primitive 
Christians, led them to make no provision for the 
flesh; They counted self-denial better for themselves, 
as well as more honorable to their Master, than self- 
indulgence. They were Christians, and they gloried 
in maintaining their consistency, despite the sword 
and the stake. Says another of them, " We say we 
are Christians, and we say it to the whole world, 
under the hand of the executioner. In the midst of 
all the tortures you can heap upon us to make us 
recant, torn and mangled and covered with our own 
blood, we still cry out as loud as we are able, we are 
Christians. Call us by what names you please. 
Fill our flesh with fagots to set us on fire, yet let me 
tell you that when we are thus begirt and dressed 
about with fire, we are in our most illustrious ap- 
parel. These are our victorious palms and robes of 
glory ; 'and, mounted on our funeral pile, we feel our- 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. . 67 

selves as in. a triumphal chariot. "We conquer when 
we die, and the spoils of that victpry is eternal life." 
" What you reproach us with as stubbornness, is the 
best means of proselyting the world. For who has 
not been struck with the sight of such fortitude, and 
from' thence pushed on to look into the reason of it ? 
And who ever looked well into our religion, but em- 
braced it? And who ever embraced it, but was 
willing to die for it ?" 

Does any one now ask what proportion of their 
possessions such men devoted to beneficence ? They 
gave the. ivhole, and themselves with it. Does he 
ask how much they were able to do for the diffusion 
of Christianity ? They were able to live for ifc-^to 
die for it. Their ability was measured only by the , 
extent of their possessions, the length of their lives, 
and their capacity to labor and to suffer. They 
stopped not a whit short of this. But was their lot 
cast in a different dispensation from ours? No, it 
was the same dispensation. What then constitutes 
the difference ? Ah, we repeat, it is in the spirit of 
the men. The early Christians were wholly devoted 
to their Master. The hearts of later ones are divided 
between him and the world. Covetousness has crept 
into the church, and like the strong man armed, 
has bound its members and spoiled their goods. This 
is the difference. We of the nineteenth century sow 
sparingly and reap also sparingly. The early Chris- 
tians sowed plentifully, and tHey reaped also plenti- 



68 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

fully. We say, charity costs too much, and yield 
only a pittance. They said, it cannot cost too much, 
and laid down their lives. 

3. A reference to the Scripture declarations re- 
lating to property, and to the duty of liberality, 
" To the law, and to the testimony ; if we speak 
not according to this word, it is because there, is no 
light in us." What then saith the Scripture ? Does 
it prescribe the exact proportion of his .income which 
should be devoted to charitable purposes ? No. It 
is a book of facts, of doctrines, of principles and pre- 
cepts. It proceeds on the assumption that inquiry, 
reflection, and player are essential to the develop- 
ment of the Christian character. It leaves men to 
a sense of responsibility in employing the facts, and 
applying the principles to the question of individual 
duty. Does a man wish to know what proportion 
of his property should be consecrated to 'beneficence ? 
He will not find it stated in so many words, whether 
one tenth, or one fourth, or more, or less, ought to 
be thus employed. But by a careful consideration 
of the scripture doctrine contained in the following 
passages concerning property and the duty of liber- 
ality, he may be led to conclusions as safe and as 
certain, as if the amount were determined in every 
case by specific divine command. 

(1 .) Biches are/rom the Lord, and belong to him. 
" Both riches and honor come of thee." " The silver 
is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 69 

hosts." " Every beast of the forest is mine, and the 
cattle upon a thousand hills." " The earth is the 
Lord's, aiid the fulness thereof; the world and they 
that dwell therein." "The Lord maketh rich." 
" The Lord thy God, it is he that giveth thee power 
to get wealth." , . - 

(2.) Riches are in themselves a transient, unsat- 
isfying, and disquieting possession. "Nor trust 
in uncertain riches." " Riches are not for ever." 
"Riches make themselves wings and fly away." 
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, 
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and. where thieves 
break through and steal." "There is that maketh 
himself rich, yet hath nothing." " He that loveth 
silver, shall not be satisfied with silver ; neither he 
that loveth abundance, with increase." "There is 
one alone, and there is not a second ; yea, he hath 
neither child nor brother ; yet there is no end of his 
labor, neither is his eye satisfied with riches ; neither 
saith he, For whom do I labor and bereave my soul of 
good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail." 
" He that is greedy, of gain, troubleth his own house." 
" In the revenues of the wicked is trouble." " The 
abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep." 
" Then I looked on all the works that my hands had 
wrought, and behold, all was vanity and vexation 
of spirit; and there was no profit under the sun." 
" For what hath man of all his labor, and of the vex- 
ation of his spirit wherein he hath labored ? For all 



70 THE MISSION OF THE 'CHURCH. 

his days are sorrows, and his travail, grief; yea, his 
heart taketh not rest in the night." 

(3.) They 'bring no relief in man's greatest dis- 
tress. " Hiches profit not in the day of wrath." 
" Their silver and their gold shall not .he able to 
deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord." 
" Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee 
away with his stroke.: then a great ransom cannot 
deliver thee. "Will he esteem thy riches ? No, not 
gold, nor all the forces of strength." "There was 
a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and 
fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day. The 
rich man also died, and was buried. And in hell, 
he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." 

(4.) It is unlawful and dangerous to trust in and 
to Jioard them. " If I have made gold my hope, or 
have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence ; 
if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and be- 
cause mine hand had gotten much ; I should have 
denied the God that is above." " If riches increase, 
set not your heart upon them." " Lay not up for 
yourselves treasures upon earth." " Labor not to be 
rich." "Beware, lest when thou hast* eaten and 
art full, and when thy herds and thy flocks are mul- 
tiplied, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied ; 
then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the 
Lord thy God, and thou say in thine heart, My power, 
and the might of mine hand,- hath gotten me this 
wealth." " Covetousness, let it not be once named 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 71 

among you, as becometh saints." " He that trusteth 
in his riches shall fall." " How hard is it for them 
that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of 
God." " The cares of this world and the deceitful- 
ness of riches choke the word, and he becometh un- 
fruitful." "He that hideth his eyes from the poor 
shall have many a curse." "Woe unto them that 
join house to house, that lay field to field." " They 
that will he rich, fall into temptation and a snare, 
and into many hurtful and foolish lusts, which drown 
men in destruction and perdition. For the love of 
money is the root of all evil ; which, while some 
have coveted after, they have erred from the faith, 
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 
But thou, man of God, flee these things." "1 
have seen riches kept for the owners thereof to their 
hurt." ." Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl, 
for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your 
riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth- 
eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered ; and the 
rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall 
eat your flesh as it were fire." " No covetous man 
hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of 
God." Balaam "loved the wages of unrighteous- 
ness, but was rebuked for his iniquity." " Achan 
answered Joshua, and said, Indeed, I have sinned 
against the Lord God of Israel.- When I saw among 
the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and' two hun- 
dred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty 



72 THE MISSION OF THE CHUKCH. 

shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them- 
Arid Joshua said, "Wny hast,,thou troubled us? the 
Lord shall fod^e tliee thifeday. And all Israel 
stoned him with stones." To Gehazi, for coveting 

; . -- - - * --> 

the Syrian's silver and the garments, the prophet 
said, " The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave 
unto thee and tinto thy seed for ever. And he went 
out from his .presence a leper as white as snow." 
"Judas, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, 
repented himself, and .brought again the thirty pieces 
of silver to the chief priests and elders. And 7 he 
cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and de- 
parted, and went and hanged himself." 

(5.) Liberality is characteristic of the righteous, 
and is expressly commanded. " The righteous show- 
eth mercy and giveth." "He that honoreth his 
Maker, hath mercy on the poor." " The righteous 
considereth the cause of the poor." " Withhold not 
good from him to whom it is due, when it is in the 
power of thine hand to do it." " Say not to thy 
neighbor, Go, and come again; when thou hast it 
by thee." " Give to him. that asketh thee." "Give 
to him that needeth." " Give alms of such things, 
as you have." "Honor the Lord with thy sub- 
stance." "To do good, and to communicate, forget 
not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." 
" Charge them that are rich in this world, that they 
be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to 
communicate; laying up in store for themselves a 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 73 

good foundation against the time to come, that .they 
may lay hold on eteitfal.life." ""Whoso hath this 

__- _. I f4 ' r* rvtnnfl f\V\ f\ ' H WX-fc V\ fntr*' ti^*rt 4- L% i"k1* . V\ AVixv TT* f\ r\ ft n v j-J 



world's good, and se^tn his br-otheriihatfe need, and 
shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how 
dwelleth the love of God in him?" "Thou shalt 
not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy 
poor brother; but thou shalt open thy hand' wide 
unto him,' 7 ; " As ye abound in every thing, see that 
ye abound in this grace also." " Freely ;ye have 
receive^, -freely give." " Upon the first day of the 
week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as 
God hath prospered him." 

(6.) The highest and lest use of riches is in be- 
neficence, which secures exemption from want and 
the blessing of heaven. " Make to yourselves frieiitds 
of the mammon of unrighteousness." "TheHarigel 
of God said unto Cornelius, Thy prayers and thine 
alms are come up as a memorial before God." 
" Ilemember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he 
said, It is more blessed to give than to receiver" 
"And there came .a certain poor widow, and she 
threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And 
he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, 
Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath 
cast more in than all they which have cast into the 
treasury. For all they did cast in of their abun- 
dance ; but she of her want did cast in alj. that she 
had, even all her living." ."For if there be first a 
willing mind, it. ;is -accepted according to that a; man 



74 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH'. 

hath, and not according to that he hath not." " He 
that giveth unto the poor shall not lack." " Trust 
in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in 
the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." " Cast thy 
bread upon the waters ;- for thou shalt find it after 
many days." "He that hath pity upon ( the poor, 
lendeth to the Lord ; and that which he hath given, 
will he pay him again." " Honor the Lord with thy 
substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine in- 
crease: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, 
and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." 
"Blessed is he that considereth the poor." "He 
that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed." " He 
that hath mercy, on the poor, happy is he." " There 
is that scattereth, and yet increaseth." " The liberal 
soul shall be made fat ; and he that watereth, shall 
be watered also himself." " Give, and it shall be 
given unto you ; good measure, pressed down, and 
shaken together, and running over, shall men give 
into your bosom." "Do good and lend, hoping for 
nothing again ; and your reward shall be great, and 
ye shall be the children of the Highest." "When 
thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the 
lame, and, the blind. And thou shalt be blessed; 
for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of 
the just," " If thou draw out thy soul to the hun- 
gry, 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 continu- 



PROPORTION IN .BENEFICENCE. 75 

ally, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat 
thy bones ; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, 
and like a spring 1 , of water, whose waters fail not." 

Now, if the word of God is admitted as an infalli- 
ble guide, will it not aid an inquirer in determining 
his ability, ' to reflect tipon these passages until hig 
mind is imbued with their spirit ? Will it not give 
the claims of benevolence a firmer hold on his con- 
science, and check the tendency to covetousness, to 
read that God regardeth it as idolatry, that the 
love of money is the root of all evil, leading the soul 
into foolish and hurtful lusts, piercing it through with 
many sorrows, and drowning it in perdition ? Who 
would not feel his ability to give, in charity increas- 
ing under the growing conviction that he that sow- 
eth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully? Does 
a wise man grudge the seed grain, when the increase 
depends on the amount that he scattereth? Will 
he garner up what he gathers, when he feels that 
much as he may have been blessed hi receiving, he 
would be more blessed in giving? But alas,- unbe- 
lief is the vampire that consumes the ability of the 
church. Men do not believe, when the mouth of 
the Lord hath spoken it, else they would not be so 
slow to lend to him. ^et them study these pas- 
sages in their full' significancy, and imbibe their 
heavenly spirit, until all doubt vanishes, and the 
soul is raised up in liberality to the high ground of 
the Bible doctrine. Stand by the cross 'and study 



76 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH: 

them there, invoking the -divine Spirit to guide you 
into the truth. Cast yourself forward to the soul's 
transit into eternity, and study them there. Place 
yourself at the tribunal of God, amidst the throng 
of ransomed spirits in the heavenly glory, and study 
them there. Behold those shining 0,1168 casting their 
crowns at the feet of Jesus, and sweeping their harp- 
strings in full chorus to his praise, " Saying with a 
loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to 
receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
and honor, and glory, and blessing :" do this, and it 
will be easy to understand the scripture doctrine of 
beneficence, and to determine the proportion of your 
property which it is your duty and privilege to em- 
ploy for Him on earth, who 'has all riches ascribed 
to him in heaven. 

PARTICULAR PROPO'SITIONS RESPECTING 
PROPORTION. 

If the reader has gone along with us in our refer- 
ence-to the liberality of the Jewish church, to the 
beneficent spirit of the early Christians, and to the 
scripture "declarations relating to property and the 
duty of liberality, he will be prepared to consider the 
subject of proportion in beneficence, in the following 
particular propositions. 

1. Every man's beneficence should be proportion- 
ate to the sum total of his property. It will be appar- 
ent in the outset, that we have to do with something 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 77 

more thaix the single question of income. For al- 
though with a man who, from the commencement 
of his business life, has regulated his charities hy 
the scripture rule, it might be only a 'question of 
income, yet as there are few who have done this, 
in determining each man's ability it is obvious that 
any inquiry would be partial, and any result de- 
fective, which should not involve a consideration 
of the sum total of a man's property. It may be, 
that, lured out of the pilgrim's path by the winning, 
voice of Demas, you have been digging .at the mine 
in. " the little hill called lucre," and hoarding more 
than is meet. It may be, that overpowered by the 
spirit of worldliness which steals away the vigor of 
piety, you have been adding income to capital, that 
you might retire from business and live in ease and 
luxury and splendor, until a rate of liberality adjusted 
to your present ability would trench on your vested 
capital, or break in upon your accumulated stores. 
It may be, that the influence of fashion, or of increas- 
ing wealth, or of a plan of early retirement, like a 
subtle poison, has benumbed the moral sensibilities, 
and rendered you reluctant to draw, for benevolent 
purposes, upon your vested funds. All this, is very 
natural and very probable. Early in life, John 
Wesley said that he had known but four men, whose rf 
piety had not suffered from their becoming rich. 
Longer observation led him .to make no exception. 
His own case, however, may be alleged as an exam- 



78 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

pie of the power of grace to withstand the withering 
influence of increasing wealth. His income at first 
was thirty pounds a year. Of this, he reserved two 
pounds for charity. The next year, it was sixty 
pounds. Still using but twenty-eight for himself, he 
employed thirty-two pounds in charity. And when 
Ms income amounted to a- hundred and twenty 
pounds, he lent ninety-two pounds to the Lord, and 
lived himself on twenty-eight as at first. At his de- 
cease, his whole property was found to consist of his 
clothes, his books, and a carriage, although he had 
probably given away more than a hundred thousand 
dollars. Did' the root of all evil find no more con- 
genial soil in the hearts of other men, than it did in 
that of John "Wesley, how different would be the state 
of the world ! But alas, it strikes deep, and entwines 
its threads about every fibre of the soul, and " chokes 
the word, that it becometh unfruitful." x 

Are you sure that a course of constant accumula- 
tion is right ? Are you never troubled with doubts 
in withholding your tens of thousands, and it may be 
hundreds of thousands, from" the cause of God, merely 
as security for your own future ease, or for the grati- 
fication or aggrandizement of your children ? Are 
you certain, in view of the pressing calls in our own 
* land and from the heathen world, that such a course 
is consistent with your public vows as a disciple of 
Christ ? Is it plain, that a portion of your interest 
money and other income, is all that you are called 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 79 

upon to consecrate to Christ, for the salvation of a 
world for which he died? Did you begin right? 
And if so, have you continued as you began ? Have 
you, in past time, laid by in store for yourself, no 
more than you should have done no more than you 
would have done, if your piety had been as elevated 
as was that of Brainerd or Martyn, or your love as 
glowing as that of John ? Has avarice, or covetous- 
ness, or selfishness had no voice in determining the 
amount laid up for yourself? And if you havd been 
influenced by such a motive in amassing more than 
.was meet, is it from any better motive that .you now 
withhold what has been thus accumulated ? Might 
not a portion of your property, invested in charity 
for the poor, in missionary labor and in Bibles for the 
conversion of the world, yield you a larger revenue of 
happiness and enrich you more than the whole now' 
does ? By the accredited maxims of the world, .and 
even of the church, we readily admit, that the man 
who devotes all his income to charity is justly re- 
puted liberal. But are you sure, that under your 
circumstances, this is a rate of liberality proportion- 
ate to the " ability which Gr'od giveth?'^ Is it open- 
ing thy hand wide unto thy poor brother ? Is it 
sowing plentifully abounding in the grace of giv- 
ing ? Is it acting on the principle, that it is more 
blessed to give than to receive ? ?Is it fulfilling the 
injunction, Freely ye have received, freely give? 
We would not be understood as implying, that 



80 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

there are no circumstances in which men may law- 
fully accumulate- property. They may have large 
schemes of benevolence, in reference to which they 
ate every day prosecuting their labors. There are 
also departments of business, extensive manufactur- 
ing and commercial interests, the successful conduct 
of which requires large capital, Under the influence 
pf a benevolent spirit, and on the principle of doing 
all to the glory of God, this employment of funds 
need not conflict with- the claims of charity. But to 
retain- large fortunes with no such projects in, view, 
devoting only the income to beneficence, places a 
disciple of Christ in a false position. His wealth is 
out of proportion to his necessities, and to the claims 
of benevolence. And nothing but the bestowment 
of a portion of his accumulated treasure, will restore 
him to his true position. 

-We are not unapprised of the plan whereby some 
endeavor to recover their consistency. They, have 
made a testamentary bequest, a plan truly benevo- 
lent in circumstances which render an earlier dis- 
posal of property impracticable. But in many cases, 
a will is only an expedient of covetousness, to satisfy 
conscience, and atone for the sin of sending the needy 
away empty in our lifetime, by allowing the. claims 
of charity to take effect when we are dead. God 
has made you his steward, and has nowhere author- 
ized you to leave to others, that which he has re- 
quired you yourself to do. The calls of benevolence 



PRbPpRT;ib!jf:JN. BENEFICENCE. 81 

will never be more>'iirgent.,tli,anvnow. Your property 
will never do so much gooct ? as ' now. Every day 
that you postpone its devoternent, you by so much 
lessen the time in which it- might be bearing fruit 
unto Christ. Therefore, God would have you .the 
executor of your own will. No one can administer 
your charities, so advantageously as yourself. By so 
doing, you make the most profitable investment of 
your money, and avoid the danger of losing, by re- 
verse of fortuiie, -what you had intended to bequeath 
to benevolent objects. Qod woukl also that your 
death be deplored as a loss to the church, rather than 
welcomed as a gain to its beneficent operations ; that 
the world be blessed with the influence of your be- 
neficent example while living; rather than be left in 
doubt concerning 'the motives of your testamentary 
charity when you are dead. He would not have you 
deprived of the blessedness of giving, by the interven- 
tion of a ivill, rendering, it necessary for you to be 
cast out of your stewardship, before your Lord's 
money can be put to " the exchangers." 

We have read of "a faithful steward," whose 
whole property at the commencement of his busi- 
ness life, besides the wilderness land on which he set- 
tled, valued at forty dollars, consisted of a horse and 
an axe. With this God gave him " power to get 
wealth." He began on the principle of honoring the 
Lord with his substance, and with the first-fruits of 
all his increase, and his barns were filled with plenty 

hurch. 1 8 



82 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

I 

and his; presses burst out with new wine. Together , 
with the expense of rearing a large. family of chil- 
dren, he is supposed to have contributed ,to benevo- 
lent objects not less than thirty-five thousand dollars. 
" He made two wills at an interval of twenty-eight ' 
years, but he lived to be his own executor, pst-ying 
his bequests and settling his accounts to the utter- 
most farthing; so that, in fulfilling his last testa- 
ment, nothing remained to be looked after when he 
was gone but his wearing apparel, the large Bible, 
Scott's Family Bible, a psalm-book, the case in which 
he had kept them, and the spectacles with which he 
had read them. Not a pound no, not a penny, was 
found hid in the earth or laid up in a napkin." 

Thence we conclude, that in adjusting each man's 
proportion in beneficence, the sum total of his prop- 
erty should be taken into the account, and that char- 
itable bequests are an unsatisfactory substitute for 
living benevolence. In view of the subject, let us 
" charge them that are rich in this world, that they 
be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to 
communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good 
foundation against the time to come, that they may 
lay hold on eternal life." 

" Largely thou givest, gracious Lord ; 
Largely thy gifts should be restored : 
Freely thou givest, and thy word 

Is, 'Freely give.' 
He only who forgets to hoard, 

Has learned to live." 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 



83 



2. Every man's beneficence should be proportion- 
ate to his annual income. As there are some with 
whom the adjustment of their proportion might trench 
on vested capital; so there are others from whom it 
would require only a portion of their income. We 
now refer to the latter class. Your income, then, is 
to be divided, between your own personal and family 
necessities, and the claims of benevolence. < On what 
principle should the division be made ? You are a 
young man just entering on business, wishing to 
arrange your plans of benevolence according to the 
principles of the gospel. You will thence seek to be 
governed, in your expenditures, by Christian simplic- 
ity. In this, you will find the more difficulty, be- 
cause the prevalent customs and fashions of society 
are so adverse to it. Yet be not conformed to the 
world. You can no more be a devotee of fashion- 
than a worshipper at the shrine of mammon. 

If you would make' the duty of beneficence easy 
and delightful, you will commence your charitable 
donations where your income commences, and give 
as the Lord prospers you. Let your maxims and 
motives of liberality be drawn from the word of God, 
and not from the practices and opinions of "those 
around you. Let your plans and principles be fixed 
in the outset, subject only to such revision as increase 
of light and love may. suggest. Before the love of 
money shall be strengthened by increase of gains, 
you will be more likely to judge correctly in the 



84 THE MISSION F THE CHURCH. 

matter of proportion. Your .-liberality will then 
readily grow into habit, an<l habit will make it a 
delight, and both will perfect and confirm your prin- 
ciples of benevolence, and give symmetry and beauty 
and energy to your whole Christian character. 

Your danger is not of a too rigid economy, but that 
you may practises it from wrong motives with a de- 
sire of hoarding rather than of giving. Beware of 
covetousness, which is idolatry. Here will be your 
chief temptation, despite your firmest benevolent re- 
solves. The present low standard of liberality among 
older and more experienced Christians, and the fact 
tnat covetousness scarcely militates against a reputa- 
ble profession of Christianity, will enhance this dan- , 
ger. Necessary contact with business men, "with 
whom a distinction between the morality of trade and 
the morality of the Bible involves no solecism, will 
add to it. The unhallowed estimate placed upon 
money, by which " worth means wealth, and the only 
wisdom, the art of . acquiring it," will increase your 
danger. The world is not atheistic, but the god it 
serves is gold. " I do confess I am an atheist," says 
Sir Thomas Brown. "I cannot persuade myself to 
honor that the world adores." Fortify yourself 
against all such peril in the beginning, by putting 
on the whole armor of God. E-esist the devil of 
cupidity, when he proposes to give you all the king- 
doms of the world, and he will flee from you. 

When you are deciding on the proportion of your 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 85 

income to be added to your capital, or invested for 
future contingencies, two questions deserve particu- 
lar attention : "What are the objects for which you 
make this reservation; .and what are the motives 
that prompt you to do it ? ' 

In reply to the first question you will probahly say, 
"My object is to make provision for the educatio^ 
and settlement and itsefulness of my children' ' We 
admit the legitimacy of the object, and only ask your 
attention to the amount necessary for its accomplish- 
ment. You wish to employ your property, in respect 
to your children, in such a way as shall prepare them 
for the greatest usefulness here, and the highest hap- 
piness hereafter. 

Now it is essential to this, that you should make 
provision for the development of their physical, intel- 
lectual, and moral powers ; that they should be in- 
structed in relation to. their social, civil, and religious 
duties ; that they should be subject to the influence 
of pure examples, and brought under the power of 
the gospel of Christ. You wish for them, under the 
combined influence of culture and Christianity, that 
mental expansion, that refinement of taste, that ele* 
vation of sentiment, and that firmness of moral prin- 
ciple, which will harmonize with their sphere of 
action, and with the highest ends of their existence. 
Is not this the sum total of what they require at .your 
hands, the substance of your parental duty ? But is 
it necessary for this> that you shoiild lay up for them 



86 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

large stores of wealth? "Would not these ends. "be 
better secured by such a degree of liberality on your 
part, as would leave them, when entering 'upon the 
responsibilities of life, dependent, under 'God, chiefly 
on their own exertions? Yea, do not facts abun- 
dantly demonstrate, that by exemption from the 
necessity of effort, through reliance on inherited, or 
expected wealth, their prospects of success in busi- 
ness or in. professional life would be greatly dark- 
ened? On whom have the Indies bestowed their 
richest treasures, and to whom have the mines of 
Peru yielded most abundantly their shining dust? 
"VVho are the master-spirits of the .age, that in the 
senate, at the bar, or in the pulpit, hold in their 
hands the secret of power, and wield most resist- 
lessly the sceptre of influence, and sway as by a spell 
the councils of nations, and the destinies of men? 
Are they those whose paternal ancestry spent their 
lives in toil and parsimony that they might leave their 
children rich ? Are they those who commenced their 
career cumbered by the cares of wealth, and subject 
to influences which prevent personal exertion, and 
paralyze the power of noble achievement ? No ; they 
are generally those, for whom their parents could do 
little except in the way of thorough mental and 
moral training, and the formation of industrious hab- 
its ; whose chief inheritance was a healthful influ- 
ence and a bright parental example ; and who came 
forth to meet the trials of life, and to discharge its 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 87 

*- 

duties, .trusting in Providence, and dependent on their 
own industry and skill. 

But if you can overlook such well-attested facts, 
and jeopard the temporal interests of your children, 
by amassing for them the almost certain means of 
their failure, turn to another aspect of the subject. 
You desire above all things their usefulness, and their 
religious welfare. What can you do better to render 
them useful, than to be so yourself? . You wish them 
to form habits of benevolence. 'How can your , desire 
for them be more effectually accomplished than by 
the influence of your own example .of benevolence? 
Withholding your property from objects of charity 
will not teach them to be charitable. Hoarding your? 
self large stores of wealth, will not dispose them to 
consecrate it to Christ. If you would teach them that 
the value of money consists primarily in the good 
which may be accomplished by it; in what way can 
you do it so successfully, as by showing them that this 
is the great end for which you' are acquiring it ? And 
if you would secure to .them the blessing of heaven, 
how can you do it more certainly, than by demising 
to them your own: bright example the. illustration 
of your full conviction that the love of money is the 
root of all. evil? In this way, a check will be early 
given to the tendencies of selfishness, and their hab- 
its be formed on the principles of Christian benevo- 
lence. You will thus bring your children to the 
altar, not like Hannibal, to swear eternal enmity to 



88 .. THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

a hostile nation, but to encourage in them, by the 
most sacred domestic influences, a desire to ", do good 
unto all men, as they have opportunity." >> 

Recur now to the second question, the motives 
which determine the proportion to be reserved for 
future contingencies. Write down the various ob- 
jects of benevolence which solicit your attention : the 
claims of the poor, the ignorant, and the oppressed ; 
the calls of Home and of Foreign Missions^ of the 
Bible, the Tract, Educational, and Seamen's asso- 
ciationSj and other kindred humane ''and reforma- 
tory agencies. Against these, set down the amount 
which you have appropriated to them. Consider 
this amount as the measure of your 'regard for the 
poor, your interpretation of the law of benevolence, 
and the exponent of your love to Christ. Then write 
down on the opposite page the items of your per- 
sonal and family expenditure, with the several sums 
applied to them. -Look upon these as the index of 
your sense of personal and family necessities) as 
what you have considered due to your station in life. 
Then compare the balance-sheets. Carry them with 
you to your closet, and when you pray "after this 
manner," " Thy kingdom come," see how much you 
are in earnest, by the portion of your income appro- 
priated to the advancement of , that kingdom. And 
when continuing, you repeat the petition, V Give us 
this day our daily bread," inquire if you may not 
have been taking much more than you' have asked 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 



89 



from God. And when you further say, ' ' Lead us not 
into temptation, "but deliver us from evil," ask your- 
self if some of your expenditures may not have had 
a direct tendency to lead you into that from which 
you pray to be kept, and to confirm in you- that from 
which you seek to be delivered. ' Write over one side 
of the equation b " The claims of the poor, the blind, 
the .naked, of ignorance, misery, arid siii;" and over 
:the other, "The claims of myself and family soon to 
pass to our final account." Then decide whether 
you have consecrated of your income to charity, 
according to the ability that/God giveth. Do this, 
and the result will assist you in determining the mo- 
tives by which you have been govei-ned in your cur- 
rent expenditures, and in your reservations for future 
use. Is this asking too much? Does it seem un- 
necessarily exacting? But why should you shrink 
from such a test ? Is it that you 'are fearful of 'the 
results ? If your scale of liberality is such 'as your 
own interests and the claims of beneficence require, 
an exarninatioh like this would only confirm your 
convictions of duty, and render its discharge more 
easy and delightful. -But if it is otherwise, and you 
fear the necessity of retrenchment on the side of per i ' 
sonal ease and gratificationj 

"Think heaven a better bargain, than to give 
Only thy single market-money for" it. 
Join hands with God, in making men to live." 

Oh, it is sweet to know that we are doing the will 



90 THE MISSIO.N OF THE CHURCH. 

of God, and nowhere more so, than in dealing our 
bread to the hungry, lighting up the abode of sorrow 
with the smile of gladness, recalling the wandering 
prodigal, and guiding the weary pilgrim to. his heav- 
enly home. 

3. Every man's beneficence should be proportionate) 
to what he can earjt liy industry. Labor, although 
connected with the curse pronounced upon man in 
consequence of his sin, must yet be considered as ,a 
blessing. His physical, mental, and moral condition 
renders it necessary to his own welfare. The gen- 
eral law of equity also requires it. " If any man 
work not, neither should he eat." " Not slothful in 
business," holds an important place among the apos- 
tolic injunctions. Idleness is therefore an evil and a 
sin. It is burying our talent, and exposing ourselves 
to the condemnation of the slothful servant. No 
one, however opulent, is at liberty to be indolent. 
Self-interest forbids it, and the law , of benevolence 
forbids it. To how many reputable disciples might 
the Saviour now say, " "Why stand ye here all the 
day idle?" "What are they accomplishing by their 
personal exertions, for. the honor, of God or the wel- 
fare of men ?- Nothing, absolutely nothing. 'Yet 
health, and time, and power of productive enterprise 
are talents intrusted to us, even more directly than 
is wealth, acquired by means of these. "It is God 
that giveth power to get wealth." Well-directed 
labor, either manual or mental, in some of the vari- 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 91 

ous forms of human effort, is therefore, a means of 
doing good, which cannot be left out of account in 
estimating proportion in beneficence. 

By this means, many a poor man might obtain the 
blessing of giving, who now contents himself with 
that of receiving. By toiling a little longer, or a 
little harder, or by turning their labor into more pro- 
ductive channels, not a few, from being themselves 
objects of charity ^ might become its happy distrib- 
uters. Instead of drawing upon the resources of the 
benevolent, they might help to swell their amount 
by the addition of their own ''farthing." And if 
they could do this, should they not do it ? Would 
not their temporal condition be improved by the 
effort, and they find by sweet experience that it is 
more blessed to give than to receive? We have 
read of a woman in very needy circumstances, who 
offered to subscribe a penny a week to the mission- 
ary fund. "Surely," said one, "you are too poor 
to afford this." She replied, " I spin so many skeins 
of yarn a week, for a maintenance : I will spin one 
more, and that will be a penny for the Society." How 
beautiful in its simplicity is this illustration ! Let 
each poor man so employ the fragments of time, that 
it may be said of him as of Henry Martyri, " He is 
the man that never lost an hour," and he shall eat 
the labor of his own hands, and "have to give to 
him that needeth." 

The rich, too, who in their ease can give of their 



92 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

abundance, lay diligence would be able to abound in 
this grace. Where is the warrant for a Christian to 
retire from active life while in the full enjoyment 
of his business powers ? It is obvious, however, 
that men- may sometimes be called to leave the 
sphere of labor in which they have accumulated 
their property* in order to superintend its beneficent 
expenditure. Public interests may require such a 
portion of their time and attention as shall be incom- 
patible with the continuance of their more private 
business schemes, 

But how different" is this from the case of those 
who bring to a period their active business career at 
a time. of life when they are most capable of con- 
tinuing it with success. In the course of twenty or 
thirty years of prosperous enterprise, a man finds 
himself in possession of a competency, that is, he has 
become affluent. Now he is content. He will re- 
tire and* give place to others. He has enough. But 
why does he retire ? That he may enjoy the luxury 
of dealing his bread to the hungry, and of endowing 
institutions for the promotion of science and religion, 
tir -for the mitigation of human woe and the reclama- 
tion of man from the power of Satan unto God? 
No ; but because he has enough. Enough for what ? 
Enough for himself, for his idol, self enough for his 
own enjoyment, for ease and elegance-^-enough to 
vie with the devotees of fashion, and to revel in 
splendor. So, these are the motives which have 



PROP OUT I ON 'IN BENEFICENCE. 93 

Impelled him forward in his eager haste to be ricli 
ease, ,elegance, splendor. No thoughts of God enter 
into his purposes. No pity for the poor influences 
his plans. Poor man, thou art dead while thou liv- 
est. Thou hast "denied the God that is above," 
and disowned thy brother. No beani of heavenly 
light guides thee in thy dark career. No genial 
fire of love melts thy icy selfishness. "Lp, this 
is the man that made not God his strength, but 
trusted in the abundance of his riches." "The 
righteous shall see, and shall laugh at him." "Men 
shall clap their hands at him, and hiss him out of 
his place." 

But it may be, that amid the smiles of Providence 
and your increasing, stores, you have not been alto- 
gether unmindful of the fatherless and the widow. 
Yet you propose to retire from business. You are a 
professed disciple of Christ and have sympathy wjth 
suffering and sorrow, and have not forgotten " to do 
good and to communicate," and yet you have enough. 
And can you then do all that you desire for the 'cause 
of God, and of humanity ? Are there no poor that 
will remain destitute ; no benighted that will Deleft 
sitting in darkness, when you have done what you 
can ? Is the Bible translated into every tongue ? 
Has the missionary visited every land,. and carried 
the gospel to every tribe, and made it the power of 
God in every heart? Oh, no. And yet you have 
enough. You axe retiring from business, it may be, 



94 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

at the very maturity of your powers of "business. 
Has Providence then smiled on your efforts and poured 
into your lap the fruits of the earth, or the products of 
commerce, that you might take your discharge from 
his service? "What, know you riot that you are not 
your own," and that "none of us liveth to himself?" 
Have -you forgotten the price with which you were 
bought ? Does gratitude call for no more self-denial ? 
Does the cross oppose no 'obstruction to your plan of 
ease and indulgence ? 

You may indeed be giving according to what you 
have. But are you giving according to what you 
might have? Your powers of business are no in- 
considerable part -of the ability . that God giveth. 
His command is, "GrO work in my vineyard." And 
it is also, " Work while the day lasts." 

Besides, if you would give more if you had it, why 
cease acquiring ? Is your beneficence on a large scale 
now ? By adding to it the products of your contin- 
ued labor, you would make it still larger, and would 
enjoy a richer blessing, both in what you bestow in 
charity and what you expend for yourself. And this 
blessing might come in the form of a better phys- 
ical and mental, as well as of an improved spirit- 
ual condition. You would be preserved from wast- 
ing indolence and enervating ennui. By continued 
efforts to acquire, that you might abound still more 
in giving, you would be kept from the danger of cov- 
etousness attending undue concern respecting what 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 95 

you now possess. By observing the command, "Oc- 
cupy till I come," you would be protected from the 
ensnarements accompanying a life of leisure, and 
procure at last that highest approval of your Master, 
" Well done, good and faithful servant ; enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord." 

What if Christ had retired from his work, ere he 
had arrived at that period when he could say, "It is 
finished." What if he had ceased from his weary- 
ing toil, and ascended to his throne of glory, before 
he had come to that labor of soul in the garden, and 
that conflict of spirit on the cross where would then 
have been the hope of the world? And why did he" 
not thus retire ? Ah, he was joined to his work by 
the invincibility of his love, and his devotion to his 
Father's will. Thence he toiled up to the very hour 
of his death, and expended the last of his human ..\. 
powers in completing his redeeming work. And \> 
shall his example have no influence to retain his fol- 
lowers in the field ? thou Son of Mary and" of 
God, didst thou spend thy life in poverty and in toil 
for the miserable and the guilty, and in a world all 
thine own, have hot where to lay thy head? And 
shall we who reap the fruits of thy godlike labor, 
seek exemption from service, and weary out our lives 
in ignoble sloth? Didst thou bear thy heavy" cross, 
and Wear thy thorny crown, and drink thy bitter cup 
that we, clothed in purple and fine linen, might re- 
cline upon our couch of ease ? 



90 '.THE:- Ml SSI ON OF THE CHURCH. 

"Woe worth, these barren hearts of purs, 
Where thou hast set celestial flowers, 
And watered with the balmiest showers, 
Yet naught we yield." 

4. Every man's beneficence should be proportion- 
ate to what he can save by economy. In any ad&- 
quate view of this subject, it is apparent that some 
limits are to be placed to the scale of expenditure. 
The gosp'el is no more explicit against covetousness, 
than against prodigality. 'Nor is the sin of the one 
greater than of the other, or the evil of it more af- 
flictive to the church. These seemingly contra,dic- 
tory vices are sometimes found in the same person. 
He covets another's wealth and squanders his own. 
So intense sometimes is the sense of want occasioned 
by wasteful expenditure, ..that the prodigal, as the 
miser, not only " stoppeth his ear -against the cry of 
the. poor," but rapaciously devours widows'. houses, 
as the means of continuing his riotous living. Thus 
prodigality leads to covetousness, and covetousness 
to rapacity. Unholy desire clamors for gratification, 
and gratification only increases the intensity of insa- 
tiable desire, until, in the Amidst of abundance, the 
soul finds itself in famine, flooded with waters, yet 
pining in thirst. - 

The economy induced by the spirit of beneficence, 
is equally remote from covetousness and from prodi- - 
gality. It neither wastes nor buries the intrusted 
talent, but uses it. And the expenditure which is , 



PROPORTION IN BENE.FiCEttCE. 97^ 

consistent with the claims of charity, is also in. har- 
mony with what is. due to our station in life. True 
dignity is never found in conflict with "benevolence. 
When the calls of the latter are responded to by an 
appropriation of the just proportion of our property, 
the residue will be found to impart the highest dig- 
nity to rank 'and- station, and the most benign^and sal- 
utary influences to character. " Whatsoever things 
are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever 
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatso- 
ever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good 
report," are in happiest agreement with its claims. 
But it dissuades from enervating indulgences, from 
effeminate voluptuousness, from factitious and extrav- 
agant conventionalism, as being as incongruous with 
the spirit of the gospel, as the former virtues are be- 
coming and accordant with it. 

Nor can prodigal expenditures, coming as they do 
into the class of unproductive consumptions, be more 
easily justified by the principles of political economy, 
than by the spirit of benevolence. Consumed as 
they are in needless, if not hurtful self-indulgence, 
the use of luxuries adds less to the national wealth 
than do beneficent appropriations. Hightly directed, 
Charity touches the deep springs of the mental and 
moral energies, and instead of wasting them in prof- 
itless excitement, arouses them to the most healthful 
and productive effort. She feeds the poor and clothes 
the naked ; she enlightens the ignorant, assists the 

Miss, of Churoh. 19 



98 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

feeble, and raises up the fallen. She discourages 
vice, that waster of time and money, that weakener 
of physical, intellectual, and moral vigor. She en- 
courages Yirtue, and leads -her into the field as the 
most productive laborer for the -.weal -of the race. She 
excites industry and rewards it, and stanches, earth's 
flowing miseries by healing its deep wounds of sin. 
She turns the current of htiman desire from; war to 
peace, from oppression to freedom, from idolatry, big- 
otry, and imposture, to the pure worship of the true 
God. 

Suph is the productive mission of charity to wMch 
we would divert the streams of wealth, :pdw flowing 
in the spendthrift channels of wasteful -superfluity. 
And for one who admits her claims as obligatory, it 
woulcj. not -seem difficult to arbitrate between them 
and those of prodigality. Perceiving the difference 
-in their nature, from their (different results, he will be 
sweetly impelled to economy, feeling that the noble- 
ness of. the end raises it, above the suspicion of mean- 
ness, to the rank of the most generous and honorable 
virtues. He will reflect that what he expends in 
luxury and self-aggrandizement, is so much withheld 
from the poor, so much .refused as a loan to the Lord, 
leaving a corresponding amount of grief unafsi^ged, 
of vice unchecked, and of eternal misery unprevent- 
ed. He will reflect that such expenditure^ not only 
diminish his power, but lessen his. desire to dp good; 
that they are not only a robbery of others, but, an 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 99 

injury to himself. He will remember that such su- 
perfluities, by placing him in the rank of eager com- 
petitors in the circle of fashion, take him out, from 
the simplicity of the gospel, and setting him in prac- 
tical contradiction to its precepts, present him as a 
tempter to others by his evil example. 

Are you anxious to dp good on a larger scale than 
you have felt your means wquld allow? Inspect 
your wardrobe, and see if something may not be 
saved by economy from, the imposts which it has 
laid upon your resources, and your condition be as 
comfortable and your .attire as comely. Survey your 
table, and see if something may not be spared from 
its viands arid dainties, and enough ^remain for rich 
contentment and hospitable cheer. Make Conscience 
the steward of thy house, holding his lamp, -like that 
in the urn. of Olybiuts, "alive and light, although 
close and invisible."- Let him report <o. all your ap- 
propriation's, how much is for. the gratification of the 
appetites, how much ministers to pride, to vanity, to 
ambitious rivalry with lovers of themselves. Let his 
inspection be minute, and deem him .riot an inter- 

* ~'vj ~' ' ' ' ' 

meddler. Accept his report, and from all upon which 
he writes " extravagance," -turn the current of your 
expenditures into the channels of beneficence. Are 
you -reluctant to do this? Reluctant to part with 
your superfluities, your luxuries ministers to pride 
and fashion and voluptuousness in order to obtain 
thejmeans of a more enlarged beneficence ! 



fO'O THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

But " my station, in life is fixed, and I must con- 
form to the circle in which I move." If you belong 
to a circle, the customs of which require you to waste 
your Lord's money, may it not he your duty to 
" come out from among them, and he separate ?" 
Would not this, hesides enabling you to give more, 
exempt you from many temptations and evils from 
which your character and influence are now suffer- 
ing. 

Are you unable to give more in charity than you 
now do ? How can this be, when you are able to 
spend so much in superfluous and costly attire, in 
ornaments, " the chains and the bracelets, the rings 
and changeable suits of, apparel, and mantles, and 
wimples, and crisping pins?" If you are too- poor 
to appropriate more in beneficence, are you not too 
poor to wear such exponents of wealth, too poor to 
feast on such costly dainties, too poor to dwell in 
habitations which are the index of princely fortunes ? 

You can afford to give no more ! Yes, if you will 
economize, you can. If you will " remember the 
words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more 
blessed to give than to receive," you will feel that 
you are too poor to give so little. Has not your econ- 
omy, if you have practised it, been rather in the de- 
partment of beneficence, than in that of superfluous 
expenditures ? Transfer retrenchment from the giv- 
ing to the expending side, and you will be able to 
give more. Wear less of your wealth, and you will 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 101 

\ 

be able. Consume less in the Epicurean delicacies 
of your table, and you will be able. Dispose of that 
part of your plate and jewelry which subserves no 
higher->purpose than ostentatious display, and you 
will be able to give more for the mitigation of hu- 
man woe, and the salvation of the world. The very 
decision to commence such retrenchment from benev- 
olent motives, would bring your Christian character, 
under God, to the "period of a new development, and 
the recollection of such economy, for such a purpose, 
would be a sweet reflection mingling in your dying 
thoughts. 

Happy was that distinguished example of Chris- 
tian simplicity, economy, and beneficence, John Wes- 
ley, in the generous devotion with which he conse- 
crated his substance to the cause of humanity and 
of God. Suspecting that he had more wealth than 
was apparent, the Accountant-general sent him the 
following note, with a copy of the " Excise order for 
the return of plate." ''' Ileverend sir As the com- ... 
missioners cannot doubt but you have plate, for which 
you have hitherto neglected to make an entry," etc. 
To this, the following answer was returned : " Sir, 
> I have two silver spoons at London, and two at Bris- 
tol, and I shall not buy any more while so many 
around me want bread." 

If all Christians would devote to beneficence the 
fruits of a reasonable economy, from what practical 
inconsistency would the church be reclaimed. From 



102 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

what -reproach would she "be saved, among those 
who now see her bowing with the eagerness of a 
devotee at the shrine of Fashion, that " Juggernaut 
of Christian lands." Oh, how would it contribute 
to make her "the perfection ,of beauty, the joy of the 
whole earth." . '* 

We do not assume to prescribe' any certain degree 
of economy or scale of retrenchment, or to interfere 
with the refinements and proprieties of a pure Chris- 
tianity ; but only to assert, that no one can be sure 
that he is doing^ what he ought in works of charity, 
unless he has introduced the principle of saving by 
economy. -No rank or station or amount of wealth 
can exempt him from the obligation involved in it. 
And no one, from love to God, can thus bring his bene- 
ficence into harmony with his ability, without great 
benefit to himself. Subjected to the influence of His 
example who never wasted a single moment, nor 
squandered a single feeling, but turned every thing 
to the beneficent account of saving the world, his life 
would be more happy, his death more peaceful, and 
a brighter crown would wreathe his brow in the 
heavenly glory. 

5. Every man's beneficence should be proportion- 
ate to what he can spare by self-denial. What is 
self-denial? Is it to give liberally of our income, 
yet withholding for ourselves the whole of the vested 
wealth from which it is derived? Is it to make 
large donations to the destitute and miserable, retain- 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 1Q3 

ing enough to live according to the fashion of this 
world, in luxury and splendor ? Is it to cut off the 
extravagances and superfluities of life, reserving for 
ourselves all its conveniences and comforts ? Is it 
not something more than this ? Look at the spirit 
of devotion signalizing the conduct of some Chris- 
tian philanthropists, of Mrs. Fry, of Sarah Martin, 
and of Howard, " the habitual passion of whose mind 
was a measure of feeling almost equal to the tempo- 
rary extremes and paroxysms of common minds." 
Look at the self-sacrificing spirit of not a few modern 
missionaries of a Harriet Newell, a Mrs- Judson 
of a Swartz, a Gary, and a Morrison of a Dober 
and a Leopold, who, that they might tell the poor 
negroes of a Saviour's love, offered to sell themselves 
into slavery, if no other means could be found of 
access to them. Look at the patriarchs Abraham 
offering up his son, his only son, at the command 
of the Lord; Moses "refusing to be called the son of 
Pharaoh's daughter, esteeming the reproach of Christ 
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt," Look 
at the apostles, counting not their own lives dear 
unto them, " rejoicing that they were counted worthy 
to suffer shame" in their Master's cause. Look at 
the life of Jesus, at his humiliation, his ignominy, 
his agony, and learn what self-denial is. Are you 
poor? So was he, yet it was for your gake. Are 
you rich? So was he, yet "he became poor, that ye 
\hrough his poverty might be^ich." He "redeemed 



.104 THE MISSION OF <THE CHURCH. : . 

us' from the curse of the law, being made a curse for 
us." It is in Christ crucified as a sacrifice for sin, 
that : we are to learn .the full significance of the" term 
self-denial. It was not simply in his leaving the 
bosom of the Father, in his enduring the contradic- 
tion of sinners, .tjiat Christ's sacrifice consisted, nor 
yet in the infamy of being pronounced guilty,.and sen- 
tenced as a malefactor at a human tribunal ; but it 
was in the burden of sin which he assumed, and 
on account of which he was forsaken -of his Father. 
I| was in the agony of soul -the anguish of a spirit 
which " knew no sin, yet was made sin for us." Here 
is suffering sacrifice-r-here is self-denial in its di- 
vinest form. The subjection, of our personal ease 
and tastes and, conveniences, our comforts and time 
and possessions, to the will of Christ, for his glory 
and human good, is in us, its highest realization. It 
leads to the performance of whatever may contribute 
to Christ's glory, and to the relinquishment to his dis- 
posal of whatsoever of our possessions may subserve 
the advancement of his kingdom. 

Self-denial is the great law of our religion. It 
began in Christ, our Head. ',. It must pervade all -the 
members. It led him to give up all for us. v It should 
lead us to give up all for him. Whosoever therefore 
would become a benefactor of the :race, must share the 
wants and woes of his fellow-men by personal sacrifice, 
in his efforts to relieve them. This is .self-denial, the 
.subjection of self to the principle of love, the annihi- 



, - PROPORTION IN-BENEFICENCE. 1Q5 

lation of selfishness, and the enthronement of Christ ( . 
in the soul. - Away, then, with the idea of ease, of 
luxury, when that work of mercy, commenced with 
such a sacrifice, is pressing upon the church with all 
the urgency of the, Saviour's last command. Away 
with the idea of convenience, of comfort, when such 
a motive calls us to sacrifice and self-denial. Oh, it 
is a shame that a work like this should be retarded 
by the self-indulgence of the disciples of so self-deny- 
ing a Master. It is a sin that devoted co-laborers c 
with him should be allowed to feel the .necessity ,bf 
retrenchment in their heaven-commissioned work, to 
stop their presses, disband their schools , and give back 
half-reclaimed territory to tha barrenness and blight 
of Paganism ; and this, because those who sent them 
to the work, are unwilling to deny themselves. We 
blush to remember, that in the progress of modem 
missions, laborers have been kept back from the 
whitening fields, and the reaper's sickle, has been 
hung upon the bough, and the harvest has wasted 
because . there were none to gather it, and this for 
want of nothing but self-denial. And we pray the 
Lord of the vineyard to forgive our apathy and self- 
indulgence, to; blot out the record of the past, and to 
save his people from causing it again to be -traced. 
Under the most pressing pecuniary embarrassments, 
imbued with the beneficent spirit of the gospel, and 
influenced by the example of Jesus and the worth 
of souls, the church could have doubled her contribu- 



106 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

tions from what she might have spared by self-denial. 
Constrained by the influence of such motiveSj self- 
denial becomes a kind of self-gratification, and it is 
tenfold harder to retain what can be spared by self- 
denial, than to lay it at the feet of Christ. Before 
the cross, the sanctified soul repels the idea of re- 
stricting its offerings to that which costs it nothing, 
Gratitude casts all her living into the treasury of 
the Lord, and Love pours her most precious ointment 
upon the Saviour's dying head. The one feels that 
her all is too little, and the other, that her most 
costly tribute is too poor to express the fervor of her 
affection, and the entireness of her devotion. 

Go, then, walk with Christ in the garden. Stand 
by him upon Calvary, and witness his ignominy and 
his agony. Ilemember, that " He was wounded for 
your transgressions," that " He was bruised for your 
iniquities." By the crown which he left in heaven, 
by the cross which he -endured on earth, by the love 
which he bears for you, by the worth of the soul for 
which he died, he calls you to deny yourself. By 
the superior moral value of the gleanings of self- 
denial over the surplusage of abundance, and by the 
heavenly glory, the way to which' is through his 
own sacrifice, he calls you to deny yourself. He 
calls you to this, as the only proof that "the same 
mind is in you which was > also in him." He asks 
for your choicest treasures, your best services. Whom 
wilt thou deny? Him, or thyself? When, as from 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. 107 

the cross, ye hear him say, "Freely ye have received, 
freely give," will ye not freely give? When, as 
ascending up on high, ye see him pointing to the 
whitening fields, will ye not deny yourselves, that 
the wasting harvest may be gathered in ? 

" Commit to Christ thine all, so shall thy treasure be 
Secure from moth and rust, from theft, and fire, and sea - r 
And in the final day, transmuted to pure gold, ,. 
Thy safe investment then shall yield thee wealth untold." 

We have now submitted the main principles relat- 
ing to proportion in beneficence. We have endeavor- 
ed to show that each man's charitable contributions 
should be proportionate to the ends sought, to the 
instrumentality to be applied, and to his pecuniary 
ability. We have examined the question of ability 
in. the light cast upon it by the beneficence of the 
Jewish church, by the beneficent spirit of the early 
Christians, and by the Bible doctrine, as deduced 
from the express declarations of Scripture. We have 
also viewed the question of each man's ability, ac- 
cording to which his proportion should be adjusted, 
in its relation to the sum total of his property, to 
the amount of his -income, to what he can earn by 
industry, to what he can save by economy, and to 
what he can spare by self-denial. 

In concluding this part of our subject, we wish 
comprehensively to re-state and to enforce the lead- 
ing MOTIVES which should secure the practical adop- 
tion of the principles. 



.108 THE MISSION OP THE CHURCH. 

1. The devotement to beneficence of a just por- 
tion of our property gives to it its highest value. 
Nothing is more obvious than that the value of 
money is wholly relative, and that it is determined 
by its use. We concede the legitimate value and 
use of property for sustenance and comfort, for in- 
tellectual and moral improvement. And -the amount 
thus applied should be all that the circumstances 
require. What is not necessary for these purposes, 
finds its highest value when devoted to beneficence. 
Compare its value, when thus consecrated, with that 
which it possesses when expended for selfish pur- 
poses. One man accumulates and hoards. His gains 
answer no higher an end than, to inflame a sordid 
desire for wealth, and to feed a hidden fire that con- 
sumes all humane and generous affections. He makes 
'gold his hope, and says unto the fine gold, thou 
art my confidence." He toils for wealth, but when 
obtained, he will" .not use it. And the more he ac- 
quires, the less he is satisfied with what he has. 
His wants increase faster than his possessions, so 
that the richer he becomes, the poorer he feels. 
To such madness has this abuse of .wealth been per- 
mitted, in judicial visitation, to carry men, that the 
possessor of thousands has clung to his hoarded 
treasures with such an insane tenacity, and been in 
such an agony of want for more, that he has died of 
actual starvation. Truly, " There is that maketh 
himself rich, yet hath nothing." Well does the 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. .109 

Scripture say of such, an one, " He shall be buried 
with the burial of an ass." " His riches are cor- 
rupted, his garments are moth-eaten, his silver and 
gold are cankered, and the rust of them shall be a 
witness against him, and shall eat his flesh as it 
were fire." 

Another accumulates and squanders. Appetite 
and pleasure absorb his substance. Disease is en- 
gendered, time wasted, vice nurtured, and mind 
imbruted. And the more he squanders in sensual 
gratification, the more imperious is the demand for 
still farther gratification, until "the floor of the 
wine-press shall not feed" him, and "he shall eat, 
but not have enough." Thus, whether wealth be 
hoarded or squandered, it loses its value. It is an 
abuse of the divine bounty ^an abuse which deranges 
the mental and moral, as well as the physical pow- 
ers, and dooms the soul to eternal penury an abuse 
which has made the world an abode of paupers and 
prodigals, of misers and maniacs. 

See, now, the value of wealth when appropriated 
to charity. It feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, 
is eyes to the blind, and feet is it to the lame. 
It "visits the fatherless and the widow," reclaims 
the vicious, and leads wandering, guilty man back 
to the fatherly mansions, and to a forgiving G-od. 
Such a use gratifies the benevolent desires, and this 
gratification adds to 'their strength and intensity, 
and every such increase of force imparts a greater 



110 .THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

excellence to the character, by bringing it into agree- 
ment with the character of God. In this way wealth 
attains its highest value. Thus applied, it harmo- 
nizes with the benevolence of the Creator, and with 
the compassions of the Redeemer. It is promotive 
of the end for which, God created man, and of the 
objects for which Christ died. Its use is based upon 
the recognition of a higher than sensual principle in 
man, and a loftier than earthly destiny. It sets 
forth the cross as the grand central attraction, and 
proceeds on the conviction that the noblest of all 
influences, and the sublimest of all agencies, are 
those which combine to draw men unto it. It is, 
we repeat, precisely here that wealth attains its 
highest value in subserving the interests of hu- 
manity^ and the glory of God. This end, from its 
intrinsic dignity, imparts to whatsoever means it 
employs their greatest worth. Apart from this, 
nothing is truly noble or exalted. This makes giv- 
ing the art of gaining 'the true philosopher's stone. 
It turns the hoarded gold into lead, and the given 
mite into gold. When one sees that beneficence 
thus embalms his wealth in the form of its highest 
possible value, and gives it to him as a perpetually 
increasing fund, as an instrument of good, as a means 
of grace, and as an auxiliary of heaven, will he not 
labor to acquire, and acquire that he- may give ? 
2. The devotement to beneficence of a just por- 
tion of our property, secures our own highest inter- 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. HI 

if- 

.csts. It is a satisfaction to know that the proportion 
of our substance devoted to beneficence is in agree- 
ment with the divine will. It is an additional satis- 
faction to feel that our wealth is thus attaining its 
highest value. It is a happiness to witness the 
blessed influence thus exerted, in the alleviation of 
human woe, and the removal of human sin ; in 
kindling immortal hopes, and adding star after star 
to Irnmanuers diadem. To know and feePthis, is 
to enjoy the luxury of doing good. " "When the .ear 
heard me, then it blessed me ; and when the eye 
saw me, it gave witness to me : because I deli vered 
the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that 
had none to help him. The blessing of him that 
was ready to perish came upon me; and I caused 
the widow's heart to sing for joy." Such, a use of 
our property brings us into harmony with the attri- 
butes of God, and with the highest interests of man. 
It identifies our interests with the interests of Jeho- 
vah. Placing them under the protection of infinite 
power and the guidance of infinite wisdom, by the 
operation of all moral principles and, the- immutabil- 
ity of the divine purposes it secures them beyond 
the possibility of invasion. 

The great secret, then, of advancing our own in- 
terests, is in the annihilation of selfishness, and in 
assimilation tp God. His peculiar blessedness con- 
sists in doing good. He " giveth us richly all things 
to enjoy." Air and .sunlight, rain and dew, are 



112 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

ceaselessly flowing from his hand. Our happiness 
will be like his, as, in beneficence, our lives resemble 
his. Hence, it is more blessed to give' than to re- 
ceive ; for giving brings us into more, perfect sym- 
pathy with Christ in his redeeming work, and pours, 
into the soul the blessedness which he contemplated, 
when, " for the joy that was set before him, he en- 
dured the cross." What we give is given back to 
us again, good measure, pressed down, and running 
over. It is this that scattereth, and yet increaseth. 
This maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow therewith. 
We honor the Lord with our substance and our barns 
are filled with plenty, and our presses burst out with 
the new wine of joy. We sow bountifully, and we 
reap also bountifully of all the fruits of the Spirit. Al] 
that we thus : give in charge to Providence, shall 
return in the elements of a greater -good. All that 
we thus employ for Christ, will be treasure laid up 
in heaven to await our arrival. For all that we thus 
give to the poor, we " shall receive manifold more in 
this present time, and in the world to come life ever- 
lasting." Thus is solved that old, paradoxical epi- 
taph, ."What I kept, I lost; what I gave, I have." 
Truly, " There is that maketh himself poor, yet hath 
great riches." When we see that it is only what 
we give that enriches us, shall we not give ? When 
we see that, in respect to property, we are worth 
just the amount of good which we do with it, shall 
we not do good ? When we see that beneficence is 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. H3 

the chief work of God, that we live in a world of 
which the fittest description is, it "is full, of his good- 
ness ;" when we see that our happiness can be like 
his, only as our character and conduct resemble his, 
shall we not be beneficent ? 

3. The devptement to beneficence of a just portion 
of our property, promotes the glory of God. This 
is the highest motive which can influence holy beings, 
the noblest end to which they can devote their lives. 
This overwhelms all conflicting influences, and, go- 
ing beyond all considerations of self-interest, leads to 
entire consecration. It is this its direction to the 
noblest end-^-that gives to Christian beneficence in 
the simplest act, its intrinsic worth and dignity. 
This joins the "farthing" of a grateful love to the 
ends for which Jehovah created and is governing 
the world . It brings it within that system of means, 
by which is to be wrought out, in the recovery of 
a lost world, the 1 demonstration that " God is love." 
Every beneficent act ascends up high as the throne 
of God, and, incorporated among-the redeeming agen- 
cies of the cross, stretches wide as the curse is found. 
It is in this connection of beneficence with the 
means and influences by which the Almighty is ac- 
complishing the redemption of the world, " to the 
praise and glory of his grace," that we find the 
most urgent calls to it. Here motive reaches its 
'highest power, and argument its most persuasive 
appeal. In this is the realization of man's highest 

Miss.ofChiuvh. 20 



114 THE MISSION OF-/THE 'GHUIl'GH." 

interests, by the attainment of the highest ends of 
his being the ceaseless oblation of his substance 
and himself to (rod, as a living protestation against 
the selfishness which dishonors and would dethrone 
him. -: :< 

Is the divine glory promoted by human obedience ? 
Beneficence is obedience. Is God honored by the 
expression of a grateful sense of his goodness ? Be- 
neficence is such an expression. Does he delight jn 
the testimonials of a fervent love ? Beneficence is 
such a testimonial. "Inasmuch as ye have done it 
unto them, ye have done it unto me." Do the oppo- 
sites of these dishonor God ? Covetousness is the 
concentration of them all. It closes the ear to his 
claims in the cries of his poor, and withholds from 
him the heart. It denies him his crown, and places 
a stigma upon Christ's voluntary assumption of pov- 
erty for the redemption of the world. " Take heed, 
and beware of covetousness." It is among the most 
humiliating forms of sin among the greatest tri- 
umphs of Satan. Shall we dishonor him whom all 
the angels in heaven adore? Shall we withhold 
from him what it should be our chief joy to lay at 
his feet, our wealth, our influence, our all? By the 
highest value of riches, by your own best interests, 
by the honor of the Saviour, by the glory of God, 
"trust not in uncertain riches." By the goodness 
of the Lord, by the love of Christ, by the bliss of 
heaven, be "rich in good works, ready to distribute, 



PROPORTION IN BENEFICENCE. H5 

willing to communicate, laying up for yourselves a 
good foundation against the time" to come, that ye 
may lay hold on eternal life." 

" Thy gold's true worth,"thV weal, God's glory, are agreed. 
Then scatter wide and free thy heaven-intrusted seed; 
So shalt thou reap a golden harvest most divine, t 
And like the brightness of the. firmament shalt shino." .-, 



116 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 



CHAPTER III. 

/ 

SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE'. 
I. PROVISIONS OF SYSTEM. 

No system can be considered as complete, as suit- 
ed to develope in the church the beneficent spirit of 
'the gospel, and secure from each of its members a 
just proportion of his substance in charitable contri- 
butions, which does not make provision for proper . 
instruction concerning the use of property, and for 
communicating ^information respecting the condi- 
tion and wants of the world ; for the appropriation, 
at stated times, by each one i of a due proportion of 
his substance to beneficence ; and for some flan on 
the part of every church for collecting the contribu- 
tions of its- members, and for applying- them to the 
objects for which they are designed. 

1. System in beneficence provides for instruction 
concerning the use of property, and for communi- 
cating information respecting the condition and 
wants of the world. Too much may have been pre- 
sumed on the knowledge of Christians respecting the 
use which God requires them to make of their prop- 
erty, and consequently, in the prosecution of their 
business, they have, through ignorance, been exposed 
to the growth of a covetous spirit, with the increase 
of their possessions. From motives of delicacy, relig- 
ious teachers who receive their support from the vol- 



SYSTEM IN BETSTEFICENCE. H7 

iintary subscriptions of their people, may have shrunk 
from the same degree of explicitness upon this sub- 
ject which they have felt to be necessary in respect 
to other Christian duties. And the difficulty which 
some pastors have experienced in securing- the full 
amount of their support, or the consciousness that 
when received it was inadequate for this purpose'^ 
has' increased the embarrassment. , 

And many hearers, who have been ready to ap- 
plaud the clearest and fullest exposition of dogmatic 
truth, have sometimeis r :evlnced a "remarkable sensi- 
tiveness to any direct application 'of "the duty of be- 
neficence. They are sound on all points of accredited 
orthodoxy, and lend their approval to the rebukes of 
all heresy, except that of believing that their money 
is their own, and that they may /expend it as they 
please, without let or hindetfance. That such has 
been the feeling of not a few hearers, and such /the 
condition of some pastors, is quite- certain; and as a 
natural consequence, many churches, that have been 
thoroughly taught in respect to other Christian doc- 
trines and duties, have failed to receive due instruc- 
tion upon .the subject of Christian beneficence. 

If a people feel that they >are too poor to contribute 
to charitable objects, let the pastor" ascertain whether 
it may not be merely a matter of feeling, occasioned 
by the want of more scriptural views, 'or.. by the 
absence of information respecting the wants of .the 
world, for which they may justly have looked to 



118 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

him. . Are they poorer than the widow who cast 
into the' treasury of the Lord all her living ? , If not, 
instruct them in the doctrine, and duty, and hless- 
edness of Christian liberality, and they will give. 
Spread out before them the; wastes and wants of the 
world, and they will give. Let them give a little 
once, and they will wish to give again, and a little 
more. And what they give to other objects will 
not be taken from the support of him who is lead- 
ing them to the luxury of doing good. The specific 
for a pastor to starve himself away from his people, 
is to decline instructing them in the -clotty of benefi- 
cence, and to withhold from them a knowledge of 
the wants of a perishing world. By such a course, 
he injures both them and himself, and dishonors, his 
Master. His people are entitled to instruction. It 
is his duty to give it to them. This should enter, 
as an important element, into his plans of ministe- 
rial; labor among them. If they will be covetous, 
let them know that no "covetous man, who is an 
idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of 
Christ and of God." If they refuse to deny them- 
selves, they should understand that self-denial is the 
condition of discipleship, and that they have turned 
away from the .cross, " sorrowful," it may be yet 
they HAVE turned away. 

But no; those who love our Lord Jesus Christ 
will no more disobey him here than elsewhere, if 
they are rightly instructed in their duty. The 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. H9 

clmrcli will respond to his calls, if she understands 
them. She did do it in the days of the apostles and 
primitive Christians, and she is beginning to do it in 
our own days. Let the spirit of beneficence, as the 
antidote to selfishness, be developed in the hearts of 
Christians, by instruction from the pulpit, in the 
concert of prayer, or convention. Let the claims of 
benevolence be freely canvassed. They are founded 
in principles of the most genuine philanthropy and 
the purest religion. They are enforced by the power 
of the. cross. They are urged by the woes of count- 
less millions, and by the bliss of which these mill- 
ions are capable. Oh, let them be known, let them 
be seen by the church, and she will open her, arms 
to receive them as the representatives of her divine 
Redeemer, and. honor .them with her most precious 
treasures. If we .would displace* covetousness from 
the hearts of Christians, and introduce benevolence 
in its stead, we must apply the power of Christian 
doctrine, and open before them the channels of Chris- 
tian beneficence, and lure them by the attraction of 
Christian motives. This is God's remedy, and, if 
applied, it will be made effectual. 

If the world 'is to be recovered by the propaga- 
tion of Christianity, nothing is more, evident than 
that the rising generation is to be prepared, by 
thorough instruction, for a more martyr-like; devot- 
edness, and a higher style of achievement than has 
marked the present generation. The hope of the 



120 - : : THE MISSIONVOF T!|E 'CHURCH. 

churph, in, respect merely to. its own. perpetuity, is, 
under God, in the young. - For any reasonable plans 
v bf successful /propagation, the main preparatory work 
must bg vvith them. The present generation hag 
accomplished more in this respect thari did the last. 
The next must go far beyond -the present. But,- for 
this, the spirit of 'beneficence must be earlier infused 
into it, that, through its deeper root in a richer soil, 
it may yield a riper and more abundant fruit. " Tell 
your children of this, and let your children tell their 
children, and their children another generation." 
But who shall give this instruction? We answer, 
first, an important duty devolves on parents. They 
should teach their children, by precept and example, 
to 'give liberally and systematically. The shepherd 
of the flock has also a responsible agency. It is his 
work, made incumbent by his relations to his people, 
and by the terms of his commission. The main reli- 
ance, under G-od, for the cultivation of a beneficent 
spirit in the church, and for making her charity a 
work of intelligence, of principle, and of habit, must 
be upon her ministers. And auxiliary to the min- 
istry in securing this important result, is the Chris- 
tian 'press. By religious journals, and reports of 
benevolent societies, by tracts and treatises":, upon 
missions and beneficence, much may be done to dif- 
fuse information, cultivate a sense of stewardship, 
and awaken the elevated sentiments- of Christian 
philanthropy, In this view, the religious press is 



.I N B E N E F I C E N C E . \- ;1 21 ., 

"" ' - .'''>-' 

as the right arm of the Christian ministry, the.^ cir- 
culation of a good book like a perpetually self-repeat-?. 
ing; l^raon, and all beneficent organisations are as 
dutiful handmaids to -the -Christian church. 

2. System in beneficence provides for the appro 1 
priation by every one, at stated times, of a due pro-, 
'portion of his property to charitable purposes. This 
provision of the system is essential in order to secure 
the full benefits of the former provision. Without 
something of this, the principles inculcated might be"; 
left inoperative, and the impressions made be soon 
effaced, to be revived perhaps, from the pulpit, and 
lost again by inaction, or the resumed reign, of cov- 
etousness. There are three stated periods, the weekly, 
the monthly, and- the annual, which deserve partic- 
ular consideration. 

(1.) The iveekly period. "TJpoN THE FIRST DAY 
OF THE WEEK," says the apostle to the Corinthians, 

" LET EVERY ONE OF YOU EAY BY HIM IN STORE, AS 

G-OD HATH PROSPERED HIM." The same direction he 
also gives to the' Galatians. Here is a simple but 
comprehensive System. Each one is required to give 
something. This is beneficence. His charity is to 
be " as God hath prospered him." This is propor- 
tion in /beneficence. It is to be laid by " upon tlie 
first day of the -week. 1 ' This is system in benefi- 
cence. ' ~ 
The chief characteristics of this apostolic plan, 
PROPORTION AND SYSTEM, are precisely those in re- 



122 THE. MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

spect to which the beneficence of the church is most 
defective. And it is a little singular, that this divine 
type should have been left on record for the express 
benefit of the church, and yet should have been so 
little regarded. It is simple, easy of application, 
and effective. . That some such plan should not have 
obtained general adoption, may perhaps be best ac- 
counted for by the absence of that beneficent spirit 
which prevailed in the primitive church. 

The advantages of this plan are obvious. It is 
the occasion of very frequent recurrence to the prov- 
idence of God as the source of our; prosperity, and of 
a recognition of our dependence upon him, and of 
our obligation to him for all that we receive. It is 
suited to mingle thoughts of him with the pursuit 
of all our worldly affairs, so that our religion, instead 
of being secularized by our business, is made to ele- 
vate and sanctify it, by leading to its prosecution 
upon the highest principles. By bringing us to so 
frequent a review of our stewardship, it deepens the 
feeling of responsiblehess, and quickens the sensibil- 
ities to the condition of our fellow-men, and to our 
final account. The mind being kept thus constantly 
familiar with the ennobling principles and constrain- 
ing motives 'of Christian beneficence, selfishness is 
restrained, and covetousness ^meets with constant 
and almost impassible barriers. Thus a, more cor- 
rect judgment will be formed of the proportion which 
duty requires, and the devotement of that proportion 



SYSTEM. IN BENEFICENCE. 123 

will be prompted by more elevated religious affec- 
tions. 

The most indigent can probably lay aside a cent 
a week for an object to which they may feel unable, 
at any one time, to contribute fifty-two cents. Many 
more can invest in this way five, ten, or twenty 
cents a week, who would think it impossible to sub- 
scribe two dollars and a half, or five dollars, or ten 
dollars at any one time in the year, and who per- 
haps may not, at any one tune, be in possession of 
an amount so large. And yet, by giving it in small 
weekly instalments, they will defraud no one ; but, 
doing it from gratitude to God and love to man, they 
will become better neighbors, better citizens, better 
men, and better Christians. 

Some forty years ago, a worthy deacon of an 
infant church in Vermont adopted this plan, from a 
simple desire to obey the injunction of the apostle. 
While under the elevating influence of the Sabbath 
services, he consecrated. to beneficence such a portion 
of his income as would meet the measure of his 
prosperity; From this deposit the various calls of 
charity were answered, and the poor and needy were 
never allowed to go empty away, unless it had been 
previously much overdrawn. In this practice he 
continued until his death, greatly to his own tempo- 
ral and spiritual advantage ; for " his root was spread 
out by the waters, and .the dew lay all night on his 
branch." There are those who still remember the 



124 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH 

small tin trunk to which he committed these weekly 
instalments, and who, receiving the rich legacy of 
his example, bear testimony to its happy influence 
upon themselves, the prosperity of the little church, 
and the destitute around. 

The only plausible objection to this plan may arise 
from the difficulty which some might experience in 
estimating the profits of their business, so as to ad- 
just their weekly proportion. With day-laborers, 
and multitudes of others, this objection could have 
little weight. "With not a few it might be removed 
by a different mode of conducting their affairs, and 
the change might make them safer and more pros- 
perous business men. JBut those whose vocations 
are of such a nature that this plan could not be 
fully carried out, might still lay by something, and 
refer the. full adjustment of their proportion to the 
monthly or annual estimate, as the Jews were allow- 
ed to close the appropriation of their tithes for feasts 
and sacrifices at the expiration of every third year, 
if not done before. 

(2.) The monthly period. * Those who cannot 
decide on their degree of prosperity week by week, 
may be able to do it once a month, and to "lay by 
in store " accordingly. But for those who adopt the 
monthly system, the temptation to withhold may be 
increased by their being under the necessity of con- 
secrating a sum four times as large as the weekly 
adjustment Avould require. And there may be less 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 125 

\ 

tendency to create a sense of constant dependence 
upon God, and to form as perfectly the habit of asso- 
ciating his glory with the prosecution of all theii 
worldly affairs. Still, as a substitute, in the case of 
those who cannot do it oftener, let them adopt the 
spirit of the apostolic direction, and "lay by in 
store " every month, " as God hath prospered them." 
This has been found to possess important financial 
as well as religious advantages. Says a prosperous 
merchant who has adopted this plan, " This system 
has saved me from commercial dangers, by leading 
me to simplify business and avoid extensive credits. 
It has made me a better merchant ; for the monthly 
pecuniary observations which I have been wont to 
take, though often quite laborious, have brought me 
to a better knowledge of the state of my affairs, and 
led me to be more cautious and prudent than I 
otherwise should have been. Since adopting this 
plan, I have been no longer perplexed with doubts 
about .giving, and there is no one I meet with more 
cheerfulness than a servant of Christ calling for 
aid." 

(3.) The annual period. To an annual survey 
of one's business affairs, and an apportionment of 
profits to beneficence, there can be no objection from 
its impracticability. It accords with the principles 
and habits of the -best m business men, to take an 
annual account of stock, and estimate profits and 
losses. The reputation and success of any one as a 



126 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

business man require this. Men -who do nothing of 
it evince so little practical wisdom, that not much 
can he expected from them on the score of systematic 
beneficence. If they give largely at one time, their 
generosity may he at the expense of their justice, 
and they cannot be counted, upon as having any 
thing to give when the call is repeated. But he who 
annually casts up his accounts will know what aro 
' his profits, and what the whole amount of his prop- 
erty. Then let him apply the rule of proportion, 
and set apart for the cause of his Master, the amount 
which that rule requires, and let the consecrated 
sum be considered as sacred to charity. Only let 
him be sure that the amount does not fall below the 
claims of duty, and of well regulated self-interest. 
And if he should act upon his right to go a little 
beyond mere duty, transcending the stern mandates 
of conscience, and borne on by the higher sentiments 
of gratitude and love, he would neither do himself 
wrong, nor his neighbor harm. 

"We cannot withhold a joint letter, written in 1 822, 
to the treasurer of one of our foreign missionary so- 
cieties, by two individuals who had adopted a plan 
similar to that which it has been our .object to rec- 
ommend. ", ' 

" When, a few years since, we commenced house- 
keeping, God in his providence saw fit to commit to 
our care a small farm in a country town, for which 
we owed about one-quarter of its value. We had 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 127 

lead the various accounts of the benevolent exertions 
of 'the day, and were anxious to join with our fellow- 
Christians in their acts of charity. But how could 
we obtain the means ? Our family must be support- 
ed, and we must pay our debts, or we should wrong 
one man while giving to another. 

" After deliberating upon the subject, and reflect- 
ing that what we owed would not probably all be 
wanted for several years, we concluded, in the first 
place, to attend diligently to business, as God should 
give us health and strength, and to expend nothing 
for the support of ourselves and family but what was 
absolutely , necessary for our health and comfort. 
We then fixed upon a certain proportion of our debts, 
which we would endeavor to pay annually, and so 
much only, unless more was wanted ; but if wanted, 
we would pay to the last of our ability. After pay- 
ing the proportion of our debts agreed upon, the. 
remainder of our income, whether more or less, was 
to be expended, according to the best of our judg- 
ment, in doing good. , - 

"When we adopted this plan, we -concluded that 
it was best to review it at stated periods, and if,, we 
conscientiously thought it our duty, to alter it ; but 
not otherwise. After several years' experiment, we 
are more and more convinced that it is our duty ' 
strictly to adhere to it. God has blessed our labors 
in a remarkable degree.. We can almost say 'that 
he has fulfilled to us his promise to Israel, that he 



128 THE MISSION OP THE CHURCH. 

Avould bless them in all that which they should put 
their hands unto." 

How striking is this illustration of the ease with 
which systematic arrangements may he introduced 
into our beneficent operations, even in difficult cir- 
cumstances. Let every disciple of Jesus go and do 
likewise, and the days of retrenchment and penury 
and mourning to the cause of benevolence would be 
ended, and " Israel would blossom .and bud, and fill 
the face, of the world with fruit." 

(4.) There is yet one other plan, which has been 
adopted by some with advantage. It is that of set- 
ting apart a certain portion of each gain in every 
e?iterprise, and devoting it to beneficence. This per- 
haps approaches nearer to the Jewish system than 
either of the others. Of all their several gains, the 
Jews were required to give a portion to the Lord, in 
the form of first-fruits and tithes. This brought them 
almost constantly under the influence of some sacred 
claim upon their substance. Everywhere they were 
reminded of their dependence upon their Maker, and 
of their obligations to him. Everywhere they were 
taught that they were constant receivers, by being 
called to be constant givers. And why was this but 
to prevent and destroy covetousness, and to induce 
habits of beneficence ? And what could be more 
admirably adjusted as means to the end, every where 
meeting a divine claim, or the most animating mo- 
tives to liberality^? How must such a system bring 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. ' 129 

one into an all-surrounding,;,atmospliere of benefi- 
cence. : '-.". - ' .- 

Its advantages are nearly allied to those of the 
first-named plan. And the near resemblance^of the 
system proposed by the Jewish lawgiver to that pre- 
sented by the Christian apostle, is easily accounted 
for by the fact, that both the lawgiver and the apos- 
tle were under divine guidance. It was in both 
cases the all-creative Mind propounding to man 
principles of beneficence most suited to his -charac- 
ter and condition, and most conducive to his highest 
interests and the glory of God. 

The operation of these principles is beautifully 
illustrated in the following epistle, written in 1823, 
and addressed to the secretary of one of our benevo- 
lent societies. 

" I have long been desirous of rendering some aid 
to your society. My circumstances, however, have 
been such that -I. -knew not how to contribute money. 
But haying recently commenced business, with very 
moderate prospects, it occurred to me. that I had a 
right, if it were not clearly my duty.? to set apart a 
certain portion of the Lord's gifts, for his cause in 
the earth. I have therefore taken a certain part of 
every gain, small or great, and devoted it to the 
service of God. I would not /trouble you with, this 
communication, were it not to tell you of the satis- 
faction I have derived from this plan. The money 
laid aside is not considered mine. The only inquiry, 

Miss, of Church. 21 



130 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

t . i 

when aii application is made, is, ' Have I any thing 
in the treasury, and how can I dispose? of it to the best 
advantage ?' I feel as though I were putting my hand 
into the Lord's treasury and acting for him. I have 
no doubt, sir, that the deductions made on every 
gain liave been saved in carefulness and economy" 
Who can resist the conviction of the superior ex- 
cellence of such principles as this letter and the pre- 
ceding illustrations exhibit ? Who can doubt the 
utility of reducing them, as these Christians did, to 
systematic operation ? "Were they not better for their 
beneficence ; richer in all that which constitutes 
true worth -richer in the means and the desire of 
doing good -richer in all the elements of rational 
enjoyment here, and in the immortal hopes of bless- 
edness hereafter ? 

3. System in beneficence provides for some plan 
in every church for collecting 'its charitable contri- 
butions^ and for applying them to the objects for 
which they are designed. It is obvious that this is 
essential to the completion of a perfect system. 

There are some objects to which the donors them- 
selves should be the distributers of their own bounty, 
as the poof > the sick> and the afflicted, within the 
sphere of their immediate action. The benign and 
salutary influence of bestowing private charities IB 
too precious to be lost by making another the almo- 
ner of our bounties, when we are in circumstances 
to apply them ourselves* 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 131 

It is mainly with respect to the prominent and 
accredited institutions of benevolence, whether relat- 
ing to the claims of our own or of other countries, 
that this part of our system is to he arranged. For ' 
these various objects, collections are sometimes taken 
at the close of public service, at the time when the 
objects are -presented. It is an objection to this 
method, that it leaves out of account those who may 
on such occasions be absent, and secures a smaller 
sum from those who are present, than a different 
plan might elicit. Cards are sometimes placed in 
the slips of the church, upon which each one is 
requested to write his name, -with the sum which 
he wishes to give. In addition to the above-named 
objection, which is equally applicable to this mode, 
many who would otherwise contribute a. little, 'dis- 
liking to place their names to a small sum, subscribe 
nothing. We believe that by some wise system, a 
larger amount may be secured, and with greater 
advantage to the donOi\ The minutise of a plan 
for charitable collections must be determined by the 
peculiar circumstances of the case. Little more can 
here be done than to draw the outline of one, which 
can be filled up by those who may carry it into 
operation. 

Let provision be made by the church, at the opeii" 
ing of the year, for the presentation of the claims of 
the various benevolent objects at stated times, and 
let one or more suitable persons be appointed for 



132 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

each different object, to solicit- donations in, its be- 
half. , -.... 

When these stated periods arrive, it will be in 
harmony with the provision -for systematic instruc- 
tion, for the pastor, either himself or by an agent, to 
present such facts and principles as will increase the 
religious intelligence of the people, elevate in their 
minds the great work of Christian beneficence, and 
bring them more under the influence of appropriate 
motives to liberality, in behalf of the particular ob- 
ject presented. 

Let the solicitors appointed follow the presentation 
of these claims by calling from house to house, giv- 
ing an opportunity to each individual, children as 
well as parents, to contribute what they may have 
appropriated for the object, answering any inquiries, 
and imparting such additional information as they 
may be able to give. - 

Let each one of these solicitors make a list of the 
names of those iipott whom he calls, with the sev- 
eral sums contributed by each, to be given to the 
pastor when the collection is completed. Of the 
sum total of his collections let him also make a return 
to a treasurer chosen for the -purpose, or to the pas- 
tor, by whom the money will be transmitted as soon 
as practicable to the treasurer of the society for 
which it is designed. , 

From the lists returned for the several objects 
during the year, let the pastor make an annual 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 133 

report to the church and congregation, with such, 
instructions and remarks as the facts in the case 
may suggest.- 

Such are the provisions which "seem essential to a 
complete system in "beneficence, whether viewed in 
relation to the wants of the church, or the condition 
of the world. A system like this imposes a duty 
upon pastors, upon individual Christians, and upon 
the church. It secures instruction and religious in- 
formation, thus touching most effectively the springs 
of beneficent action. It provides for a stated time, 
at which each one shall apply the rule of prop&r- 
tion, and layby in store according to the ability 
that God giveth. It includes a simple but compre- 
hensive plan for charitable collection?,, and 'for apply- 
ing funds to the objects for which they are designed. 
It is in harmony with the means appointed by the 
Redeemer for the^ sanctification of his people, and 
through them for the salvation of the world. And 
it may be regarded as a recommendation to this plan, 
that while it recognizes the instrumentality of the 
general benevolent organizations, as the applying 
agents of the church, their influence comes in to 
confirm, rather than disturb the relations of the pas- 
tor to his people, and to impress upon the church its 
responsibility in regard to its beneficent mission as 
the great divinely instituted body for the world's 
conversion. 



134 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

II. TENDENCIES AND ADVANTAGES OF SYSTEM. 

1. System in beneficence diminishes the expen- 
diture of "benevolent societies for agencies. It is 
one of the evils resulting from -the present unsys- 
tematized beneficence of the church, that so much 
expenditure is necessary for the support of agents 
for collecting funds. There can be no doubt, that 
in regard to. the principal benevolent organizations, 
some expenditure of this land in the past state of 
things has been necessary. But any considerable 
appropriation for this purpose has come to be felt by 
all to be a serious .drawback, not only in respect to 
the funds thus expended, but also from its tendency 
to occasion distrusi in the minds of the less informed 
and less interested. And it is also felt that the 
time has come when, by means of system, nearly 
the whole of this expenditure might be saved. The 
secretaries and officers could communicate intelli- 
gence to the pastors and churches through reports 
and periodicals. The pastors could diffuse informa- 
tion 'by the circulation of these publications, and by 
their own preaching impart such instruction as might 
secure systematic contributions, and regular remit- 
tances to the treasurers of the several societies. This 
plan carried out would be found effective, and would 
save to the cause of beneficence thousands of dol- 
lars. 

But would it be safe to discontinue all agencies 
for the collection of funds ? This question will find 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 135 

an answer in the reply to another question. "Will 
the pastors and churches adopt the plan ? Will they 
reduce their beneficence to system, and carry out the 
system ? If they will do this, it will be safe. Indeed, 
there seems scarcely an alternative. The business 
of raising funds belongs to the churches. The ten- 
dency, in the progress of benevolent operations, espe- 
cially for the last few years, has been, to devolve it 
upon them. It should not be a matter of expense 
to those organizations whose appropriate work is to 
apply these charities. This expense is not allowed 
in -other corporate institutions. The stockholders 
pay in their assessments at their own expense. And 
thus it should be in furnishing supplies for our be- 
nevolent associations ; and thus, it might be, if Chris? 
tians would conduct their beneficence as other men 
do their business, on principles of economy and by 
system, not allowing " the children of this, world " 
to be ^ wiser than:the children of light." . 

2. System in beneficence tends to secure a larger 
number of contributors. It has been ascertained. 

/ ".'' . - - : . .f 

that of the professed Christians who regard one of 
our oldest and most efficient boards as the organ of 
their appropriations for foreign missions, but little 
more than one .Jtialf contribute any thing to promote 
the object. Can it be that they feel no interest in a 
work so plainly enjoined by the Head of the church? 
Is not the reason rather to be found in the want of 
instruction respecting their duty, of information con- 



136 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

earning the condition of the world, and of a system- 
atic plan for securing their cooperation ? 

The churches' which include the largest number 
of regular contributors, are those on which most .pre- 
paratory labor has been expended. Let the same 
labor be bestowed upon other churches, and accord- 
ing toi^their ability will their members become inter- 
ested and uniform coworkers with other laborers in 
. i . 

the vineyard of the Lord. Let them have arrange- 
ment, -system, plan in beneficence, and they will 
bring. forth firuit in this department of duty as cer- 
tainly, as by similar means they^do in? other depart- 
ments. He who performs one religious duty from 
the right principle, may be led by proper influences 
to perform any other. 

Thus does system in beneficence tend to secure to 
charitable enterprises a larger number of contribu- 
tors, 'and to make their cooperation more regular and 
effective. It opens fountains. of benevolence "in a 
dry and thirsty land, where no water is," and turns 
intermittent springs into the sources of perennial 
streams, which shall fertilize the barren wastes, and 
" make glad the city of our God." . 

3. System in beneficence tends to secure from 
each contributor an amount more proportionate to 
his oMlity. Men sometimes do less than duty re- 
quires, for no other reason than that they do not 
know how little they are doing. System would tend 
to remove this difficulty, and to raise the standard of 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 137 

their liberality. Those who give at random, and 
from impulse, frequently imagine that the amount of 
their charities is greater than it really .is. This mis- 
apprehension leads them to withhold more than they 
would otherwise feel at liherty to withhold. System" 
would correct this mistake, and 'enlarge their dona- 
tions. Many, also, give little, because they have no 
plan for giving any thing. The thing -wanting is a 
purpose. There may be the elements of beneficence, 
but they are chaotic. What is needed is develop- 
ment and direction. Temporary ebullitions are not 
sufficient. Fitful, meteoric bursts of feeling are fol- 
lowed by a darker day of apathy and inaction. Ex- 
traordinary, spasmodic exertion, occasioned by the 
galvanism of large assemblies and exciting speeches, 
is not the kind of effort which the objects of benefi- 
cence demand. There may be excitement awaken- 
ed enthusiasm. No vast and noble achievements 
are secured without this. But how unlike to an 
elevated moral state are those flashes of benevolent 
feeling, which for a moment astonish the beholders 
by their glare, and in a moment more leave them in 
equal amazement at the darkness which follows. . 

The excitement which the church needs to bring 
its beneficence -into agreement with its ability, is 
occasioned by deeply pondering the principles of the 
gospel, and considering the miseries and the guilt 
of mankind ; by constant contemplation of the char- 
acter of Jesus, and communion and sympathy with 



138 ' THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

him. It is enthusiasm generated by the spirit of 
God in the deep well-springs of the soul, which bears 
the whole man right on, over all obstacles, in the 
steady prosecution of the great work of beneficence. 
It is excitement and enthusiasm which come from 
the union of the heart and the head, the blending of 
feeling and intellect in a omifbrm, growing desire to 
do good. Where this is, there is little danger that a 
man's charities will be disproportionate to his means. 
Every one in whose heart this healthful excitement 
has been produced, will give "to his power," and 
be willing even "beyond his power." Yet this is 
no hot-bed process of forcing unnaturally the benev- 
olent sympathies. Nothing is done that, in seasons 
of serenest reflection, could occasion a moment's 
regret. All is calm, quiet, Christian, .deliberation. 
Reason approves it, conscience approves it, and the 
word of God approves it. 

But alas, for want qf this, how comparatively lean 
is the charity of the church. She grazes in barren 
fields. Caprice, accident, self-indulgence, or apathy, 
often determines the* objects and time .and amount of 
charitable contributions. Multitudes of the poor re- 
main still unrelieved, of the ignorant unenlightened, 
and of the vicious unreclaimed. The field ripens 
faster than the reapers are ready to gather in the 
harvest! To millions who need the gospel, and to 
many who ask for it, the church does not give it. 
The demand vastly outruns the supply. And so it 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 139 

will bej until the church comes to act, in her benefi- 
cence, upon principle and by system. Till then, in 
her means of 'fulfilling her high mission, and execut- 
ing vthe last charge of her Lord and Master, she will 
be poor, while her individual members, for all other 
purposes, may be rich. " .. 

4.- System in beneficence tends to give to. charita* 
ble contributions the more scriptural form of free-will ' 
offerings, and thus to render them more acceptable 
to the Lord, and a means of greater good to men. 
The scriptural idea of charity is love, good- will ; and 
when donations to the poor are called charity, it is 
by metaphor, wherein the action or the gift receives 
the name of the feeling supposed to have prompted 
it. But it is often a misnomer to apply such a word 
to the donations of those esteemed charitable. It is 
true, that funds which are relinquished to the cause 
of beneficence may be attended with good to the 
recipients. G-od may employ them for such a result 
on the ground of his own right in them. But his 
ordinary mode of procedure leads to the conviction, 
that less good can Toe expected from such donations 
than from the free-will offerings of affection, while 
to such reluctant releasers of their property we find 
no promised reward. And although, in respect to 
the condition of the poor and the wants of the world, 
this is a better disposition of their wealth than to 
hoard or squander it, still they lose the blessing which 
follows the free-will offering, because, in what they 



140 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

do, " they sacrifice to their own net, and "burn in- 
cense to their own drag." 

There are others who have principle and feel- 
ing, which are called into action in other depart- 
ments of duty, but not here. They; pray from prin- 
ciple, but give grudgingly or of necessity; or they 
contribute to sustain the gospel at home from love 
to that gospel, but have made its diffusion a subject 
of so little inquiry and prayer, that the same feeling 
hardly prompts them to do .any thing /for extending 
its blessings. So that often -what they are con- 
strained to yield to this object approaches, in their 
mind, to a kind of religious extortion. - Such a man 
gives as little as he can, consistently with the gener- 
ally received opinion that all professing Christians 
should give something. When he can plead inabil- 
ity without incurring the odium of penuriousness, he 
does it; and when he gives, it is reluctantly, and 
without faith or charity. 

Now, what such a man needs, in order to change 
his views and his habits of giving, is, together with 
a larger measure of the divine Spirit, system, instruc- 
tion respecting his duty, and a plan for doing it. Let 
him be taught whose is the silver and the gold, and 
why it is intrusted to him ; that the great business 
of a disciple, so far as his property is concerned, is to 
give as freely as he has received. Let his thoughts 
dwell on the import of that petition which he so often 
repeats, "Thy kingdom come," until he feels that by 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 141 

his ageney its advent may be hastened. Let him go 
to the cross and view his possessions there, and he 
will attain a moral elevation unreached before ; his 
eye will catch visions new and strange to him, and 
he will begin to feel that wealth is power, and that 
it is a blessed thing to wield that power for the good 
of his fellow-men. He is now predisposed to look 
with favor on some plan for beneficence which may 
be submitted to his inspection. He has a new object 
to live for. } New enlargement is given to his mind. 
New thoughts take possession of him. A new spirit 
inspires him. His donations, now prompted by love, 
are set apart as. sacred to charity, and this gives to 
them the form and spirit of free-will offerings. And 
what is thus offered is accepted ; for, \ 

- . 

"Where love is, the offering evermore is blest:" 

This is the spirit of true beneficence, which leads to 
the voluntary consecration of one's entire Self, body, 
soul, and spirit, " a Jiving sacrifice, holy and accept- 
able unto the Lord." It puts charitable donations 
into the most acceptable and pleasing form. It 
writes "holiness to the Lord " upon every thing, and 
converts human instrumentality into, divine applian- 
ces for the recovery of lost man. , How. great would 
be the addition of moral power to the beneficent 
agencies of -the church, if all her bounty came reg- 
ularly and systematically as free-will offerings to 
the Lord. , 



142 THE MISSION OF THE CHUKCJL 

5. System in beneficence tends to make free-will 
offerings the fruit of a more cheerful spirit, and, ren- 
ders beneficence a delight, as it is a duty. " The 
Lord loveth a cheerful giver," and he who gives 
cheerfully finds delight in giving. But seldom does 
one experience much pleasure in beneficence, who has 
left it to the contingencies of accident or circum- 
stance. The call may come when he is "unpre- 
pared," because his bounty has not been "made up 
beforehand ;" or .he may have some sense of duty, but 
not be sufficiently influenced by the motives for doing 
good to make it a pleasure, 

In order that doing good may be a cheerful and 
happy work', it should be, in principle at least) a 
business. And in this, as in other things, practice 
leads to perfection. Exercise gives strength to the 
benevolent as well as to the social affections. Giv- 
ing once is seed sown, of which the fruit is a dispo- 
sition to 'give still more. Scattering^ to the poor in- 
creases both the desire and joy of "scattering. And 
these will be still more increased by the adoption of 
a regular, systematic plan for doing it. 

By system, preliminaries are arranged, resources 
provided, and- the proportion adjusted and consecrat- 
ed to the Lord. Nothing remains but to make the 
appropriation. Such a man has no conflict with 
covetousness. The battle has been fought, and the 
victory won. 'He is impeded by no doubts respect- 
ing the worthiness and importance of the object. 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 143 

He is hindered "by no pleas of human imperfection 
in the workings of accredited disbursing agencies. 
Nothing causes hesitancy or misgiving. He lays 
his offering upon the altar with a cheerfulness and 
delight which he has experienced in no other mode 
of employing his property, and his only regret is, that 
it is no larger* This is the pleasure of beneficence, . 
the luxury of doing good- to see joy lighted up in 
the abodes of poverty and distress, to hear of bless- 
ings conferred through Bibles and books distributed, 
and the gospel proclaimed. It is a pure and per- 
manent delight. When it has passed away as a" 
present consciousnesSj it continues as a joyful reflec- 
tion, and a sweetly impelling force to still more 
enlarged plans of beneficence* 

One who thus regulates his charities by plan, is 
always ready to give when he is called upon, and 
always cheerful in giving, because he is ready. Fair 
from looking upon the solicitors for benevolent objects 
as religious mendicants, whom he sends from his 
door with only a covetous " Be ye Warmed and filled," ~ 
yet " giveth not those things which are needful," he 
deals to them liberally of what he has "laid by him 
in store," and to this adds his grateful God-speed 
to them in so noble a mission. Yea, his benevolence 
waits not to be asked, but impelling him by a spirit 
which " seeketh not her own," he goes forth uirafged, 
unsolicited, to minister to the objects of want and of 
woe. He cannot keep his Lord's money long hid in 



144 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

a napkin. He puts it- speedily to the exchangers, 
that it may gain more for his Master's use. To do 
good with his property has "become his hahit. It is 
his business, his pleasure, his life. He has experi- 
enced the blessedness of doing, good, and now nothing 
can prevent him from continuing his enjoyment of 
it. He has discovered the true value of wealth in 
discovering the right way of using it. He is hap- 
piest himself when he does most to make others 
happy. 

. Here is the great secret of happiness, the panacea 
for half of earth's afflictive ills " to do good, and to 
communicate." It is. the intenseness of desires con- 
centrated upon self which makes the soul a prey to 
itself, and multiplies its artificial wants and its cor- 
roding cares, and deprives it of the joys of life. Let 
men do good, and they will find happiness. To 
many of a constitutionally morbid temperament, who 
are almost strangers to the sweet sunlight of life, or 
to those over whose spirits the blight of hope has cast 
a cloud, let it be saiti, \ 

" Whoso would sun himself in peace, may be seen of her in 

deeds of mercy, . 

When the pale, lean cheek of the destitute is wet with 
grateful tears." 

"Where can the afflicted find consolation so readily 
as in assuaging the griefs of others?. In their mis- 
sions of mercy, they shall find a blessed ministration 
made to themselves by the great Comforter. 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 145 

"Wouldst thou from sorrow find a sweet relief? 
Or is thy heart oppressed with woes untold ? 
Balm wouldst thou gather for corroding grief? 
Pour blessings round thee like a shower of gold. 
* * * * * # 

The seed that in these few and fleeting hours 
Thy hands unsparing and unwearied sow, 
Shall deck thy grave with amaranthine flowers, 
And yield thee fruits divine in heaven's immortal bowers." 

6. System in beneficence tends to give consistency 
and efficiency to the character of Christians, by bring- 
ing their life into harmony with their doctrines and 
professions. The piety of the church needs consist- 
ency and symmetry. And this because it needs sys- 
tem to bring its practice into harmony with its doc- 
trines and professions. There is a glaring contrariety 
between the standards of the church and its benefi- 
cent action. This is observed by the infidel, and is 
used as a reproach. It is perceived by the pagan as 
soon as he understands our professed belief and our 
practical disbelief. " If you Christians have known 
all these things," said an inquisitive heathen to the 
first missionary at Bombay, " and really thought that 
we heathens must perish unless we believe in your 
Jesus Christ, how could you leave so great a part of 
the world for so many generations to go down to per- 
dition, without coming sooner to tell us of this only 
way in which we can be saved ?" How can such 
most natural questions be answered, except by the 
admission of great incwisistencij? 

Miss, of Church. 22 



' 1J1IE -MISSION OF THE; CHURCH. ._>:' 

' We recognize the justness of the comparison in our 
Saviour's declaration, that it shall profit a man noth- 
"ing to ""gain the wl?.ole world and lose his own soul," 
and yet we seem.almpst to have reversed the com- 
parison in our systematic exertions, seeking the world 
"as the infinite goody and passing by the soul as of 
'little /worth. ' "We. admit that^'tlie cares of the 
world, and the deceitfulness of riches^ choke the word, 
and render it unfruitful," and yet we cultivate these 
cares and riches, as if they would make our hearts a 
more fertile soil for the good seed. rWe profess to give ^ 
up all for Christ, and yet live much as if we ad- 
mitted^ his claim to nothing; "We admire the spirit 
'of the martyrs, hut have little idea of witnessing 1 for 
the cause in which they died by the surrender of any 
considerable amount of our property for its advance- 
ment. We profess to have laid up our treasure in 
heaven, 'but" from all visible, appearances^ far the 
greater portion of it is still on the earth/ In, 'our 
creeds, we. renounce "the world, the flesh, arid the 
Vdevii'" and in our hves practically renounce our 
creeds, which contain such a renunciation. W : e 
pledge ourselves, in our profession, to entire conse^ 
oration, and seal our vows in "the cup of blessing," 
and yet evince by our practical reservations that/w6 
do not feel obligated by these vows. Doctrinally, 
the church admits self-denial as the condition of dis- 
cipleship;) practically, as a body, she construes the 
condition as consistent -with the -denial of almost 



N BENEEICEN.GE."^' '147 

every thing rather than self. The practical signifi- 
cancy of the golden rule with many, is the surfeit- 
ing of self from the table of, abundance, 'arid the' , 
bestowment upt>n our poor neighbor- of the .crumbs : 
that fall therefrom. Our great Exemplar, was self- 
denying, and we. admit ourselves bound to be like : ;- 
him,yet our course of life is eminently self-indulgent.- 
The church is organized for aggressive movement, 
but as a body remains stationary. As 'she strives 
for, more extended empire, she strengthens, and yet ; 
she; strives not. Inaction enfeebles her, and yet she 
is comparatively inactive. It is by scattering that 
she increases, and yet she scatters little. Exporting- 
her treasures enriches her, and yet,. for the greater?" 
part, she consumes them at home. Keeping her 
goods is her bane, and yet she keeps them.- Hiding 
her Lord's money, it shall be taken away, and yet ", 
she hides it. 

Is this consistency ? Is there not a sea of apathy 
lying between our creeds and our conduct, between 
our doctrines and our deeds? The Saviour ancl the . 
perishing world are on one side; the body of the 
church, with its wealth, is on the other. The voice 
says, "Come over and help us ;" but there is no an- 
swering movement. There is indeed some stir in 
the camp of the Lord's hosts, some feeble attempts 
at crossing^" a few bold leaders have seized , the ark, 
and borne it over. But what are these from so 
many?^ And these are left to fight almost alone, 



148 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

What are two or three thousand missionaries for six 
hundred millions of benighted souls ? 

What, now, is needed ? We answer, consistency. 
Nothing but consistency in the life of the church. 
The fault is not in her creeds. Her organization is 
in harmony with the letter and spirit of her commis- 
sion. Her professions and admissions are explicit 
and full. The fault is in her practice the life of 
her members. , In this, she virtually disowns her 
creeds, repudiates her organization, and contradicts 
her admissions and professions. Without plan in 
beneficence, this contrariety is reduced to system. 
Men pursue their various schemes for self-indulgence 
or self-aggrandizement most systematically. When 
we contemplate the grandeur of the objects proposed 
to her, and the 'comparative pittance which she 
relinquishes for their .accomplishment, we are con- 
strained to say, that she is systematic in the diver- 
sion of her energies and her possessions from the 
great end to which her doctrines and her professions 
direct them -systematic in self-contradiction. 

Now, let this order of things be reversed let the 
system.be extended from schemes of selfishness to 
those of benevolence let plans be formed for har- 
monizing the practice of the church with its doctrines 
and professions let her charitable contributions be 
made from an elevated Christian devotion, and be 
proportionate to the legitimate objects of beneficence, 
and regularly applied ; and how changed will be the 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 149 

whole aspect and condition of the church. As she 
joins with Christ in his great work, he will join with 
her in a visible success, that will animate her hopes 
and strengthen her courage for renewed effort and 
fresh victories. What symmetry and beauty would 
such a change impart to her to cease planning for 
self-indulgence, and to begin to plan for the glory of 
God. How would she put on her beautiful garments, 
the fragrance whereof is like the smell of "myrrh 
and of cassia." " No weapon that is formed against 
her shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise 
against her in judgment, she shall condemn." " She 
shall break forth on the right hand, and on the left ; 
and her seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make 
the desolate cities to be inhabited." 

7. System in beneficence tends to raise the church, 
in her charitable contributions, to a more elevated 
Christian devotion. Whatever shall lead the church 
to a greater simplicity of purpose, and give her a more 
single eye to the glory of Christ whatever shall kin- 
dle in her the spirit of entire consecration whatever 
shall train her to a higher standard of faith and a 
more ardent love, and a purer and more constant 
zeal whatever shall give an elevated Christian basis 
to her benevolent efforts, and excite a more intense 
longing after the coming of Christ's kingdom, will 
directly augment her moral power, and give increas^ 
ed efficiency even to the present rate of charitable 
contributions. God requires the pecuniary resources 



150 THE MISSION OF THE CHUROH. 

i 

of the church, not "because lie cannot accomplish his 
plans of redemption without them, but because he 
sees that it will be for her advantage to do it by 
means of those resources. His object is to perfect in 
his people their estrangement from the world and 
their devotion to him, while he employs this devotion 
as the means of accomplishing his scheme of redeem- 
ing love towards the race. 

And in proportion as this spirit of obedience and 
self-denial and love is increased, however small the 
amount of charitable donations which it yields, the 
work of beneficence will be found advancing. If the 
resources of the church are only as a " handful of 
meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruise," with 
the devotement of .these in the spirit of entire conse- 
cration, " the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither 
shall the cruise of oil fail," until the whole work be 
accomplished. He who could feed five thousand 
with " five loaves and two fishes," can convert the 
world through the generous, self-denying sacrifices of 
his people, be they ever so small. On the other hand, 
the absence of this spirit leaves the church to declen- 
sion, and the world to perish, although the richest 
mines in the bosom of the earth be dug up and cast 
into her treasury. Though we "bestow all our 
goods to feed the poor, and have not love, it profiteth 
nothing." Who have accomplished so much for mod- 
ern missions, in proportion to their means, as the 
Moravians ? When their whole number did not ex- 



SYSTEM IN -.BENEFICENCE, . 

ceed six hundred, persons, a large part of whom wero 
exiles, they began the beneficent work of Christian 
missions. At the expiration of ten years, they had 
carried the light of truth to Lapland, Greenland, St. 
Croix, Surinam, and to the Indians of North Amer- 
,ica; to Algiers, the cape; of Good Hope, Ceylon, and 
Tartary. "Whatsoever they possessed which could 
subserve so sublime an end, they laid upon the altar 
with a noble and self-denying, devotion to Christ; 
and their success was according to their faith and 
love. So it was in the first propagation of Chris- 
tianity. It was not their numbers, nor was it their 
wealth which- gave such signal triumphs to^the prim- 
itive followers of Christ, but it was their invincible 
moral courage, their ardent .love, their untiring zeal, 
their pure Christian devotion, , 

It is the spirit of entire consecration which makes 
the soul rich in all the elements of liberality. It is 
a simple, confiding trust in Providence, a warm and 
glowing love to Christ, which, withholding all sacri- 
fices to pride and fashion, and pervading the whole 
business and arrangements of life with the spirit of 
supreme devotion to God, produces a degree of benefit 
cence which men who Jive unto themselves deem 
extravagant and ruinous. This entire subjection of 
the soul to Christ forms a style of philanthropists 
who, in the esteem of many even in the church, are 
so far beyond the .requirements of reason and Scrip- 
ture, that their influence is lost as examples, and 



152 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

they are considered as fit only for ridicule or- admira- 
tion. And this, because the spirit of the world has 
crept into and corrupted the church. Her benefi- 
cence is meagre, and upon low and earthly principles. 
Her light is dim. Her strength is weakness. Her 
enemies exult over her. Feebly does she fulfil her 
mission to the poor, the ignorant, and the vicious at 
home. Still more feehly does she execute her com- 
mission^ to the Pagan, the Mohammedan, and the 
Jew abroad. Nothing hut supreme devotion to Christ 
will restore her beneficent power, and open fountains 
of benevolence, and send forth streams; 'I'to satisfy 
the' desolate and waste ground, and cause the bud of 
the tender herb to spring forth." 

Urgent as are the calls for funds from the waste- 
places of our own country and from heathen lands, 
there is a greater urgency that the whole subject 
of beneficence be canvassed and systematized, and 
placed on a higher and broader ground of Christian 
principle and Christian devotion. This done, the 
requisite amount of contributions will be made sure, 
and the condition of their .greatest efficacy will be 
complied with. 

'The very attempt to form a system will give a 
1 new impulse-and elevation to all the beneficent move- 
ments of the church. And the incorporating in a 
plan, of such influences as led to its formation, will 
give them permanency as causes, . of which still other 
advantages will be the legitimate' effects. The plan 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. 153 

has given these influences prominence, : as elements 
of a man's daily life. They interweave themselves 
in all his thoughts and /business. What was low in 
the church would thus be raised up ; what was weak, 
would be made strong; what was wavering, would 
be confirmed, and her beneficent career become like 
the rising light, " shining more and more unto the 
perfect day." 

" 6h, then, let her scatter broadcast of her seed, 
Rich in prayer, and in., alms, and in every good deed, 
Till her seed-grain is garnered in ripe golden sheaves, 
And her guerdon of glory from Christ she receives." 

8; System in beneficence teftds to promote union 
among Christians of different denominations, ;and 
thus to increase the moral power of the wholel-church 
for the good of the world. The ground of -hope 1 that 
the adoption of system in beneficence would increase 
the spirit of union among the several denominations 
is, that it presents a common object to be accom- 
plished, and a common plan for accomplishing :it. 
How might all distinctions of name and ^ sect be' 
blended in the great work of blessing the world, like 
the primary colors in the beams o;f light, that glad- 
den the earth and "make it fruitful. Or, at least,' 
how might they be so harmonized, like these same * 
colors set in the? resplendent arch of glory which 
spans the darkened heaven, as to betoken that the 
wrathful storms ^are past, and to give promise of-, 
perpetual peace. And this hope is. the greater,- in^ 



154 THE MISSION OF THE CHUEOH. 

asrauch as the main object is, not to unite the church, 
but by new conquests to enlarge it -not to form a 
new association, but to perpetuate and make univer- 
sal an >old one. It is not so much to harmonize 
creeds, as to give system and consistency and effi- 
ciency to practice. However much may be gamed 
in the work of uniting the church by discussions and 
conferences and alliances, it will readily be admitted 
that much more may be done by leading the follow- 
ers of Christ to a self-denying, systematic effort for 
the conversion of the world. 

It'is to action, rather than discussion, that we 
look with most sanguine expectations for the union 
of the church. By the former, good men will work 
themselves, in a common cause, into greater doctri- 
nal or ecclesiastical proximity, while, by the latter, 
they may reason and resolve themselves into a wider 
separation. The one places them upon their points 
of difference. Passion and self-interest, always irrel- 
evant in the search after truth, creep in and blind 
the eye, and inflame the zeal for fortifying and de- 
fending those points. The other sets them upon their 
points of agreement, and 'all their ardor of engage-, 
ment deepens their sense of the absolute and relative 
importance of these points. Each will rejoice in 
the fruits of the labor of all, as ripened by the same 
divine influence, and gathered from the same com- 
mon field. "Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and 
Judah shall not vex Ephraim. But they shall fly 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE; 155 

upon the shoulders ^of the Philistines toward the 
west; they shall spoil* them of the east together." 
A common cause gives them common sympathies 
and bonds of attachment. By engaging in earnest, 
and upon system, in the great work of doing good, 
the whole church is pervaded by one spirit, the 
spirit of Christian beneficence, influenced by one mo- 
tive, elevated by one sentiment, the tendency of all 
which is to overpower sectarian peculiarities, and 
melt the whole company of disciples into one mass, 
and mould them after one divine likeness. Instead 
of repelling the world by her frowning battlements 
reared for intestine warfare, the church, united in her 
separate sections, like the several tribes of Israel in 
.one common phalanx, and moving at the sound of 
the same " silver trumpet," towards the same land of 
promise, would attract and subdue the world. 

By what name soever you may call yourself, if you 
are a child of God, the points on which you differ from 
your brethren are probably fewer, and certainly less 
important, than those in which you agree with them. 
The views and feelings which characterize both you 
and them, as the friends of God and of man, are the 
catholic views and feelings the only bond of a com- 
mon fellowship among all the regenerate and holy 
on earth and in heaven. These constitute precisely 
that character which qualifies all Christians to en- 
gage in the work of beneficence with the highest de- 
gree of success, and which, the more earnestly and 



156 THE MISJS|CW OF THE CHURCH. 

systematically that work "be prosecuted, assumes rnorq- 
and more the ascendency over all dividing lines and 
enfeebling agencies. This would give to the church 
a union, and a power and stability from union, -to 
which she is now a stranger. The preponderating 
force would be a centripetal force. The attraction 
would be to a common centre, by a common law 
of affinity. With what deep grief did the devoted 
Martyn, an attached member of the church of Eng- 
land, hear, while at Aldeen, of an order of the 
British government, to prevent his Baptist brethren 
from preaching and distributing tracts. " So per- 
plexed and excited was he by the intelligence," says 
his biographer, " that it even deprived him of sleep. 
And he spoke afterwards with so much vehemence 
against the measures of government, as upon reflec- 
tion, to afford him matter of self-condemnation." 
" How small and unimportant," exclaims this heroic 
servant of God, in view of the combined powers of 
evil that oppose the progress of the church in hea- 
then lands " how small and unimportant are the 
hair-splitting disputes of the blessed people at home, 
compared with the formidable agents of the devil, 
with ivhom we have to combat here", 

We would not affirm, that all differences of opin- 
ion and denominational distinctions would neces- 
sarily disappear, even in the most systematic and 
successful prosecution of the work of beneficence. 
We only say, that the elements of system are the ele- 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE, 157 

triients of > success, and that these, 1 combining a rule 
that is safe ;\yith: motives that are sufficient, are 
common to all the followers of Christ. "We say, 
"the field is the world," the harvest is already ripe, 
the command is, " Go, work in my vineyard." The 
world is to be saved by the inculcation of those 
essential "doctrines on which the disciples of Christ 
are agreed. Christianity is, therefore, incomparably 
better than the peculiarities of any sect of Christians. 
Let it be remembered, that our Saviour's last com- 
mand to the church is, " Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature," and let 
her begin this work in earnest and upon system, 
and strifes will cease. Discordant tempers and con- 
flicting interests will be harmonized in hearts fused 
into one common constraining love, by the ardor of 
their zeal in the accomplishment of one common, 
sublime end. Let the church task herself to minis- 
ter to the poor and distressed, to give the word of 
God free course in every language and dialect under 
heaven, to place Bunyan's Dream in the hand of 
every pilgrim to the "celestial city," and to make 
Doddridge and Baxter as living preachers in the 
tent of the Arab, the hovel of the Hindoo, the hut of 
the Hottentot, the wigwam of the Indian in every 
human habitation setting forth the simple power of 
the cross grace, in its beginning and continuance 
in the soul, the same in every age and every clime, 
and its consummation in " the saints' everlasting 



158 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

rest." Let the church "begin and continue this work 
systematically till it ;is completed, and in the sym- 
metry and consistency and beauty and power ac- - 
quired in such a work, let those who together have 
achieved such victories, return and strive and 
dispute with and malign each Bother, if- they can. , 
Their differences would all disappear in -their love 
and labor for the common cause, or, by general con- 
sent, would be allowed "to cause no unhallowed 
division among ..brethren on earth, and would be 
left to be lost in the harmonies of heaven. 

"We have now contemplated beneficence in its most 
prominent aspects, as Christian, proportionate, and 
systematic. "We have analyzed it in relation to its 
distinguishing spirit, in the elements or motives 
which give to it its moral character. "We have con- 
sidered it in the degree of effort which each one is 
called upon to make, as indicated by the wants of 
the world, the instrumentality for supplying those 
wants, and the ability of each one to aid in applying 
that instrumentality. We have surveyed it introspect 
to the presentation of its appropriate motives, and 
the plan for carrying its principles into most effective 
operation. "We have seen the tendency of system in 
beneficence to diminish the expenditures of benevo- 
lent societies, and enable them to 'prosecute their 
work on more effective plans; to enlarge the number 
of contributors to benevolent objects ; to give to their 



SYSTEM IN BENEFICENCE. Ig9 

contributions greater regularity ; to make them more 
proportionate to each man's: ability ; to impart to: 
them the more acceptable form, oifree-ivill offerings, 
thus increasing their moral value ; to render benefi- 
cence a delight, by causing it to flow from a more 
cheerful spirit; to give increased consistency to 
Christian character ; to raise the benevolent action, 
of the church to a more elevated Christian devo- 
tion; and to promote union among Christian de- 
nominations, thus bringing the whole united church 
into active cooperation with Jehovah in the redemp- 
tion of the world. 



CONCLUSION. 

We hardly need say, that in the work of reducing; 
beneficence to system in the church, and prosecuting 
it vigorously, more, under God, depends upon pas- 
tors, than upon any other class. They are the reg- 
ularly constituted leaders of the flock. Their ordi- 
nation is to this end. Their calling is to explain 
and enforce the doctrines of the gospel, and to de- 
velope and illustrate the spirit of that gospel, in its 
beneficent bearings upon the church and the world. 
Christianity is a mine of the richest ore. Who shall 
1 enter it as explorers, bring out its precious treasures, 
and apply them for the enriching of the church, for 
the good of the world, and for the glory of God, if 



160 ;THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

they do not ? " It depends upon us," says a distin- 
guished pastor to his brethren, with respect to the 
greaj.wofk of beneficence " it. depends upon us 
inainlj^vunder God, whether the blessing shall ooze 
and itrickle upon the world in scanty or occasional 
drops, or whether it shall flow in mighty streams. 
We are icebergs to the cause, or central fires in the 
midst of our population." 

All things conspire at the presentTperiod to call 
out the beneficent power of the gospel^ an<l to awaken 
its benevolent spirit in the hearts of God's people, 
for the salvation of the world. The prophecies and 
promises and providence of God bear directly and 
powerfully on the church, to arouse it. to its appro- 
priate work of doing good. Who shall interpret 
these to her, if her ministers do not ? Who stand bn 
such vantage ground as they, for bringing her to 
feel her obligations, and discern her privileges ? The 
benevolent habits of her members need to be formed 
upon .higher principles, and, their beneficent action 
td be called forth by purer and more elevated mo- 
tives. Who can be instrumental in accomplishing 
this, if they cannot ? Who will lead the disciples to 
walk in the garden with their divine Master, and 
teach them to view, their possessions there ;- 'or take 
them to the sacred mount, where all selfish consid- 
erations are lost in the love of the cross : who will 
do this, if they do not ? . < 

And if it is the duty of the shepherd to lead, is it 



- . . ' i CONCLUSION ' ' ^ 

not the duty of the flock to follow ? If he "must in- 
culcate the doctrine of beneficence, should they not 
cherish and exemplify .its spirit? It is 'the spirit of 
.Christ, and it flows out from him to the hearts of all 
his followers. , And from them it should ,go forth, 
in ministries of love tp the ignorant and suffering 
and guilty of earth's teeming population'. For the 
difiusion of this *oirit, the extension of Christ's king- 
dqm, ,the church was constituted, and in this it is 
"the light of t the world," "the g'alt of the earth." ; 
But it is only as ye Christians who compose this 
church, are like your divine Exemplar only as the 
mind that was in him is also in you only as ye com- 
mune with him in the garden, and have 'sympathy 
with him on the cross, that these his .declarations 
can be verified. " Let your light so shine before men, 
that they may see your goad works, and glorify your 
Father which is in heaven." , " Remember the words 
of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to 
give than to receive." . " Freely yeihate received, 
, freely give." " Inasmuch as ye have done it unta 
.them, ye have done it unto me" 

" A poor wayfaring mail of grief 

Hath often met me on my way, 
, -Who sued so, humbly for relief, ' 
. That I could never say him, nay : 
I had not power to ask ,1118 name, 
- Whither he went, or whence he came; 
- Yet there was. isQttietMng in his eye 
; That won my love I know not why. 

Mies, of Church; 1.1 ' ---'-.. > 



162 THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. 

"Once'^when my scanty meal was spread, 
He entered not a word he spake , 
Just perishing for want of "bread. - * 

I gave him all ; he blessed it, brake, 
And ate, but gaye me part again: 
Mine was an angel's portion then, 
.~i And while I fed with eager haste, 
The crust was, manna to my taste. 

J "I spied him where a fountain burst 

Clear from the rock ; his strength was gone : 
The heedless water mocked his thirst ; 

He heard j.t, saw it hurrying on. 
I ran and raised the sufferer up 
Thrice from the stream he drained my cup, 
Dipt and returned it running o'er ; 
I drank, and never thirsted more. 

"'Twas night, the floods were out, it blew 

A winter hurricane aloof; 
I heard^his voice abroad, and flew 
: , , ' To bid him ^welcome to my. roof : 
' I warmed, I clothed, I cheered my guest, 
I laid him on my couch to rest, 
Then made the earth my bed, and seemed 
In Eden's garden, while I dreamed. 

, , - . ^ Stript, wounded, beaten nigh to death, 

I found him by the highway side ; 
I roused his pulse, brought back his breathj 
: Revived his spirit, and supplied 
Wine, oil, refreshment : :hej iwas healed. 
I had myself a wound 'concealed, ' ' ." 
; But from that .hour forgot the > smart, . . 
, ' And peace bound up my broken heart. 



CONCLUSION. 



163 



" In prison, I saw him next; condemned 
To meet a traitors doom at morn : 
~ The tide of lying tongues I stemmed, 

And honored him 'midst shame and scorn. 
My friendship's utmost zeal to-try,' 
He asked if I for him would die; 
The flesh was weak, my Hood, ran chill, 
But the free spirit cried, Twill ' 

u Then in a moment to my view, v 

The stranger darted from disguise, 
The tokens in his hands I knew 

My* Saviour stood before mine eyes. 
He spoke, and my poor name he named : 
' Of me thou hast not heen ashamed, 
These, deeds -shall thy memorial be ; 
Fearnot, thou didst them unto me.' % . 

MoNTGOMBKY, 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE; 

OR, , 

THE ADVANTAG-ES OF STATEDLY "LAYING BY IN 
. ' . STORE AS, GOD HATH PROSPERED US." . . 



; ABLE treatises on this subject, and discussions from the 
pulpit and the press,* show that the great principles in- 
culcated, throughout the Scriptures are taught with divine 
wisdom in the apostolic injunction,." Upon the first day 
of the we'ek let every one of 'you lay "by him in store, as . 
God hath prospered him." Here is recognized the prin- 
ciple of giving, not merely' to relieve present suffering or 
meet the call of importunity, but as an essential ftrt of '. 
true religion, an. act of joyful homage to God which he 
graciously accepts and returns in spiritual blessings intp, 
our own souls; 1 of giving as a free-will offering^ giving 
statedly, giving in proportion to what we receive, and 
connecting our gifts with acts of religious worship. Trace 
Che teachings of the/ Scriptures and the example of scrip- 
ture worthies : the religious offerings of Abel, Noah, Abra- 
ham, and Jacob ; the 'gifts for the tabernacle -and the 
temple; the whole system of benevolence inculcated by 
God upon his ancient people; the example and instr,uc- 
tibns of our blessed Saviour, of his disciples in Pentecostal 
days, and of his inspired apostles, and tMsJ.ext comprises 
a- practical summary of the whole. He whd knew what 

*. See especially "the Divine Law of Beneficence," price in paper / 
fiye cents, and Tract No. 535, " Religion and Beneficence," less thani* 
two cents, both by -Rev. Parsons Cooke ; '!Zaccheus, or the Scriptu . 
tal Plan of Benevolence," by Rev. -Samuel Harris, five cents; and 
" the \JIksion of the Church," by Rev. Edward A. LawrerilselJterr 
cents;, all; to be had of the American Tract Society. , . v- 



2 ILLUSTRATIONS OF . 

was in man, has adapted this scripture system to his spir- 
itual condition, his growth in grace, and his fruitfulness 
in giving j and were it universally adopted, it would ren- 
ovate the church of God, identify the followers of Christ 
with their Lord in the great objects for which he died, 
make our benevolence an important part of the care and 
business of life, and give an impulse to the cause of evan- 
gelizing which has hitherto been unknown. Everyman 
who faithfully adopts this divine system of giving,;lives 
a 'new Christian life, and enters on a course in 'which he 
will wax stronger and stronger both in personal piety and 
in benevolence.* The system has been briefly expressed 
in the'form of a' pledge or covenant, hereto annexed, in> 
the adoption of which substantially, great numbers have 
found a rich blessing. , . 

* The biography of eminently pious and useful men since the Ref- 
ormation shows that great numbers, of them have recognized the 
obligation statedly to devote a portion of their income to charitable 
uses. Lord Chief-justice Hale, Rev. Dr. Hammond, Baxter, Dodd- 
ridge, and others, regularly gave a .tenth ; Dr. .Watts a fifth; Mrs. 
Howe one half. Rev. John "Wesley, when his income was thirty 
pounds, lived on twenty-eight and gave two; and when his income 
rose to sixty pounds, and afterwards to one hundred and twenty, he 
still lived on twenty-eight, and, gave all the remainder. Mr. Nathan- 
iel R. Cobb, ajnerchant connected with the Baptist church in Boston, 
in 1821, at the age of twenty-three, drew up and subscribed the fol- 
lowing covenant, to which he faithfully adhered till on Ms deathbed 
he praised G-od that by acting according to it he had given in charity 
more than. $40,000... . 

" By. the grace of Crod, I will never be >worth more than $50,000. 

" By the grace of God, I will give one-fourth of the net profits of 
my business to charitable and religious uses. " ' 

"If I am ever worth $20,000, 1 will give one-half of my net prof- 
its; and if I am ever worth $30,000, 1 will give three-fourths; and- the 
whole, after $50,000. So help me Crod, or. give to a more faithful 
steward, and set me aside. 

"N.R. OOBB." 



r SYSTEMATIC BENEV.6LENCE. 3 

A SHOEMAKER being asked how he contrived to give so 
much, replied, that it was easily done by obeying St: Paul's 
precept in 1 jGor. 16:2: . "Upon the first, day of the week, let 
every one of you. lay. by him in store, as God hath prospered 
him.". "learn," said he, "one day with another," about a 
dollar a day, and I can without inconvenience to myself or 
family lay by five cents of this sum for. charitable purposes; 
the amount is thirty- cents a week. My wife takes in sewing 
and washing, and earns. something like two dollars a week, 
and she lays by ten cents of that. My children each of them 
earn a shilling or two, and are glad to,contribute their penny; 
so that altogether we lay by us in store forty cents a week. 
And if we have been unusually prospered, we contribute some- 
thing more. The -weekly amount is deposited every Sunday 
morning in a box kept for that purpose, and reserved for future 
use. Thus, by these small earnings, we have learned, that it 
is more .blessed to give.thaii to receive. The' yearly amount 
saved in this way is about twenty r five dollars ; and I distribute 
this among the various benevolent societies, according to the 
best of my judgment.' 5 . 

A CLERGYMAN every, Sabbath evening sets apart a portion 
for his charity-fund. If at any time he has not -the money, 
he credits the sum on a benevolent account. As calls are 
presented, he draws from this fund ; and if an : urgent call at 
any time requires more than he has thus: set apart, he charges 
the balance on his benevolent account, to be replaced from 
future incomes. Thus his contributions are identified with 
his own enjoyment of religion and growth in grace ; he gives 
" not grudgingly," but of ".a willing mind;" applications for 
charity are met with pleasure ; and he feels that in all he re- 
ceives and expends, he is acting as a steward of God. > He 
has also secured the adoption of the system by his congrega. 
iion with very encouraging success. 

Some, who have little money at command^ who keep 
few accounts, and who live mainly on the yearly products 



4 . ILLUSTRATIQN.9 OF V 

of the ground they cultivate or other fruits of theiy Indus- 
try, judge that, they conform to the -spirit of the divine 
rule by giving at longer stated periods of such things as 
they have. One statedly consecrates a, certain proportion 
of the products of his farm j another of mechanical labor ; 
another of the needle, of other domestic industry---every 
one using his Christian liberty in giving statedly as he; 
-sees best in his own circumstances : 'according " as God ' 
prospers him. ?? ; 

Others, engaged in merchandise and extensive business 
transactions, accustomed to taking a stated inventory of 
what they possess, familiar with accounts and percent- 
ages of profit and loss, not knowing every Sabbath what 
has been the income of the week, have found great satis- 
faction and a blessing in determining beforehand what 
portion of all the proceeds of their business, they will 
monthly, or quarterly, or yearly devote to benevolence) 
and some have resolved on a percentage to be statedly 
given, and diminished, or increased, in proportion as CJod 
shall prosper them. 

'--. A MERCHANT, in answer to inquiries, refers back to a. 
period, when, he says, " In consecrating my life anew to God, 
aware of the ensnaring influence of riches and the necessity, of 
deciding on a plan of charity before wealth should bias my 
judgment, I adopted the following system. 

"I decided to balance my accounts, as nearly as I could, 
every month; and reserving such portion of profits as might 
appear adequate to cover probable losses,, to lay aside, by en- 
try on a benevolent account, one'tenth of the Remaining profits, 
great or small, as a fund for benevolent expenditure, support- 
ing myself and family on the remaining nine-tenths. I fur- 
ther determined-,, that if 'at any time my net profits, that is, 
profits from which clerk-hire and store expenses .had been de- 
ducted, should exceed $500 in a month^ I would give twelve 



SYSTEMATI^BiENETOLENCE. .6 - 

- . .----- : ''. rf 

and a half per cent.,; if pyer; $700, ^fifteen per cent. ; if over 
$900,: seventeen ;and a half per .cenl.; if over $1,100, twenty 
per cent, j if over $1,300, twenty-two and a half per cent.;.;^ : , 
thus increasing the proportion of the whole, as God should _ 
prosper, -until, at $1,500, I should give twenty-five per cent., - 
or $375 a month. As capital was of the utmost importance y" 
to my success in business, I decided not to increase the forei- 
going scale until 'I had acquired a certain capital, after whiejit 
I would give, one-quarter of all net profits; great or small ; arid, 
on the acquisition of another certain amount of capital, I de- 
cided to give half, and on acquiring what I determined would: # 
he a full sufficiency of capital, then to .give the whole of my 
net profits. , 

"It is now several years since I adopteid this plan; and 
under it I have acquired a handsome capital, and have been, 
prospered beyond my most sanguine expectations. Although 
constantly giving, I have never yet touched the bottom of my 
fund, and have repeatedly been "surprised to find what large 
drafts it would bear. True, during some months I have eri- 
; cbuntered a salutary trial of faith, when this rule has led me: 
to? lay by the tenth while- the remainder proved inadequate tor;- 
.my support ; but the tide has soon turned, and with gratitude;; 
I, have recognized a heavenly hand more than making good all si, 
past deficiencies. . , . . 

; , " This^system has been of great advantage to me, enabling ; 
me to feel that my life, is directly employed for God. It has 
afforded me happiness in enabling me to portion out the Lord's 
money, and has enlisted my mind more in the progress of 
Christ's causci Happy privilege, which the humblest m'ay 
enjoy/ of thus, associating the common labors of life with the. 
grateful service of the Saviour, and of making that which, 
naturally leads the heart from God, .subserve the highest 
spiritual go<5d. . - r ' -^ - : 

"This system has saved me from commercial dangers, by 
leading me to simplify business and aYoid exte'nsive credits. 
It has made me a better merchant ; for the monthly pecuniary 



6 ILLUSTRATIONS, ETC. %\ 

observations which I have been wont to take, though often 
quite laborious, have brought me to a better knowledge of the 
- state of my affairs, and led me to be more cautious and' pru- 
dent than I otherwise should have been. I believe this sys- 
tem, tends to enlarge the Christian's views, increase his disin- 
terestedness, and lead Him to shun the tricks of trade. My. 
own observation also confirms the belief, that even warm- 
hearted Christians miist determine beforehand on the system 
they will adopt, if they would secure the benefits of the gos- 
pel plan to themselves, under the grace and providence of ' 
God, or its happy results to the cause of Christ." 

God has appointed no means of extensive usefulness 
which does. not. involve the self-denying and persevering 
exertions of Ms people ; and if this divine system is to be 
generally adopted, it is essential that pastors of churches 
and public men, to whom others look for example and, 
counsel, should first themselves put it in practice, and 
then commend it to others, and help them to form wise 
plans to render it practically efficient. Especially should 
all do this who are engaged in any way in raising funds, 
or collecting for benevolent objects. Every one who is 
brought to understand the power 'and efficiency of this 
system, is bound to spread it among all within the reach 
of Ms influence. The circulation of- the treatises named 
above will be an effective means to this result. 

PLEDGE OR COVENANT. 

Believing that the scripture system of benevolence requires 
every one statedly to "lay by him in store as God hath pros- 
pered him," I engage, on every Sabbath or at other stated 
periods, to set apart .such a portion of what God shall give 
me as my judgment and conscience shall dictate ; to be sa- 
credly applied to charitable objects according to my sense'of 
theu: respective claims. 

SUBSCKIBERS' NAMES. ;, - 



f- TESTIMONIES. 7- 

TESTIMONIES FROM CLERGYMEN 
: AND CIVILIANS. 

An esteemedi: and devoted pastor says, "For, many 
years it has been my delight to -lay by in store as God 
has prospered me.' I am sure it is good to do so, and I 
not only put my name to the pledge, but shall endeavor 
to encourage others to do the same." 

A distinguished civilian says, " I have for many years 
adopted the rule of setting apart a portion of income l as 
the Lord has prospered me.' I have felt that more than 
a tenth was my duty; and I can testify to the : blessed 
influence ;of the system. It enables us the better to dis- 
criminate between the various objects; to discover how 
far we have denied ourselves for Christ and a perishing 
world; and benevolence thus becomes interwoven with 
our Christian principles, our high and sacred duties." 

A distinguished citizen says of the system of " laying 
by in store on the first day of the week, as God has 
blessed us," "J have practised it for several years, and 
found a blessing in it. It is God's own plan, and there- 
fore better than any other. So every one will find it, 
who will but try. It increases our charity fund many- 
fold, without our perceiving any diminution of capital 
or income ; and the fund thus set apart being consecrated 
to the Lord, we are able to distribute it without grudg- 
ing, and with a more unbiassed judgment, as occasion 
arises. I am one of the witnesses for God, that in' this 
matter, as in ,all others, -he is good." 

An eminent clergyman says, " I have for many years 
had a fixed system of devoting from one fifth to a quarter 
of my income to religious and charitable uses. I have 
laid out my plan at the beginning of each year, keeping 
a private account of all donations, and leaving nothing 



':8 - TESTIMONIES. 

tomere accident; f or. excited feeling at the moment. At 
the end of about' thirty years, during which I have carried 
on this system, I find my property materially increased; 
and I am surprised' tci^kd, on looking over my accounts, 
how many hundreds of dollars I have thus been permitted 
to contribute to the cause of benevolence." u 

A prosperous merchant says, ".I have myself acted on 
-this principle for many years' and have some faith- to 
believe that spreading before the people the great princi- 
ple of systematic giving is to be a mighty instrument in. 
the hands of God for the conversion of the world." 

" V '*''' ,' . ". 

/''An eminent jurist says, "Impressed as I am with the 
correctness, and great practical importance, of the three 
simple principles' the scripture plan, of benevolence' 

. that every one should give, and at stated periods, and as 
God fyath prospered him,. I cheerfully record my name 
as one who wishes to adopt the system and pledge pro- 
.npsed.'l 

A% officer of one of our benevolent societies says, "I 
give my deliberate and cordial adhesion to the plan of 
each one's laying by in store,' ' upon the first day of the 
week' or at other stated periods, ' as God has prospered,' 
for the purpose of creating a private fund for religious 

; chanties. 'It is the scripture plan in it's perfectly simple 
form that I, .assent to, as ably set forth in the prize es- 
says, especially by.JJev. Dr.,Cooke, and more concisely 
in :< the^Tract l Religion and Beneficence.' " . 

An officer of another benevolent society says, "I have 
acted substantially on this plan for nearly thirty years. 
On the first of January last I adopted the pledge proposed, 
privately consecrating to charity for the present, a tenth 
of what I may receive, believing it will assist me and 
may encourage others in the better performance of duty." 




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