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Cbe Minivers U^ of CbicaQO 
KHbraries 




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Up. 533. 



RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE; 



OR, 



THE SYSTEM OF GIVING 



TAUGHT IN 



THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 



WITH .ILLUSrjRATIONS. 






BY REV. PARSONS C OOKE, 
I.YNH, KAssAcavsxTTs. s 



I 



PUBLISHED BY THE 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

'ISO NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 



AND BENEFICENCE. 




BV77Z 

p ^ > 



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 Cor 
16:2: "Upon the fast day of the week let every one of you lay 
by him. in store, as God hath prospered him." " I earn," said he, 
" one day with another, about a dollar a day, and I can without incon- 
venience 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 something 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 than to receive. The yearly 
amount saved in this way is about twenty-five dollars ; and I distribute 
this among the various benevolent societiesj according to the best of 
my judgment." 

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 benev- 
olent account, to be replaced from future incomes. Thus his contri- 
butions are identified with his own enjoyment of religion and growth 
in grace; he gives "not grudgingly," but of " a willing mind;" ap- 
plications for charity are met with pleasure ; and he feels that in all 
he receives and expends, he is acting as a steward of God. He has 
Also secured the adoption of the system by his congregation with very 
encouraging success. 

* The biography of eminently pious and useful men since the Reformation 
shows that great numbers of them have recognized the obligation statedly to de- 
vote a portion of their income to charitable uses. Lord Cfiief-justice Hale, Rev. 
. Dr. Hammond, Baxter, Doddridge, and others regularly gave a tenth ; Dr. "Watts 
a fifth; Mrs. Rowe 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. Nathaniel R. Cobb, a merchant con- 
r.ecled with the Baptist church in Boston, in 1821, at the age of twenty-three, 
drew up and subscribed the following covenant, to which he faithfully adhered 
till on his deathbed he praised God tLat by acting according to it he had given 
in charity more than $40,000. 

" By the grace of God, I will never be worth more than $50,000. 

" By the grace of God, I will giv one-fourth of the net profits of my busi 
ness' to charitable and religious uses. 

" I"l I am ever worth $20,000, I will give one-half of my net profits ; and if 
I am ever worth $30,000, Twill give three-fourths ; and the whole, after $30,000. 
So help me God, or give to a more faithful steward, and set me aside. 

"N. R. COBB." 

No. 635. /|i (See page 3 of cover 




IVo. 535. 



RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE 



BY REV. PARSONS COOKE, 

LYNN, MASS. 

CHRISTIANITY is something more than a doctrine, or rit- 
ual, or code of morals ; it is a life consisting in love to God 
and man. Love is the central and all-pervading element 
of Christian character. And nothing in the gospel aims 
more directly to nurture this life or love, than those pro- 
visions which make the pardoned sinner a giver of gifts to 
God. Here we solve the wonder that the Owner of the 
universe will have gifts made to himself, as though the 
silver and the gold, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, 
were not his. He has a great work to do in one dead in 
sin and selfishness a work not usually accomplished with- 
out long-continued discipline to henevolent acts. To bring 
the redeemed soul under the needful training to benevo- 
lence, the Redeemer takes the place of the poor, and makes 
the wants of a suffering world his own, and causes his own 
voice to be heard in all the pleadings of human distress, 
and lays on every pardoned sinner the constraints of his 
dying love, to impel him to acts of love. For this end, the 
independent Source of all good receives gifts, as a parent 
receives gifts from his child to draw out generous disposi- 
tions. 

The feeling of a regenerate heart in giving gifts to. 
the poor for Christ's sake, involves that obedience, homage. 
' and gratitude to God, and kindness to man, which form the 
prime ingredient of true religion, and which all the ends of 
religion require us to cultivate. Thus the wants of this 
shattered world serve as our means of grace and of .prog- 
ress in love to God and man; and the ceiitial purpcee, to 

VOL. XIIT. .4 




BV77Z 
C* 74 

OF THE SYSTEM IN THIS TRACT.* 



AND BENEFICENCE. 



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 Cor 
16:2: "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay 
by him hi store, as God hath prospered him." " I earn," said he, 
" one day with another, about a dollar a day, and I can without incon- 
venience 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 its in store forty cents a week. And if we have been unusually 
prospered^ we contribute something 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 than to receive. The yearly 
amount saved in this way is about twenty-five dollars ; and I distribute 
this among the various benevolent societiesj according to the best of 
my judgment." 

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 benev- 
olent account, to be replaced from future incomes. Thus his contri- 
butions are identified with his own enjoyment of religion and growth 
in grace; he gives "not grudgingly," but of " a willing mind;" ap- 
plications for charity are met with pleasure ; and he feels that in all 
he receives and expends, he is acting as a steward of God. He has 
also secured the adoption of the system by his congregation with very 
encouraging success. 

* The biography of eminently pious and useful men since the Reformation 
shows that great numbers of them have recognized the obligation statedly to de- 
vote a portion of their income to charitable uses. Lord Cfiief-justice Hale, Rev. 
. Dr. Hammond, Baxter, Doddridge, and others regularly gave a tenth ; Dr. "Watts 
a fifth ; Mrs. Rowe 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 
pc\mds, and afterwards to one hundred and twenty, he still lived on twenty- 
eight, and gave all the -remainder. Mr. Nathaniel R.. Cobb, a merchant con- 
nected with the Baptist church in Boston, in 1821, at the age of twentyrthree. 
drew up and subscribed the following covenant, to which he faithfully adhered 
till on his deathbed he praised (rod that by acting according to it he had givcu 
in charity more than $40,000. 

" By the grace of (rod, I will never be worth more than $50,000. - 

" By the grace of Grod, I will giv one-fourth of the net profits of my busi 
ness" to charitable and religious uses. 

" I* Lain ever worth $^0,000, I will give one-half of my net profits ; and if 
I am ever worth $30,000, 1 will give three-fourths ; and the whole, after $50,000. 
So help me Grod, or give to a more faithful steward, and set me aside. 

"N. R. COBB." 

No. 535. , H {See page 3 of cover 




Wo. 335. 



RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE 



BY REV. PARSONS COOKE, 

LYNN, MASS. 

CHRISTIANITY is something more than a doctrine, or iit- 
ual, or code of morals ; it is a life consisting in love to God 
and man. Love is the central and all-pervading element 
of Christian character. And nothing in the gospel aims 
more directly to nurture this life or love, than those pro- 
visions which make the pardoned sinner a giver of gifts to 
God. Here we solve the wonder that the Owner of the 
universe will have gifts made to himself, as though the 
silver and the gold, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, 
were not his. He has a great work to do in one dead in 
sin and selfishness a work not usually accomplished with- 
out long-continued discipline to henevolent acts. To bring 
the redeemed soul under the needful training to benevo- 
lence, the Redeemer takes the place of the poor, and makes 
the wants of a suffering world his own, and causes his own 
voice to be heard in all the pleadings of human distress, 
and lays on every pardoned sinner the constraints of his 
dying love, to impel him to acts of love. For this end, the 
independent Source of all good receives gifts, as a parent 
receives gifts from his child to draw out generous disposi- 
tions. 

The feeling of a regenerate heart in giving gifts to. 
the poor for Christ's sake, involves that obedience, homage, 
and gratitude to God, and kindness to man, which form the 
prime ingredient of true religion, and which all the ends of 
religion require us to cultivate. Thus the wants of this 
phattered world serve as our means of grace and of .prog- 
ress in love to God and man; and the cential purpcee, to 

VOL, XIIT. .4 



SJ RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE 

which all requirements of alms converge, is MAN'S SANCTI-* 

F1PATION FOR GOD'S GLORY. 

This will more clearly appear if we trace out and lay 
together the different branches of scriptural instruction, 
touching the duty of alms. 

1 . The first of these is, that the giving of property to 
God is everywhere made an indispensable ingredient of 
true religion. Fair as is the semblance of piety which 
some maintain without acts of charity, it is deceptive. A 
religion divorced from that which is the prime element of 
godliness, is mating its way to a terrible disappointment 
From Genesis to Revelation, we find not a hint that such 
a religion is acceptable to God or profitable to man. 

In the first account of religious worship by any of the 
human race, we read that the fruit of the ground and the 
firstlings and fat of the flocks were offered to God in acts 
of worship. Nor did the typical intent of Abel's offerings, 
nor of those of the Hebrews afterwards, as foreshadowing 
the death of Christ, exclude the intent to exercise the 
heart to self-denial and sacrifice in the cost of the offer- 
ings. The whole sacrificial institutions carried as effective 
a warfare against human selfishness, as if intended for that 
alone. Hence David would not " offer to God that which 
cost him nothing." The cost of the thing offered was indis- 
pensable, because one purpose of the act was, to subdue 
the selfishness of the heart, while doing homage to the God 
of love. So the religion of pardoned sinners had its first 
exercise in a devotement of property to God. And this 
offering of property was a spiritual act an act of faith : 
" By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice." 

And when, after the flood, the new head of the race 
came forth from the ark, he commenced just such worship,* 
in the use of property devoted to God. He had but seven 
cattle and seven sheep with which to begin the world, 
and yet he hesitates not to sacrifice one of each, as spoil 
. as he eets foot upon the ground. For after all his intimate 



RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 3 

coinmunings with God, he had discovered no way of true 
religion which involved no cost, no sacrifice of selfishness. 

The first thing done by Abraham after he got to Ca- 
naan, and indeed by the other patriarchs whenever they 
moved and made a settlement in a new place, was to erect 
an altar and commence the worship of God by costly sacri- 
fices. Abraham sustained that intimate communion with 
God which entitled him to be called "the friend of God," 
by a form of worship that made constant drafts upon his 
property. His special ratifications of God's covenant were 
made by sacrifices. His grateful homage to God in view of 
victories over his enemies, had expression in his rendering a 
tenth of the spoils to a priest of God. His training to acts 
of self-sacrifice must have been the school in which he 
reached that sublime act of sacrificing his only son. By 
lesser sacrifices, he gained, the strength of principle which 
could endure such a trial and compass such a reward in 
not only a son recovered as from the dead, but another 
Son who should be at once the Heir and Saviour of the 
world ; yea, and other sons, as the stars of the sky for 
multitude. 

When Jacob, newly awoke from the raptures of his vis- 
ions of God, was moved to avouch Jehovah as his God 
and King, he took the accustomed form of owning alle- 
giance while he said, " Then shall the Lord be my God 
and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give 
the tenth unto thee." Whenever this custom of tithing 
began, it seems now to have become a standing law of 
Jehovah's worshippers. Jacob adopts it, as a fit form of 
expressing at once his allegiance and his worship. 

Notice next this same element of religion among the 
Israelites in the wilderness, while employed in building 
the tabernacle. This was done by the free-will offerings 
of the people, not because God had need of them, but be- 
cause the people had special need to have tLeir hearts 
opened to benevolence, after all the soul- withering infiu 



4 RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 

ences experienced in Egypt. The same miraculous powef 
that supplied food and drink on desert sands for a whole 
nation, could have brought from the sands and rocks the 
'gold and pearls for the tabernacle ; but while the body 
was fed by miracles, the life of the soul must be promoted 
According to its own laws. And as God gave special skill 
to the artificers of the tabernacle, so he gave special grace 
to the donors, in order to break the crust of selfishness 
contracted during the declensions in Egypt. Hence that 
outburst of generosity in collections for the building, which 
even had need to be checked. These offerings were emi- 
nently acts of worship. They were made for the house of 
God, were called offerings unto the Lord, and were made 
in homage and gratitude to God. 

Not only the building, but all the ritual of the taber- 
nacle, made acts of devoting property to God a substantial 
part of religion. Over and above the typical import of 
these countless offerings, observe how they drew upon the 
wealth of the people, and inserted the cost of money into 
almost every act of worship, and secured a constant exer- 
cise of self-sacrificing dispositions ; and you cannot avoid 
the conviction, that a discipline of the benevolent affec- 
tions was a leading purpose of the Mosaic institutions. 
Here all must see, that the exercise of religion and the 
worship of God were inseparably blended with gifts of 
property. 

The revival, after sad declensions, which took place in 
the reign of David, carried with it a remarkable revival of 
this part of religion. It moved the whole nation to con- 
tribute the immense treasures needed to build the temple. 
No features of that revival have such prominence in its 
history as the alacrity with which king and people poured 
in the treasures for that building ; and God was most de- 
voutly acknowledged and worshipped in those generous 
acts. With one heart and voice they uttered this senti- 
ment, which is the true source of religious gifts: "All 



RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 5 

things come of thee, and of thine own have we given 
thee." 

In all Hehrew history, we see that the offerings of 
property to God were full or stinted in proportion as relig- 
ion prospered or decayed ; and they are currently alluded 
to as the visible exponents of thriving or decaying religion. 
David prays for a revival : " Do good in thy good pleas- 
ure unto Zion. Then shall they. offer bullocks upon thine 
altar." And God pledged a revival in connection with 
the production of offerings that had heen withheld : " Bring 
ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and prove me now 
herewith, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and 
pour you out a blessing." And when the people grudged 
the expense, and offered the lame and the blind, he spurned 
a worship that withheld the required cost; and he said, 
I have no pleasure in you, nor will I accept your offering. 

Yea, so fixed was the principle which identified religion 
with gifts, that the Old Testament requires men to show 
fruits meet for repentance by them. "Break off thy sins by 
righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the 
poor." In the delineations of the character of a truly re- 
ligious man given in the Old Testament, it is said, "He 
showeth mercy, and lendeth. He hath dispersed abroad, 
he hath given to the poor ; his righteousness endureth for 
ever." " He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed." 
The acts of worship connected with fasting are made ac 
ceptable by acts of beneficence. The fast which God has 
chosen, "Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that 
thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house ?" Thus, 
in every way, the Old Testament makes religion and be- 
neficence to be so much one thing, that they cannot be 
separated. 

The New Testament does the same more effectually. 
While it substitutes the offering of Christ once for all in 
the place of the costly sacrifices, it substitutes broader and 
more pressing occasions to draw out the generosity of Chris- 



6 RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 

tains, and discipline them to acts of love. Where the 
Old Testament required expense to foreshadow a corning 
Christ, the New requires a greater expense to proclaim his 
actual coming and redemption to all nations. The first 
recorded act of worship to the infant Saviour was rendered 
in " gold, frankincense, and myrrh." The first public dis- 
course of Christ emphasized the duty of alms, and coup- 
led it with prayer as an inseparable adjunct ; and in the 
beatitudes, it places the merciful in the same class with 
the meek, the poor in spirit, and the pure in heart. And 
it is impossible for language to convey the sentiment that 
there can be no true religion without gifts to God and his 
poor, with more force and majesty than it is uttered in one 
of Christ's last discourses : " Then shall the king say unto 
them on the left hand, Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting 
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels ; for I was a 
hungered, and ye gave me no meat." Let those whose 
religion is so spiritual and unearthly as not to touch their 
money, ponder this, and expect to hear it again at the 
last day. 

Because Christ's religion took such a hold of one's 
property, his dealings with inquirers and opponents had so 
much to do with it. His way of presenting his claims led 
directly into the money interests of the heart. It made 
Zaccheus say, " The half of my goods I give to the poor ; 
and if I have taken any thing from any man by false ac- 
cusation, I restore him fourfold." To the blind Pharisees, 
famed for covetousness and given to superstitious and hyp- 
ocritical washings, he said, " Give alms of such things as 
ye have, and all things shall be clean unto you." That is, 
bring your hearts into communion with God through bene- 
factions to his poor, and you will have opened the purify- 
ing fountains upon yourselves. When dealing with the 
young man who had great possessions, he showed him 
what he lacked, by putting the demands of the poor upon 
bis wealth into the foreground of religion. And it was in 



HELIG-ION AND BENEFICENCE. 7 

this connection that he said, " It is easier for a camel to 
go through a needle's eye," than for one who " trusts in 
riches " that is, one who regards wealth more than God 
and his claims on that wealth, and who therefore lacks 
beneficence " to enter the kingdom of God." This sen- 
tence is the doom of those, whether rich or poor, whose 
property stands without the circle of their religion. 

He enforced the same identity of religion and benefi- 
cence, by putting the multiplied riches of earth and the 
treasures of heaven at the disposal of those who surren- 
dered houses and lands for his sake. Indeed, through all 
his ministry are interspersed incidents and remarks to the 
same point. We have an instance, in his placing the high- 
est value on the widow's gift, because it had more of re- 
ligious affection in it showing, that the essence and value 
of a gift consisted in the religious act involved. Also in 
his commendation of the expense upon his person of a 
costly perfume. This was worth more than three hun- 
dred pence given to the poor, because it was an exponent of 
a more intense religious affection and homage. A volume of 
pertinent meaning is expressed in this : " Sell that ye have 
and give alms ; provide yourselves bags which wax not 
old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not. For where 
your treasure is, there will your heart be also :" that is, be 
careful about your use of your treasure, for where it goes 
it carries the heart with it, whether to earth or heaven. 
The same is involved in the parable of the unjust steward, 
the sentiment of which is, that by acting as God's stew- 
ards while we may, and giving to the poor as we can, we 
in effect secure in the poor, friends who will have everlast- 
ing habitations for us when we fail and are driven out of 
our present houses, because in this account Christ and the 
poor are one. 

The truth that religion and beneficence are one and 
inseparable, was powerfully set forth in the Pentecostal 
scene. Willing to test the generosity of the new converts, 



8 ' RELICS-ION AND BENEFICENCE. 

God had gathered thousands of converted strangers into 
Jerusalem, and detained them perhaps for months without 
their own means of support. Here then was a vast semi- 
nary of preachers for the world, continuing steadfastly in 
the apostles' doctrine waiting to be endued with power 
from on high, to go out and spread the flame which had 
been kindled within them. For the feeding of this multi- 
tude, large draughts were made on those who had property 
in Jerusalem. These freely let Christ into their estates, so 
far as he had need. And without renouncing the right of 
property, or commencing any community system, each one, 
for that time and occasion, " possessed as though he pos- 
sessed not." So the first opening of Christianity, in the 
commencement of the dispensation of the Spirit, was sig- 
nalized by an example of beneficence fit to instruct the 
world, and one that is destined to enlighten all nations into 
the true nature of religion. 

Thenceforward, in spreading the gospel, the converts 
are everywhere seen freely risking or sacrificing property 
in proportion to the need of the spreading work, and taking 
joyfully the spoiling of their goods. Among no class of 
men has beneficence had such exemplifications as among 
the first Christians. And without hesitation, they said of 
those in whose religion it had no part, How dwelleih the 
love of God in him! Yea, they had such conceptions of 
the identity of beneficence and religion, that they could 
say, " Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Fa- 
ther is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their 
affliction." So full is the evidence, that they commit a 
great and fatal mistake who expect to be Christians with- 
out habits of beneficence. 

2. The next point of scriptural teaching about this duty 
is, that acts of beneficence are required for our spiritual 
good for the exercise of our hearts to benevolence and 
our growth in grace. We are required to give, because " it 
is more blessed to give than to receive." The redemption 



B.E.LIG-ION AND BENEFICENCE. 3 

of man involves his recovery from selfishness, the essence 
of sin, by training him to benevolent action. Hence, as 
soon as one is brought out of darkness into marvellous light, 
a world in darkness appeals to him for his aid ; and all the 
wants of a world appealing to him are his means of grace. 
" The poor shall not cease out of the land ;" but it is not 
because God could not have made them rich. Nor does he 
need our help in feeding them. He could have made all 
human supplies as plenty as water ; and could have written 
his gospel upon the skies, and saved the expense of pub- 
lishing it. He lets the wounds of dying men plead be- 
cause they plead against our selfishness ; and while we are 
healing the wounds of others, he secures a more effectual 
healing upon ourselves. 

The general intent of the Spirit of inspiration in this 
respect may be well illustrated by one example, that of 
collections made for the suffering Christians in Jerusalem. 
About seventeen years after Paul's conversion, he visited 
Jerusalem, and was anew recognized as the apostle of the 
Gentiles, by Peter, James, and John, and then sent away 
with a special charge, that in his visits to the gentile 
churches he should remember the poor and make collec- 
tions for them. In pursuance of this, we find Paul soon 
after in Ephesus, writing his first letter to the Corinthians, 
near the close of which he, as it would seem according to 
his custom, gave an order for collections for the Jerusalem 
Christians. He directed that each one should lay by every 
Sabbath such a portion as he could spare, that there should 
be no gathering when he came. In this connection he told 
them that he purposed, after a while, to make them a visit 
and spend a winter with them, before the donation should 
be completed \>y them. About a year after this, while in 
Macedonia, he wrote his. second epistle to the Corinthians, 
and stimulated them to this work by telling how generously 
the Macedonians had done ; and in this he alluded to the 

order given in the previous epistle, and the readiness with 

4* 



10 RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 

which they had commenced action under it, and urged ^h 
to complete their good beginnings. He told them that he 
had sent messengers to them, to see how they had carried 
out his plan, and to see that their donation should he made 
up before he came, that it might be ready " as a matter of 
bounty and not of covetousness." 

Now mark how, in all that is said of this subject in 
the space of two chapters, the sufferings of the persons to 
be relieved, powerful as was their call for charity, are 
hardly alluded to, and the effect of the gifts on the givers 
is magnified. The giving is urged, because it is one of the 
graces of the Spirit, a part of one's self-consecration to God, 
a proof of the sincerity of one's love, and above all, an 
enriching of the soul of the giver to all bountifulness, and 
a glorifying of God thereby. The sufferings of the saints 
are so lost in the exuberance of other themes, as to be 
barely alluded to but once in the two chapters, as in these 
words: "For the administration of this service not only 
supptieth the wants of the saints, but is abundant also by 
many thanksgivings to God." The purpose to which these 
gifts were to be applied was one which had moved the sym- 
pathies of the Christian world, and hence it is the more 
remarkable that so little prominence is given to it. 

This shows that both in giving his order for Sabbath 
deposits and in this enforcement of it, the Holy Ghost had 
a higher end than the relief of that case of suffering, and 
made that suffering a means of training the heart to benefi- 
cence and a point of light to illumine the whole subject. 
Because his great object is to produce the best results on 
the mind and habits of the givers, he so carefully provides 
that the streams shall flow without a forcing-pump, with- 
out urgent appeals to sympathy, and with the. utmost spon- 
taneity. The gifts must be a matter cf bounty, and not 
wrenched from the fist of covetousness. 

That Paul makes the sufferings at Jerusalem a pin on 
which to hang a document for the benefit of the donors and 



RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. H 

for the broad instruction of the world, appears in every 
glance of his thought and every stroke of his pen, as he 
moves onward to the' grand purpose of the Christian's 
sanctification for the glory of God. Hear him : " Let every 
one of you, as he purposeth in his he^rt," give cheerfully, 
abundantly. Why ? " For God is able to make all grace 
abound towards you." Yes, that abounding grace is the 
thing. Hear him further: "That ye may abound unto 
every good work" that God may " increase the fruit of your 
righteousness." And then he tells of this bountifulness 
causing thanksgivings to God, that God would be glorified 
in that the recipients of the bounty would see and grate- 
fully acknowledge in it the proof of the reality o'f their 
Christian profession ; yea, that God would be glorified in, the 
acts of liberality themselves being intrinsically excellent, 
and in the prayers and blessings which would be showered 
upon the givers, yea, in longings after that exceeding grace 
of God which the donations evinced. This completes the 
climax of his argument, and he ends all in " Thanks be 
unto God for his unspeakable gift ;" for such thoughts of. 
thanksgiving, generated by human liberality, lead naturally 
to that -of the thanksgivings that will ring through a ran- 
somed world, and be echoed by angel- voices in view of the 
unspeakable gift, the gift of the Son of God, the source of 
all other gifts of God to man. 

3. Because the cultivation of the givers' benevolence 
and his abounding to every good work is the great end of 
the duty, it is, in the passage above commented on, and in 
other scriptures, so carefully guarded, that the gifts shall be 
spontaneous =that the mind shall work under its own sense 
of duty and impulse of love. When Jacob dedicates him- 
self to God in the gift of a tenth of his income, the sugges- 
tion is seen to come of his own mind. The gifts required 
by the Mosaic institutions, definite as they were, left abun- 
dant room for the giver's heart to play between different 
degrees of generosity. So in collecting the materials for 



12 RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 

building the tabernacle, it was over and over again pro-, 
vided that every man should "give willingly with his 
heart ;" and in the contributions of the immense treasures 
for the temple, it was said, that " the people rejoiced that 
they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they 
offered willingly to the Lord ;" and David, with holy won- 
der, gave thanks that he and his people had been able to 
offer thus willingly. 

This feature of the required beneficence has even more 
prominence in the New Testament. Christ says, " Freely 
ye have received, freely give." This freedom specially 
ruled in the Pentecost revival. " Neither said any of them 
that aught of the things which he possessed was his own," 
though the apostles, the instruments of God's authority, 
acknowledged the full right to give or withhold : " While it 
remained, was it not thine own ? and after it was sold, was 
it not in thine own power ?" So Paul would have the gift 
made " as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness." 
" Every man as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give. 
For God loveth a cheerful giver." 

4. Closely allied with this feature is another, that each 
one's ability shall form the ground of his judgment of 
what he might to give. " Give alms of such things as ye 
have;" that is, according to your ability. He that minis- 
ters, " let him do it as of the ability that God giveth." God 
is able to make all grace abound towards you, that ye may 
abound to every good work." In building the tabernacle, 
the people gave "as God had prospered them" with the 
spoils of Egypt. God has named no fixed portion of in- 
come which it is the duty of each and all to give, for 
that would have made a tax and not a gift ; nor can all, 
in the different circumstances of each, equally afford the 
same portion of income. 

5. Another requirement of scripture is, that our gifts 
shall be periodical : that we shall have stated and frequent 
times of giving, both becatise our habits and hearts art 



RELIG-ION AND BENEFICENCE. 13 

thereby better disciplined, and because we are really able 
to give more by frequent and small gifts, than by few and 
large ones. The offerings in the antediluvian church re- 
curred at stated seasons, literally " in the end of days." 
Most of the offerings under the law were periodical ; and 
as most other religious acts in the experience of pious men 
have stated seasons for their performance, so doubtless, un- 
der all dispensations, pious, men have had more or less 
tegular periods for their alms. 

6. Still another feature is, that the alms shall have 
more or less connection with other religious exercises. Most 
of the offerings to God or for the poor, under the Old Tes- 
tament, were formal acts of worship ; and in the time of 
Christ, gifts were cast into the treasury at the temple, and 
tithes were collected at the synagogues on the Sabbath to 
be sent up to the temple. Every way, the first Christians, 
proceeding from the Jewish church, had been trained to 
connect, alms with worship, and let their " prayers and 
alms " go up together as " a memorial before God." 

Thus we have traced out the several branches of the 
duty as taught in the Scriptures: let. us now lay them 
together. 

1. It is taught that giving in charity is essential to true 
religion; that every one is as much bound to honor God 
by his gifts as he is to pray. 

2. Our gifts are required as 'a means of our spiritual 
good and growth in grace, as the discipline to form us to 
a beneficent character. 

3. Our gifts must be free-will offerings, and must be 
made according to a system that gives scope to the utmost 
freedom. 

4. We must regulate them in our judgment according 
to the ability which God give? us. 

5. They must be made at staf.ed periods. 

6. They must be made ^n connection with our acts of 
worship. . 



14 RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 

All these separate branches of the duty we find scatter- 
ed through the scripture. Then, in the order given by Paul 
to the Corinthians, we find them all joined and compacted 
together in one condensed formula, as follows : 

" Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay 
by him in store, as God Jtath prospered him, that there be 
no gatherings when I come." 

These few words embrace every branch of the duty 
stated above. The first is involved in that the order runs 
to every one. The second, in that the deposits are to be 
made, not merely to meet emergencies and particular calls 
for them, but in a way to work our spiritual discipline and 
growth in grace. The third and fourth, in that the amount 
to be given is referred to each one's own judgment of the 
ability which God has given. The fifth and sixth, in aci- 
ing on this subject on the first day of the week. 

Here then we have, from an inspired pen, the whole 
duty reduced to the simplest form and the shortest com- 
pass. Here is the multum in parvo a compact compen- 
dium of all scripture on this subject, yet intelligible to the 
merest child, and sufficient for the man of the most exten- 
sive and complex business. It requires that each one on 
every Sabbath, or statedly at longer periods, set apart what 
he thinks he ought, in view of the prosperity which God 
gives him ; thus creating a fund devoted to God, out of 
which he shall meet the calls for charity when they come. 
This does not require the deposits to be made always in 
money. They may be made in such fruits of labor as the 
donor has ; or, when ready money is not at hand, by enter- 
ing it on an account kept with our charity treasury. It 
was doubtless intended by this rule, that those who receive 
the fruits of their labor weekly, and all others who can 
conveniently do it, should make their deposits as often at 
every Sabbath. But if any one, from the nature of his 
business or incomes, require longer periods, he may still 
retain a connection of the duty with the Sabbath. In the 



RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 15 

case of the Lord's supper, it was clearly the intent of the 
Holy Spirit, to intimate that the Sabbath was the day for 
the breaking of bread; and the first Christians evidently 
celebrated the Lord's supper every Sabbath; and if oui 
present circumstances favored that practice, it might be 
well to do so now. Yet we do not consider ourselves bound 
to repeat the act every Sabbath, nor to confine it to the 
Sabbath. And if any one conceives that this rule allows 
a similar latitude of interpretation, he will answer a good 
conscience in obeying the requirement to connect his alms 
with the Sabbath, in a similar way. If one's circumstances 
will not allow of so frequent a repetition of the act which 
disciplines the mind to beneficence and calls forth the mel- 
ody of the heart in devotion, he is free to answer the. spirit 
of the rule in such a way as he can. The rule is essen- 
tially an embodiment of the whole duty of beneficence, 
and he who obeys it in its spirit, fulfils this branch of the 
great law of love. 

With this condensation of all the duty in one simple 
rule, we have something to propose, which is as definite 
and simple as it is important ; or rather, we bring God's 
proposal to our fellow-Christian, or fellow-sinner, in a very 
simple and intelligible form. We do not say, " You must 
be generous to the poor," or " You must give such and 
such a portion of your income ;" but we say, "Begin now, 
and continue a course of action on the line which the scrip- 
tures have so clearly drawn." We propose not a particular 
gift, but the beginning of a well-defined course, that cannot 
fail to educate the heart and conscience to the love of giv- 
ing, and therefore to generous gifts. In this simple rule 
and the habit of action formed under it, you have a trellis- 
work of divine construction, on which your beneficence is 
gradually to lift itself up, spread abroad its branches, and 
bring forth its clusters. 

Let us then commend it to general adoption, by spec! 
lying SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES OF IT. 



16 RELIGION AND BENEFICENCK. 

1. The first of these is, that it brings our work of 
charity within the Sabbath, causes our gifts to be weighed 
in the balances of the sanctuary, and our "prayers and 
alms " to go up together " as a memorial before God." It 
calls the mind to act on this subject when most suscepti- 
ble ; when disburdened of worldly cares ; when, most free 
from aspirations for worldly gains ; when most engaged in 
contemplating the mercies of God, and the obligations re- 
sulting therefrom to make returns of love. It brings in 
substantial acts of love to God and man to modify our de- 
votions. It quickens devotional thought and feeling with 
the impulse of self-denying acts. It awakes benevolence 
in a heart already warmed to prayer and praise by the 
word read and preached, and thus secures both body and 
soul to our devotion's. So in effect the temple of our wor- 
ship, like that of the Jews, has a Lord's treasury in it, to 
which we bring our grateful offerings while engaged in 
joyous celebration of the new creation in Christ ; testifying 
our grateful joy in acts, as well as words and songs. Gifts 
are the most natural language of a grateful heart, and 
they mingle well with praise for redeeming love. Yea, 
they are as natural a medium of the soul's communion 
with God, as prayer. As devotion sharpens the mind foi 
hearing the word, so giving attunes the soul to. devotion, 
and devotion touches the rock of the heart, that the waters 
of its benevolence may gush forth. 

2. There is a great advantage in the frequent repetition 
of the act, secured under this rule. If, as often as the 
Sabbath comes, the mind is called to exercise itself in a 
gift of property to God, or his poor, there must be more 
exercise of heart, a greater amount of thought and feeling 
about charity, than if we gave even in larger sums at 
longer intervals. If the great need and purpose of all 
our gifts is, that we may be "enriched to all bountiful- 
ness ;" if, in laying this duty on us, divine goodness has 
planned for the discipline of our spiritual affections, then 



RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 11 

the same reasons operate in the frequency of the exercise, 
as in the frequency of the exercise of prayer. The oftenei 
we are called to act, the more we shall think and feel ahout 
it. And it is the thought and feeling that plough widei 
channels for the outflow of benevolence. It is the contin- 
ual dropping that wears the stone. Hence, il any find 
it somewhat inconvenient to make the periods of their gifts 
short as the weeks, it deserves to he considered whether 
the advantage in self-discipline will not more than over- 
balance the inconvenience. Be that as it may, any reflect- 
ing mind will discern great wisdom in that which holds us 
to periodical acts, that tend to our discipline in heavenly 
charity. 

3. The provision that a private charity treasury shall 
be kept into which the gifts sJiatt be made before they are 
called to be given out, works important results upon the 
mind. It facilitates our doing the work "heartily as 
unto the Lord." It turns the direction of our gifts first to 
him. If we give for charity when there is no distinct so- 
licitation nor object of charity before the mind, God him- 
self is near us as the object of the gift. Our reference to 
him is likely to be more distinct, than if some case of hu- 
man distress stood between us and him. We come to the 
work simply because God requires it, and we need it. The 
Christian goes into his closet to pray sometimes, because 
impelled to intercede for a friend that needs his prayers ; 
but more often because he feels himself the need of prayer, 
and because he loves it. In both cases his spirit of prayer 
is promoted. But if he prayed only when impelled to 
intercede for another, there would be a fearful chasm in 
the discipline of his spirit of prayer. And if we give alms 
only when beset with the solicitations of distress, we are 
as far from an adequate discipline of our spirit of benevo- 
lence. "What havoc would be made of the piety of the 
church by annihilating all system, all 'regulated habits iij 
prayer But who can say that we are not suffering pro- 



18 RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE 

portionally as much by our want of system in this other 
branch of spiritual religion ? If our benevolence be left 
so much to casual impulses, it will undoubtedly remain at 
a low-water mark. 

4. This provision secures the advantages of beneficence 
to every one, if he will. " Let every one of you lay by him 
in store, as God hath prospered him." This assures us 
that God will look with equal favor on the small gifts oi 
the poor and the large donations of the rich ; and nothing 
in fact is more needed to move the masses of the church to 
action than this. Many are really able to do but little at 
a time so little, that they are discouraged from attempt- 
ing any thing. But these, when gained to the practice of 
dropping in their little every week, soon find that their 
littles have grown in months to a sum worth giving ; and 
when made to feel that this little answers as rich a purpose 
towards the great end as the larger gifts of others, they 
find themselves engaged in a blessed work : a new world 
of duty is open before them. Poor as they may be, yet 
being asked to give only " as God hath prospered them," 
they feel no burden in it, and yet they divide with the 
rich the profits of a gainful commerce. He who has 
" chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of 
the kingdom," will neither crush them with the burdens 
of his cause, nor exclude them from a share in its progress 
and triumphs. When weighing the widow's farthing-gift 
against princely donations, he struck the balance in its 
favor because it had more heart in it ; because being at- 
tended with more sacrifices, it secured more sanctified 
affection, which is the true value of all gifts. Here, " the 
rich and the poor meet together" on a common level before 
God, in a work that carries blessings forth and back 
blesses him that gives and him that takes. It makes youi 
cent a week, if you can give no more, a means of an inter- 
change of holy affections with Christ, a means of the en- 
largement of your heart and your sympathies for a dying 



AND BENEFICENCE. 19 

world. And perhaps that single cent, wet with your tea.rs 4 
followed by your prayers, sent to. its place by the partial 
hand of Him who so valued a widow's farthing, hits its 
mark with greater force than whole talents of gold from 
other hands. A single penny tract has had now and then 
a history more to be coveted than some of the proudest 
productions of genius. And who can say that that tract, 
which has lighted here and there a fire that is destined to 
spread and burn, none can tell how far yea, has generated 
a train' of light that has already gone widening and bright- 
ening round the world was not sent on its mission by the 
hard-earned and prayer-embalmed gift of some poverty 
stricken child of God ? 

4. This rule further commends itself by its superior 
efficiency in raising funds. This end, though a secondary 
branch of God's great work of benevolence upon this world, 
is as important as the conversion of the world. The first 
adoption of the rule in a given church may be followed by 
no marked increase ; for its power lies in forming and 
bringing to bear the settled habits which must have time 
to form. As fast as it forms these habits, it extends the 
sources of an enduring power. This provision comes to the 
poor and those of smaller means the great majority of 
the church removes the discouragement which they felt 
from giving any thing because their gifts must be so small, 
and shows the way for them to do 'a work second in im- 
portance to none ; and having enlisted them, it has secured 
recruits by thousands. Great complaints are heard, that 
a large portion of members of our churches wholly refrain 
from gifts for evangelizing. True, it is not the poor alone 
who are thus remiss. But if the number who are so could 
be reduced by the stated gifts of all who have been deterred 
from giving by a discouragement which this rule, well con- 
sidered, would remove, it might be hoped the others would 
come into the work. Any plan of raising supplies that dis- 
courages the small gifts of the poor, cuts its own sinews. 



20 RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE 

Our worlds must be made "by the aggregation of atoma 
Christ Las fixed a premium on the gifts of the poor in 
what he said of the widow's farthing. And the rule under 
consideration works admirably in this view; generating 
funds where there are none, gathering a thick and preg- 
nant cloud and drenching showers from exhalations too 
thin to he visible. 

"With admirable flexibility the rule bends to all vari- 
eties of cases. It commits us not for the future to any 
amount, but asks us to give only according to a prosperity 
already experienced, the income of the last week. It names 
no fixed percentage which each one must give, but leaves 
him to judge, in view of all his circumstances, how muck 
he ought to. give. He may, if he will, resolve to give 
such and such a percentage, as Jacob did ; but in this he 
is determined not by this divine rule itself, but by his own 
judgment of what is right in his own case. 

5. Another material advantage of action under such 
a rule is, that it secures to us a fund always at Jiand to 
meet the calls for charity as they come. In deciding wheth- 
er to give for a particular object, selfishness cannot come 
in and plead against it ; for it has no interest in the ques- 
tion. The money in hand, to be given or not given, is 
already the Lord's, and not ours ; and acting as his stew- 
ards, we only decide how much o^ the Lord's money we 
will give on the occasion presented. Here is a means 
of becoming cheerful givers of escaping from the con- 
trol or bias of selfishness, while educating the conscience 
and heart to expansive love. The nursing of such a fund 
for Christ, while it insensibly interests the mind more 
deeply in every Christian cause, prepares us to give a 
cheerful welcome to every messenger of that cause that 
comes in the person of a soliciting agent. For we have but 
a simple question to settle with him, that is, how much oi 
the Lord's money now in hand we ought to apply to the 
object he presents : yea, when all come to have such 



RELIG-ION AND BENEFICENCE. 21 

funds, soliciting agencies will disappear, and with them 
all the cumbrous and costly machinery now so needful for 
financial collections. The plan which Paul struck out, 
though it required agents to commence operations under it, 
left little for agents permanently to do. He did not say. 
Wait till I or some other agent come, and give you the 
thrilling details of the suffering saints ; hut, Let " there be 
no gatherings when I come." 

6. Action under this rule secures the impulses and 
growth of our benevolence to come from the most spiritual 
and evangelical motives. Paul did not make the fact that 
somebody will suffer if we do not give, the main reason 
for our giving, and thus leave the main-spring untouched. 
He did not rely on the energy and eloquence of agents 
giving the statistics and a panorama of the world lying in 
wickedness, and from these appealing to natural sympa- 
thies ; but he took hold of an order of motives that are 
capable of rousing the whole energy of the heart. None 
ever felt more deeply the -wants and woes of a dying 
world, but he presents motives still higher and more con- 
trolling. Under a rule which secured habits of stated 
giving as God prospered, he secured the preponderance of 
evangelical motives, and the more moving facts of Christ's 
redemption. He told of obligations to Christ, of the love 
of Christ constraining-^ He grasped the prime elements 
of persuasion, and descended not to lower themes. He 
sought to enthrone in th*e mind a steady and omnipresent 
principle of action a habit of giving from the intrinsic 
blessedness of giving of doing it, like the work of repent- 
ance, because" it is right demanded by our eternal rela- 
tions to God and the 'wants of our immortal part. 

7. Every Christian ought to enter into the habit of 
systematic beneficence, under this divine rule, in order to 
qualify himself to do what he can to remedy one of the 
greatest deficiencies in the present habits and action of the 
shurch There is a general conviction that the church 



22 RELIGION AND BENEF1CENQE. 

is not doing what she can and ought ; and if we are not 
mistaken, the neglected source of the needed efficiency is 
in this heaven-appointed rule. If G-od has appointed ac- 
tion under this rule to he the great means of forming a 
benevolent character, is it a wonder that that henevolent 
character is so much unformed, where this rule is so much 
neglected ? The remedy lies in a restoration of this rule of 
action. True, the thing wanted, in order to a higher style 
of heneficence, is a higher tone of piety, raised by richei 
effusions of the Holy Spirit. But the aid comes not with- 
out the means. God will not, by any action of the Spirit 
of life, set aside any law of life, or reward us for a rejection 
of it. Nor will he give the needed vigor to our beneficence, 
while we reject the mode of action which he has appointed 
for us. As well might the churches on the continent of 
Europe, where the Sabbath is to so great an extent lost, 
expect to recover the blessings of the Sabbath without a 
reenthronement of the divine law of the Sabbath and con- 
forming their practice to it. Needful as are the larger 
effusions of the Spirit to a higher style of beneficence in 
the church, they will not come except through the chan- 
nels which God has appointed. "We have, indeed, had re- 
vivals, many and genuine, within the last twenty years ; 
but no strongly marked elevation of the standard of giving 
by means of them, nor can we look for such a result till 
our revivals have a basis of better instruction touching 
this duty. Revivals, ever so powerful and far-spreading, 
cannot be expected fully to supply defects of character 
resulting from defects of instruction. While existing modes 
of thought and feeling prevail on this subject, we can 
hardly expect that future revivals will greatly raise the 
standard of beneficence ; the piety of future converts will 
be cast in the existing moulds. 

But if this rule is what we conceive it to be, a compend 
of the whole duty of beneficence the divinely chosen in- 
strument of forming benevolent character it is to be the 



RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 23 

grand instrument of effecting the needed revolution in the 
habits of the church. As soon as you have gained the 
consent of one individual to act under it, you have secured 
the revolution in that one instance. You have gained, net 
simply another hand to give now and then so much, but 
another heart to come under a training to steady and ex- 
pansive beneficence. You have brought the remedy to the 
veiy root of one of the greatest diseases of the church. 
You take those just initiated into the first principles, and 
teach them the alphabet, and put them forward in a di 
vinely-appointed course. The mass of Christians cannot 
be brought up to their duty but by training, Ly action 
under such a specific rule. For this end you have this rz! 
given of God, intelligible to the merest child, suited to the 
use of all. And as fast as you multiply Arsons acting un- 
der it, you throng the way to that coitsurnmation, when 
every church lesser or larger, every family rich or poor, 
shall be a generous source of su'ppjy to our grand schemes 
of beneficence. 

"While the fields of the world are white for the harvest, 
and money raised can be turned to so rich account, and yet 
while so many in the church are giving nothing, and so 
many others are giving so little, we naturally seek to reach 
the public conscience through some untravelled approaches. 
And here they are. Go to any Christian, and convince 
him that God requires him to act under this inspired rule 
of the apostle, and you lay a grasp on his conscience which 
it has never before felt. All count themselves to some 
degree benevolent, and all general exhortations to benevo- 
lence are taken" as running in the line of their own present 
practice. But ask one to do this thing in this way, and you 
make a new proposal. Convince him that God requires 
it of him, and engage him to commence and proceed under 
the auspices of his own enlightened conscience, and you 
have put him in the path that leads surely on to a whole- 
souled benevolence Then let it be seen that this rule i* 



24 RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 

entering into the common-sense and practice of the church ; 
let the common Christian life embrace it, and hold it forth 
as binding on all ; let it be seen that the neglect of this 
rule sets aside a substantive law of divine life, as really as 
would the neglect of daily prayer, or the profanation of the 
Sabbath then will you reach the public conscience with 
new power. Let all Christians, by word and deed, con- 
tribute to give this apostolic rule the force of a living com- 
mand of God let it live and breathe through the common 
Christian practice, and soon all who profess to be Christ's 
will be in the practice of it. 

Here then is proposed for adoption a rule of duty in- 
volving our highest interest and usefulness, imposed by di- 
vine authority, and leading to the richest results. If any 
feel that they need no rule of beneficent action because 
they intend no such action, they must be left to the final 
reckoning, with the simple admonition that God's great 
scheme of beneficence never can embrace those whom it 
does not penetrate and make beneficent. But all who 
mean to act on the principle, that it is "the merciful" 
who " shall obtain mercy," will find intrinsic excellence 
and manifold advantages in action under this rule, will find 
from experience that they cannot well live without it. 

NOTE. Illustrations of the practical application and benefits of this 
iivine rule will be found on the cover of this Tract. The Society alao 
publish three able essays on the subject : " The Divine Law of Benefi- 
cence;" "Zaceheus, or the Scriptural Plan of Benevolence;" and 
"The Mission of the Church;" issued separately, and also bound in 
one volume. As an encouragement to themselves and others in adopt- 
ing this system, many have united in .substantially the following 

PLEDGE OR COVENANT. 

Believing that the scripture system of benevolence requires every 
one statedly to "lay by him in store as God hath prospered him," J 
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 sacredly applied to charitable objects according tc 
tny sense of their respective claims. 

SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. 



RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. ' 3 

Some, who have little money at command, who keep 
few accounts, and who live mainly on the yearly products 
of the ground they cultivate or other fruits of their indue 
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 ; another of mechanical labor ; another 
of the needle, or other domestic industry every one using 
his Christian liberty in giving statedly as 'he sees test 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 percentages 
of profit and loss, not knowing every Sabbath what has 
been the income of the week, have found great satisfaction 
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 dimin 
ished, or increased, in proportion as God shall prosper them 

A MERCHANT, in answer to inquiries, refers buck to a period, 
when, he says, " In consecrating my life anew to God, aware of the en- 
snaring influence of riches and the necessity of deciding on a plan of 
charity before wealth should bias my judgment, I adopted the follow- 
ing 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 entry on a benevolent account, 
one-tenth of the regaining profits, great or small, as a fund for benev- 
olent expenditure, supporting myself and family on the remaining 
rune-tenths. I further 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 and a 
half per cent. ; if over $700, fifteen per cent. ; if over $900, seven- 
teen and a half per cent. ; if over $1,100, twenty per cent , if over 
SljSOO, twenty-two and a hulf per cent. ; thus increasing tb.3 propor- 
tion 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 to my success in business, I decided not to increase 
the foregoing scale until I had acquired a certain capital, after which 
[ would give one-quarter of all net profits, great or small ; -and on the 
acquisition of another certain amount of capital, I decided to give 
half, and on acquiring what I determined would be a full sufficiency 
of capital, then to give the whole of my net profits. 

"It is now several years since I adopted this plan, and under it 1 

No. 535. 



24 RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 

entering into the common-sense and practice of the church ; 
let the common Christian life embrace it, and hold it forth 
as binding on all ; let it be seen that the neglect of this 
rule sets aside a substantive law of divine life, as really as 
would the neglect of daily prayer, or the profanation of the 
Sabbath then will you reach the public conscience with 
new power. Let all Christians, by word and deed, con- 
tribute to give this apostolic rule the force of a living com- 
mand of God let it live and breathe through the common 
Christian practice, and soon all who profess to be Christ's 
will be in the practice of it. 

Here then is proposed for adoption a rule of duty in- 
volving our highest interest and usefulness, imposed by di- 
vine authority, and leading to the richest results. If any 
feel that they need no rule of beneficent action because 
they intend no such action, they must be left to the final 
reckoning, with the simple admonition that God's great 
scheme of beneficence never can embrace those whom it 
does not penetrate and make beneficent. But all who 
mean to act on the principle, that it is "the merciful" 
who " shall obtain mercy," will find intrinsic excellence 
and manifold advantages in action under this rule, will find 
from experience that they cannot well live without it. 

NOTE. Illustrations of the practical application and benefits of this 
iivine rule will be found on the cover of this Tract. The Society also 
publish three able essays on the subject : " The Divine Law of Benefi- 
cence;" "Zaccheus, or the Scriptural Plan of Benevolence;" and 
"The Mission of the Church;" issued separately, and also bound in 
one volume. As an encouragement to themselves and others in adopt- 
ing this System, many have united in .substantially the following 

PLEDGE OR COVENANT. 

Believing that the scripture system of benevolence requires every 
one statedly to "lay by him in store as God hath prospered 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 sacredly applied to charitable objects according t 
tny sense of their respective claims. 



StrilSCRTBERs' NAMES. 



RELIGION AND BENEFICENCE. 3 

Some, who have little money at command, who keep 
few accounts, and who live mainly on the yearly products 
of the ground they cultivate or other fruits of their 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 ; another of mechanical labor; another 
of the needle, or other domestic industry every one using 
his Christian liberty in giving statedly as- he sees best, in 
his owfi 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 percentages 
of profit and loss, not knowing every Sabbath what has 
been the income of the week, have found great satisfaction 
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 dimin 
ished, or increased, in proportion as God 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 en- 
snaring influence of riches and the necessity of deciding on a plan of 
sharity hefore wealth should bias my judgment, I adopted the follow- 
ing 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 entry on a benevolent account, 
one-tenth of the remaining prMts, great or small, as a fund for benev- 
olent expenditure, supporting myself and family on the remaining 
nine-tenths. I further 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 and a 
half per cent. ; if over $700, fifteen per cent. 5 if over $900, seven- 
teen and a half per cent.; if over $1,100, twenty per cent , if over 
$1,300, twenty-two and a half per cent.; thus increasing th3 propor- 
tion 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 to my success in business, I decided not to increase 
the foregoing scale until I had acquired a certain capital, after which 
[ woufd give one-quarter of all net profits, great or small ; and on the 
acquisition of another certain amount of capital, I decided to give 
half, and on acquiring what I determined would be a full sufficiency 
of capital, then to give the whole of my net profits. 

"It is now several years since I adopted this plan, and under it 1 

No. 535. 



28 PAGES.] " 

* 

have acquired a handsome Capital," "and 'have "been prospered beyond 
my most: sanguine /expectations. Although constantlysgiving, J .have 
never yet loucbed'the. bottom of my fund, and have repeatedly ..been . 
surprised to find tyHai large drafts it would bear. Triie^ jlnring sc me 
months I have encountered a salutary trial of faith, when'tnis rule has 
ied nie to lay by the tenth while the remainder proved inadequate "ftpr/,. 
my support ; but the tide has soon turned; and with gratitude I have ''-' 
recognized a heavenly hand more than making good all past deficiencies. " 

"This sysjtem 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 moneyj- and has 
enlisted my mind more in the progress of Christ's cause. Happy priv- 
ilege, which the humblest may 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 good. 

" This system has saved me from commercial dangers, by leading 
me to simplify business and=avoid extensive credits, i 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. I believe 
this system tends to enlarge the Christian's views, increase his disin 
terestedness, an^,lead him to shun the, tricks of trade. My own obser 
vation ajso confirms the belief, that everi warm-hearted Christians 
must determine beforehand on the system they will adopt, if they would 
secure the benefits of the gospel 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 his people ; and if this divine system is to be 
generally adopted, it is essential that pastors of churches 
and public meri, 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 sys- 
tem, is bound to spread it among all within the reach of 
his influence. The circulation of this Tract and of the 
treatises named and the pledge inserted on page 24 .above; 
will be an effective means to this result. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIET* . 

No. 535. . . ' 



UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 




UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 




