Christian Giving, from a Business Man’s Standpoint.
By A Merchant of Chicago
The terms “giving,” as used in the Bible, and “paying,” as we understand the word, are, in many places, synonymous. God calls it “paying,” man, “giving.” Under the old dispensation God required the tithe, or, in modern English, the tenth, of every man’s increase or income, to be paid to him, either in kind or in money; and the people were in debt until it was paid. He even goes so far as to call the non-payment of his share robbery. “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes [or tenths] and offerings.” Mal. 3:8. In the next verse he says, “Ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.” In the next verse we read, “Bring ye all the tithes [or tenths] into the store-house, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” It is worthy of note that this charge of robbery was made more than one thousand years after the command was given, and that fourteen hundred years after, Christ plainly sanctioned the same command, even to the tithing of mint, anise, cummin, and rue, four of the most insignificant of the earth’s productions. This law of God requiring the tenth of our income, or increase, has never been repealed and never abrogated. Nothing has ever been substituted for it. Indeed, it seems to have been, like the law of the Sabbath, taken for granted. The tenth has always been, and is yet, God’s share, his due. Don’t talk of “giving” until that is paid; as well talk of “giving” your grocer the amount you owe him. Paying comes first, giving afterward. In 1 Cor. 16:2, Paul says to the Christians at Corinth, as he had previously said to those at Galatia, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him.” Now, if this means anything, it means some definite proportion of their weekly income. The question, then, is, What proportion? one-half? one-fifth? one-tenth? one-twentieth? If they gave to no other objects, it was one-tenth, without doubt, as that was God’s rule, and they knew it. He also exhorts them to give, “not grudgingly, for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Do you think he meant if a man was stingy he should not give at all, because he could not give cheerfully? or that he should give only a small amount, because if he gave more it would be grudgingly? He meant he should cheerfully give his share, and his share was in proportion as God had prospered him. The meaning of the words, free gospel, free grace, free salvation, has been shamefully perverted. They have not, and never were intended to have, any such meaning as is often understood. The gospel and salvation are free, thank God; but no more free than was God’s pardon for the Jew. Yet no Jew ever thought of going up to worship God without taking his gift with him. The gift was an essential part of the worship, and there was no worship then, and should not be now, in which giving is not an important part. A prominent minister of Chicago pref-aces the collection with the exhortation, “Now let us worship God with our gifts,” and he is right. It is worship, or it is mockery. God always intended giving to be a part of the worship, just as much as prayer or praise. And that we might not be in doubt about it, he has in hundreds of places mentioned the amount we owe him as that part of our worship. When Paul wrote the sentence, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” and Peter said, “Holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” they had reference only to the Old Testament, as the New Testament was only then being written; and in the Old Testament more is said about the law of tithes, or payment to God of one-tenth of the increase, than even about the law of the Sabbath; and in the New Testament Christ no more plainly sanctions the law of the Sabbath than that of tithes. God is always willing to make contracts, or covenants, with us, and he never fails to keep his part. He made one with Abraham, and renewed it with Isaac. He made one with Jacob, accepting Jacob’s proposal to prosper him for one-tenth of his income. He made one with Moses: “Go before this people; I will be with thee.” He made one with Joshua: “Be strong and of good courage; for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land [marginal reading].” He made one with Hannah, the mother of Samuel. He made one with Samuel when he was a child. He made one with Eli. He made many with David. He made contracts with Solomon, with Rehoboam, offered to make one with Jeroboam. He made contracts with Hezekiah, with Isaiah, with Josiah, with Daniel, and with many others. Notice that every one of these contracts was for temporal blessings. Has God changed? Did he care then for men’s temporal interests, and not now? Did he ever fail to keep his part of the covenant? Men often broke their part, but as long as they would repent, God would forgive, and renew the contract. God wants to be a partner in every honest business. He furnishes to every man all his capital, be it brains, muscle, or money. And yet all he asks as his share is one-tenth of the net profits. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.” “The silver and the gold are mine,” saith the Lord. He permits you to hold from some other man the title deed to a little portion of the earth’s surface; or you have some other man’s promises to pay; but, after all, God furnishes you or your ancestors the muscle or the brains to earn the money to lend to others, or to invest in property of some kind. He does not say to you, Pay me one-tenth the profits or I will take away your business or your money; but it is his written and unwritten law that one-tenth belongs of right to him, and you wrong and defraud him (he says you rob him) when you do not pay it. There are laws underlying this matter of giving, or paying, that are nature’s laws, and therefore God’s laws. Among them are the twin laws of habit and system. Habit is correctly called second nature; and system is an indispensable law of success in everything. Giving, or paying,—that is the better word,—should be habitual, systematic, and in proportion to the income. Giving systematically inculcates that other law, or principle, of saving, which is all-important in business life. Ask a business man which of two young men of equal ability and advantages in business life he would rather trust, one who gave one-tenth of his income regularly, or one who gave nothing. Ask him which he would rather trust if both gave one-tenth, the one systematically, the other without system. If he has had large experience, he will not hesitate a moment in his answer. Paul says, Lay by you on the first day of the week, as God has prospered you. The plain inferences are, regularity, the first day of each week, and a certain definite share, “as God has prospered you.” If God has not prospered you during the week, his share will be correspondingly small. If you have only made a dime, a penny is all he asks as his share; and if you have given a penny to the poor, or to God’s service in any way, during the week, you are out of debt to God for that week, except the debt of gratitude and love we can never pay, and thank God we cannot. If you have made ten dollars, one dollar is God’s share. If one hundred dollars, ten dollars is his share, and you are in debt until it is paid. God loves “straight business” in more senses than the one of honesty. Do you say that this is bringing it down to a fine point? that God does not care for pennies? Two mites are not a penny in value, and Christ immortalized the poor widow who gave them. Take away the children’s pennies from the contributions of the Christian world, and if there are tears in Heaven, the angels would weep over the increased number of lost souls. Do you ask, How shall I manage to systematize, and how shall I estimate my income? what deduction shall I make? Are you working on a salary of $1,000? You owe to God $100 a year. Shall I make any deductions from this on account of family or personal expenses? No; except providential expenses incident to sickness, &c., which may be deducted from the whole amount of income, not from the Lord’s portion alone. How can I keep the account? Use a page of your ledger, or a small blank book, putting down every item given, even to the pennies, and balancing up the book at least once a year. A frequent careful footing of the column will be a pleasure to you, and, no doubt, will also be pleasing to the other partner, your Heavenly Father. What items shall I put down, my pew rent? Yes; for while this is, in the highest sense, a debt, for good done your soul, yet by aiding in sustaining the preached word and keeping the house of God open, you have a personal interest in the salvation of every soul brought to Christ through the preaching and influence of your pastor. Shall I put down any aid I give to the poor? Yes; the poor are God’s heritage, and “he that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord.” What I give to the spread of the gospel in any way? Most certainly. Suppose I watch by the bedside of the sick who are not able to hire nursing? A lady asks, Suppose I spend an afternoon sewing for the poor? These two questions represent a class. The answer must be general. It is, in brief, if your income is lessened thereby, it would be right to estimate your time at its money value. A farmer asks, Suppose I send my team and hired man, or go myself, and help gather the crops of a poor neighbor? Estimate your time, and that of your man and team, at its cash value to you. Suppose I hire some one to nurse a sick neighbor who cannot afford to hire nursing. Charge what you pay for the service to God’s account. Suppose I give clothing that is of little or no further use to me, to those to whom it is as good as new. Put it down at the price you could sell it for cash, not at what it may be worth to them. Are you in business, and do not know what your income will be until the end of the year? You can make a reasonably close estimate, and act upon it during the year, and if at the close God has prospered you more than you expected, carry the balance forward as a debt which you will pay as God gives you opportunity. Some may ask, shall I deduct my rent? For your place of business, yes; as you will all other business expenses in arriving at net profits. For the house I live in? No, as that comes under the head of personal, or family expenses. Another, who owns his dwelling, asks how he shall estimate the same matter. God only asks for one-tenth of the income, or as the Bible has it, one-tenth of the increase, not one-tenth of the capital. Some one may ask, Suppose I feel that I am not accumulating, that I am not making money, that, upon the whole, I am losing. If you are losing, it is upon your capital already accumulated. It is presumed you have already given to God one-tenth of that, and it is yours to keep or lose. You must have an income of some kind and amount, or you could not live. If you are living up to it, God’s share is one-tenth of your living. No Christian or honest man will knowingly live beyond his income, unless he has accumulated capital from which to draw to meet his honest debts. God does not ask any share of accumulated capital, of which you have already given him a tithe, or tenth; neither does he share losses on that capital. Remember God claims an interest only in your income. Shall I deduct taxes? No. Interest on borrowed money? No; unless the money so borrowed was to enable you to produce income, not to save capital or principal or real estate, or something you have before accumulated. Suppose my money is in real estate, which has increased in value during the year. Sell a portion of it, and give the proceeds; or, if you can’t sell it at a fair price, give the land itself to the trustees of some worthy charity, putting down the amount of its worth in cash, not what you may ask for it. Do you say you are in debt, and you must save every dollar you can to pay that debt? Who prospers you that you may pay? Does God cease to be your partner when you get in debt? How can you ask God’s blessing on your business when you deny him his share? God is never indefinite or uncertain, either in his laws or in his demands. He is a God of seasons, of times, of quantities. He makes the earth turn on its axis in twenty-four hours, not twenty-three nor twenty-five. The earth goes round the sun in so many days, hours, minutes, seconds; no more, no less. He commands us to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, the seventh day, not the sixth nor the tenth. So, in giving, God requires the tenth, not the seventh or the twentieth; and there is no stronger command in the New Testament to observe the seventh day as a day of rest, than to give one-tenth of our income or increase to God. Both are taken for granted. It must not be understood that the writer claims that one-tenth only should be given, or paid, in all cases. That would be much like claiming that if we spend the Sabbath properly in God’s service, we are at liberty to follow our own inclinations the remainder of the week. God will bless the man who pays back to him one-tenth of his income, by increasing his ability and disposition to give him much more, just as the man who honors God by keeping holy the Sabbath, will be the better able to honor him during the week, and will be kept from many a temptation. Luke 6:38: “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.” Acts 20:35: “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” 2 Cor. 9:6–8: “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver. For God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” (The word “grace” in this connection has special reference to temporal blessings.) Prov. 28:27: “He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack; but he that hideth his eyes [from the wants of the poor] shall have many a curse.” Prov. 11:24, 25: “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” The language of the following statement is well weighed, and, judging by results in the past, is capable of the fullest proof: If all Christians were to consecrate one-tenth of their income to God, it would not be twenty years before the gospel would be preached to every creature on the face of the earth to whom access could be gained by missionaries. There is no lack of missionaries; the lack is of money to send them. Giving or paying one-tenth of our income or increase to God is not only a duty, but a privilege also, and even so far as temporal blessings are concerned it is profitable. It pays, both for time and eternity.—A Merchant of Chicago.