Pleasing Ourselves for the Lord's Sake.
By Editor
THE Sunday School Times deals in the following vigorous style with the modern custom of having a good time, and calling it devotion to the cause of God. We wish every church member in the land would read it:— How strong the temptation is to evade the plain question of duty in giving money to the Lord's cause! How prone even Christian people are to strive to mingle the possibilities of pleasure-seeking with that of duty-doing, where dollars and cents are involved, in such a way that it cannot be fairly known which motive of action is the prevailing one. They have been having fresh discussions over this matter in the field of a South Carolina correspondent, who writes:— “We need money to repair our church, to buy furniture, Sunday-school library books, etc. Some say we can have an entertainment, tableaux, charades, etc., and raise the money. Others say this would not be just right, but that we can have a feast, or a supper, or an excursion, and in that way raise the money, and give the people full value for their money; while there are still others who say that if we can properly raise money in that way to buy an organ, or Sunday-school books, we can just as properly raise the money to pay our preacher and the claims of foreign missions in the same way; but that we ought to go into our pockets for the money for all such purposes, just as we do to pay our taxes and grocery bills, and not trust to any special transaction to raise money for the Lord’s work. Please turn on the light.” Undoubtedly you could raise some money for religious purposes by charades, or tableaux, or a feast, a supper, or an excursion, and you surely would have prominent precedents in this line to quote against anybody who objected to its morality or its wisdom. But, after all, there does seem to be sound sense in the suggestion of those people who say that if you rely on these means to repair your church, or to furnish it, or to obtain needed books for your Sunday-school library, it would seem to be equally well to try the same method in order to pay your preacher or to sustain the cause of foreign missions. Just think of this method of aiding this last-named cause, if you really want light on the subject. Let the preacher plead the cause of missions, pressing its claims on all believers; then let him announce from the pulpit: “The deacons (or stewards) will now serve ice-cream to those in this congregation whose hearts are moved in behalf of the perishing souls in heathendom. The ice-cream is of three flavors, of good quality, and two spoons are with each glass. Brethren and sisters, invest for the blessed cause of missions! Take at least one glass apiece; two, if your souls are deeply stirred.” It is quite possible that that method might induce some persons to show an interest in missions who have hitherto seemed unconcerned for the world's evangelization; but that that fact alone would justify such a method of money-raising, we do not believe. Yet, if the principle of the thing is tolerable anywhere, why not adhere to it in such a case as this? For our part, we agree with those “still others” in South Carolina, who say that we all “ought to go into our pockets for the money for all such purposes, just as we do to pay our taxes and grocery bills, and not trust to any special transaction [or circumlocution, rather] to raise money for the Lord’s work.” That’s good doctrine for the South and for the North, for the East and for the West.