The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1868-03-25
FoR THE CENTRAL PREsBYTERlAs.
Manners of the Pew.
NO. XIII.

poses. God has ordained that every
grace shall have its appropriate express
sion. The grace of love finds It's expires
sion in giving of our substance to the
Lord. 1t requires no labored exegesis
to show that the amount contributed is a
pretty fair index of the amount, or rather
the degree of love in the congregation.
after making due allowance for the pow
erty of the widow who may perchance
"cast in all her living"
1t is the custom for the minister to give
previous notice of the collection to be
taken up; and at the appointed time the
proper officer passes hat, or plate, or
box, or bag along the pews for the con-
tributions of the people. The hat is in
the most general use. shall therefore
use that term to desi ignate all. 1t re-
quires some care on the part of the Off
Ger, and some presence of mind also to
endDle Hlul 10 Oucl Iuc hdt w ole ~ 10
quite as embarrassing to some men to
pass through the congregation on this
service as it would be for them to attempt
public address. The consequence is
that the service is often very imperfectly
done. The hat often passes by regular
contributors, even when they are trying
to catch the eye of the bearer. Where
the people are sitting closely in the pew,
they might greatly assist the officer by
passing the hat along from hand to hand,
and thus every one can either contribute
or refuse. Whereas it often happens
that the officer merely gives the hat a
sort of flourish as he passes the end Of
the pew, and fails entirely to get the of.
fering of some modest contributor who
is waiting for the hat to come near
enough for him to reachit. The remoter
parts or The congregation receive often 4
! mere flourish Of the hat over severa
pews at once; and the eye of the bearer
passes as rapidly as the hat, so that those
who desire to make a contribution are
overlooked. These do not often make
any demonstration, for, says Satan most
opportunely, that would be ostentati
ous." The galleries are frequently pass
ed by entirely, as if the Lord surely has
no money there.
1t sometimes happens, on the other
band, that the progress of the hat is
greatly retarded in this way. Some good
brother is very anxious to give twenty.
FIVE cents. But he has nothing smaller
than FIVE dollar bill. He is stimulated
moreover by the thought that the. small
change in the hat may possibly assist him
materially in his business transactions
the next day. So he drops in the bill
and commences taking the change for
himself, discourtesy which he would
hardly permit in customer at his
own money drawer. The bearer Of
the hat has not the presence of mind to
tell him to wait till after service to make
the change, and he is too courteous to in
terfere with his counting and lingering.
More time is consumed than is even ne
cessary in this transaction, because the
money changer is suspicious of the cur
rency, and feels constrained to examine
each piece carefully, because he knows
the proneness of many to put off uncur-
rent money OH the Lord. AS case in
point it is very common just now to find
quite a proportion of short currency in
the hat at the close of the service. This
however brings US to few suggestions to
contributors, which rather pertain to the
"manners before God than merely be-
fore men.
/. Let all contribute-the men, the
women and the children. Almsgiving as
mere worship and as means of grace is
as necessary to one as to another. Ger
tainly Christians can find no excuse. The
very children should be taught to giue,
just as they are taught to pray. 1t may
be objected that almsgiving is the fruit
of love in the heart, and we cannot ex-
pect to find it in a mere child. l reply
that the same is true of prayer and every
other duty. None can estimate the i'm
portance of teaching right habits in order
to inculcate right principles. Let all con-
tribute. 1t is hardly competent for the
head of family TO contribute for all.
Nor do | mean that the head Of the fami.
ly shall divide his contribution among all
his family. This may be better than fol
them not to give at all. But mean that
each member of the family should con
tribute from his own resources. The
older members by self-deDial and labor Of
some sort, may always contribute some
thing, while the children can be taugh
to save their pennies for the treasury o
the Lord.
! z. Co;si-ibute the best you can. The