The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-07-27


 abundance. Moreover, because l have set my affection to the house of my God I have of my own proper good, of gold and silver. which I have given to the house os my God, over and above all that l have prepared for the holy house. And he rejoiced with great joy and blessed the Lord because the people also offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willing ly to the Lord It is in this same spir- 1t you, dear people, have given to build this church. It will be in the same spirit, I am sure, you will continue to lavish your gifts upon 1t that 1t may be adorned so as to be a yet more meet dwelling place of Almighty God, And as you determine all you possibly can that Gods house may be thoroughly furnished and earnestly and reverently cared for, so will you make up your mind that Gods dues shall be always paid. Of all that God gives you render Him back the tenth. This is no mere Mosaic institution. Abraham, who gave tithes to Malchizidel, and Jacob, whose rules we ale now co sidering, lived long before the giving of the law, so they are not done away by the gospel. For they are part of the rule of faith and love, which recognizes the hand of God in all that we enjoy and never omits to give Him of His own. Let us trust
 God with the tenth of all, and see if He will not pour us out blessing, since with all our sacrifices He Is we'll pleased. All the more conscientiously should we do this in a church which looks to it's support entirely from the free will offerings of the people wor- shippers. It is carrying on the finances of the parish according to the lofty ideal that as our Lord through His sac rifices upon the cross freely offered sal vation to all men, so should His church
 where His gospel of good tidings is preached proclaim it's message with open doors through which all men with out distinction, the high and the low the rich and the poor, may enter with equal rights, as equally Gods children, and worship Him without the imposi- tion of a tax. But the abolition of the annual pew rent is surely not intended to enable people to do their religion
 cheaper, but in order that church work
 may be supported in the church's way,
 by aims, hallowed for the sacred uses for which they are destined. In free church there is a tacit understanding
 that God alone shall be the arbiter of His peoples charities, which are to im- itate in their degree the secrecy and
 munifcense of Him to whom they are offered day by day. In so far as things
 human and divine can be compared. ho nf hn counterpart in it's constancy of our l spiritual benefits, and accordingly the
 amount offered should bear some re- | mote reference to our estimate of the value of gifts received. The abuse to | which the offertory is exposed is mani | fest when it is remembered that the mean and the selfish can thus profit by an arrangement which leaves them to | judge the amount due from them for services they are most likely to under 1 rate. But we refuse to believe that men will be so mean and selfish as to obtain the comfort of seat, the shelter of a noble building, the enjoyment of | sacred association, the contagion of | united devotion, the services of organ ist, choir and priest, and then fraudu- lently estimate their obligation. By | making seats in this church free we put men upon their honor as in the sight of God, and we do not believe | that those who worship here will dis appoint the confidence reposed in them by refusing to lay by on the first day of | the week as God hath prospered them. | It is only by thus devoting ourselves l and our substance to the service. of | God that the vision of Bethel will be- | come one of the realities of our life. l For we shall gain due intercourse with | the Eternal Father, through the one mediator who stands alone between the
 sinful and the all holy. Through Him ] messages of peace will come to us from
 above, both in our sorrow and our | joys; and words of thankfulness and
 praise shall ever arise from our hearts, ! acceptable to God through Jesus 1 Christ /"