The daily Republican., 1902-12-29
sWill A Man Rob God" Text
Taken by the Rev. John
Shape.
WANTSREVIYAL OF GIVING
Says That Country Last Year
y Spent s2o,ooo,ooo for 1
Chewing Gum and So !.
Il, 1000, 900 for Missions n :

young man earns In The day goes int.
MS pocket; what he spends in the
night goes into his clara ractcr." If
this be true, then both what he earns
and what he spends il Il chief Con-
Eern aud study. His earning capacity
$ his God granted Trains and health;
bis spending capacity Is usually large.
y developed and largely perverted.
know OF nothing OH which ChrsLa II
" Instruction has been 50 remiss as on
The subject of Chrstau giving. We
have 90 me to feel that to touch the
subject Of money is to touch tender
spot, and that we had better speak
carefully lest we wouud ami harm.
Most peoples conscience is in their
pocket, and like Il Jack in The -Doy, it
Jumps when the purse is opened. Only
In this case these people mistook con-
science fox sensitiycness not to say
Bellishness.
For ten years I have neglected to
speak and to preach along this line.
This is my third pastorate, and in
over. one Of them. while to Home
expenses and to benevolences gifts
have been liberal, they have been
sporadic. A few ineach pastorate, a
very few, have given systematically
that isaccordiny to a regular week.
ly or monthly system. None that |
ran now name in this pastolate OF iu
the others, have given proportionate-
sy--that is according to full ability.
A few have given distributively, that
is according to an intelligent under.
standing of tho relative claims of
various benelicences. Many have
given spasmodically, that is-ac-
cording to spasms under the ill-
pulse OF the moment as tho pastor
or OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES has pre-
Bented the claims Of tho various OBJ
jects A few, Iwant to believe many
, have given prayerfully, that is
dropping their gift and upliftiu,
their prayer simultaneously, and
thus making the first twice blessed.
The CRYING need Of the church to-
day Is Revival OF Giving" We
are trying 10 prove God without
bringing all tine tithes into the store
house. The church Of Jesus Christ
is mean, despicabiy mean, aud
miserIy. The Melhollsts have
acknowledged their weakness aud
are strcug glhenlng themselves aud
lhe work OF the Kingdom by their
Twentieth Century Offering. The
prcsbytcriaus are the basC givers
d the world--but they too are peu-
Ing their eyes to the great need OF ID
IaTser li6c1 ality. The Baptists
give illty cents apiece for Foreign
Missions, while the average for all
denominations is forty cents, for
each member. Think OF it as much
In one year for Foreign Missions as
many Baptist woman apends every
Saturday night for Il box Of choco-.
la'e' not to speak OF In opera box
Oh Thursday night.
10 The United States OF America
10 one year we spend for chewing
gum 1000. 900; for peanuts, $lO,-
voc, ,0O0:for tobacco, $500, 900, OOO:for
drink, s. 400, 600. 900; for Missions,
81 600 600. Last Easter Sunday in
New York City alone $1,000, OOC
were sent for cut flowers. THINK
si !t-oniy two and one half times as
much 10 all the cities of this fair
land on hfty-two Sundays Tor Mis-
bicns as for cut flowers in one city on
one Sunday. Oh, my brethren, will
a man rob God? Is 1t not time tor
us to hear some plain words on the
subject OF Christian giving? Isit
not true that it Christ has not con.
verified The pocket book the heart Is
Still unforgiycn: Is not benevolence
determined not by how much we
give. but by how much we have left
over after the gift is made
Tile poor widow of the 60 spell
story gave more than all, bcca use
she gave all. Can we count our.
he'ves gultless in the sight of God,
In respect to the matter of Chris
tian giving while the average gilt
'ot each church member in America
10 just one ninth OF cent a day
for The redemption of the nations.
The women of America spend
more for kid.lOves than the church
does !or missions; the men OF Amer.
lea pan away in tobacco smoke
many times as much money in one
year as the church gave for the
l'vang gc!lzation Of the world 10 a
century. One church In this coun.
'Ify pays one soprano enough 10
support two miss sionar,es aud one
hundred native preachers on the
iield. We spend $3.50, 600 to see one
Football game; $4,000 for a single
banquet aud 5000. 900 for a wed.
--ng And leave our Mission Boards
. lder heavy debt. Do you wonder
sdat in the consideration of Better
things' in this series OF fifteen SER.
mons Better giving should occu-
py our thoughts at this fcstal sea-
son: In the consideration of the
motives of Christian giving several
things will guggest themselves. God
commands it. 1t is his right. In
the beginning He created the
Heaven and the earth. And long
sfterward insisted tnat every beast
II the field, and fowl of the noun.
iain and cattle upon a thousand hills
we're His. And later yet exclaimed
Trough the mouth of His prophet
aaggai: The silver is mine and
hn gold is mine. ", ctnnot lay
'laim even to sci p,sssssion. We
ne not our own '9r ir1 bought
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