St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1903-03-04
Ben. Purse, or My Experience in
Giving.
TBy Rev. c. f. Morse. ]

paid the fora, ne WOulu tudUIS us " pa
Others. She promised five dollars 70
preaching, and | carried butter at II
cents a pound and eggs at 10 cents I
dozen to pay it. She CONTINUED to give
and we began to prosper. The debt
were eventually paid, and there wa
something left for old age. Do we no
learn from this that Christians SHOULD
give, though in debit Do we not alsC
see why some good people are not NOR
prospered
My next experience was as follows
had begun to prepare for the ministry
had to teach to defray expenses. hac
opened a select school, but the first weel
tn, re were not scholars enough to pay
expenses. Saturday read the report o
the meeting of the Board in Salem, wher
$40, 900 we're raised on the spot. The
thrilling speeches of the donors were
given. felt that the difficulty with me
was that gave nothing to the Lord.
PRAYED over 1t and sent two dollare-
halt had, and that borrowed money
to the Lord. Monday my school doubled
and continued to increase till | had 66
pupils. The best OF all was that the
Spirit of the Lord was poured out, and
there was precious revival. | returned
to school, and benevolent gentleman
sent tor me and promised me fifty dollars
a year towards my education. These
great blessings associated with the CIV
ing, in my poverty, OF the two dollars.
rithing: | went 'as a missionary to
Turkey, ard was assigned to the Bull
earian work. The Armenian Mission
was agitated, at the time, with the sub
Jet Of hthing The missionaries felt
that if the native churches were ever
brought up to selI-support, they must
give more. They apportioned a certain
amount as the condition OF help. The
churches thought it impossible to raise
the amount. The problem was solved by
one OF the pastors resolving to give a
tenth. He prepared sermon on tith1ng,
the famous sermon ol"Blind Johannes,
and preached it to his people. They
adopted the principle, and, to their great
su prise, they raised the whole OF the
pastors salary and that OF their teacher,
and had almost as much more besides.
The churches generally adopted tithing,
and were greatly blessed. The sermon
was translated into Bulgarian. One OF
the ethlen tithed ten-acre wheat field.
The growth was large. Just before har-
vestne a hailstorm swept over the place.
but it did not touch the " heat field. The
brt thren regarded it as an evident indi-
cation OF Gods approval of tithing. |
urged t he brethren, even the poor helpers,
to adopt this method OF giving. | 1e-
turned to America and was unable to go
tacb.
had a large family and it was difficult
to get parish. My conscience troubled
me about tithing. II it was sound doc
trine in Bulgaria, it was sound doctrine in
America. To aggravate matters an in
surance company offered me $4,000 a
year to work for them. Satan said You
can never educate your children nor give
tithes." shall never forget the beauti-
iul Sabbath afternoon, when under an
oak tree consecrated myself anew, and
promised to give to the Lord 1.-THE of
all he. should give me. soon received
call with salary of 81 600. | would
gladly have accepted 5000 but the Lord
looked out that had the extra 500.
had the same salary tor several years.
The salary of ministers DIMINISHED and my
expenses increased. An opening came TO
me to become agent for cyclopGdla. |
consulted the brethren. They said, by
all means, If YOU can thereby educate
YOUR children reluctantly accepted.
| soon saw that this was Gods plan to
enable me to address the churches on
missions. Several hundred addresses
we're given. At the close OF my last pas
torate | was $50 in debt to the Lord,
and 10 my surprise, was just ten times
that amount in debt to others Up to
this time kept account OF the 1.-THE, but
had no separate purse. This seemed to
me to be the difficulty.
Ben. Purse On the first Sabbath Of
the New Year consecrated a Benevolent
Purse, which tor short was called Ben
Purse, The same day mailed the ten
dollars | received for preaching to the
American Board, and from that time
onward | endeavored to keep ten dollars
deriully blessed. In tour months | re
turned home entirely free from debt, and
had the great pleasure OF seeing three OF
my children unite with the church.
Money accumulated rapidly, and as it
did not seem safe to keep it on hand de.
cided to send it away weekly or tort
nightly to the various beLevolences to
which felt it my duty to give. 1t most
ly went into the benevolent envelopes OF
the church.
MY next experience was with the week.
| IL, 4Ga A. - l.,
Ben. Purse. But the offering of the Jews
was over and above the 1.-THE, and | de
cidtd that providing my family with re
ligious instruction was properly tam
lily expense, and should not be taker
from the 1.-THE but from the nine. tenths
So of the thank offering: it should not
{ be taken from the 1.-THE
My next experience was in regard &c
educating my children. had a son pre-
pairing TOR the ministry. Why should
not help him? But If used the 1.-THE tC
educate my large family, it would take il
all. So decided that the education o
the children should be taken from tn,
nlue-tenthS.
My experience in giving has fully con
vinc,d me, that 1t is the duty of al
christians, however poor, or large thei
families, to give a tenth to the Lord
The ews were required to do it; VIII
should Christians, upon whom create
obligations rest, give less? There ma
, be times when, as on the day OF Pent,
cost, they should give more, but the nth
IS the least any Christian should give.
fully believe in the Stewardship OF Chri
. tians. All they have should be admins
tered for the Lord, but this is limited t
the nine-tenths. Over aud above Thu
the Lord requires one.tenth to be sacrec
ly set apart for His use. The 1.-THE