The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-11-08
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
DEAN H. MARTYR HART.
Subject: Tlthing-The Social Problem.

DenVer, COl.-Deuu II. marty t1oss'
o. the St. Johns Cathedral. recently
preached a sermon Oh "~Tithing-the
Divine Solution Of the Social Prob
lem" The text was from Matthew
xxii:21: Render. therefore, unto
Caesar the things which are Caesars
and unto God the things which are
Gods" Dean Hart said:
rIt surely was no just argument that
because the head of Caesar was upon
the coin it therefore belonged to him
and ought to be returned to the i'm
perial treasury, any more than be-
cause the efigy Of the king is struck
upon the English sovereign that there
fore all sovereigns are his property.
"You will notice that the Lord a
said. Show me the tribute money A
bystander offered the coin, which lay
in the extended palm Of the Lords
hand. The Jews have ever been the
most precocious of money dealers.
Had the Romans permitted them to
pay their taxes in all manner Of coins
great would have been the loss to the
exchequer; therefore q coin was
struck, and there are still some OF
them to be seen. in which alone 1t was
la Il to pay the tax. This coin mad
to be purchased from the publican OF
the district. who looked after his OWL
interests. The tribute money went to
Rome, to the imperial treasury.
1.-The man who had produced the
coin had already acknowledged his
liability and had provided himself with
the means of l%iquidating it. The coin
was only of use for the one purpose;
that one thing was the payment OF the
tribute. The questioner had answered
himself. Fulfill your Obligation said
the Lord, and render unto Caesar the
things that be Caesars. and do not
forget that the power of Caesar is only
the representative of the higher power
r. whom kings reign, and If you admit
the authority of the servant by so
much more should you recognize the
authority Of the Master: render. there
fore. unto God the things that are
Gods What, then. are the things
of Cod which we are required to rel.
der unto Him? ~"..
"If the context requires that the
parallel shall be continued, and it is ID
a sum of money that the answer must
be given. then the only reply can be
that one-tenth of every mans income
is a thing Of God Now what evil
dence have we that this is so and what
is the purpose Of the law?
1.-THE ultimate appeal as to what is
9TH must be the opinion of the race.
the opinion of all men could be
taken as to the truth or falsity of any
proposition, that would be a final de-
Termination. When anybody is in
doubt of a legal or medical question,
the only solution Of the doubt Is an ap-
peal to men of the legal or medical
professions. 'Counsel's opinion is
taken, or the sufferer goes to a doctor.
If it were possible to extend this
natural instinct to the limits OF hu.
mainly and upon any question or
grave import the opinion OF all men
could be ascertained, then that express
sion would be as nearly truth as 1t Is
possible for US men to arrive at.
"The Lincolnian canon is as sure a
rule as the most firmly established
axiom. you cannot fool all the peo-
ple all the time There are, at least
double the number of Bibles in the
world as there are all other books put
together. If the list of the libraries
in the world be taken out of an en-
cyclopedia and the number of their
volumes added, it will be found that
in all the libraries which possess over
100, 600 volumes there are 5O,OOO,UOo
books, and If we allow that there are
as nan books in household libraries
as in these great public collections,
which is making a liberal estimate. we
may safely conclude that there are
not more than 100000 secular
books in the world. But during the
last century the leading Bible societies
of Europe and America put out more
than 200, 600, 900 Bibles, in 300 differ
ent languages. The British and For
eign Bible Society turns out OF its
presses seven Bibles, or parts Of the
Bible, every minute, day and night.
1t is, therefore, the opinion OF the race
that this Book is the most valuable
thing in the world as the Archbishop
off Canterbury describes it, as he hand
ed a copy to the ~new-crowned king.
"The opinion Of the ace is that the
Bible is a book Of truth; that 1t is
what it processes to be-the revelation
of the heavenly Father to the children
Of men. Now if this be the case, II
would be strange indeed if this com
m%unication from outside our life did
not instruct US as to the great desider'
alta of every individual. Let any one
ask himself what would make him
perfectly happy and content in this
present state of existence.
1.-THE reply would be: First, to have
a conscience void of ~offense; next, to
have no fear Of death. but n looking
forward to a glory to be revealed
and finally, to be removed from any
anxiety as to the necessities of living
AS we should expect. the answers to
these essential requirements OF lie
are given on the very first page OF
human history.
"In the dramatic story Of Cain and
Abel the three provisions for satisfy
ing these three fundamental wants
are plainly stated. These two broth
ers came together on the same day, al
the same time, to the same place, TO,
the same purpose; there were two
affairs and each brought material foi
sacrifice.
1.-THE essential truth Of sacrifice. de-
spite the immense ingenuity which
has been employed to explain it away
remains stamped upon it. Millions OF
intelligent men have brought an limo
cent victim to an altar erected to the
unseen but recognized Cog. Putting
their hands on the head Of the victim,
they confessed the sins which lay q
burden on their conscience; they thus
killed the s%acrifcial. animal; they
burnt part Of it and ate the rest of it
It would be an insult to the intelli'