Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-13
1.-THE GIVING
IS DISCUSSED
METHODlSTS PLEAD FOR ONE.
TENTH INCOME
Rev. Robert s. Fisher Reads a Paper
Advocating the Laying Aside Of
the Biblical Fraction
for Churches

The subject of tithlng according to
the ancient and modern methods was
brought before the Methodist ministers
at their meeting yesterday morning at
the First Methodist church. Rev. Rob-
ert s. Fisher read the paper for dis
cussion. He said in part:
There are some who are constitu-
tionally tight and have no desire to
be loosened. They sing Justify, I'll Go
With Him All the Way but they have
never thought that he would pass by
the paying teller's window of the in
stitution where they bank. Then there
are some of the select souls who pro-
TESS to be All for Jesus so that tith-
ing their income is superfluous, since
all they have is his. Does 1t not seem
presumptuous of these people to take
money, all of which is Gods, to pay
for ice cream sodas and trips to the
beach?
The average annual income Of every
man, woman and child in this country
Is about $780,. At this low figure, how
ever, the income of Methodists would
aggregate. $780, 100000. One 1.-THE would
be $6O,0O0.000, but instead we put up a
paltry $24,000,000 and pilfer the treasury
of God at the rate of 5000, 900 annual
ly. Yet we allow ourselves to say hard
things about corporations evading their
Just proportions of taxes and then won
der why conversions are so scarce.
Methodsts Give Less
"The wealth of the country increased
$25,OOO,000,000 from 1890 to 1900, which is
more than the savings from the begin
n history fn q 1o 90 nf
independence. And yet the shame of it
is that Methodists today give less per
capita to foreign missions than thirty
years ago.
THE Chinese devote $1O0, ,OOO 900 an
nually to ancestral worship. The Nor
mons pay tithes strictly and have
money in plenty for their nefarious
brand Of propaganda.
But we Methodsts have been blow
ing our horns while we have dropped
from first to fifth place, statistically,
and we allow the United States to
spend more for one battleship than we
do in a year for all our missions. We
seem unmindful that 12,00O,O0O Of
heather die in darkness every year.
IT believe in the principle Of the
tithes rather than in the technicality.
Here Is a point for divergence in our
views of the subject. Some insist on
the exact language of the ancient law
which demands the storehouse as the
place of or the bringing in of the tithes.
Others leave this point to the Individual
and insist that 1t shall rest between a
man and his God and that the essen
tial is the paying of the tithes..
The favoring of the latter view lies
in the fact that personal RESPONSE
bility and Intelligence created and de-
veloped tends to enhance the Individual
sense of direct duty to God.
None Is Too Poor
"shall the tithe be one-tenth of our
net or gross income? I maintain that it
should be the net income.
Some contend that they are too poor
to give titheS. Neveri Never! Some
men are too poor to be in business for
themselves and are fortunate to find
employers who will exchange compen-
sation for service. This plan Is not
always agreeable, but what small
dealer would not be glad to go into
partnership with the wholesale house
at the ratio Of 10 to 1? Tithing is go
ing into partnership with God and it
Is the exercise of pitiful credulity. 1t is
no makeshift.
God shares our poverty with us. We
give him one to ten and receive from
him bonds sealed with truth and
thumbed with blood, guaranteeing to us
ten to one.
I'VE are never too poor nor too rich
to give tithes. 1t is the greatest bargain
man can strike for the life that now
is and that which is to come"
Should Be Gross Income
In the discussion which followed the
reading of the paper Presiding Elder
Atkinson thought that it should be the
tenth of the gross income in the giving
of tithes, saying that "the net would be
whitfield down to almost nothing"
In speaking of the proportions in
giving tithes Presiding Elder Adkin-
son continued:
"It seems that a man gives more
freely his 500 on his $1,000 income than
the one does the $1,000 of his $4,000. in
come. and so on in the same propor-
tion."
Rev. Mr.. Corey said that the people
nowadays paid their tithes in such a
weak way and that they ought to keep
a book account and pay systematically.
Rev. A. e. Johnson of Long Beach
said he believed that the one-tenth of
his income belonged to his God and
that he was not really giving anything
unless over and above the one-tenth.
Other ministers gave their ideas re-
garding the giving of tithes.
Rev. j. A. Johnson, in charge of the
of the Methodist churches in
San Francisco, spoke of the distressing
condition of the churches in the de-
vastated city, giving some encourage
ment of the ingathering of some of the
members that were scattered.
a In oh of fIn Al