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DUKE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HIS KING
Great-Hearted Christian Merchant Who is Running Twenty-One Stores For God in Texas—-Deeply Impresses Several
Atlanta Audiences —Modest, But Thrilling Story of Eighteen Years of Tithing.
BY THE EDITOR.
E measure our words when we say
it —we believe all the problems of
the Kingdom of God on earth would
be solved, if every Christian man
and woman would listen to the
life-story of H. Z. Duke, of Dallas,
Texas, and live out in their own
lives the thrilling truth he tells.
This modest, but masterful,
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• -
Christian merchant is visiting relatives in At
lanta this week, and although he is not a
preacher, yet, his earnest messages before the
Ministers’ Conference, and in several Churches,
were sermons of practical heart-reaching pow
er that will never be forgotten.
Hardy Duke left Carroll county, Georgia,
soon after his marriage to Miss Nannie Moseley,
nearly forty years ago, and hand in hand, they
went to seek their fortune in Texas.
Neither was a Christian then, and they did
not become Church members for a dozen years
after their marriage. Farming some and mer
chandising some, with indifferent success,
finally, eighteen years ago, this January, Hardy
Duke and his wife got on their knees down by
the stove in the back of their little store in
Bowie, Texas, and promised God to worship
Him with a full tithe of their income.
In a tract, “Fifteen Years of Tithing,” which
was published three years ago, at the request of
his Texas brethren, and which we reproduce
here for the sake of inspiring other men every
where to do likewise, Mr. Duke gives the story
of the increasing tithes, but he does not tell
something that has taken place since that tract
was written —that something with which George
Truett, his pastor, electrified the Southern Bap
tist Convention in Jacksonville, and this was
the story:
“Pastor, my working capital has now reach
ed SIOO,OOO. If I die my family is provided
for; while I live I do not need anything for
myself except what I can eat and wear; and
God has so graciously blessed us that my wife
and I have determined to give all that our
twenty-one stores make, above a living. Come
down, pastor, every week and help me distrib
ute God’s part —God’s all where it will mean
most for His cause.”
A Man of Deep Humility.
In telling the story of God’s dealings with
him, one is constantly impressed with H. Z.
Duke’s humility. The story has been literally
drawn out of him by his brethren, and, it is
given with a glow of humble, straightforward
simplicity and thankfulness which often moves
his hearers to tears. We would that every
man and woman in America could hear, and
would heed what we heard at Oakland City
Church, Atlanta, last Sunday. Here is the sub
stance of the story:
Fifteen Years of Tithing.
H. Z. Duke.
(This personal experience is given to the
public, after numerous requests from brethren
I have confidence in, hoping it may do some:
good and advance the Master’s cause.)
I went into a mercantile business known as.
the “five and ten-cent business,” in Bowie,.
Texas, in 1894, and in January following, my
pastor, Brother F. M. McConnell, and I agreed
to tithe for one year. Before the year was
out, I said, “This suits me, and I will tithe, not
for one year only, but for life. ’ ’ The business
prospered from the start, although begun in a.
small way. Having only about S7OO capital,,
doing a strictly cash business, both in buying
and selling, of course, our business was limit
ed. Yet the first year our tenth was $110; the,
second year, $154; third, $360 fourth, $388;
fifth, $330; sixth, $662; seventh, $556; eighth,
The Golden Age for January 30,1913.
$250; ninth, $556; tenth, $1,040; eleventh, $650;
twelfth, $1,223 thirteenth, $1,221; fourteenth,
$1,143; fifteenth, $2,472, and each year since our
tithe has increased proportionately.
I have tried the Lord in this business way,
and I would no more quit tithing than I would
quit providing for my family.
Tithe First —Then Make an Offering.
Some do not believe in tithing, though they
say, “No one should give less than the tenth.”
I agree with them about not giving less, but the
best way to get people to give more than a
tenth is to get them first to tithe. They will
soon want to make some offerings, at least, that
is my experience, and if a tenth belongs to the
Lord an offering is certainly above the tenth.
To take out of the Bible all that is said about
tithing would take away much of its contents
and leave us without any standard whatever
on the duty of giving. There is a standard in
the Bibb for all human conduct, and shall self
ishness have no rule in God’s word to check it?
There is suoh a standard. God’s word is not
ambiguous on the duty of giving. Covetous
ness has no excuse.
Tithing Produces System.
Tithing has systematized our business as
nothing else ever did. It is worth all it has
cost us, just for this one thing, if there is no
more in it. The Lord lays down a challenge
when he says in Luke 6 :38: “Give and it shall
be given unto you; good measure, pressed down,
and shaken together, and running over, shall
men give nito your bosom. For with the same
measure that ye mete withal, it shall be meas
ured to you again.”
After putting Him to the test for fifteen
years, I know this Scripture means just what
it says, and I am persuaded that every believer
who follows the injunction of our Master in
these words, with firm faith believes what our
Lord here says, just as he does any other prom
ise in the Scriptures, will find it just as 1 have,
and he will practice it with increasing satisfac
tion.
1 know plenty of men who, if they would say
as much to me as this Scripture says, 1 would
put them to the test. Don’t you know a man
who, if he were to ask you to lend him SSO, tell
ing you he would hand you back S6O in ten
days, you would let him have it without a note
or security? You are willing to trust him,
knowing him and believing in him as you do.
And yet the Lord says, “Give and it shall be
given unto you,” etc. Why will we trust a
man quicker and further than we do the Lord?
Because we know the man and know his ability
and honesty, and know that his honor is at
stake for this money. We do not know the prom
ise of God so well because we have never put
Him to the test, and besides, we can’t see just
how it is coming back when we let the Lord
have it like we can when we let the man have
it. And right here is where our faith is so
weak as to dishonor God.
Often in the adjustment of financial matters
in Churches some members feel that others are
not bearing a just share of the burdens. In
nearly every Church there is criticism of some
on this account. It is inevitable when giving
is not done upon the Scriptural basis.
Tithing removes all such criticism. The read
er, I am sure, never heard anyone accuse one
who tithed of not giving enough. The distri
bution of his gifts may have been thought un
wise, but the amount was commended by every
body who loved the cause of Christ. The fact
?is that the responsibility as to the amount
given by one who tithes is not on him, but on
the Lord who gives or withholds the blessing
of prosperity. Criticism of this sort is hurtful
in any phurgh; so much so that it often para-
lyzes the liberality of the membership. God’s
way of preventing it is by a definite plan of
giving. The good will and fraternal spirit re
sulting from His plan would revolutionize many
Churches if they would only follow it. The
reader can follow it and escape all such criti
cism hereafter, and set a good example for oth
ers, thus spreading a better fellowship,
We Tithe Each Other.
We would not lend a neighbor money with
which to run his business without interest,
neither would he lend us money to run business
without charging interest. So we are willing
to tithe each other, but are not willing for the
Lord to tithe us, when all we have belongs to
Him; He has let us have it to use. We use His
money year in and year out and never pay the
interest. That is not right. A business man
would not use the bank’s money, to do busi
ness on, without paying interest, and yet he will
use God’s money and not pay interest. I be
lieve it ought to be paid to God’s cause, honest
ly paid, a definite rate, and that the tithe is the
rate He has stipulated.
But, some say, “How shall the tithe be cal
culated?” I give the tithe after the running
expenses of the business are paid, in other
words, put one-tenth of the net profits to the
“Benevolent Account,” and nine-tenths to my
account to do business with and live on.
You Would Get It If It Were Coming to You.
A farmer said to me that he could not tithe
because he couldn’t tell what he was making. I
said to him that if Texas should make a law,
adding 10 per cent to his yearly income, provid
ed he kept an account of everything made and
reported it at the end of the year, he certainly
would keep an account of each pound of butter,
dozen eggs, and all vegetables and make the
report big enough, too. He wouldn’t need any
full rendition law. If we could do this when
the interest is coming our way, why not do it
when it is going God’s way. We could if we
would.
It would be interesting, and the very best
teaching and training, to take the family into
the making up of such an account, and let each
member of the family help to estimate every
thing made. It would cause all the family to
feel that God was a part of that home and busi
ness as certainly nothing else would or could.
‘ 1 God loves a cheerful giver. ’ ’ lam persuad
ed that no one can be a cheerful giver at all
times and give as he should unless he has some
thing set aside to give and is looking for a place
to put it.
What God Says.
And he gave him tithes of all. —Gen. 14:20.
And of all that thou shalt give me I will sure
ly give a tenth. —Gen. 28:22.
And all the tithe of the land whether of the
seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is
the Lord’s; it is holy unto the Lord. And con
cerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock,
even of whatsoever passeth under the rod,
the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. —Lev. 27 :
30-31.
Then contended I with the rulers, and said,
Why is the house of God forsaken? And I
gathered them together and set them in their
place. * * * Then brought all Judah the tithe,
* * * into the treasuries.—Neh. 13:11-12.
Upon the first day of the week let every one
of you lay by him in store as God has prospered
him. —I Cor. 16 :2.
This does not say, “Let each one give ac
cording to his own impulses,” but definitely,
computed, “according as God has prosper? I
him.” The part of that prosperity to be given
is the tenth— “it is the Lord’s,”
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