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THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. EDWARD NILES.
Theme: Systematic Giving.
Brooklyn, N. Y. —Sunday morning
the Rev. Edward Niles, pastor of the
South Bushwick Reformed Church,
preached on “Systematic Giving.”
The text was from Mark 12:41:
“Jesus sat down over against the
treasury and beheld how the multi
tude cast money into the treasury.”
Mr. Niles said:
The stage setting of this scene is
a court of the temple area. Around
three sides of its 200 feet square sur
face ran a raised balcony for the
■women. Against the wall on the
fourth side stood thirteen trumpet
like chests, narrow at the mouth,
wide at the bottom. A placard told
the purpose for the money deposited
in each. One and two received the
tribute money of every Israelite which
paid the running expenses of the tem
ple. including salaries.
In three and four were deposited
the equivalent in coin for the sin of
fering of animals. The next three
provided for the sacrificial wood, in
cense and furnishing. The labels of
the other six showed that they re
ceived thapk offerings of various
kinds. Nearby was a miniature
“chamber of the silent” for gifts to
educate the children of the poor.
Thus seven of these fourteen treas
ury boxes -were for dues obligatory
upon the members of God’s visible
kingdom. The seven for offerings of
gratitude, supported disabled priests
and their widows, taught those who
could not afford tuition fees, supplied
the needy, went for proselyting or
mission work.
The time was Tuesday of Holy
Week. The characters were a multi
tude. Every one of them patronized
the tithe boxes, many those for chari
ty. The two important characters
were:
First—A widow. She had come to
pay her dues. All she had were two
what were vulgarly called “lepta” or
“peelings,” the smallest possible of
coppers. To drop one into the tithe
box meant one-half instead of the
prescribed tenth, but to give less was
impossible. To support her church
was a matter of course, however, and
without hesitation she put in. Only
a lepton left for her living! Then
she looked at the boxes for benefi
cence. She thought not of her wants,
but of her blessings. With joy that
at least a lepton was hers to give, she
made her offering for the needy.
The chief character was Jesus. He
had watched the rivers of gold and
silver flowing into the treasury, and
it must have been a bright spot in
that sad week to note how many gave
the free-will offerings. The disciples,
glad at the amounts given, knowing
the need of widows, orphans, slum
workers, said: “The people are very
generous to-day, Rabbi.” Jesus was
interested in the amounts the givers
took away, supremely intent upon the
mind rather than the money. He had
no word to say until the widow made
her supreme sacrifice. He felt no
pity for her; but pleasure in her as
He made the startling statement,
“She has cast in more than all they
that are casting into the treasury.”
We would naturally have expected
the Great Teacher to have sat over
against the pulpit, watching how
some eloquent rabbi expounded and
applied the law and how the congre
gation listened; or in some quiet
place of the choir loft beholding how
the cantor led and the great choir of
Levites rendered the worship of
praise and the chorus took it up. Un
doubtedly, He noted these things, but
the only inspired record of His in
terest in the temple worship tells of
His sitting against the treasury. The
concrete result of preaching and
praise appealed to Him more than
their matter in preparation or their
method in delivery.
As He was then, so He is to-day.
The essential in our worship is how
we cast into God’s treasury. That
part of the service should be the ser
vice’s centre. The Communion table
is its only fit receptacle. To adver
tise “No Collection” is to eviscerate
worship and turn it into a combina
tion lecture and concert. Money is
the tangible evidence of work accom
plished. Our work belongs to God,
and the more it is consecrated, the
more of ourselves we dedicate to
Him.
In systematic support of the church
this congregation has made rapid
progress. The average given by each
member, man, woman and child, is
larger now than ever before. I said
“given.” The word is misleading.
We don’t "give” our taxes to pay for
schools, teachers, books and janitors.
When we go to a musicale, we don’t
give our dollar for a seat, nor do we
give something to the doctor or the
roofer, when we pay their bills.
Taxes for religious instruction in
the Sunday school, for church prop
erty, repairs and improvements,
for music, for a man to spend all his
time in the care of souls and thus
be as proficient as the man we pay
to give all his time to the care of
bodies, are obligatory in England,
Germany and Russia. They are vol
untary here, but no less really the
equivalent of value received, the New
Testament continuation of the tem
ple dues.
I am beholden to none of you if,
as the preacher of the Gospel. I live
by the Gospel. You are beholden to
me to see that the time I ought to use
for my work is not diverted to wor
rying over my modest bills.
The one mite was the widow’s due.
Her credit that far was the simple one
of any person who does his duty.
Her glory is that because the times
were hard she did not omit giving
for some one else. Because she
put her beneficence on the same
basis with her obligations, she is im
mortalized. To speak of the widow’s
mite is a misnomer. One important
lesson of the story is that of the du
plex system taught by the widow’s
two mites.
The spirit of that double offering is
inspiring the laymen of our Ameri
can churches. During the winter sev
enty-five men’s missionary conven
tions in the United States consider
this question. Already, crowds of
business men have come together at I
twenty places, in numbers never
equalled before outside of political
conventions. The largest halls were
too small to hold the enthusiasts de
, termined to finance the Kingdom of
God as they do their own business.
Determinedly they have attacked the
hoary custom of weekly offerings for
self and yearly offerings for unselfish
ness, and advoca'ed the substitute of
which this widow woman was ,a
pioneer.
. The weekly envelope has two com
’ partments, one or the tax, one for
. the gift. The tax goes for church ex
’ penses. The object of the gift for
each Sunday is plainly printed. Every
! other week it is for missions, city,
• national or foreign. The alternate
’ week it goes for some other benefi
cence.
! The only objections I have heard to
' this plan are:
First—“lts additional expanse.”
* In reality ,1000 sets of fifty-two du
■ plex envelopes in each, cost but ?1G
’ more.than the other kind.
> Second-—“lts complexity.” One
‘ use of it will make clear its meaning
1 to the eight-year-old child. The du
! plex system has no duplicity. It is
1 simplex in all but the name.
Third —“Its arbitrary allotments.”
The church officers have carefully
' considered all the charities in which
’ our congregation or any considerable
1 part of it are interested, and ad
; justed their proportionate needs. -It
is a simple matter for anyone who
’ wishes to give one a larger percentage
> than thus allotted and a smaller to
' another cause to write over the one
1 the name of the other. The treas
urer will invariably note the change.
■ Only be sure to substitute rather than
’ omit! The most common criticism is
' that “it robs Peter to pay Paul.” The
contributor will simply divide into
1 two what formerly he gave to one.
' Fourth —I have heard from many
1 churches who have tested the theories
here expounded. Not one of them
but reports substantial increase in
’ the amount given for the local
' church. One of the largest congre
! gations of our own denomination,
' which for ten years found itself with
! a deficiency each May 1, last year, at
the close of its first use of the two
' offering envelope, had a balance in
’ the treasury, despite unusual ex
; penses. This is but a sample testi
mony, the unexceptional rule. It ac
■ cords with the law of the kingdom,
* “there is that which withholdeth
5 more than it meet and it tendeth to
' poverty.”
, The fifth objection is “possible in
ability to carry out the promise.”
' Don’t' dress your charity in widow’s
weeds unless you are poor as the
I widow of the two “peelings.” If so,
; give less. Don’t stop giving, unless
' all income stops. With God, the
value is not in the quantity, but the
i quality.
Against these five objections, I
would array five of the many bene-
1 fits:
1. Consecration. At the treasury
I Christ beheld “how” (not how much)
I the multitude cast. He wants you to
, give, not because He needs it, but be
. cause you need it. Weekly giving is
j an antidote vs. covetousness, a weekly
j reminder of whose we are and whom
I we serve. The nickel piece for which
. the poorest of us has a dozen uses
, means more to Christ than the super
; fluity of the rich, although written in
four figures. With the method now
. adopted, the minister is relieved from
that hateful announcement: “The of
[ sering this morning is for our own
. church support,” and from a prayer
. which is largely over his own salary.
With the new giving is the new recog
; nition that our field is the world.
2. Committal. It is committal to
I a principle. Having once gone
- through the agony of giving up for
• a year to “the other man” a certain
part of our income, while the conval
escence may be slow, the acute pain
’ is over. From that time we are cus
> todians of the Lord’s money, our duty
. being simply to hand it out. With
other causes, apparently of equal
i worth, we have nothing to do, unless
. our income is suddenly increased.
Otherwise we are “immune.” Some
other person must take care of them.
I If we have given all we can in the
“deacon’s fund” compartment, when
. a hard luck story comes to our door,
. without a twinge of remorse we can
. send the applicant to a deacon’s care.
, 3. Comprehension. Every one giv-
. ing means every one interested.
, Great causes being more frequently
. and regularly before you, you will want
to know more about your frequent in
' vestment. A once a year advertise
ment is good. A once a week adver
tisement that your responsibilities
and privileges are unbounded makes
meaningful your prayer. “Thy king
dom come on earth.”
. 4. Consecutiveness. Annual col-
lections are variable as the weather
and the state of the general health.
They can be and are annually dodged
by otherwise regular worshipers.
The double envelope is a faithful re
minder to those ill, out of town, or
otherwise absent one Sunday that
their gifts will be expected by the
Great Head of the Church just the
same. The sinews for the war against
sin should not depend upon the
clouds, nor the emotional result from
either a poor presentation of a good
cause or a fine presentation of a poor
cause.
5. Convenience. Most people are
paid monthly or weekly. The woman
who could not give $25 in a lump
sum could easily give fifty cents fifty
two times a year. One dollar comes
harder than ten cents a week. In a
year, it is onlj’ one-fifth as much to
the cause. If the home church de
pended upon annual collections for
its support it would be dead.
Only the inherent energy of mis
sions keeps missions alive during
these weary annual offering years.
While the board knows that a church
will give, because its “foreign mis
sion Sunday” comes at the end of the
year, while foreign mission expenses
go on all through the year, good
money goes for interest on borrowed
capital to supply this deficiency.
Christ confronts every Christian
with “send or go! Your money or
your life!” Your money is your
iife’s expression. Our rendering per
head for running expenses is six times
that of our gift to God. I have no
sarcastic comparisons to make. I but
say your own thought, “These things
ought not so to be." I announce the
adoption of a plan for changing them.
I remind you that machinery is no
I value without power.
1 PRIME MINISTER OF ENGLAND.
J
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HERBERT HENRY ASQUITH.
1
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i Novel Skirt Gauge.
i Inventors are divided into two
1 classes —those that invent skirt
gauges and those that invent other
’ things, and the latter are only slightly I
t in the majority. One of the former.
. a California man, designed the skirt
i gauge shown in the illustration.
This consists in a base plate, with
- guide ways and an upright backing i
' plate. A guage plate, corresponding I
i I
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3
3
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v with the backing plate, is movably
1 mounted on the base and is held in
* position by a spring. The gauge plate
’ has a series of slots running up to it
to permit of the garment being
1 marked. The skirt is placed between
the two upright plates and the device
j is moved around its whole circumfer
c ence. The amount to be taken off the
r j garment is measured on the gauge
1 i plate, and by means of a piece of
’ ■ chalk this length can be marked off
_1 aS the device circles the cloth. As
y ! will be readily noted, the line thus
i | drawn is necessarily accurate and
1 ; there is no danger of taking off more
s I cloth in one part than in another.—
• Boston Post.
3
A Non-Subscriber.
A Texas editor refuses to publish
obituary notices of people who, while
i : living, failed to subscribe for his pa
. ; per and gives this pointed reason:
- । “People who do not take their home i
• I paper are dead anyway and their ■
J passing away has no news value.” . ।
A Useful Man.
“See him? That’s the baby ele- i
s phant. He’s the best kicker in the 1
5 team.” “How far can he kick?” i
- ; “Oh, he doesn’t kick far, he kicks I
: hard. He’s disabled thirty-seven this I
season.”—Public Opinion. I
r i
: A large majority of aliens admitted
to the port of New York are under
: fourteen years of age. j
,
t THE VERY SUPERIOR NEW RICH.
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। Mr. Parvenu (to his host) —“At my house my daughters each has a ;
■ Biano of her own.”—From Pele Mele.
The Mother of Invention.
An insurance man in a small town
was giving a dinner to a friend par
! ticularly high up in insurance circles.
' Alas! he recalled at the last moment
his friend smoked. It was too late.
Every cigar stand w r as closed. What
i could he do? An idea occurred to him
| and he went out into the hall. There
I hung his friend’s overcoat. It might
j contain —he was now searching the
pockets. In a moment he brought
i forth a cigar.
! Nonchalantly he returned to the
; library. “Ah,” he said, pausing on
the threshold, “here is an unusually
I fine cigar. Will you not try it? I
I don’t smoke, you know.”
Car Seats on Lever.
Aside from the question of comfort,
' the thing that limits the distance be
tween car seats is the space needed
for the turning of the backs of these
seats. A Philadelphia man has elim
inated this feature by inventing a
mechanism which turns alternate
seats automatically, and not only
saves space, but saves the conductor
time. This device consists of a lever
mechanism running under the seats
and connecting with the backs. Ther*
are two levers, each operating alter
nate seats, so that when one series
are turned the others remain station
ary. and there is no interference be-
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I. !i I
Jj; L -J k,
tween them. Who has not seen a
conductor passing through a train or
trolley at the end of a run and turn
ing the seats one by one? With this
device the whole two rows of seat
backs can be reversed with two move
ments, either by hand or by means of
the compressed air which operates
the brakes, as it is easy to harness
the levers to this power.—Washing
ton Star.
At last reports there were 61,158
postoffices in this country.
in Bad Fix
“I had a mishap at the age of 41, tAich left me in bad
fix,” writes Mrs. Georgia Usher, of Conyers, Ga.
“I was unconscious for three days, and after that I
would have fainting spells, dizziness, nervousness, sick
headache, heart palpitation and many strange feelings.
“I suffered greatly with ailments due to the change of
life and had 3 doctors, but they did no good, so I concluded
to try Cardui.
“Since taking Cardui, I am so much better and can do
all my housework.”
“CARDU!
CC4I
The Woman’s Tonic
Do not allow yourself to get into a bad fix. You might
get in so bad you would find it hard to get out.
Better take Cardui while there is time, while you are
still in moderately good health, just to conserve your strength
and keep you in tip top condition.
In this way your troubles, whatever they are, will grad
ually grow smaller instead of larger—you will be on the
up-grade instead of the down —and by and bye you will
arrive at the nortli pole of perfect health.
Get a bottle at your druggists’ today.
Hesitation is half assent.
Don’t accept a substitute for Perry Darin’
Painkiller. Nothing is as good forrheutna
tisrn, neuralgia and similar troubles.
Be brave in disaster.
£ £ ■;
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I If you will but examine it you will see its superiority
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POTASH
Potash has a direct relation to the increase
in your bank account. It is like money put into a
successful manufacturing plant. It pays dividends.
Potash produces more and better crops, Kt 7W
and the difference between a good bank balance
and none at all, frequently is — Potash II
Potash Pays H
Potash isn’t all there is to fertilizing, but XII V
it is so essential that you must consider it. / n
Urge your fertilizer dealer to carry // Use
Potash Saks in stock. He will have ! I 10010
no trouble in buying them if he will 200 pounds
write to US about it. yl of Potash per
GERMAN KAL! WORKS ^4 °
Continental Building Baltimore, Md. '
I The man who has a good disposi
tion always disposses well of his
= worldly goods.
Matchmakers are often sent to the
j sulphurous regions.
