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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
son’s heart than to be told, after doing something worth while, “You are your father’s son, all right.” Commending his Heavenly Father’s love to his fel lows by manifesting it in his own con-, duct is one of the great rewards. The happiness that conies from the' con sciousness of helping another who is in greater need than himself, is another reward. The assurance that our Heav enly Father is pleased when we act thus, is another reward. The enjoy ment of His own loving generosity from day to day, for He repays lavishly. The anticipation of His personal approval when we see Him are other worth-while rewards. HI. Seven Ways of Giving. We have often used the following, from a circular published in Chicago some years ago. Seven Ways of Giving. II The careless way: To give some thing to every cause that is presented without inquiring into its merits. 2. The impulsive way: To give from impulse—as much •and’ as often as love and piety and sensibility prompt. 3. The lazy way: To make a special offer to earn money for benevolent objects by fairs, festivals, etc. 4. The self-denying way: To save the cost of luxuries, and apply them to purposes of religion and charity. This may lead to asceticism and self-com placence. 5. The systematic way: To lay aside as an offering to God a definite portion of our gains—one-tenth, one- fifth, one-third or one-half. This is adapted to all whether rich or poor, and gifts would be largely increased if it were generally practiced. 6. The equal way: To give to God and the needy just as much as we spend on ourselves, balancing all our personal expenditures by our gifts. 7. The heroic way: To limit our own expenditure to a certain sum, and give away all the rest of our income.
This was John Wesley’s way.—Dr. A. T. Pierson. For leaflets on Tithing, address The dayman I Company, 143 N. Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. The lesson today will be a diflicult one to teach. There is a marked con trast between the material in Luke 6 and Matthew 5, where we had the principles of the HEART OF THE kingdom of God LESSON AND which should be PRACTICAL POINTS in operation in His kingdom. A better lesson on Christian giving will be found in 2 Cor. 8:1-15 where the whole principle is laid down for the church. There are, however, good, wholesome lessons here if we can avoid the tendency to literalize in the teach ing. Perhaps these words will help us in teaching the truth set forth here,— The Motive; the Manner; The Measure of Giving. The Motive in our Christian giving should be love to God, for ’’whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God.” Love to God finds its expression in our love to men; the only way we show our love to God is to lav ish it upon the .children of men. We are to give because it is God-like. God is a giver, the Giver of every good and perfect gift. God loves to give; He gave His Son, and with Him he will freely give us all things. By nature, we are selfish, and we need to cultivate the habit of the new nature which is that of giving. The Manner of Giving: We should give wisely. The text says “Give to him that asketh thee.” If a man asks for a revolver we would not feel under obligation to give it to him. Suppose a man asked you for a hundred dollars and you had it.^would you feel a nec essity laid upon you to give it to him? If a drinking man asks for mondy, you would not feel obliged to respond to
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