It Pays to Give to the Lord

“A clergyman states, that soon after he dedicated himself to the service of Christ, he resolved, as Jacob did, ‘Of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give a tenth unto thee, Of the first $500 he earned, he gave $130, and in such a way that it incited a wealthy friend to give several hundreds more, including a donation of $100 to this clergyman himself. For four years, the clergyman says, My expenses were small, my habits economical, and the only luxury in which I indulged was the luxury of giving. In the two first of these years I was permitted to give $500.” On a review of my ministry of about sixteen years,’ he adds, ‘I find God has graciously permitted me to give to the cause of my Redeemer nearly $1,200, by which amount about forty life memberships have been created in various evangelical societies. During all these years God has prospered me; has given me almost uninterrupted health; has surrounded me with sweet domestic ties; and my congregation, by means in part perhaps of a steady example, have given vbore in these sixteen years than in all their long previous history.”