In connection with the first-fruits and tithes let the multiplicity of Jewish sacrifices be taken into account. There were daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly sacrifices. Two lambs were offered every day - one in the morning, and the other in the evening. With each lamb was offered about half a pint of wine, half a pint of beaten oil, and three pints of flour. - The weekly sacrifice was offered every Sabbath-day, and was about the same as the daily sacrifices, but additional to it. The monthly sacrifice was offered at the beginning of every month. It consisted of two young bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year, together with meat offerings and drink offerings. (See Numbers 28) The yearly sacrifices were offered at the great festivals of the nation, and on the Day of Atonement. In addition to the regular sacrifices there were many occasional ones, the offering of which depended on various contingencies. Let all this be taken into consideration, and does it not appear that the Mosiac economy was an expensive one? How great the number of animals slain with the sacrificial knife! How constantly were Jewish altars deluged with blood! How regular the calls made for the surrender of property!The males of the nation were required to attend the annual feasts. In compliance with this requisition, they were obliged to leave their homes three times a year. Their secular pursuits must therefore have been very frequently suspended during the six years they were permitted to labor; and on every seventh year they were neither to "sow their fields, nor prune their vineyards." [Leviticus 25:4] Now, while these regulations were well adapted to impress the Israelites with a sense of their dependence on God, they were equally well adapted prevent covetousness. The Jew saw that a tenth of his income was to be consecrated to the Lord - that this was not to be an occasional, but a regular thing - and it was therefore natural he should adopt the sentiment that his property was valuable chiefly in its application to the objects of the Mosiac economy. If the affections of his heart began at any time to cling to his possessions - if the largeness of his income began to gratify his feelings of selfishness - he would think at once of the demands of the law - and the tenacity of his grasp would be broken, while feelings of selfishness would be displayed by those of liberality. It would be difficult to conceive of a system better adapted to prevent the indulgence of the covetous propensities of depraved human nature. It may therefore be argued that the arrangements of the Mosaic dispensation indicate it is the will of God that a plan of systematic beneficence be adopted as a preventive of covetousness. So much for the Jewish economy.
God under the gospel dispensation requires pecuniary appropriations to his cause, but there are no regular as specific as those of the Mosaic law. After what has been said in the regard to the consecration of property to the cause of benevolence, it is needless to enter into a labored argument to prove that it is the duty of Christians to honor the Lord with their substance. Let the following quotations from the Epistles of Paul suffice - "Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly , or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. Charge them that are rich to this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life - But to do good and to communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well please." 2 Corinthians 9:7; 1 Timothy 6:17-19; Hebrews 13:16.
There is under the gospel economy no formal demand of the tenth of our income. How much Christians will give to the Lord's cause is left to their own decision. They act voluntarily. They are to give as the Lord prospers them. The people of God are supposed by the writers of the New Testament to live near the cross, to take their stand on Calvary, to contemplate with deepest interest the scene of the crucifixation, to see love stronger than death exhibited in tears, to hear the words, "It is finished," sounding in their ears, to behold their suffering Lord as he bows his head and gives up the ghost, while the rocks rend, the earth quakes, the sun is darkened, and all nature is thrown into sympathetic convulsions. Who, after all this, would think it necessary to prescribe any specific amount of pecuniary contribution to the cause of God? - P.
============== [From the Tennessee Baptist, January 21, 1860, p. 2, from CD edition. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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