Our Silver and Gold Kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my silver and my gold;_
_Not a mite would I withhold.'_
'The silver and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts.' Yes, every
coin we have is literally our 'Lord's money.' Simple belief of this fact
is the stepping-stone to full consecration of what He has given us,
whether much or little.
'Then you mean to say we are never to spend anything on ourselves?' Not
so. Another fact must be considered,--the fact that our Lord has given us
our bodies as a special personal charge, and that we are responsible for
keeping these bodies, according to the means given and the work required,
in working order for Him. This is part of our 'own work.' A master
entrusts a workman with a delicate machine, with which his appointed work
is to be done. He also provides him with a sum of money with which he is
to procure all that may be necessary for keeping the machine in thorough
repair. Is it not obvious that it is the man's distinct duty to see to
this faithfully? Would he not be failing in duty if he chose to spend it
all on something for somebody else's work, or on a present for his
master, fancying that would please him better, while the machine is
creaking and wearing for want of a little oil, or working badly for want
of a new band or screw? Just so, we are to spend what is really needful
_on_ ourselves, because it is our charge to do so; but not _for_
ourselves, because we are not our own, but our Master's. He who knoweth
our frame, knows its needs of rest and medicine, food and clothing; and
the procuring of these for our own entrusted bodies should be done just
as much 'for Jesus' as the greater pleasure of procuring them for some
one else. Therefore there need be no quibbling over the assertion that
consecration is not real and complete while we are looking upon a single
shilling as our own to do what we like with. Also the principle is
exactly the same, whether we are spending pence or pounds; it is our
Lord's money, and must not be spent without reference to Him.
When we have asked Him to take, and continually trust Him to keep our
money, 'shopping' becomes a different thing. We look up to our Lord for
guidance to lay out His money prudently and rightly, and as He would have
us lay it out. The gift or garment is selected consciously under His eye,
and with conscious reference to Him as our own dear Master, for whose
sake we shall give it, or in whose service we shall wear it, and whose
own silver or gold we shall pay for it, and then it is all right.
But have you found out that it is one of the secrets of the Lord, that
when any of His dear children turn aside a little bit after having once
entered the blessed path of true and conscious consecration, He is sure
to send them some little punishment? He will not let us go back without a
sharp, even if quite secret, reminder. Go and spend ever such a little
without reference to Him after you have once pledged the silver and gold
entirely to Him, and see if you are not in some way rebuked for it! Very
often by being permitted to find that you have made a mistake in your
purchase, or that in some way it does not prosper. If you 'observe these
things,' you will find that the more closely we are walking with our
Lord, the more immediate and unmistakeable will be His gracious rebukes
when we swerve in any detail of the full consecration to which He has
called us. And if you have already experienced and recognised this part
of His personal dealing with us, you will know also how we love and bless
Him for it.
There is always a danger that just because we say 'all,' we may
practically fall shorter than if we had only said 'some,' but said it
very definitely. God recognises this, and provides against it in many
departments. For instance, though our time is to be 'all' for Him, yet He
solemnly sets apart the one day in seven which is to be specially for
Him. Those who think they know better than God, and profess that every
day is a Sabbath, little know what floodgates of temptation they are
opening by being so very wise above what is written. God knows best, and
that should be quite enough for every loyal heart. So, as to money,
though we place it all at our Lord's disposal, and rejoice to spend it
all for Him directly or indirectly, yet I am quite certain it is a great
help and safeguard, and, what is more, a matter of simple obedience to
the spirit of His commands, to set aside a definite and regular
proportion of our income or receipts for His direct service. It is a
great mistake to suppose that the law of giving the tenth to God is
merely Levitical. 'Search and look' for yourselves, and you will find
that it is, like the Sabbath, a far older rule, running all through the
Bible,[footnote: See Gen. xiv. 20, xxviii. 22; Lev. xxvii. 30, 32; Num.
xviii. 21; Deut. xiv. 22; 2 Chron. xxxi. 5, 6, 12; Neh. x. 37, xii. 44,
xiii. 12; Mal. iii. 8, 10; Matt. xxiii. 23; Luke xi. 42; 1 Cor xvi. 2;
Heb. vii. 8.] and endorsed, not abrogated, by Christ Himself. For,
speaking of tithes, He said, 'These _ought_ ye to have done, and not to
leave the other undone.' To dedicate the tenth of whatever we have is
mere duty; charity begins beyond it; free-will offerings and
thank-offerings beyond that again.
First-fruits, also, should be thus specially set apart. This, too, we
find running all through the Bible. There is a tacit appeal to our
gratitude in the suggestion of them,--the very word implies bounty
received and bounty in prospect. Bringing 'the first of the first-fruits
into the house of the Lord thy God,' was like 'saying grace' for all the
plenty He was going to bestow on the faithful Israelite. Something of
gladness, too, seems always implied. 'The day of the first-fruits' was to
be a day of rejoicing (compare Num. xxviii. 26 with Deut. xvi. 10, 11).
There is also an appeal to loyalty: we are commanded to _honour_ the Lord
with the first-fruits of all our increase. And _that_ is the way to
prosper, for the next word is, '_So_ shall thy barns be filled with
plenty.' The friend who first called my attention to this command, said
that the setting apart first-fruits--making a proportion for God's work a
_first charge_ upon the income--always seemed to bring a blessing on the
rest, and that since this had been systematically done, it actually
seemed to go farther than when not thus lessened.
Presenting our first-fruits should be a peculiarly delightful act, as
they are themselves the emblem of our consecrated relationship to God.
For of His own will begat He us by the word of truth, that we should be a
kind of first-fruits of His creatures. How sweet and hallowed and richly
emblematic our little acts of obedience in this matter become, when we
throw this light upon them! And how blessedly they may remind us of the
heavenly company, singing, as it were, a new song before the throne; for
they are the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Perhaps we shall find no better plan of detailed and systematic setting
apart than the New Testament one: 'Upon the first day of the week let
every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him.' The
very act of literally fulfilling this apostolic command seems to bring a
blessing with it, as all simple obedience does. I wish, dear friends, you
would try it! You will find it a sweet reminder on His own day of this
part of your consecration. You will find it an immense help in making the
most of your little charities. The regular inflow will guide the outflow,
and ensure your always having _something_ for any sudden call for your
Master's poor or your Master's cause. Do not say you are 'afraid you
could not keep to it.' What has a consecrated life to do with being
'afraid'? Some of us could tell of such sweet and singular lessons of
trust in this matter, that they are written in golden letters of love on
our memories. Of course there will be trials of our faith in this, as
well as in everything else. But every trial of our faith is but a trial
of His faithfulness, and is 'much more precious than gold which
perisheth.'
'What about self-denial?' some reader will say. Consecration does not
supersede this, but transfigures it. Literally, a consecrated life is and
must be a life of denial of self. But all the effort and pain of it is
changed into very delight. We love our Master; we know, surely and
absolutely, that He is listening and watching our every word and way, and
that He has called us to the privilege of walking 'worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasing.' And in so far as this is a reality to us, the
identical things which are still self-_denial_ in one sense, become
actual self-_delight_ in another. It may be self-denial to us to turn
away from something within reach of our purse which it would be very
convenient or pleasant to possess. But if the Master lifted the veil, and
revealed Himself standing at our side, and let us hear His audible voice
asking us to reserve the price of it for His treasury, should we talk
about self-denial then? Should we not be utterly ashamed to think of it?
or rather, should we, for one instant, think about self or self-denial at
all? Would it not be an unimaginable joy to do what He asked us to do
with that money? But as long as His own unchangeable promise stands
written in His word for us, 'Lo, I am with you _alway_,' we may be sure
that He _is_ with us, and that His eye is as certainly on our opened or
half-opened purse as it was on the treasury, when He sat over against it
and saw the two mites cast in. So let us do our shopping 'as seeing Him
who is invisible.'
It is important to remember that there is no much or little in God's
sight, except as relatively to our means and willingness. 'For if there
be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and
not according to that he hath not.' He knows what we have _not_, as well
as what we have. He knows all about the low wages in one sphere, and the
small allowance, or the fixed income with rising prices in another. And
it is not a question of paying to God what can be screwed out of these,
but of giving Him all, and then holding all at His disposal, and taking
His orders about the disposal of all.
But I do not see at all how self-indulgence and needless extravagance can
possibly co-exist with true consecration. If we really never do go
_without_ anything for the Lord's sake, but, just because He has
graciously given us means, always supply for ourselves not only every
need but 'every notion,' I think it is high time we looked into the
matter before God. Why should only those who have limited means have the
privilege of offering to their Lord that which has really cost them
something to offer? Observe, it is not _merely_ going without something
we would naturally like to have or do, but going without it _for Jesus'
sake_. Not, 'I will go without it, because, after all, I can't very well
afford it;' or, 'because I really ought to subscribe to so and so;' or,
'because I daresay I shall be glad I have not spent the money:' but, 'I
will do without it, because I _do_ want to do a little more for Him who
so loves me--just that much more than I could do if I did this other
thing.' I fancy this is more often the heart language of those who _have_
to cut and contrive, than of those who are able to give liberally without
any cutting and contriving at all. The very abundance of God's good gifts
too often hinders from the privilege and delight of really doing without
something superfluous or comfortable or usual, that they may give just
that much more to their Lord. What a pity!
The following quotation may (I hope it will), touch some conscience:--'A
gentleman once told us that his wine bill was L100 a year--more than
enough to keep a Scripture reader always at work in some populous
district. And it is one of the countless advantages of total abstinence
that it at once sets free a certain amount of money for such work.
Smoking, too, is a habit not only injurious to the health in a vast
majority of cases, and, to our mind, very unbecoming in a "temple of the
Holy Ghost," but also one which squanders money which might be used for
the Lord. Expenses in dress might in most people be curtailed; expensive
tastes should be denied; and simplicity in all habits of life should be a
mark of the followers of Him who had not where to lay His head.'
And again: 'The self-indulgence of wealthy Christians, who might largely
support the Lord's work with what they lavish upon their houses, their
tables, or their personal expenditure, is very sad to see.'[footnote:
_Christian Progress_, vol. iii. pp. 25, 26.]
Here the question of jewellery seems to come in. Perhaps it was an
instance of the gradual showing of the details of consecration,
illustrated on page 21, but I will confess that when I wrote 'Take my
silver and my gold,' it never dawned on me that anything was included
beyond the coin of the realm! But the Lord 'leads on softly,' and a good
many of us have been shown some capital bits of unenclosed but easily
enclosable ground, which have yielded 'pleasant fruit.' Yes, _very_
pleasant fruit! It is wonderfully nice to light upon something that we
really never thought of as a possible gift to our Lord, and just to give
it, straight away, to Him. I do not press the matter, but I do ask my
lady friends to give it fair and candid and prayerful consideration.
Which do you really care most about--a diamond on your finger, or a star
in the Redeemer's kingdom, shining for ever and ever? That is what it
comes to, and there I leave it.
On the other hand, it is very possible to be fairly faithful in much, and
yet unfaithful in that which is least. We may have thought about our gold
and silver, and yet have been altogether thoughtless about our rubbish!
Some have a habit of hoarding away old garments, 'pieces,' remnants, and
odds and ends generally, under the idea that they 'will come in useful
some day;' very likely setting it up as a kind of mild virtue, backed by
that noxious old saying, 'Keep it by you seven years, and you'll find a
use for it.' And so the shabby things get shabbier, and moth and dust
doth corrupt, and the drawers and places get choked and crowded; and
meanwhile all this that is sheer rubbish to you might be made useful at
once, to a degree beyond what you would guess, to some poor person.
It would be a nice variety for the clever fingers of a lady's maid to be
set to work to do up old things; or some tidy woman may be found in
almost every locality who knows how to contrive children's things out of
what seems to you only fit for the rag-bag, either for her own little
ones or those of her neighbours.
My sister trimmed 70 or 80 hats every spring for several years with the
contents of friends' rubbish drawers, thus relieving dozens of poor
mothers who liked their children to 'go tidy on Sunday,' and also keeping
down finery in her Sunday school. Those who literally fulfilled her
request for 'rubbish' used to marvel at the results.
Little scraps of carpet, torn old curtains, faded blinds, and all such
gear, go a wonderfully long way towards making poor cottagers and old or
sick people comfortable. I never saw anything in this 'rubbish' line yet
that could not be turned to good account somehow, with a little
_considering_ of the poor and their discomforts.
I wish my lady reader would just leave this book now, and go straight
up-stairs and have a good rummage at once, and see what can be thus
cleared out. If she does not know the right recipients at first hand, let
her send it off to the nearest working clergyman's wife, and see how
gratefully it will be received! For it is a great trial to workers among
the poor not to be able to supply the needs they see. Such supplies are
far more useful than treble their small money value.
Just a word of earnest pleading for needs, closely veiled, but very sore,
which might be wonderfully lightened if this wardrobe over-hauling were
systematic and faithful. There are hundreds of poor clergymen's families
to whom a few old garments or any household oddments are as great a
charity as to any of the poor under their charge. There are two Societies
for aiding these with such gifts, under initials which are explained in
the Reports; the P.P.C. Society--Secretary, Miss Breay, Battenhall Place,
Worcester; and the A.F.D. Society--Secretary, Miss Hinton, 4 York Place,
Clifton. I only ask my lady friends to send for a report to either of
these devoted secretaries; and if their hearts are not so touched by the
cases of brave and bitter need that they go forthwith to wardrobes and
drawers to see what can be spared and sent, they are colder and harder
than I give Englishwomen credit for.
There is no bondage in consecration. The two things are opposites, and
cannot co-exist, much less mingle. We should suspect our consecration,
and come afresh to our great Counsellor about it, directly we have any
sense of bondage. As long as we have an unacknowledged feeling of fidget
about our account-book, and a smothered wondering what and how much we
'_ought_' to give, and a hushed-up wishing the thing had not been put
quite so strongly before us, depend upon it we have not said
unreservedly, 'Take my silver and my gold.' And how can the Lord keep
what He has not been sincerely asked to take?
Ah! if we had stood at the foot of the Cross, and watched the tremendous
payment of our redemption with the precious blood of Christ,--if we had
seen that awful price told out, drop by drop, from His own dear patient
brow and torn hands and feet, till it was ALL paid, and the central word
of eternity was uttered, '_It is finished!_' should we not have been
ready to say, '_Not a mite will I withhold!_'
My Jewels.
'Shall I hold them back--my jewels?
Time has travelled many a day
Since I laid them by for ever,
Safely locking them away;
And I thought them yielded wholly.
When I dared no longer wear
Gems contrasting, oh, so sadly!
With the adorning I would bear.
'Shall I keep them still--my jewels?
Shall I, can I yet withhold
From that living, loving Saviour
Aught of silver or of gold?
Gold so needed, that His gospel
May resound from sea to sea;
Can I know Christ's service lacketh,
Yet forget His "unto Me"!
'No; I lay them down--my jewels,
Truly on the altar now.
Stay! I see a vision passing
Of a gem-encircled brow:
Heavenly treasure worn by Jesus,
Souls won through my gift outpoured;
Freely, gladly I will offer
Jewels thus to crown my Lord!'
From _Woman's Work._