mv:^-^'t'%^^''-
SERMON,
&C.
SERMON,
PREACHED AT
CHRIST CHURCH, ST. GILES,
ON THE OCCASION OF
THE ANNUAL MEETING OF
THE TITHE REDEMPTION TRUST,
JUNE 27, 1854,
ny THE RIGHT REVEREND
THE BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND.
^ublisljfb at t^£ rcqiust of tht Ulrding.
LONDON :
F. & J. RIVINGTON, WATERLOO PLACE;
AND
JOHN LESLIE, 58, GREAT QUEEN STREET.
1854.
PRICE ONE SHILLI NG.
London:
Prinlrd Iiy W. J. Goi.hour:;, G, Prinees Street, Txicestcr Square.
SERMON,
&C.
1 COEINTHIANS vi. 19.
•' Ye are not your own ; for ye are bought with a price."
The mystery of the KedemiDtion enters into every
part of our moral nature. Every spiritual power,
and every practical duty, has its origin in this deep
fountain of the divine love. To judge rightly of any
privilege, or any obligation, of our Christian character,
we must take our stand upon the eternal purpose
of God, by which the Lamb was foreordained to die
before the foundation of the world. (1 Peter i. 19)
We are redeemed, says St. Peter, not with cor-
ruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot, who verily was fore-
ordained before the foundation of the world. And
in Piev. xiii. 8, we read, that there ai"c names
that have been written in the book of Life of the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
6
We leani, then, that there never was a time
when man could call anything his own, sin only
excepted. Even Adam, in the holiness of his
first natm-e, could not boast of those gifts which
he had merely received. Even then, before his fall,
he had been already redeemed by the sacrifice
ordained throughout all eternity, of that Lamb who,
by the eternal spirit, off'ered himself, without spot,
to God. The words of the text, then, have always
been ti'ue of all men, at all times :
" Ye ai'e not your own ; for ye are bought with a
price."
Upon this great central mystery of the Redemp-
tion, hang all the practical duties of mankind. This
is the foundation of the Sabbath first, and afterwards
of the Lord's day ; that one-seventh of our time
should be given up to the service of God, as an
acknowledgment, that we are not our own, but that
w'e are his servants. In remembrance of this
doctrine, Noah offered up the seventh pai't of the
clean beasts and fowls, in sacrifice to God ; and for
the same reason, Abraham gave tithes of all to
Melchizedec, the priest of the Most High God ; and
the sons of Levi, who received the office of the
priesthood, were commanded to take tithes of the
people, according to the law^ It was not merely
human law, which estabhshed the same duty in our
own country, but the clear application of the one
great doctrine of Redemption ; that all mankind are
buugiit witli a i)ncc, and that they are not their own.
Persons as well as property, are included in this
general obligation. For Redemption is altogether
personal. When Jesus Christ died, it was not so
much that he gave something that was his own,
as that he gave Himself. And the effect of his
sacrifice is not so much to save anything belonging
to man, as to save man himself. This personal
obhgation was also typified in the law of Moses
(in Exodus xiii. 15); by which all the first-born of
children were requii'ed to be redeemed, in remem-
brance of the day when God brought Israel out of
the house of bondage. Christian liberty is the
exchanging the slavery of Satan for the service of
Chiist, as it is well explained hi 1 Corinthians vii. 22:
" He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is
the Lord's free man ; likewise, also, he that is called,
being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with
a price."
If, then, this be a certain truth, that neither our
persons nor our property are our own, how can we
account for the constant misapplication, which we
hear on every side, of that text, rightly used in
Scripture, by the only Being who can use it with
truth : " Is it not lawful for me to do what I will
with mine own?" — " There's the mistake," said John
Wesley, "it is not your own." Most of the present
evils of the world may be traced to this fatal
mistake — the forgetfulness of the great practical
duty flowhig out of the doctrine of Redemption,
that we are not our own, Ijut that we are bought
witli a price.
8
"We have seen that this is an eternal doctrine ;
and this thought saves a world of argument. If
you speak to men now-a-days of Tithe, they tell
you, that the Jewish law was abrogated at the
coming of Jesus Christ. The obligation to keep the
Lord's day holy, is supposed to rest only upon
the Jewish Decalogue. The community of goods in
the Apostolic Church, it is argued, however suitable
to that age, was never intended to be made a per-
manent institution. And upon such gi'ounds as
these, men claim the right of using their time,
their abihties and their property, as they please.
The one answer to all these sophisms is in the
assertion of the truth : that Redemption is an eternal
purpose of God ; that it took effect upon man from
the first hour of the fall, and will continue to affect
him even to the end of the world. He is bought
with a price ; and therefore time, money, talents —
all ai^e God's.
This simple rule admits of no exception ; age, sex,
time, place, make no difference. It is as certain
now, and as binding in its obligation, as it was in
the days of Melchezidec. It is the great foundation
of the law of tithe, the ground-work of every act of
Christian charity ; as certainly, as if when men
went into Eg}'pt in former days, and there found
the people still pa\dng the fifth-pai't to the king,
they traced it to the time when the Eg}^tians
became Phai'aoh's servants, and sold their cattle and
their land, and lastly their own persons, for bread ;
and acknowledged that it was thus that the law
9
became established over the land of Egypt, that
Phai'aoh should have fifth part; so still more
evidently must it be seen, that every divine lavi^
and human obligation sums up into the general
fact, that there was a time when God bought us all
with the price of the body and blood of his Blessed
Son; and that, therefore, we are not free to
appropriate to our own use any more than that
portion, whether of time or of money, which God,
who is entitled to claim the whole, gives back again
to us, to be at our own disposal.
How can the amount of what God reserves to Him-
self be ascertained? Is it a fifth, as in Egypt; or a
tenth, as in Judea; or a seventh, as it is in the case of
time ? That question will be asked only by those who
think more of the letter than of the principle of the law.
Those who forget the ground of the claim, will murmur
even at the smallest assessment. Those, on the con-
trary, who know the root of the matter, will never be
contented with the bare letter of the law. Even the
Jew, Zaccheus, gave a half of his goods, when the
law required only a tenth. The same spirit of love
which broke off from the Christian converts the
yoke of the law, made Bai'nabas the son of consola-
tion, and many others, like him, sell their land,
and bring the money, and lay it at the Apostles'
feet. The spuit of Christian charity would have
said of tithe in those days, what Christ said of the
one leper. 'Were there not ten parts; but where
arc the nine ? Is this all that is brought back, to
10
give glory to God ? ' What ! offer only a tenth to
Him who so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son — and then, with Him, also, freely
gives us all things — to think of gi^'ing Him a part
instead of the whole, seems to renew again the sin
of Ananias and Sapphira.
What a mistake, then, it is, to think that Christi-
anity repeals the Jewish law, and justifies the
withholding from God the things that ai'e God's.
Rather say that Moses, because of the hai'dness of
the hearts of the people of Israel, demanded of them
no more than a tenth ; but from the beginning it
was not so. From the time of the promulgation of
the promise that the seed of the woman should
bruise the serpent's head, the same power which
broke off the yoke of Satan, laid upon us His own —
ftn easy yoke, and a light burden — but easy in the
opposite way to that which men suppose : not light
and easy by asking of us half our hearts, or half our
property, and leaving the other half still to tempt
us to try to serve Mammon rather than God — but
a yoke, made light and easy by the entire renun-
ciation of everything worldly : a yoke hke that
proffered to the young man in the Gospel, whom
Christ invited to sell all tliat he had, and give to
the poor, and then to take up his cross, and follow
Him. The great advantage of a principle is, that
it adapts itself to all cases, even where the letter
of the law is inapplicable. Now we have seen
the principle ol" tlic law ol' tithe to be derived from
11
the great saving Doctrine of Redemption. There
may be many alterations of tlie letter of the law, and
of the amount requhed, and of the mode of collection;
but the true Christian, resting upon his own un-
changeable Priesthood, after the order of Melchezidec,
is a law unto himself. He will show the work of
the law written upon his heart; he will pay his tithe;
his seventh, his fifth, his half, or his all, to the
New High Priest, which ariseth after the similitude
of Melchezidec, who is made, not after the law of a
carnal commandment, but after the power of an
endless life.
All questions of conscience may be solved by this
rule. If one man finds himself possessed by inherit-
ance of property once dedicated to the service of
Almighty God, what ought he to do ? The law of
the land protects him in the possession. His
fathers and forefathers were conscientious men, and
they saw no harm in retaining it. It is true that it
bears still the marks of dedication in its ruined chapel,
now turned into a barn ; its ancient font used as a
trough for horses ; its burial-ground furrowed by the
plough ; it is true, that in an age when all tithe is
grudged, lie may make it tenfold more hateful by
rigid exaction, and by applying it to worldly uses :
but all this is strictly legal ; it has been so for three
hundred years : and why should a second reformation
now be needed, to undo what the first reformation
did, so much to his advantage ? I ask for no
alteration of ihc law— 1 leave that to Ctcsar — far
12
less would I sanction any agrai'ian spoliation, or
any dreams of socialism ; but I would awake that
conscience which may slumber, but can never die :
that inward judge of right and wrong, which tells us
more plainly than the tongue of man can speak,
that what was once God's is God's for ever. What
does this Society mean, which calls itself the Tithe
Redemption Trust ? Is there a Tithe-owner in
England that will take money for what never did
and never can belong to him ? What the law of
man has given, conscience will constrain him to
give back. But how, shall I threaten him with the
teiTors of future judgment ? That is in the Lord's
hand. Shall I tell him of the curse of sacrilege;
of great old houses dwindling down till they become
extinct ; of blighted hopes, and ruined fortunes ;
and lay all this to the charge of the usurpation of
the pati'imony of God ? W^ho art thou that judgest
another ? There were sinners upon whom the Tower
of Siloam fell ; and there were other sinners, whose
blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices ; and there
are other sinners, yea, our own selves, who, unless
we repent, shall all likewise perish.
What is it that we are claiming back, and urging
our brethren so vehemently to restore ? It is
the tithe which some pious Christian dedicated
(ages back) to the service of Christ. Was it law,
or was it conscience? Conscience gave, and law
protected the gift. The law may have changed,
and now protects the wrong person in the posses-
13
sion of the gift, but conscience remains unchanged.
Conscience was not a privilege of the men of
olden time ; it is our own birthright — our own
bosom's lord. If I would touch the conscience
of another, I must first exercise my own. If I
would see the cause of Tithe Redemption prosper,
I must pay my own redemption tithe. We shall
not .touch men's consciences by going out at once
into the field to search for some tenth sheaf of
corn, or some tenth lamb, which is exacted for
the use of some lay impropriator; but by carefully
scrutinizing all our items of expenditure, most of
them the growth of ages later than the establish-
ment of tithe ; every exotic fruit, exquisite fish,
and pampered fowl ; every costly flower and precious
jewel, and goodly apparel ; every servant and horse
and carriage ; every piece of plate and gorgeous
furniture; every treasure of painting or of sculpture,
even every rare book ; and, above all, by looking
closely into those sources of revenue which are
of modern years, the rents of palaces standing
where scarcely a cow fed a few years ago ; money
locked in the funds, and yielding annually its un-
tithed interest; of all and every one of these items
of expenditure, or of these sources of income, it
is our bounden duty to ask the question — has it
paid tribute to whom tribute is due? Has it paid
its Redemption Tithe in thankful acknowledgment
of the mercy of that Saviour wln) bought us with
the price of his own body nud l)lood ? I am a
14
stranger here, and I speak tlierefore with less
confidence ; hut iiiy impression is, that the tithe
of which I now speak has not been paid. The
proof seems to be this, that misery, and want and
spiritiud destitution has gone on increasing, wliile
the nation was every yeai' advancing in wealth and
luxury. I shall not quote your own frightful
reports of the state of the English poor, or repeat
the well-known details of the want of churches or
of schools. It is not necessary to recur to the
terrors of that 10th of April, when it was a
bold man who could venture to predict in the
morning in whose hands his property would be
at night. You know these things better than I
do ; and you are well aware, that but a little more
provoking of the divine long-suffering might have
changed, as it did in other countries, the ownership
of everything that we call our own; and God,
defrauded of his tithe, might have resumed the
trust in which we had been found unfaithful.
It was socialism that you then feai'ed. And what
is the cure for socialism ? Sm'ely it is the return
to the true spirit of the apostolic age, of which
socialism is a godless counterfeit. It is to take
care that no child, no widow, no orphan, no
emigrant, no heathen shall be neglected in the daily
distribution of all things needful, both for soul and
body. What this may cost, after so many years of
neglect, it is as impossible to tell, as it is to
calculate what portion of our income may be
]5
required for the purposes of tlie righteous war in
which we are now engaged. All that we can call
our cwn, is what neither our God nor our countiy
demands. Yea, let Him take all, who gave all ; not
only all these earthly things, but his own Son, the
brightness of His own gloiy, and the express image
of His person.
I obseiTe, in the Report of this Society, that but
little has been done for the Redemption of Tithes
during the past year. But much may have been
done in establishing the principle which I have
endeavoured to illustrate, of giving a definite portion
of our income, and of cutting off all superfluous
expenditure. My own Newzealanders have not been
backward. In one of our native villages, 120
adult men signed an agreement last year to give a
tithe of their produce to the maintenance of a
minister. Many laymen, within my own ac-
quaintance, have long acted upon this rule, some
giving a tenth, and some even a fifth. I would
commend this to your committee as a fruitful branch
of your work, and one which, more than any other,
will promote that restoration of the property of the
Chm'ch which we all desire. I have called it, T
believe, by its true name, a name not easily forgotten,
Redemption Tithe, a thank offering to Almighty
God, for our creation, preservation, and all the
blessings of this life : but above all, for His in-
estimable love, in the redemption of the world, by
our Lord Jesus Christ
LONDON :
PrintpJ by W. J. GoLnouRN, C, Princes Stroet, Leicester Square.
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