mmmwi ■■■ mm. 
 

 
 CHURCH DEBTS 
 
 AND- 
 
 THE WAY TO PAY THEM. 
 
 .a. szeee^dvuoust, 
 
 Preached November 21st, 1886, 
 
 ■BY- 
 
 THE REV. CHARLES L, MIEL, 
 
 RECTOR OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO: 
 Pacific Churchman Press, 605 Montgomery Street. 
 
 1886. 
 
»" V CJ t, V 
 
 CHURCH DEBTS AND HOW TO PAY '$RM? 
 
 "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in 
 knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excel- 
 lent; that ye may be sincere and without oftence till the day of Christ; 
 being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are, by Jesus Christ, 
 unto the gloiy and praise of God." Philippians i, 9, 10, 11. 
 
 Church Debts. I am going to speak very plainly of Church 
 Debts to-night. For some time I have waited for an opportunity 
 of doing so, and the opportunity is now given me in the double 
 fact that this is the last Sunday in the Church year, the time to cast 
 up accounts and make new beginnings, and that on this Twenty- 
 second Sunday after Trinity, the Church in her Gospel and Epis- 
 tle has something to say of debts and debtors. And because one 
 of the rubrics in the Prayer Book prevented my reading this Gos- 
 pel and Epistle this morning, I have read to you the Gospel as the 
 second lesson for this evening, and you have heard the Epistle read 
 in connection with the text of this sermon. On the subject of 
 debts and debtors the Gospel is direct. The Epistle apparently 
 is less direct; only apparently however, for I hope to show you 
 shortly how pertinent the text is to the question of church indebt- 
 edness and the way in which that indebtedness should be met 
 and paid. 
 
 "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and 
 more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve 
 things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without 
 offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of right- 
 eousness, which are, by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of 
 <&od." 
 
 "And this I pray." It is characteristic of St. Paul that in his 
 
 916686 
 
2 CHURCH DEBTS 
 
 thanksgivings and prayers, he always thanks God for what is best 
 and* stf©wge£t in those churches to which he writes, and always 
 ' prays*G£oif fo*r«what is worst and weakest. The Christians at Phil- 
 ^yxpi'wje^e, it v \ro'ulVi seem, an enthusiastic and a large hearted set 
 ''of'^eopW* c So* much so, in fact, that while St. Paul thanks God 
 that they were so, yet he feels it necessary to pray God that these 
 virtues may not grow into vices, but, rather be pruned an'd kept 
 in bounds by knowledge, by clear perception, by sound judgment: 
 In short St. Paul prays that the enthusiastic side of the Christian 
 character may be held in check by the thoughtful side; that the 
 ' heart may not run away with the head. And this prayer of St. 
 Paul's has three distinct parts. First — there is the direct prayer 
 that the Philippians' love for God "may abound in k/ioioletfr/e and 
 in all judgment" Then follows a prayer for the direct conse- 
 quence of the first, that having received knowledge and judgment, 
 they "may approve things that are excellent;" i. e., they may choose 
 good and proper ways of showing their abounding love. And last 
 comes a prayer that having been taught of God true theories and 
 proper practices they may, in their application of both, "be sincere 
 and without offence." 
 
 And now, dear brethren, I apply this prayer of St. Paul's to you. 
 It has often been my prayer for you, and so it will be so long as 
 I shall minister unto you. And so I want you to understand what 
 bearing it has upon Church debts, especially upon our Church 
 debt. And first I want you to understand what is meant by "love 
 abounding in knowledge and judgment." 
 
 I. Love here means works of love. Not the emotion, not the 
 inward gr^ice, (though that perhaps is the prime requisite,) but the 
 outward visible sign and expression of love. As to the ways and 
 means of this expression I shall speak further on. I now emphasize 
 the fact that the expression of love in Christian lives should bean 
 abounding expression — the rich growth of a tropical, rather than 
 the stunted growth of an arctic heart. And Christian love should 
 not only abound, but abound freely — "more and more." It is a 
 significant fact that the greek work translated "abound," means to 
 "bound over," to "overleap," to "over-flow." Our works of love ' 
 done in God's name and for His sake should overflow, should rise 
 
AND HOW TO PAY THEM. 3 
 
 as naturally and freely from the heart as the spring welling from 
 the heart of the mountain, not dribble like a. block of ice under the 
 focus of a burning glass. And then too, this overflowing love 
 should not beallowed to run to waste, but should be turned into 
 proper and legitimate channels of usefulness. 
 
 You have seen, some of you, the living stream, that sang, and 
 laughed, and danced 'neath summer suns, lifeless and still in win- 
 ter's shroud. The busy wheels, the hum, and buzz, and clash, and 
 clatter along its banks,these too are hushed and dead. But with 
 the gentle wooing of the spring; with balmy sighs and tepid tears, 
 the heart of ice has melted, and with a mighty bound the prisoned 
 stream has burst its bonds and rushed tumultuously in its new- 
 born freedom. Rushed how? Rushed whither? Here? There? 
 Anywhere? Roaring over its banks? Hissing at human life? 
 Gorged with human property? An instrument of death and 
 desolation? Waking an echo of wailing for the dead and the ru- 
 ined? Is it thus that the overflow has passed? It may have been. 
 It has not often been when its course was guided by a knowledge 
 and by a judgment not its own. Knowledge and judgment, 
 these God-given powers have guided the rushing flood into its 
 appointed gates and channels. Frozen veins and arteries thrill 
 anew with life; wheels, and shafts, and belts revolve; looms whistle 
 in shrilly glee, saws hum their diapason, and the anthem of indus- 
 try rises again where, but for knowledge and judgment, might 
 have risen the dirge of death. 
 
 And Christian love, Godly love, the "living water" has its prop- 
 er channels too. All along the stream of time, here a -flood-gate, 
 there a course into which the love that Christians bear to God 
 may safely, wisely, and healthfully be turned. Turned to refresh 
 and invigorate, not to weary and desecrate God's inheritance; 
 God's children and God's church. Knowledge and judgment are 
 to determine of what sort and character these gates and channels 
 shall be; — a Godly knowledge, i. e., a knowledge of God's will 
 and God's ways; a righteous judgment, i. e., a clear perception of 
 what is right and true to the line of God's will and God's ways. 
 Knowledge and judgment, these should be the guides of that 
 overflowing love which Christians should feel and express for the 
 
4 CHURCH DEBTS 
 
 God of love; for the Father Who has created them, for the Son 
 Who has redeemed them, and for the Spirit Who sanctifieth them 
 and all the people of God. 
 
 Should. You think there are too many "shoulds" in that last 
 sentence. So do I. But that is not my fault. Would to God I 
 might say, knowledge and judgment are the guides of that love 
 which Christians do feel for God. But I cannot. For, is the love 
 which Christians profess for God and God's Church always guided 
 by a Godly knowledge and a righteous judgment? Does this love 
 in its expression, always manifest itself in ways of approved excel- 
 lence? And is the result of such manifestation to engender sin- 
 cerity, peace, and the fruits pf righteousness? I maybe wrong, if 
 so I am ready to stand corrected, but I believe that in very many 
 instances it is and does not. In the instance of Church Debts, I 
 believe that the means resorted to (and pardon the irony of the 
 word) for the paying of these debts by people calling and profes- 
 sing themselves Christians, are often more disgraceful than 
 the fact of the debt itself. I do not say that a Church debt is a 
 disgraceful fact. A Church debt may often be the resultant of an 
 equally wise and necessary policy. It becomes a disgraceful fact 
 only, when no legitimate effort is made to pay it on the part of 
 those who have contracted it or who are bounden by it. It was 
 no disgrace that the servant in the parable owed his lord ten 
 thousand talents, for he proposed to pay his debt, and his lord ac- 
 cepted his petition for time on the ground of good security. But 
 it would have been a disgrace if that servant, possessing as he 
 did securities convertible into cash, had declared himself a bank- 
 rupt and repudiated his debt, or, what is much the same thing, 
 taken no steps to pay it in whole or in part. And so, T am not 
 one of those who hold it a crying disgrace that a church should 
 have a debt upon it, so long as a wise and proper foresight shall 
 have dictated when and how, in the course of legitimate business, 
 that debt shall be paid. But I am, and I trust I shall always be, 
 one of those who hold it a burning, blushing shame, that so many 
 professed Christians snap their purses shut against the legitimate 
 claims of God's Church and hold them agape to those illegitimate 
 children of a charity falsely so called — that spurious brood, born of a 
 
AND HO W TO PA Y THEM. 5 
 
 miserly meanness and suckled at the breast of a lustful selfishness 
 — the Church Fair, the Church Concert, the Church Lunch, the 
 Church Entertainment, and a train of other unchristened evils. 
 I hold that the Christian love (God save the mark!) that flows only 
 through such channels, must, if it look upon God's great love- 
 gift at all, look upon it as a mummery or a burlesque: Must look 
 upon Christ on His cross as a dummy Christ; must look upon His 
 blood, and tears, and cries, as stage blood, and tears, and cries; 
 upon the thunder, and the lightning, and the darkness as clever 
 scenic effects in the hands of scheming apostolic property-men; 
 upon the preaching of the passion as an intellectual or emotional 
 mockery; upon the claims of the Church of God as an intermittent 
 and a frequent nuisance. Oh! Brethren! If God's love and sacri- 
 fice for us be, as we believe it is, a reality, Jet our love and sacri- 
 fice for God be a reality as well. Aye! let it be a reality, for too 
 often and too generally it is not. What is the ruling spirit of evil 
 in the Church to-day? Without fear ot successful contradiction 
 I submit that spirit is a spirit of selfishness. Of old it was "God 
 and my rights." To-day it too often is " My rights and 
 my God." Self first, God afterwards. My house first, my Fath- 
 er's afterwards. The world first, the Saviour of the world after- 
 wards. My comfort first, the Comforter afterwards. Aye! the ruling 
 spirit of evil in the Church to-day is a spirit of selfishness strang- 
 ling that spirit of divine unselfishness, that spirit of Christ, with- 
 out which man or church is none ot His. And in support of such a 
 statement I submit there is perhaps no greater cause of offense in the 
 Church to-day, than that Church people are asked to acknowledge 
 their indebtedness to Almighty God and to pay it. I submit 
 further, the fact that such a demand and such a claim is a cause of 
 offense argues little for the professed love and integrity of con- 
 gregations and of individuals. And I believe that out of such a 
 spirit of selfishness the Church Fair has sprung into being. It is 
 claimed that the Church Fair et al are necessary evils. I deny 
 that claim. I believe it is false. But if these things be necessary 
 evils, it seems to me we must often seek the cause among the 
 ranks of the ministers and stewards of the Household of God. 
 May it not be that a well intentioned yielding to parish sentiment, 
 
6 CHURCH DEBTS 
 
 influence, or custom, has at last, so shrivelled hearts and calloused 
 consciences, that the Church Fair is so largely regarded to-day, 
 if not as a necessary good, then as a necessary evil? Speaking 
 only for myself, I believe that such is indeed the case. And hence 
 it is that to-day so many clergymen are lean and hungry of visage , 
 out at the elbows and down at the heel; so many churches are stee- 
 pled with mortgages and hung with red tape; so many charities 
 are hobbling on crutches or gasping for breath; not because peo- 
 ple are too poor to build churches, or to support ministers, or to 
 maintain charities, but because, in many cases, under a mistaken 
 estimate or a weak enforcement of the claims of God upon the in- 
 dividual soul, they have become too mean; not because lips do not 
 profess love for Christ, but because hearts are empty of Him, and 
 full of self. Oh! be sure it is not because of hard times that so 
 many church debts remain unpaid, but because of hypocritical 
 times; not because of scarcity of cash, but because of superfluity 
 of cant. Yet these debts must be paid, and because they must 
 it is urged that it is better to pay them by the Church Fair, etc., 
 than to allow them to stand unpaid; money is money no matter 
 where it comes from, no matter how it comes. I cannot hold 
 such a view. Because it seems to me to be better, so far as honor 
 due to God is concerned, that a house of His should pass under 
 the hammer than His Holy Name be used as an omnibus 
 to drag people to the play house, the dance house, the fair house, 
 or the eating house. If people do not care enough about God's 
 house and God's religion to pay directly for the building of the 
 one and the support of the other, I do not say that such people 
 should not have a church or a religion, for they are just the ones 
 who most need those things, but I do say they do not deserve 
 either. I suppose that it will be granted that the work of God 
 upon earth is to be supported by Christian Charity and prosecu- 
 ted in Christian Honesty. Therefore, if the church fair, etcr, be 
 really a part of God's work, then I submit that each ticket to 
 each fair, etc. should bear upon its face the imprint: "For the 
 Benefit of God Almighty and the Church of Jesus Christ His Only 
 Son, our Lord." That would at least be honest whatever else it 
 might be. I am well aware that those words do not sound prop- 
 
AND HOW TO PAY THEM. 7 
 
 erly in Christian ears. Why not? Because the thing they speak of 
 is an improper thing. Because, if it were proper and right to hold 
 a church fair to the greater glory of God and for the advance- 
 ment of His Kingdom upon earth, there would be no offense 
 given or taken in stating just what such an entertainment was for. 
 I challenge any conscientious clergyman in this city to print on 
 his tickets the direct unvarnished statement of what this or that 
 entertainment given by his parish is for. He dare not do it. 
 Such a ticket would be a blasphemy. Can the entertainment then 
 be a thing according to Godly knowledge or righteous judgment? 
 The tickets generally will read: For the benefit of the Church 
 Debt; For the benefit of the Organ Fund; the Choir Fund; the 
 new pews, doors, windows, carpet, cushions, bell, or spire. But 
 the sermons and notices generally will read, For the Glory and 
 Praise of God. I challenge those clergymen who instigate, foster, 
 or aquiesce in the raising of money for God's work by the church 
 fair etc., to make their admission tickets square with their sermons 
 and notices. This, I think, brings us face to face with the whole 
 point in the matter. That point is: — What is the specific object 
 of these parochial church entertainments? Is it not to raise mon- 
 ey for the service of God in some form or other? And because 
 many men and women, professedly Christians, will not give their 
 money to God from a sense of love and duty, is it not a fact that, 
 rather than go without that money, many clergymen are willing to 
 appeal, and do appeal, to these people's sense of selfishness and 
 worldliness? God knows how far I am from the line of His will, 
 but I would just as soon offer Him, on His altar, Judas Iscariot's 
 blood-money, and sing the Doxology over it, as to offer Him mon- 
 ey which had already been offered on the altar of mammon. 
 Among protestant communions there is no lack of harsh and acrid 
 criticism of the Jesuits and of their policy. And yet on every 
 hand are Protestant clergy advocating in the church fair, etc., the 
 motto which is the keystone of Jesuitry, that the end justifies the 
 means; yes, and deprecating the means in one breath while advocat- 
 ing them in another. The end is held to be the glory and the praise 
 of God. What are the means? They are schemes for extracting gold 
 and silver from the tailings of a worked-out Christian liberality. 
 
8 CHURCH DEBTS 
 
 In a greater or lesser degree every church fair, concert, opera, 
 ball, lunch, or what not, is a begging scheme. Like some curb- 
 stone cripple with placarded breast and tintinnabulating cup, so 
 do these schemes place the Creator, and the Redeemer, and the 
 Sanctifier before the world — a beggar whining and jingling for an 
 alms. Whereas I believe if some of those who proudly claim to 
 be the representatives of the Crucified Son of God, and the stew- 
 ards of His kingdom upon earth, would have the manhood and the 
 honesty to preach (as did their Lord and Master) * God's claims 
 upon the soul and life we should have less of church debts and 
 more of Christian love and life; less of the Church Fair and more 
 of the Fair Church ; less of sour ferment and more of 
 blessed peace ; less of hypocrisy and more of truth ; 
 less of- mammon and more of Christ, than we have to-day. No 
 doubt most, if not all, who take part in these church fairs etc. 
 mean well. No doubt most, if not all, love God's work 
 and are zealous in it, but their love and their zeal I submit is not 
 according to Godly knowledge or righteous judgment. Quite 
 innocently, it may be, yet, none the less surely, they are sowing, 
 if not in their own hearts then in the hearts of others, the seed of 
 selfishness, and as is the sowing such shall the harvest be. And 
 so 1 believe that the payment of church debts and the further- 
 ance of God's work in the parish by the instrumentality of the 
 church fair, etc., is a thoroughly pernicious principle; a principle 
 not warranted by the Word of God, but rather condemned by 
 that spirit of self-sacrifice which is the Spirit of Christ who is in 
 all things the Head and pattern of His Church. 
 
 As a principle, therefore, I submit, the church fair etc., can- 
 not be approved among those labors of love which are excellent 
 and acceptable in the sight of Almighty God. 
 
 II. And not only as a principle but as a practice. For I submit 
 again, without fear of successful contradiction, that the church 
 fair, etc., is a fruitful source of discord, envy and strife, and often 
 tends, if not to immorality, certainly to immodesty and effrontery. 
 It engenders a love of display, and so a spirit of extravagance, 
 vanity, and jealousy. It forces young women, (for among these 
 are its active spirits chiefly found,) into relationships with men of 
 
AJSTD HO WTO PAY THEM. 9 
 
 unknown or of questionable character. Some years ago at an 
 entertainment of this character in this city I saw a young girl 
 from whose cheek no wanton hand had brushed the bloom of in- 
 nocence, passing badinage while selling a spray of lily of the val- 
 ley to a man whom I knew to be a profligate, and who, as I as- 
 certained later, did not know this young girl. That instance I 
 believe to be a type of many others. I have known young men 
 who attended church fairs etc., not to aid Christian works, but to 
 drag Christian workers down to the slime and ooze of a guilty 
 knowledge. I have known of parishes divided, friendships ren- 
 ded, and hearths blackened with a soot of hell, and the cause was 
 directly or indirectly traceable to the church entertainment. And 
 so, as a man who has seen much of the world and its ways, I can 
 assure you, without substantiating my assurance by revolting 
 detail, that in these entertainments, especially when given upon 
 an extended scale, there is generally present more of evil than of 
 good. And so I oppose them not only in principle but in practice. 
 
 III. I oppose them too on another ground, a very practical ground. 
 I oppose the church fair etc., as a means of church or parish sup- 
 port, or of paying church or parish debts, because I believe that 
 the adoption of such means is the adoption of a bad business 
 policy. 
 
 Certainly in adopting the church fair etc., as a business policy 
 there is displayed more often than not perhaps, a lack of knowl- 
 edge and of judgment. Because, from a business standpoint, the 
 
 church fair, etc., is what is known in the phrase of the street as "a 
 gamble." It is as much a game of chance as faro is. There is a 
 chance of financial success, there is also a chance of financial 
 failure. After the curtain has dropped, or the last dish been dried, 
 you may be in or out of pocket. If you are "in" then as a busi- 
 ness proposition, well and good. But if you are "out" what are 
 you going to do about it? There stands the debt; that ghost that 
 has haunted you for the last six months — there it stands grinning 
 as sardonically as ever. Very possibly its grin is on a more ex- 
 tended scale than before. What are you going to do? Let the 
 debt grin and bear it? That might do if the hilarity would com- 
 municate itself to the creditors. Unfortunately creditors have a 
 
10 CHURCH DEBTS 
 
 very matter of fact way of looking at these little matters. Credi- 
 tors seldom smile until they are paid. And so you find, as the 
 saying goes, that you have "got to do something." Well, what 
 are you going to do? Give another entertainment? A burned 
 child dreads the fire. Besides your energies are exhausted, your 
 spirit broken. You must wait another six months before you can 
 revive your energies and mend your spirit; unless, perhaps, you 
 happen to be a clergyman, one of those happy beings whose en- 
 ergies are ever active, whose spirit is never broken. That makes 
 it all right. You know what to do now. You stand in the mid- 
 dle of the chancel on the following Sunday, and you say some- 
 thing like this: "This is your debt, a debt which you owe to 
 Almighty God. Are you going to pay it; or are you going to re- 
 pudiate it? Do you propose to live on the principle 'owe no man 
 anything but to love one another,' or do you propose to file your 
 petition in spiritual bankruptcy?" That is all that remains to you 
 so far as I can see. And if such an attitude as that be too often 
 necessary, how much better at the very outset to stand fairly and 
 squarely upon the principle it contains, than, at some eleventh 
 hour, to be forced into doing so by the inexorable pressure of re- 
 lentless circumstances. 
 
 Then again : when you have a debt to pay, say of $3,000, is it 
 good business to spend $6,000 in order that you may pay $3,000? 
 Suppose some relentless creditor should take you by the throat 
 saying "pay me that thou owest," would you consider it good 
 business to go out on the street and borrow the money on a prom- 
 issory note of thirty days with interest at one hundred per cent? 
 Certainly you would not. And yet that is the identical policy 
 upon which many Church people and parishes are acting to-day. 
 I believe, from actual figures and from highly probable calcula- 
 tion, that the Church people of this city have very lately spent some 
 $20,000, that they might make about $6,500. Now just think of 
 that. Within a few weeks Church people of this city have paid 
 out of their own pockets some $20,500, in order that they might 
 get out of the pockets of the public about $6,000. Is that good 
 business? One church in this city is apparently a gainer by about 
 $6,500. But the people of that church and of other churches have 
 
AND HO W TO PAY THEM. 11 
 
 spent ahout $20,000, Now I want you to think of another fact. 
 If that $20,000 had been given outright by the participants, 
 boothers, and church attendants at the late carnival, it would have 
 paid just about" two-thirds of the total parish debts of this city. 
 
 " Oh! but you forget one thing," I fancy I can hear some one 
 say, "you forget that it wouldn't have been given outright." 
 No I do not forgret. I believe that if a decided stand was made 
 in this matter; if the love of Christians (and there is plenty of 
 love and zeal afloat in this diocese) were properly, ^appealed to 
 that the result would equal if not exceed the result of an appeal 
 to selfishness. 
 
 And now in view of the debt that each individual of each of 
 our city parishes owes to Almighty God, how does the account 
 stand? I believe it will stand something like this: Church of 
 the Coming of Christ, Church of the Triune God, Church of the 
 Gift of the Spirit, Church of the Beloved Disciple, Church of the 
 Apostle to the Gentiles, Church of the Good Physician, Church 
 of the First Martyr, Church of the Keeper of the Keys, Drs. To For- 
 eign Missions, To Domestic Missions, To Diocesan Missions, To 
 Diocesan Charities, To Church Improvements, To Church Offer- 
 ings, To Parish Debts, about $10,000, more or less. I do not say 
 that this sum would have been given to any or all these objects; 
 but in view of the fact that a sum nearly or more than twice as 
 large has been given to the noble army of carpenters, caterers, 
 confectioners, car conductors, dressmakes, decorators, hack-drivers, 
 printers, florists et omne ge?ius, I do say that the subscriptions 
 and gifts to God's work in one form or other, are going in the 
 logical sequence of events to shrivel, if not evaporate, for some 
 time to come. 
 
 Pray understand distinctly: I do not stand here to-night to 
 criticize harshly the ideas and practices of other people, my breth- 
 ren of the clergy and the laity. I am well aware that many will 
 differ with me, and they have the same right to their opinions 
 as I have to mine. I simply stand here to state to you, my 
 people, my personal views on this subject; to say to you 
 that I am profoundly impressed with the justice of those views; 
 that I believe they are well founded: that, so long as I shall so 
 
12 CHURCH DEBTS 
 
 believe, I shall stand by them; and that should it ever come to 
 pass that I cannot stand by those views, and at the same time 
 stand by any parish with which I may be associated, I shall cer- 
 tainly, if I at all know myself, stand down and out. 
 
 I tried during the late carnival to avoid the appearance of the 
 fact that St. Peter's Parish as a parish was taking part in it. I 
 gave out, what was quite true, that our participants were from a 
 Chapter of our Guild, and that this Chapter alone was concerned 
 in the entertainment. Nevertheless I am now unpleasantly con- 
 scious of the fact that the Guild is a Parish Guild and that this 
 U. D. Chapter was and is a part of our parochial machinery, and 
 therefore the Parish and Rector took part, indirectly at least, in 
 the entertainment. Well, for one reason I am glad of it. It is a 
 good thing even when making mistakes, to make them well. So 
 in this case, I say I am glad that after having put our several sin- 
 gle feet into it, we decided, not to lend a limping support, but 
 to go into the affair with both feet. And here I want to express 
 my gratitude to all those of you who lent your assistance so free- 
 ly, so faithfully, and so effectively. I thank you all very heartily 
 for that. But I also want to say here, and now, and once for all, 
 that never again, with my consent or approval, shall this parish 
 take part directly or indirectly in any entertainment of whatever 
 description whose object shall be the raising of money for Paroch- 
 ial Church work, and so for the service of Almighty God. I say 
 this that you may all understand it, and I have told you some of 
 my reasons for saying it. I say it too for another reason: — be- 
 cause there is a debt of $5,600, on this church. That debt is yours 
 and mine. You and I owe $5,600 to Almighty God, and we should 
 pay $5,600 to Almighty God. It is not necessary that we pay 
 it to-night, or to-morrow, or next year, but we should set about 
 paying it without any unnecessary delay. We may pay it in in- 
 stallments as we are able to make them, only for the Glory and 
 Praise of God let us give those installments and not beg them; for 
 the Glory and Praise of God, let us pay our honest debt honestly, 
 not raise it. Now, if God gives me health and strength, I want 
 no other parish than this, I want no other people than you. I now 
 promise you that, with your approval and good pleasure, I will 
 
AND HOW TO PA Y THEM. 13 
 
 stand by you and St. Peter's Parish until this debt is paid, unless 
 I should see, what I least expect to see, direct evidence that you 
 intend to repudiate it. But for this debt the parish would to-day 
 be independent. Its present income (which I am proud to say 
 has never been solicited) would meet its current expenses and 
 pay rector's salary sufficient to enable you to call able and ener- 
 getic men to preach The Word from its pulpit and minister The 
 Word at its altar. And I believe this debt can be paid. I be- 
 live that with even a little self-sacrifice and good-will, and above 
 all, unity of purpose and effort, four or five years will see this 
 parish free from debt; and once free, I can promise, for my ex- 
 cellent vestry and for myself, that we will so tie this church prop- 
 erty up with red tape that not one shylock in all this city would 
 dare to lend a nickle on it. I believe further, that as a first step 
 towards paying our debt, we are going to place upon that altar 
 on next Easter Day, nearly or quite $1,000. And now I am go- 
 ing to let you all into the great secret of how this is to be done: 
 simply by turning our zeal for God and our love for God into 
 several separate and legitimate channels, and leading it all to the 
 altar on Easter Day. I expect that the quarterly collection for 
 the church debt will foot $100. I expect that the Guild, which is 
 now doing such true and faithful work, will give at least another 
 $100. I expect that the offerings on Christmas Day will be $200, 
 and last, but not least, I expect that the Easter offerings will be 
 $500. That is, all told, $1,000 And now is, the time to begin. 
 Advent begins next Sunday. Advent is just as much a season 
 of special devotion, and special self-sacrifice as Lent is. It is 
 the special time to prepare ourselves for the second coming of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, and I know of no better way to prepare 
 for that event, the event of our life, than to lay up treasures in 
 heaven, by building up His kingdom upon earth. Oh! be sure 
 church fairs won't count then — only honest self-sacrifice, and that 
 will count above all else. And so I ask each one of you, — E, A, 
 C, H; Each — to remain after the service to-night and get from 
 me a mite-box for the Advent Season, and to bring it here with 
 you on Christmas Day as your Christmas Gift to your Father in 
 Heaven. I ask you to pay your debt to Him into this little treas- 
 
U CHURCH DEBTS 
 
 ury just as you are able to pay it, no more nor no less. God nev- 
 er asks of you more than you can give, and it may well be that 
 the poorest offering in the sight of man on the Saviour's birthday, 
 will be the richest in the sight of God, Who sees below the gift 
 into the heart of the giver, and estimates its worth, not by its 
 market, but by its spiritual value. Now what* I am asking you 
 to do is simpty this: — do your duty as God shall show it to you. 
 Care enough about God to kneel to Him and ask Him, "Father, 
 what wilt Thou have me to do?" Be sure He will tell you, and 
 be sure the "doing" will then rest with you. That is all I ask of 
 you, and I ask it in God's Name. I hold out no bait to catch 
 gold or silver fish. I am fishing for men, for hearts ready and 
 desirous to overflow with works of love in God's service. And 
 so I do not turn this chancel into a box-office and ask you to buy a 
 ticket for a Fair, or a Concert, or an Opera, or a Play, or a Bazaar, 
 or a Lunch, or for anything else; I simply say to you — Here is a 
 debt of which each one of you with me owes a part to Almighty 
 God — Pay it; Here is the best way in which to pay it — Pay it in 
 this way; Here is a very clear and pressing duty — "Rise, let us 
 be going" to meet it. I believe that is all that is necessary. I 
 believe that it is enough that this congregation be shown its 
 duty and asked to do it. And so I only urge upon you the 
 vital impoitance of the present opportunity. Act Now. Act 
 while the good impulse sways the heart and mind. Get your 
 mite-box to-night. The spirit of selfishness will have less chance 
 at you if you do, than if you go away empty-handed. In this 
 way I believe we can pay our debt, as the phrase goes, "without 
 feeling it." But even if we do feel it, I don't think it will do us 
 any harm. Self-sacrifice done out of love and duty to God never 
 does any harm. The best, noblest, purest, richest offerings al- 
 ways spring from gratitude. And so, let our love and self-sacri- 
 fice to our eternal and ever-merciful Creditor be according" to 
 knowledge and judgment. Let us for His sake and in His name 
 approve, choose, this most excellent way of rendering to Him of 
 His own. And, then too, let our expression of abounding love 
 be sincere and without offence. Let our intent and act be purged 
 of all admixture of worldly dross, that in this good work we may 
 
AND HOW TO PA Y THEM. 15 
 
 oe honest with ourselves, having- a conscience void of offence to- 
 wards God. Striving to be thus and to do thus we cannot fail to 
 bring forth " the fruits of righteousness;" and these are 
 the only fruits that shall endure ; the only fruits worth 
 the growing by the laborer, worth the garnering by the 
 Husbandman. Ail else shall wither, die, and rot, but the 
 fruits of righteousness these bear seed that will spring up and 
 blossom into Life Eternal. And whatever of these blessed fruits 
 we shall bring forth at this time, or in later years, let us ever re- 
 member to bring them forth to the "Glory and Praise of God." 
 The Glory and Praise of God! Ah! that is the key note of the 
 Christian life! That is the whole point in this whole matter! 
 Ah me! if only the lives of God's debtors were tuned to that, 
 their payments would be made in a different spirit, and in a dif- 
 ferent manner: In the spirit — "All things come of Thee O Lord, 
 and of Thine own do we Give Thee." Ah! yes, there too is the man- 
 ner! Give Thee, even as Thou, O loving Giver of all good things 
 gave Thine Only Begotten Son — freely, willingly, directly. 
 
 Oh ! holy symbol of that great gilt ! Oh ! the Cross of Christ ! 
 Shall we wear it on our brow and not in our heart? Oh ! the Glo- 
 ry and Praise of God ! Shall we wear that on our lips and not 
 practice it in our lives? Dearly beloved in the Lord, answer, I 
 beseech you, these questions. This is the last Sunday night in 
 the Church year. This is the time for new beginnings, — for for- 
 getting what things are behind in a dead past, and for reaching 
 forth for those things which are before in a living future, for the 
 sake of the high calling that we bear, even the name of Christians; 
 for the sake of the prize that fadeth not away, eternal in the 
 heavens. Oh! let us not delay to answer these questions! Let 
 us not be dumb till the Judgment be set and the books open- 
 ed, but let us write our answer noio, and let that answer be on 
 the credit side of the Book of Life, the eternal ledger of God. 
 
 C. L. Miel 
 
 St. Peter's, Nov. 21, 1886. 
 
16 
 
 We, the undersigned clergymen of the Diocese of California, 
 do hereby state we are in substantial accord with the views 
 expressed in this sermon, viz : that the Church Fair and 
 kindred entertainments, as means of raising money for Parochial 
 Church Work, are pernicious in principle and harmful in practice. 
 And we recommend to our brethren of the clergy, who think with 
 us in this matter, that they distribute copies of this sermon among 
 their parishioners. 
 
 William Ingraham Kip, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 Hiram W. Beers, D.D. 
 
 HOBART ClIETWOOD. 
 
 John A. Emery. 
 William W. Davis. 
 D. O. Kelley, 
 
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