SOME few months ago, while taking a walk in the Lake District, I happened to get into conversation with a smart, alert young Scotsman. Something about him led me to infer that in some way or another he was interested in church work. I had a copy of Professor Snape’s invaluable little booklet, “These Ought Ye to Have Done,” in my pocket, and handing it to my new acquaintance, I asked him to do me the courtesy of accepting it and perusing it at his leisure.

Glancing at the sub-title, he thanked me for the trifling gift, but asked me what “systematic giving” was, as he had never heard of it before. “I will certainly read the book, but can you tell me in a sentence or two just what it’s all about?”

“Well, to put it as shortly as possible, you are a subject of King George V, and I take it you pay taxes levied upon you to meet the expenses of the Imperial government?” “Yes, we all do.”

“Very good. You are also a subject of King Jesus. Some of us are seeing very clearly that the expenses of His Kingdom can never be met until we similarly consent to levy a voluntary tax on our incomes, and hand over the amount of the tax to the Sacred Treasury. Do you see the idea?”

“Yes, the idea is simple enough, and a first-rate idea, too. But how would you make it work out in actual practice? Is the Sacred Treasury a receiving Society?”

“No, it is a convenient name given by the late Dr. Lansdell, the author of ‘The Sacred Tenth,’ to all moneys dedicated to God’s service. As to the practical working out of the scheme, if you adopted it, this is what you would do:—

(1) Decide on that proportion of your income which you were going to give, say, for purposes of argument, one-tenth, or, as it is called in the Bible, The Whole Tithe.

(2) Get a cheap account book, with two cash columns in it. It needn’t cost more than a few coppers, and the cost is the first