Thursday, May 05, 2011

The Piety of "Stonewall" Jackson: Part Three: Tither

Image:  Lexington (Virginia) Presbyterian Church
Tither

Dabney relays how Jackson came to the conviction to become a tither:

He engaged one day, with a Christian friend, in a conversation on the Hebrews’ system of religious obligations, and was much interested in the assertion that, while the tithe was no longer enjoined, by express precept, on God’s people under the new dispensation, the usage of worshipping God with stated offerings of our substance was in no way abrogated; and that the tenth was probably, in most cases, a suitable proportion to be self-imposed by Christians, for this voluntary thank-offering. After much inquiry and friendly discussion, Jackson closed the conversation. The next day, on meeting his friend, he said that he had convinced him of a duty, not hitherto as fully understood as it should have been; and, with his usual courtesy, thanked him for the benefit thus conferred. Thenceforward he scrupulously gave a tenth of his whole income to charitable uses (until he adopted a greatly enlarged ratio) [p. 90].

One wonders if Dabney himself was not the “friend.”

JTR

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