So far as we are concerned I can think of but one excuse. I admit that it is a poor one but it is the best we have. We have either been wrongly, or insufficiently, taught by our religious teachers regarding this of all subjects to us the most important. There has been little or no “Thus saith the Lord” about it; nearly all our teaching has been on the line of ‘Give, Give, Give’; very little of definite _payment of what we owe_ and letting free-will offerings commence after our debt has been paid. We have been continuously and persistently taught that we can _give_ money to God. We have even been exhorted and urged to be systematically benevolent in the matter of gifts to God. Think of it! Systematic benevolence applied to our Heavenly Father. The whole system of our teaching on this subject has been based on “Giving,” everlastingly “Giving.” If this teaching is right we laymen can justly claim the right to _give_ what we please and _as_ we please. Gifts and payment occupy very different standpoints. If I owe a debt, it is a definite amount and I must pay it when it is due, or be branded as a defaulter, but no man _owes_ a gift. True, we both give and pay when we pay Tithes, but the payment is to God, the giving as His stewards and agents is to our fellow men for the upbuilding and advancement of His Kingdom. It is only fair in this connection to say that ministers have the same excuse, poor as it is, that we laymen and lay-women have. They have been the victims of wrong teaching by their professors of theology and teachers of practical--not theoretical--religion. The only sensible thing for us all to do is to repent and reform. That I may not be accused of overstating or misrepresenting the situation, I copy the Pledge of the Tenth Legion of the Christian Endeavor Society. This Pledge has been signed by over 25,000 of the young people of our churches. It clearly perpetuates this false teaching and will of course bear its legitimate fruit. At the time the Tenth Legion was started the attention of its officers was called to the mistake as I regard it in the language, but they declined to change it. It reads as follows: “Unto God the Things that are God’s” Enrollment Blank. Please enroll my name in THE TENTH LEGION of the United Society of Christian Endeavor as a Christian whose practice it is to give God the tithe, and send me the Certificate of Membership.[A]