A CHANCE TO GET A PIANO CHEAP

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, May 20, 1880

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 55, No. 21

“A CHANCE TO GET A PIANO CHEAP.”

Under the above title a recent number of a city paper speaks of a fair given by a neighboring church which closed “without enough tickets being taken for a splendid piano to warrant its being disposed of, and the ladies had therefore resolved to postpone the drawing until more tickets could be sold.” The article stated that the piano was worth $500, that tickets would be for sale at some of the principal stores in Albany, and that the drawing would take place as soon as a sufficient number of tickets were taken.

We were inclined to regard this as a joke when we first read it, but on our way to the office that morning, an advertising card, in a store window, offering these tickets for sale, attracted our attention, and upon inquiry we ascertained that they were actually offered to the public at the price of $1.00 each, the polite clerk urging us to improve a fine chance, and explaining the way in which the raffle was to be conducted.

An old-fashioned book, doubtless to be found upon the pulpit cushion of the church where this holy raffle is to occur, represents Christ as the head of the church; nay, so intimate is the union between the two that the apostle to the Gentiles uses the figure of marriage to indicate the relationship. But it requires a very elastic fancy to imagine a church which thrives on lotteries to be the bride of Christ. Nor can we conceive it possible that the wrongs so committed at a church fair do not compromise the entire membership of that particular society. “Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him,” says Paul. It would be novel indeed to see a raffle conducted in the name of the Lord Jesus, and thanks returned to God for the privilege of throwing dice or drawing numbers from a hat, for even so nice a prize as a $500 piano.

Again, are there no weak ones in this church, looking for encouragement in the consistent walk of the older members, the light of whose trembling faith is in danger of being eternally quenched by such things? A piano ought to be worth more than a paltry $500 to be raffled for against a human soul. To quote again from one who never speaks of his raising money for a church by raffling at a church fair: “But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.” Is that statement worth anything, and does it mean what it says? The next verse proves that Paul thought it worth while to back up his statement by his own example. Imagine him writing in Romans 15: “But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to get up a raffle at a dollar a ticket to raise a contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. When, therefore, I have performed this, and have sealed to them this first—the proceeds of this heavenly method of raising funds—I will come by you into Spain.” We wonder, however, what expression would have lighted his face upon writing the next verse: “I am sure that when I come unto you I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.”

Only last week one of the most notorious of the infidel writers of this land flung the thing in the writer’s face by saying: “Just look at your churches and see how they gamble when they want money! How much better is that than for anybody else to gamble?” Our shoe pinched just then, and we were not able to explain the difference in a religious point of view. Can we blame our enemies for beating us when we put the clubs in their hands and invite their blows?

Is it a matter of wonder that these pious policy shops should have a lean and lank spirituality? Think of a revival at a church altar, carpeted with the money made by gambling for a piano! Shall Christians be surprised that the wicked world who buy the tickets from the sanctified church, are a little skeptical as to the quality of the prayers which ascend from that pulpit and pew; and that a smile of incredulity creeps over the face of an unconverted sinner who has one of these lottery tickets in his pocket, and is solicited to be prayed for, that he may “renounce the hidden things of dishonesty” and “walk in the light as He is in the light?” What is our Christianity? Show, sham, velvet, lace, feathers, opera music, trifles, lotteries, grab bags, ring cakes! Or is it humility, walking with God, separation from the money-grabbing ways of the world, “fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation,” and instant in prayer, that we may be the children of our Father in Heaven? It cannot be both.

But, “the end justifies the means.” God forbid. He cannot sanction evil that good may come. “We must have money.” Better a thousand times poverty, than ill-gotten gain.

It is not our province to “lecture” the churches, or write homilies upon their duty to God or man, but we may say in closing that these things ought not to be, and every church in Albany or elsewhere ought to keep its garments unspotted from these juggling expedients to make money. Let every lover of our Lord Jesus and a pure church uncompromisingly set his face against these schemes, lest we altogether drive the Holy Spirit from the sanctuary.—Our Work at Home, March, 1880.