Make Save and Give
Poem★★★★★A stingy farmer, who had persistently refused to attend Wesley’s meetings, was one day induced to go. The preacher’s first point was, “Make all you can,” and the farmer was delighted. The second point was, “Save all you can.” This threw the farmer into ecstasy, and he thought how foolish he had been to absent himself from such preaching.
But the third point was, ‘‘Give all you can”; and that last point, the farmer said, spoiled the whole sermon. Such a niggardly spirit is the scandal of Christendom. The giving is not proportioned to the wealth. Alexander the coppersmith, who did Paul much evil, is still working mischief in the church.
When Jesus holds out His pierced hand for a gift too many try to cover the nailprint with a copper.
The point
Wesley's three-part sermon: 'Make all you can' and 'Save all you can' delighted a stingy farmer, but 'Give all you can' horrified him—revealing how many embrace gain but reject generosity.