2 Corinthians 8:2-4

How that in a great trial … the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty.

The poverty of the Macedonians

The condition of Greece in the time of Augustus was one of desolation and distress. It had suffered severely by being the seat of the successive civil wars between Caesar and Pompey, between the Triumvirs and Brutus and Cassius, and, lastly, between Augustus and Antonius. Besides, the country had never recovered from the long series of miseries which had succeeded and accompanied its conquest by the Romans; and between those times and the civil contest between Pompey and Caesar, it had been again exposed to all the evils of war when Sylla was disputing the possession of it with the general of Mithridates The provinces of Macedonia and Achaia, when they petitioned for a diminution of their burdens, in the reign of Tiberius, were considered so deserving of compassion that they were transferred for a time from the jurisdiction of the Senate to that of the Emperor (as involving less heavy taxation). (T. Arnold, D. D.)

The best law of liberality

“It has been frequently wished by Christians,” says the late Dr. Payson, of America, “that there were some rule laid down in the Bible, fixing the proportion of their property which they ought to contribute to religious uses. This is as if a child should go to his father, and say, ‘Father, how many times in the day must I come to you with some testimonial of my love? How often will it be necessary to show my affection for you?’ The father would of course reply, ‘Just as often as your feelings prompt you, my child, and no oftener.’ Just so, Christ says to His people, ‘Look at Me, and see what I have done and suffered for you, and then give Me just what you think I deserve. I do not wish anything forced.’” (Christian Herald.)