Preached to around 10,000,000 people, Remains one of the most influential preachers to this day – considered by some as the best. (note: Charles Spurgeon at earlier times had made contradictory statements from the one below, so he is listed below with others who are inconclusive or contradictory.)
“But you are not under a system similar to that by which the Jews were obliged to pay tithes to the priests. If there were any such rule laid down in the Gospel, it would destroy the beauty of spontaneous giving and take away all the bloom from the fruit of your liberality! There is no law to tell me what I should give my father on his birthday. There is no rule laid down in any law book to decide what present a husband should give to his wife, nor what token of affection we should bestow upon others whom we love. No, the gift must be a free one, or it has lost all its sweetness.”
“Christ’s Poverty, Our Riches” (Sermon 2716) April 18, 1880
http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols46-48/chs2716.pdf
