A Practical Illustration of the Value of Tithing

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 27, 1916

A Practical Illustration of the Value of Tithing

A WRITER in the Pacific Christian Advocate of May 24, 1916, writes on the subject of tithing. After giving some of the Bible arguments in favor of this practice, he cites the work of Seventh-day Adventists as a practical illustration of the value of this system:—

“A much fairer, as well as more relevant illustration of what tithing will accomplish in and for a denomination, is afforded by the Seventh-day Adventists. There is nothing specially attractive, no special drawing power, in observing the seventh instead of the first day of the week as the Sabbath of rest and worship. The Adventists are neither alone nor singular in their belief in the second coming of Christ. Mr. Moody and the late Dr. Gordon of Boston devoutly believed that Christ would come again. So do thousands of Christians in all our churches. Except by their faith in and practice of tithing, how can we account for the remarkable showing made by the Seventh-day Adventists as a denomination? They regard the law of the tithe, the tenth of income, as equally binding with the law of the Sabbath, the seventh of time.”

“Their official reports state that in 1870 they had a membership of 5,440. In 1910 it was 104,526. Their annual tithe in 1870 was $2,182.46; in 1910 $1,338,698.65; in 1913 it was $1,771,989.60. In 1870 the church controlled one sanitarium with 35 employees. In 1910 they had 74 sanitariums with 1,989 employees, with assets of $3,368,000. In 1880 their total contributions to missions and other benevolent causes was $5.39 per capita; in 1910 it was $21.27; in 1913 $23.42. This includes the membership in foreign countries. In North America alone it was $28.93 per capita for 71,863 communicants. These figures certainly do not show that they had grown poor by tithing during thirty-three years, from 1880 to 1913.”