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The Whole Tithe

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 24, 1908

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 39.

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“The Whole Tithe”

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YEARS ago we were told by the spirit of prophecy that if all would faithfully pay a full tithe into the Lord’s treasury, there would be no lack of means with which to carry on the work. The writer is fully persuaded that if “the whole tithe” were brought into the “store-house,” there would be no need of funds from other sources to support the work in all parts of the world. He is also convinced from the following incident that only a few, comparatively speaking, pay a full tithe:—
Jan. 1, 1905, a worker in this cause, who has a family of four to support, began to keep an accurate account of all tithes and offerings paid by him. This man had no support other than that paid him by the conference. His wife kept a cow, some chickens, and a small garden on a city lot. The amount of tithe and donations paid by this worker up to Aug. 1, 1908, is $439.50,—an average of $10.22 a month for the whole time. The tithe alone amounts to $317.35, which equals $88.56 a year, or $7.38 a month.
Nor is this in any way an extraordinary showing. This man, before he entered the ministry, was a mechanic, earning much more than he has since. He simply did what every Seventh-day Adventist ought to do—honestly paid a tithe of his income. Not counting the two small children, the average annual tithe for each church-member in this family is $44.28, which, if equaled—as it should be—by all the people of this denomination, would every year amount to over three millions of dollars, — enough to support three times as many foreign missionaries as we now have, at the same time caring better for our home work.
Suppose we each try the plan of keeping an accurate account of our income, and find how much tithe we should pay during the next year. Such a plan would result in doubling, or even trebling, the average annual tithe as now paid, and would clear us of the charge of robbing God by not bringing in the whole tithe.