TITHES AND DEBTS—NATURE OF OBLIGATIONS.
By J. H. Waggoner
Some have said—and some even yet say—that they will pay their tithes (or s. b. as the case may be), when they have paid their debts; and that honesty demands that they shall pay their debts first. To be in debt is generally an unfortunate thing; but some have a faculty of ever being in debt, and it would be easy for such to always evade their duty to the cause of God if that were a valid reason. But they who speak thus do not seem to understand the nature of obligations. They act as if all obligations were under their own control, which is not the case. Obligations are of two kinds: 1. Those which are imposed by authority; and, 2. Those which are assumed voluntarily. The former always takes precedence of the latter. As the former are not under our control, and have precedence, we ought always to keep them in view when we take other obligations upon us voluntarily. There are also two sources of authoritative obligation, which might properly be called government obligation, namely, the authority of God, the Supreme Governor, the Dispenser of all good, and the authority of the civil government under which we live. The claim of the government is collected under the name of taxes. It is collectable as a debt—we pay taxes. We never consider them as a gift to the government. The government secures to us the right of holding our property, and protects us from harm—from trespass and assault. In doing this, expenses are incurred of officers, courts of justice, etc., and revenue is collected by means of taxes to keep the machinery of government in motion. Under a good government—one which is truly “for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well,”—no debt should be more cheerfully paid than that which we owe to the government for the security which it affords to life and property. This obligation has come to be so well recognized that very few seek to evade the claim. No one thinks of urging that he cannot pay his taxes until he has paid his debts. His tax is a debt taking precedence of those which he voluntarily incurs. Other debts he ought to pay—this he must pay. Other debts he assumes of his own accord, and from them he might have kept free if he had so chosen or so planned; this is enforced by authority, and he has no option in the matter. Just such an obligation we owe to the government of Heaven. God is the giver of every good and perfect gift; in him we live, and move and have our being; He giveth to us life, and breath, and all things. “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” He has a cause on earth to be maintained, and he has appointed that it shall be carried on and maintained by men. The gospel is to be carried to every nation, and preached to every creature. This work was committed to men, not to angels. Means are needed to carry on this work. It is right and just, also, that we recognize the claims of His government, and show our loyalty to it, and acknowledge the benefits which we receive from it. As in the case of the claim of the civil government, we do not give the amount which God claims as his own, and which he calls a tithe. It is a payment—not a gift. Thus the Scriptures speak of paying tithes. “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy unto the Lord.” Lev. 27: 30. But the question may be raised: Is not an offering counted a payment as well as the tithe? Yes; but we have stated that there is a difference in the nature of the obligation. Your tax must be paid whether or not you promise to do so,—whether you consent or demur. That belongs to the government. A debt to your neighbor is an obligation voluntarily assumed, and when it is assumed it, too, is binding; it becomes a matter of payment. You pay both your debts and your taxes. And it is precisely so with tithes and offerings. The tithe belongs to the Lord. As a government tax, it is imposed by authority. A vow or free-will offering is an obligation of another nature. It is assumed voluntarily. When assumed, when a vow is made, it becomes binding and must be paid. The Scriptures regard this as a voluntary matter. “Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.” If the vow is not made, the obligation is not incurred. Vows as well as promises to your neighbor, should be made with carefulness and consideration. Carelessness in matters of debt—recklessness in promising, or slackness in payment will speedily destroy our reputation; our credit is ruined. So with vows to the Lord. A vow not paid is called the work of a fool. For this the Lord threatens his anger, and to destroy the work of our hands, Eccl. 5. It is ruinous to our credit in Heaven. But the question of precedence raised in the statement given at the commencement of this article remains to be briefly noticed. If we are not to pay our tithes until we have satisfied all the claims of our fellow-men, it is because the claims of God and his cause are secondary to those of men. Who will insist that this is so? No one will dispute that it is right to render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; but we do insist that Cæsar’s claims are not paramount to those of God. It should be needless to try to enforce this statement with words, but there are Christian people who have so long viewed these things in a wrong light that they scarcely hold themselves under obligation to honor God’s claims while a claim of man remains against them. This should not be so. Certainly it should not be so among those who profess to be preparing for the coming of the Lord by full obedience to all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.