The Solution of a Grave Problem
By A. G. DANIELLS
A FEW days ago while weighed down with painful solicitude regarding the enlargement of our missionary operations in home and foreign mission fields, there flashed through my mind the following statements from the spirit of God’s prophecy:— God’s plan in the tithing system is beautiful in its simplicity and equality. All may take hold of it in faith and courage, for it is divine in its origin. . . . If one and all would accept it, each would be made a vigilant and faithful treasurer for God; and there would be no want of means with which to carry forward the great work of sounding the last message of warning to the world. The treasury will be full if all adopt this system, and the contributors will not be left the poorer. Under all the circumstances, no message ever seemed more comforting and assuring to me than this. The tithing system is God’s plan; it is divine in its origin. If all would accept it, “there would be no want of means with which to carry forward the great work of sounding the last message of warning to the world.” That is precisely the information needed at this time. Our work is to proclaim the third angel’s message to all the world. Christ can not come until this is done. One of the great needs in world-wide missionary effort is money. The lack of means is greatly hindering the progress of this cause at the present time. Great advance moves should be made at once. They should be in progress at this very time; but they are held up and bound because the treasury is empty. The situation is painful. Devoted, loyal missionaries and Sabbathkeepers in all lands are waiting with the deepest anxiety for us to send them help from our abundance. And while they wait, we are forced, for lack of means, to bind everything about with cords until our treasury is replenished. This is disappointing, painful, and humiliating, but it can be helped in one way, and that is by a faithful payment of tithes to the cause of God. This will change the whole situation. It will relieve the terrible strain all around. This, then, is a trumpet call to every one identified with this cause to immediately place in the treasury of God a full, honest tithe of what the Lord has given during the year 1904. “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. . . . And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.” Lev. 27: 30, 32. From these statements it is as plain as words can make it that one tenth of what the Lord entrusts us with is not ours to use for ourselves. It is not ours at all. It is the Lord’s. It belongs to him, and the one who appropriates it to himself robs his Maker and Benefactor. And hence we read: “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Mal. 3: 8, 9. The remedy for this fearful thing is plain: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Verse 10. Our empty treasury cries to God against us for the sin of robbing him of his revenue reserved by him for the support of his gospel work. A little study of the tithes received by the church and conference treasurers from the church-members, will show plainly that there is a sad unfaithfulness on the part of some of God’s stewards in the disposal of the tithes. The tithes received from the Sabbathkeepers in the North American union conferences during the year 1903 amounted to $9.04 per member. The largest tithe per member received in any local conference was $17.78. The lowest average in any conference was $4.33. The average in the majority of conferences was from seven dollars to nine dollars. Passing to the union conferences outside of North America, we find that the average tithe paid by the Sabbathkeepers amounts to $9.25, the largest tithe paid by any local conference being $28.57, and the lowest, $5.20. These comparisons show that the believers in the union conferences in foreign lands pay an average of twenty-one cents per member more than is paid by the believers in the United States. This seems incredible. Our people in the densely populated countries of Europe are poor people when compared with our people in the United States. Wages, prices, and the products of toil are not to be compared with those prevailing in North America. And yet our brethren there pay a larger tithe per member than is paid by our brethren in the States. Why is this? Are the brethren in foreign lands paying more than a tithe? No one believes that. The only reason why the tithe of the American believers is not nearly double that of the brethren in foreign lands, must be because the American brethren are not all paying a full tithe. Nine dollars is a tenth of ninety dollars. Ninety dollars is not two dollars a week for a year. There are very few families, or persons even, who receive as little as that. Ten dollars a week would make a tithe of fifty-two dollars a year. If there were but two in the family, that would make an average of twenty-six dollars for them. If there were four in the family belonging to the church, it would make an average of thirteen dollars for each. This is nearly double what is paid in many of the richest States of North America. Surely there must be a reformation on this point. We can not possibly look for the showers of the latter rain to fall upon us while withholding from the Lord’s treasury that which is his, and which is so sorely needed to hasten his work forward. Lord, arouse and alarm thy people! Cause thy goodness to lead them to repentance. Show them the awful throng of human beings going down to perdition every day without hope!