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The Accusation of God

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Feb 16, 1905

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 82, No. 7.

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The Accusation of God

By W. F. Hastings

W. F. HASTINGS
“If all the brethren would pay an honest tithe, there would be no lack of means in the Lord’s treasury.” The wicked and the worldling often accuse God’s people of dishonesty. We believe in most cases the accusation is false; we wish it were always false. But here comes an accusation against God’s people from a different source. All courts of law regard robbery as the worst form of dishonesty, and punish it accordingly. Yet the God of heaven declares that this people are actually robbing him. What a work of repentance, of humiliation, of restoration, awaits this people!
The tithing system is from God. If we do our best, and do not get anything, we have nothing to pay with, and nothing is required. If we make ten cents, one cent is the Lord’s; if ten dollars, one dollar is the Lord’s. How simple, how beautiful, how equal, how perfectly adapted to every case! Not one can say he can not pay it. Truly the stamp of divinity is written all over it.
What a mountainous load will be lifted from the hearts of those in responsible positions when the brethren—shall I say, begin to do their duty?—No; when they cease to commit this awful crime.
“But,” says a brother, “I help the poor a great deal, and am doing considerable benevolent work, and I pay my tithe that way.” Let us examine that position a moment. Suppose a man owes you one hundred dollars, and the success of your business depends on his making prompt payment when due. You go to him for your money, and he says, “I am giving quite a little in benevolence lately; in fact, I have given about one hundred dollars the last year, and I’ve concluded to turn it on what I owe you, and call that hundred dollars paid.”
His inconsistent position is precisely parallel with that of the brother who pays his tithe some other way. “These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”
What folly, nay, what presumption, to be looking and praying for the latter rain, with a record like this hanging over the church! I wish that every conference president, every minister, every laborer, would lay his hand on the diseased spot, and lift his voice and teach the people that they can not be Seventh-day Adventists and robbers at the same time.
O that the brethren, each and every one, might realize for themselves what a blessed privilege it is to become active treasurers for God!