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A Loyal People

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Apr 13, 1905

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 82, No. 15.

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A Loyal People

By E. K. SLADE

E. K. SLADE
THE purpose of the plan of salvation is to develop a people who will be loyal to the ways and requirements of the kingdom of God. To this end the law of God with all its requirements is ever held before us as a rule of action, loyalty to which is required on the part of every one.
It was pleasing to God when this people took a firm stand for obedience to the commandments of God. The Sabbath commandment was a test of loyalty in a special sense. For one to step out and obey the fourth commandment, and thus take a position so different from the practises of the nominally Christian world, in the face of ridicule and greatsacrifice, was a stand for loyalty that was most pleasing to God. While this position was taken at a great sacrifice, the experience was necessary in order to develop a people that would be loyal subjects for the coming kingdom. To the same end are all the requirements of God that entail a sacrifice on our part.
The Lord has committed to us many rich blessings, all of which he would have us use in harmony with the law of heaven. In the use of these gifts we are training for a better world. This is especially true in reference to temporal things. We are made stewards of his goods. He is the owner of all, as he has ever been and will always be, and in our stewardship he would have us recognize his ownership. Until our loyalty in this respect is fully established, he can not commit to our trust the eternal riches.
Any disposition of monopoly ownership is displeasing to God, and foreign to his kingdom. It had its origin in the fall of Satan, and the same test was involved in the disobedience of Adam and Eve. The selfishness that permitted the reaching out for that which God had reserved to himself is the same as that seen in all monopoly ownership wherein God is not recognized as the owner of all. This selfishness is foreign to heaven. God in his mercy purposes to establish loyalty in his people in this respect, in order that he may commit to them these enduring things that are in store for them.
In order to bring this about, the great work in the plan of redemption is committed to humanity, and at the same time means have been placed in our hands to be devoted to that work. Appealing hands are reaching out to us from the darkness of the heathen world, asking for the message of salvation. The word of God comes to us, that all that we have is his, that he has given us the power to get wealth, and that the wealth that we have gained is his, and he is waiting to see if we will respond to these calls. He has made this provision as a rebuke to our selfishness and the spirit of monopoly ownership, in order that he may develop in us a disposition to do as it will be natural to do in the new earth.
He does not require tithes and offerings because he is short of means, and dependent upon us; he requires them because we are so needy, and because we have come so far short of the high standard of heaven in this respect. He requires the same loyalty in reference to these principles as in the obedience of the Sabbath commandment, and they become just as much a test of loyalty as the observance of the Sabbath.
The tithing system is a test to us in the same degree as was the tree of knowledge of good and evil to Adam and Eve. I can not believe that the Lord will change his mind and say to any of his people, I will withdraw this test, and ignore this principle of heaven in the development of human character. All heaven is looking upon the needy conditions of our world, and taking note of our loyalty in responding to these conditions. Instead of saying, Well done, to those who have been unfaithful in this respect, he says, “Ye have robbed me in tithes and offerings.” He would have us understand that we are not simply robbing humanity, those who have a right to look to us for the blessing that this gospel may be to them, but that we are robbing him as well, if we are not carrying out the principles he has laid down concerning that which he has committed to us. He is being robbed, not only in tithes, but in offerings. Many who are paying a faithful tithe fail to make the offerings which are also required. Others are soothing their consciences by paying indefinite amounts, which they choose to call tithe. Still others are ignoring the Lord's requirements altogether, and pay no tithe at all. To such the Lord will not say, Well done. Loyalty on the part of all will be required in these matters. If you have loyally taken your stand for the Sabbath truth, the Lord has been pleased with that; but he will not overlook this weakness of character, and he will not permit this selfishness and disloyalty to jeopardize the new earth.
He will not say, Well done, of that which he has always condemned. Can you afford to be without the blessing that will surely come to you through faithfulness in these matters? Shall we not be loyal to every requirement of God, and heartily and nobly respond to what is so evidently a test of loyalty at this time?
Lansing, Mich.