PRESENT TRUTH, AND PRESENT CONFLICTS!
By James White
Or, the Duties and Dangers of Our Time.
Our last pertained to tithes and offerings. We spoke of the sacrifices of Noah, as an example to the obedient and good of all later generations. His, under the circumstances, was an immense sacrifice. God approved the act of the patriarch in sacrificing one-seventh part of his property. As the smoke of the burning sacrifice went up, Heaven smiled. His sacrifice did not feed the hungry, nor clothe the naked, nor send the gospel to sinners. Yet, Heaven smiled. And when the precious sacrifice was consumed, and ashes only were seen around the altar, Noah felt the approving smile of Heaven in his heart. He had done something to show that he revered God. Has God changed? The God of Noah is our God. He is ever the same, yesterday, to-day, and forever. And if he approved the great sacrifice of Noah, which could result in no outward good to any one around him, how much more precious in his sight are our sacrifices, religiously made for the widow, the orphan, and the worthy poor generally, and to send the gospel to save poor sinners. And if the sacrifice of the patriarch was proper, as he was just entering upon a new state of things, with a long period of many generations before him, what madness to covetously withhold our sacrifices from the Lord, and hoard up wealth to be consumed by the fires of the last day. Later, we see the system of tithing introduced. Gen. 14:20; 28:22. And still later, in the Jewish age, the people brought both their tithes and offerings unto the Lord. But the prophet, looking down to the Christian age, charges those who are living just before the appearing of the Lord, and the burning day, Mal. 3:2; 4:1, with robbing God in tithes and offerings. Chap. 3:8. “Ye are cursed with a curse,” says the prophet. And yet there is a remedy. “Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house, 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 9. There is a vague idea almost everywhere that the Christian dispensation has so changed God’s plan of tithing, that these words of the prophet do not refer to tangible increase; but to speaking in meeting. “Come, brethren and sisters,” says the minister, as he leads the social meeting, “bring all your tithes into the Lord’s store-house,” meaning, all the time, that they shall rise and speak. But all admit that what God has said of the tithing system in his word, meant, in the Jewish dispensation, just what is said. Who knows that the change from the Jewish to the Christian age so changed these words that they now mean speaking in meeting? Where is the least shade of real proof of such a change from the pocket to the tongue? Jesus fully endorses the literal tithing system: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” Matt. 23:23. The sin of the scribes and Pharisees was in omitting judgment, mercy, and faith. They were hypocrites in that they wished to appear very exact, even in the payment of tithes on the least trifle of value, while, in their hearts and lives, they were great sinners in neglecting the weightier matters. So far from our Lord’s doing away the payment of tithes, he says, “These ought ye to have done.” And Paul carries the principles of sacrifice, taught in the tithing system, far beyond a simple tenth of annual increase. “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” 1 Cor. 16:1, 2. Will our worldly friends say that the apostle here means speaking in meeting? The poor saints at Jerusalem, for whom Paul is making provisions, could hardly use such collections for dinner. In the Jewish dispensation, a tenth of all their increase was given. In the Christian dispensation, “as God hath prospered,” is the divine injunction. By no means does the Christian faith do away with free-will offerings of the tangible good of this life to the cause of the Lord, or change the act of tithing, so that the good people of the Lord may take it out in talk. No; the privilege of the church to bring her tithes and offerings into the Lord’s store-house is greatly enlarged, to meet the wants of the cause in this dispensation, when the gospel is to be preached in all the world. And as we draw nearer the close of the work of the gospel, when the last great warning is to be given, and much means is needed, it will be the grand privilege of the church to transfer the blighted, perishable treasures of this world to Heaven, all changed to the incorruptible and immortal. The right to do this is secured to the church by her dear Lord. “Hear ye him.” “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the Heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding.” Luke 12:33–36. Let the waiting ones see to it, that they attend to this matter before it shall be too late to make the transfer, and they lose all by the fires of the last day, instead of having it changed to all-over-glorious rewards and treasures which will continue with the lifetime of God. To make a sure thing of this matter will require faith, and sanctified moral courage. At present, the Systematic Benevolence of our people is sufficient to sustain the ministry. But the usual efforts of ministerial labor are but a small part of what can be done for the advancement of the cause. Much is done, in our day, whether it be for God or the devil, by the press. The world is cursed with bad books. Friends of present truth should feel the importance of furnishing the world with pure books, stirring books, spirited books, present-truth books, that will arouse the honest in heart to the time in which we live, and the duties and dangers of our time. Here is a wide field for labor. And in order to do the work of printing largely, and be able to furnish our works at lowest terms, we must have capital. This capital, sufficient for this great and good work, must be made up of the free-will offerings of the friends of the cause. Here is a chance to act. Let the free-will offerings come in for the book fund, and let the orders come in, accompanied with the cash, for books to circulate. Brethren and sisters, do not neglect to pay your vows unto the Lord, lest he visit you in your unfaithfulness. Many form good purposes; but draw back from them, and do not perform them. Then, again, they are aroused to duty, and, perhaps, make solemn promises of free-will offerings to the Lord; but the love of the world, the weakness of the flesh, and the power of the devil, come in, and they withhold from the treasury. Poor souls! they purpose to sow liberally; but if they sow at all, it is very sparingly. And if they reap at all, it will be sparingly. The words of Paul are to the point: “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor; his righteousness remaineth forever.” 2 Cor. 9:6–9. This is a very remarkable portion of Scripture, and demands close attention. It more than intimates that God sometimes pours the bounties of this life into the laps of those who use them for his glory in benefiting those around them, and that he may also visit the stingy soul with want. But the point very prominent in this scripture is what the apostle says of carrying out good purposes formed in the heart relative to giving. The performance of such purposes in time of temptation, requires faith. Eld. Wm. Cottrell, of Bowersville, Ohio, purposed in his heart when he sowed his wheat, a little more than a year since, to give one-fifth of the income to the Lord. Before the crop matured, he sustained a heavy loss in the burning of his house. The fire disposed of quite a share of this brother’s little property. Very many would have felt released from such a purpose, under such circumstances. But Bro. C. could not draw back from his purpose. By the hand of Bro. Haughey we received eighty-one dollars, which was one fifth of the entire income of his wheat crop, to use in the cause of God, where we might judge it was most needed. This is a sacred trust. May God guide in the appropriation, and bless the family of Bro. C., who is true to his purpose before God. When this money was presented, and the circumstances stated, at first we felt unwilling to receive it. With a second thought came the conviction that the brother had done right. And we felt to thank God that there was one man, at least, who had the moral courage to pay his vows to God, under tempting circumstances. But in order that our brethren shall, with confidence, and with a liberal hand, bring their tithes and offerings into the treasury, there must be faithfulness in the appropriation of means. Those who stand at the head of the work to direct, and those who handle consecrated means, should be men of God, who will feel as deep an interest in it as if it were their personal business. The Auditing Committees of our Conferences should do their duty faithfully. Every minister’s circumstances, expenses of family, if he has one, his time of labor, the amount of real good he accomplishes, and the amount of donations he receives, should be taken into the account. There are two, and but two, leading branches in the work of our ministers: one is, to give courses of sermons, and bring men and women to the truth; the other is, to organize churches, Systematic Benevolence, feed the flock, keep things in order in the churches, and to visit and look after the scattered ones. We have ministers who accomplish next to nothing in either of these branches of labor. Unless they take hold of this work, and accomplish something, why should they be employed? Our Auditing Committees must be thorough in their duty. Unless they are faithful, Systematic Benevolence will prove a curse to the cause. In one respect, the plan of sustaining the ministry pursued by most denominations is better than ours. With many of them, ministers stand upon their own merits, and depend very much upon resources of their own erecting. A young man entering the ministry, with them, knows that he must study, and labor ardently, and build up an interest, in order to obtain support. This is excellent to the growth of any man entering the ministry. With us, ministers have been paid from the public treasuries, whether they have labored, or merely gone around and preached, as they call it; whether they have built up, or torn down; whether they have studied, and prayed, and grown strong and able, or have neglected the Bible and other books, and the throne of grace, and grown feeble in the things of God. Brethren, we have had enough of this. Our Auditing Committees should know what our ministers have done. “The laborer,” and no other, “is worthy of his hire.” And, then, there is a great defect with most of the181 denominations in their plans of supporting the ministry. Where every minister stands upon his own merits, and depends upon his own resources, or his ability to build up, and to gather around him liberal friends, or his adroitness in conducting covetous conversation, and his brass in begging, people lavish money upon them to their injury, and neglect others to their hurt. The most fluent speakers, the most popular and artful, receive abundance; while others, who may be the real laborers, the men of real worth, on whom the church may rely for counsel and help in time of need, are sometimes neglected. In order that the common errors, existing with most of the denominations in regard to the support of the ministry, might be avoided by Seventh-day Adventists, we introduced to our people, some twelve years since, our plan of Systematic Benevolence. While this has proved to be an equitable plan, drawing upon the poor brother lightly, and requiring of the rich no more than they can put into the treasury of the Lord as well as not, it has also proved abundantly sufficient for the support of all our recognized preachers. The common error to which we have referred is that of neglecting the least-fluent speakers, although they may be able men, and the real laborers, especially if they are not gifted in covetous conversation, and in begging generally; and then bestowing lavishly upon the gifted, and those whom the people hold as religious pets. These errors, of no small magnitude, we designed to avoid. The laborer, the real laborer, is worthy of his hire. Withhold it from him, and his influence is crippled, and the cause of God suffers. On the other hand, it is almost certain ruin to lavish means wantonly, needlessly, and, therefore, wickedly, upon a preacher. Hull, Snook, Shortridge, and others whose names we forbear to mention, became the pets of our people, and they lavished means upon them. Some, whose names are mentioned, were ruined with means; and others, whose names we withhold, are dying spiritually, and never can stand clear in the counsel of God till they have restored, either to the donors, or to the general treasury, the personal gifts they have received while being amply sustained from the general treasury. In this thing, both preachers and people are in the wrong. It is the duty of our people, wherever they may be, whether connected with our churches, or scattered in distant parts, and alone, to come right up to the established figures of Systematic Benevolence. The proceeds should be put into our State treasuries, or into the General Conference treasury. All our accredited preachers should receive a liberal support. Those who labor under the supervision of State Conference Committees, receive their support from the treasury of the State where they labor. And those employed by the General Conference to labor in distant fields, and to pass from State to State attending camp meetings and State Conferences, receive their support from the treasury of the General Conference. There is, therefore, no necessity for personal donations to our ministers. And those who make them are not acting in harmony with the established plan of our people for the support of the ministry. We recommend the full and complete adoption of one of the two plans. Either let us abolish our system of benevolence, and our plan of sustaining our preachers from our general treasuries, and let our preachers look personally to the generosity of our people for support; or, let us, as a man, unite in carrying out our equitable system of raising and disbursing means for the support of the ministry. But, in the name of reason and common honesty, we protest against that game that takes full advantage of both plans. This receiving from the public treasury full pay for full time employed in the gospel field, and all traveling expenses paid, after having received this favor, and that valuable present, amounting to a large sum during the year, simply because one is a minister, is a double game unworthy of a minister of the last message. If our ministers receive full pay from the public treasury for their support, why should they be favored with presents. We appeal to our people upon this subject. While you should love, and respect, and have a tender care for the men whom God has called to teach the unpopular truths connected with the last message, you should not make pets of them. You should not suffer wrong in them. You should not in your liberality, for their personal gratification, ruin them with means which God requires you to put into his treasury, to advance the general interests of his cause. In our love for our ministers, and in our liberality as a people, we have erred in doing too much in the way of providing homes for them. The pioneers of the cause, who, when friends were few, sacrificed property, strength, and health, in their untiring efforts, until they were worn and destitute, such as Elds. Bates, Andrews, and Waggoner, were worthy to be assisted to convenient, humble homes. Men who have labored and sacrificed as these have, are worthy of the unabating love, and the tender care, of all our people. But we went further than this. Men who had not successfully labored, and who had not sacrificed in the cause and worn as the pioneers in the cause had done, were helped to homes. Some of these men have been of but little, if any, real benefit to the cause, since they have been provided with homes. These they enjoy, though they have not earned them. And beside this, they are paid annually for work that they do not do. These men have not the spirit of the work, and are of no real value to the cause in their present state. And some of these are still grasping for more means, when they have a competency. They neglect the cause of God, in carrying out their covetousness. These things are a grief to our brethren where they are known, and cause many to withhold their means from the cause. Now we purpose close investigation at next Conference, of the entire receipts of each minister, and also the amount of work he has done; not only for the Conference year, but for years in the past, more or less, as may be judged proper. How many have been brought to the truth annually by his labors! or, what has he done in building up churches, and setting things in order! It will not be objected that our people make donations to our preachers, if they choose to do so. But it is the duty of ministers to report all such donations. If they do not report them, it is the duty of our Auditing Committees to search them up, and take them into the account. If we are not wonderfully mistaken, some of our ministers who have been helped to homes, and have been paid from the general treasury, and have been receiving donations also, till they have money at interest, or have a surplus in other lands beside their home property, are paid several years in advance. And, right here, the writer asks a close investigation of his case. And we ask it because our people are generally ignorant of the facts in the case, and because our connection with the financial workings of the cause has exposed us to the bitterest rage of the tongue of slander. Let the General Conference, or a committee it may appoint, go back as far as it pleases, and if the following statements are not correct, let their inaccuracies be shown: 1. Seventh-day Adventists have never donated of their money to purchase us a home. We have asked money to obtain homes for other ministers; but have not asked help for ourself. Neither did others, in our homeless condition in past years, manifest an interest to obtain a home for us. 2. We have not received the donations of our people without making ample returns. With pleasure, we acknowledge the present of a horse and buggy from our friends in Vermont, as early as 1850. When this buggy was literally worn out in traveling back and forth from New York to Maine, a brother in Steuben Co., N. Y., gave us a valuable covered carriage, which the Vermont horse also wore out. During this period, this horse and these carriages were held for the use of other preachers, as freely as for our own use. And in our tours, East and West, when brethren have given us means, we have never appropriated it to our personal benefit, only to pay traveling expenses. We have not less than forty old pass books, in which we have kept the accounts of the several tours. On our return from each tour, if we had received more than to cover expenses, it was acknowledged in the REVIEW, and appropriated to printing materials, book fund, or something of the kind. If we have received sums of money which we have not acknowledged, the donors know it, and it is their duty to testify in the case. Up to the year 1867, Mrs. W. was entirely neglected by the General Conference, relative to meeting the expenses of her labors. For the twenty years then past, she frequently received presents of clothing. These, perhaps, amounted to twenty dollars a year, for which she was grateful. But all money paid us was acknowledged, and applied as above stated. She did not ask for a home to be given; and had one been offered, she would have declined receiving it. But some provisions of Conference to pay hired help who cared for her children in her absence from home, and to meet extra expenses of wear and tear of suitable clothing while traveling, would have been very acceptable during twenty long years of incessant labor. 4. We gratefully acknowledge the sympathy of the few brethren at Battle Creek when we moved here, feeble and in want, in 1865, and the assistance of several at that time. It is just to say that we acted as pastor of the church nine years, for which we received nothing. During these years we worked incessantly in the Office, a portion as editor of the REVIEW, six days in each week, and preached on the Sabbath, until we fell under a stroke of paralysis. The church did not seem to feel under obligation to make returns to us in presents for our labors, sooner than they would to the mayor of the city. In this period we lost a child, and during the last part of his long illness, we did not let the labor of watching fall on the church; but hired poor sisters, and paid them fifty cents each night, for most of the time. And when we were stricken with paralysis in 1865, during the three weeks’ extreme illness, before we were able to go to the Health Institute at Dansville, N. Y., we paid, in valuable presents, and in money, to persons we had baptized with our own hands, between fifty and sixty dollars, for watching at our bedside. It is painful to mention these things; and we should not now mention them, had not some of the parties reported our ingratitude for all that had been done for us, and joined in the general slander that our business career had been marked with covetousness. It is just to say that these persons were very reluctant to receive presents from us at the time of our deep affliction. But a most unhappy change soon came over them. And it is not our design at this time to hurt the feelings of those who confessed their errors. Our object in these statements is to show that we have not been a church pauper, and have occupied the extreme opposite of covetousness. While we were at Dansville, an appeal was made in the REVIEW to the brethren to donate means to meet the expenses of Elds. Loughborough, Bourdeau, and White, who were sick at Dansville. Means came in liberally. Two of these preachers received liberal donations, amounting to considerably more than their expenses; but we declined. What was sent to us was returned to the donors, or applied elsewhere. But a few days before we left for Dansville, Bro. J. P. Kellogg, of the Battle Creek church, came to our house and offered us money. We declined, stating that when we were in need we would inform him. And after we returned from Dansville, Bro. M. J. Cornell, by vote of the church, came to our house with one hundred and fifty dollars, as a present from the church. This we declined, stating that we would let our wants be known when we were needy. 5. Until 1861, we were the legal owner of all the property connected with the REVIEW Office. We then called upon our people to form a legal organization, and take the property off our hands. This was done. We did not sell out; but gave the REVIEW, Instructor, and the right to republish all our books. In that act we gave a property which, with the capital since added in Association stock, and the increase of business, is now earning one thousand dollars per month. We gave not less than ten thousand dollars to the Association at that time. And for this we have in no way received a dollar. And besides this, all that had been donated for printing materials, from the first,182 and all that had been donated for book fund, excepting that which had been used in the free distribution of books, was made over to the Association, without reserving a single dollar. 6. But after we had expended not far from two thousand dollars on account of sickness, and were destitute, and as we were recovering, neither our strength, nor Mrs. W.’s, was sufficient to travel in our old, worn carriage. And we are happy here to acknowledge the receipt of donations to purchase one, such as we needed. And thank God for a little strength to hold the reins in one hand, and with the other to support Mrs. W. in her extremely feeble condition, as we again started out to labor in the cause of God. And as we began to travel from State to State, as we had done before our sickness, our people continued donations, until we received in all not far from seven hundred dollars. This we decided to put back into the treasury as soon as we should be able so to do, two dollars for one. And since that time we have put into the cause, in its different branches, not less than fifteen hundred dollars. Beside this, we have tried to do our duty to the widow and orphan; for which God has poured into our laps a hundred fold, in health and in friends, and has wonderfully prospered us in the good things of this life. 7. At the Kansas Camp-meeting, Eld. Geo. I. Butler told us that the report was current among our friends in Iowa, that Mrs. W. had received a very fine Brussels carpet from the Battle Creek church, worth one hundred dollars. It is true that such a present was brought to our door; but Mrs. W. refused it for two reasons: first, she did not wish any better carpet than her sisters had; and second, she was able to purchase all the plain carpets she needed. The Battle Creek reporter was too fast this time. 8. Some kind and much-respected friends of Mrs. W., in Saginaw Co., Mich., made her a present of forty dollars, thirty-five of it in a durable silk dress. At that time our dear Bro. James Ertzenberger, from Switzerland, whom we have had the pleasure to board at our house seven months, free of charge, was with us. Mrs. W. sold the dress, added ten dollars, making in all fifty, and put it into the Swiss mission. 9. We might add the acknowledgment of the receipts, from brethren Dodge and Palmer, of a lot in Battle Creek, worth one hundred dollars, in 1855, the deed of which was taken in Mrs. W.’s name, as we were supposed to be beyond recovery, with consumption. Also, the building of a barn for our horses and cow, by members of the Greenville and Orleans churches, in 1867, and some smaller favors when we were in want. But if we have not given from our own purse to help poor preachers who are now active in the work, and to help in the various enterprises to advance the cause, five dollars for every one received for personal benefit, we will do it. 10. It is true that we have a competency. And it is also true that we never made one dollar in publishing our periodicals, or our various publications. Neither have we enriched our pockets with donations from brethren. How then has this competency come? Answer: The rise of property in our hands for the past fifteen years, real estate and personal, has not been less than ten thousand dollars. We have dealt honorably with all men. Neither have we taken time to make the purchase and sale of property a business. No; we purchased a humble home, and as property rose, sold and purchased another. Several changes of this kind, with equal prosperity with personal property managed by another, has given an increase nearly double the amount of property we ever owned. Ask those dear men of God, with whom we have had the honor to be associated in vindicating the claims of the fourth precept of God’s law, if our purse has not been shared by them as our own dear family has shared it. On the twenty-eighth day of July last, at our own home, we united in marriage our oldest son, one of the only two remaining children, to one that we are all happy to welcome to our small family circle. We have not done for this married son, in point of property, neither can we, while acting in harmony with our faith, as much as we have for each of such brethren in the ministry as Loughborough, Waggoner, and Andrews. We have also tried to do our duty to the widow and orphan when we were comparatively destitute and feeble. And a gracious God has poured into our laps abundance in return. And in conclusion we would say that we have borne the plain testimony of this article, with the consciousness that our course in point of means has been in harmony with it. If any doubt, please demand of General Conference an investigation. We took the responsibility twelve years since to introduce the subject of Systematic Benevolence, and fought the matter through against determined prejudice. And now that our faithful people are generally true to the system, we shall expose unrighteous appropriations of means sacredly put into the treasury. And if we fail to correct existing evils in appropriations, we shall do all in our power to do away with the system. We feel deeply over this subject, as we see that, as now managed, Systematic Benevolence is a curse to our cause, instead of a blessing.