p. 1 | THE TITHE by J. Q. Foy

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 25, 1878

THE TITHE.

By J. Q. Foy

“Even from the days of your fathers ye have gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them.” Mal. 3:7.

The ordinances to which reference is here made are clearly brought to view in the verses following, and doubtless embrace the system of tithes and offerings which was instituted in that dispensation, and adopted by the people of God of that age. For a long time these ordinances seem to have been lost sight of; or, in the language quoted, the people had gone away from them, and had not kept them.

For something like a score of years S. D. Adventists have claimed to adopt this system; and by them its practical utility has been clearly demonstrated, and its beneficial results have been so apparent that argument in its favor would be unnecessary, not to say out of place. But though they are satisfied as to its propriety and generally agreed as to its utility, is it not to be feared, that, for want of a just appreciation of its merits and a proper sense of its obligatory character, and from a consequent failure on their part to suffer its claims to bear upon them, even they have failed to reap the full measure of the benefit which it was the evident design of God it should prove to his people? Not to go back and enumerate the blessings which by its adoption were secured to ancient Israel, we shall find ample testimony upon this point in the third chapter of Malachi. We shall also find proof in our own history, in the remarkably signal manifestations of God’s approval in cases of its rigid observance, and in the evident indications of his displeasure which have followed its neglect.

Though at times God’s people have been few in number, and though in consequence of their departures from him the line of distinction between them and the world has sometimes been barely visible, yet is it not true that since the days of Abel God has had a people in the earth who were, in a sense, separate from the nations around them? and now is it not true in a special sense that he is “purifying unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works?” It is no evidence to the contrary, that, as is generally admitted, the language of the verse quoted, and the fearful charge following, if they do not refer exclusively to the people of God, have yet a special application to them (a conclusion at least justified by a not necessarily critical review of their condition financially as well as spiritually); for immediately following is the invitation, “Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.”

In every instance of a separation between God and his people, the fault is manifestly on their part, and with them rests the responsibility. “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isa. 59:1, 2. An opportunity to return is given us; and are we ignorant of our departure, so that we inquire, “Wherein shall we return?” the answer is plain: “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.” Now our question is answered, and truly our condition is an unenviable one. But are we to be left without hope? Is there no reprieve? Truly “to us belongeth confusion of face.” “To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him.” Dan. 9:9.

Having been found guilty of the fearful crime of robbing God, let us not contend with the Almighty; but, thankful for the privilege of redeeming the past, how can we better manifest our humble gratitude than by being in haste to avail ourselves of it, and to heed the invitation: “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.”

The Lord is not only willing to forgive, but anxious to bless, his repenting people. Prove me—try me; in other words, show me your faith by your works. In every age, in all the dealings of God with his people, faith on their part has been a prerequisite to success. Hence we read, “Without faith it is impossible to please God;” and the apostle James assures us that “faith without works is dead.” Aware of this, and nearing, as we certainly are, the conclusion of earth’s drama and the final glorious triumph of the work of God in the earth, shall we longer be satisfied with a merely nominal belief in it,—a dead faith?

Having been granted the privilege of participating in the work instituted by the Saviour of men, in which we are assured that all Heaven is interested, of sharing in its final triumph, and of enjoying throughout an endless eternity the fruits of our labors and sacrifices, shall we longer deceive ourselves? Shall we bury our talents in the earth, give, if at all, grudgingly of our means, thus shutting out of our heart and excluding from our labors the blessing of God that maketh rich—rich, not in the world’s goods merely, but in faith, in confidence in the work, which is essential to our spiritual prosperity? Oh that, as those who have been so highly favored with the light of these precious truths, we might be able to grasp as a living reality the fact that God invites, nay, entreats, his people to come into a position where he can safely bless, and signally manifest himself to them, that he may be glorified in them. Isa. 49:3.

“Prove me now.” In view of the great work intrusted to the people of God, and the consequent great responsibility resting upon them, there never was a time when they stood in greater need of his blessing; and from the language of this chapter in Malachi alone, we may safely conclude that the Lord was never more willing to bless his people.

The tract societies, in connection with the publishing department, are doing a great work, and there is not a doubt in the minds of the true friends of the cause but that it is the right thing in the right place; but they are crippled for want of means,—for want of these very tithes and offerings with which the Lord invites us to prove him, and which he asks us to bring into his store-house, “that there may be meat in mine house.” What is the meat here referred to, if not the truths of his word which have been so carefully written out, and which, at considerable expense, are and must be published to a world hungry, starving for the bread of life. Already the demand is greater than the supply.

The individual, who, indulging his sordid greed for gold, can close his hand and heart against the cry of the famishing, is to be pitied; but what shall we say of him who, enjoying the light of present truth, and having in his possession means lent him of God for this very purpose, withholds the bread of life, refuses to dispense the bounties of God’s providence? Now is the time to prove the Lord,—now, when help is needed, when the Spirit of God is moving upon our hearts, when the cause is languishing, or rather when we ourselves are suffering for want of the very blessings which a proper improvement of this golden opportunity would secure. Delay is dangerous, and in this matter is it not doubly so? Is there not danger that by refusing to heed such entreaty, by steeling our hearts to such appeals, our inclination to do in this direction will become less and less, our minds more and more blinded by the god of this world, the Spirit of God be grieved forever from our hearts, and it be said of us, “He is joined to his idols, let him alone”?

“Prove me now herewith.” The means are in our hands with which to prove the Lord, with which to prove our love to him, our confidence in him, and our devotion to his cause. Nor is the privilege confined to those of large means. The same Saviour who noticed the gift of the poor widow pleads our cause, and will accept our efforts though feeble, our sacrifices though small, if prompted by a spirit of sacrifice and love to him.

Let us not be satisfied with saying, “I would do something, but”—unless we have a better excuse to offer than, “I have a family to support, and they may be sick;” or, “I am out of health, and may need what I have;” or, “I am young, and want to get a start in life;” or, “I am old, and not able to do as I once could;” or even, “My business is in so unsettled and precarious a condition that I do not know what I can do.” Persons in such circumstances are the very ones to whom the invitation is extended, the very ones who need the blessing of God. Cursed, when they might be blessed; sick when they might be well; old and infirm, when their youth might be renewed like the eagle’s. Their money is invested as Satan would have it, when, with the blessing of Heaven, it might be used in blessing their fellow-men and in securing “bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens.”

We are assured that self-denial and the cross lie all along the way to the kingdom. But have we not counted the cost, and decided that Heaven will be cheap enough at any price? and do we not know that this is so most emphatically, “Ye have not yet resisted

unto blood”? Many, having loved this present world, have gone back; more, doubtless, will. Human nature is the same as in the days of Judas, and the same scenes are being re-enacted by the very men who stand appalled at the terrible tragedy of the betrayal. Verily “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,” and we do well to inquire, as did the disciples of old, “Is it I?” remembering, the while, that Judas asked the same question.

“Saith the Lord of hosts.” “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.” It is he “in whose hand our breath is,” “in whom we live, and move, and have our being,” who says, “Prove me, . . . 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.” It is the privilege of every one, whatever be his vocation, to secure the divine blessing; the mechanic at his trade, the merchant at his store, the farmer as he sows his seed,—to all the invitation is given, to all the promise is made: “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, . . . and all nations shall call you blessed; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” “Happy is that people that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.” Ps. 144:15. J. Q. Foy.