The Systematic-Benevolence Fund and the Ministry.
By George I. Butler
THE proper support of the gospel ministry has ever been a question of importance. It is one which will be likely to occasion much perplexity among us, ere long. The present time seems to be a very proper one in which to offer some thoughts concerning it, seeing the season for holding our State Conferences will soon be upon us, and our auditing committees will have the work of settlement upon their hands to arrange. In the plan of God for the salvation of fallen man, he has ordered it that those whom he has endowed with proper gifts of mind and heart, should labor for the benefit of others, to set before them the light of truth. All are not qualified to instruct and interest the people, as speakers and teachers. But a small minority, comparatively, in any age, are possessed of suitable gifts to make a success in this direction, and it ever will be true, so long as probation shall last, as it also has been in past ages, that there will be an abundance of openings for those who are properly qualified to engage in this vocation. The Master always has need of laborers. He has a plenty for all to do, who are true laborers, so that all their time and strength may be employed. And as the work to be done is great and most important, seeing it has to do with the eternal destiny of our fellow-men, it is not fitting that those who possess ability to labor in this sphere of usefulness, successfully, should be obliged, by the necessity of attending to the temporal wants of this life, to leave their proper vocation when there are so many calls to fill. Here comes in the duty and privilege of those who cannot labor in word and doctrine, to give of their means for the support of those who can. In this way, they can be sharers in the good work, and in the eternal reward attending those who save souls from death. God has ordered it in his word that those who preach the gospel shall live of the gospel. These general principles are admitted by all churches and religions, and are carried out in different ways. Most generally, each local society over which a minister presides, contributes directly for his support, according to the individual pleasure of those who receive the benefit of his labors. Seventh-day Adventists have adopted another plan. A common fund is raised by the different local societies of every organized State Conference, called the Systematic Benevolence Fund, from the fact that all are recommended to give according to a regular system, in proportion to the amount of property each person is worth. This, however, is left to the free choice of each person. Compulsion is never used to enforce giving. This fund is paid in to the State Conference treasury, and from it ministers receive their support, according to the decisions163of an auditing committee of nine, appointed by the Conference, six of whom must be lay members. This plan has some excellent features, and is also liable to some abuses. Our general system of labor seems to require some general system of remuneration. As we have no settled pastors, who stay permanently in one place, of course it could not be expected that any one society should have the charge of seeing that any one minister was properly supported. Many of our ministers labor all the time in new fields, where they can look for no support. If it were left to each locality where labor was expended to pay what it chose, with no general supervision, great abuses would evidently creep in. Pleasing, showy gifts, when accompanied by hints for means, and by a plea of great poverty to excite sympathy, would draw largely upon the feelings of the susceptible, while the conscientious, faithful, and modest, who might not shun unpalatable truth, and whose labors were of real value, might not always receive proper attention. An auditing committee of experienced brethren ought to be better able to draw the line of justice, in such cases, than those of lesser experience. It will readily be seen that the position of an auditing committee is one of great responsibility and delicacy. All of its members should be men who love justice, and have moral courage to stand up for it in spite of any pressure, and who have a sense of discrimination to see what ought to be done, and who can judge correctly as to the value of labor. They are responsible to the cause for the disposition of a sacred fund raised by the benevolence of the membership, for the purpose of benefiting the cause of truth, and helping in the salvation of souls. Not only are the contributions of the wealthy there, but those of the poor, who have sacrificed comforts and almost necessaries of life, that they may be able to assist in the good work of saving the perishing. They have engaged in this work with the same spirit that the poor widow did with her two mites; not from compulsion, but with the noblest benevolence. There is no higher motive in the world than this. It was the same, precisely, which caused our Saviour to come to this earth to die. It only differs in degree. We cannot doubt but that every sacrifice of this kind, made with the right motive, is registered in Heaven. Any member of an auditing committee, or any minister, who can lightly regard this fund, or lavishly use it, for unnecessary purposes, or selfishly seek to aggrandize himself with it, or vote it away without care, rather than to stand up for right, is utterly unworthy of such a position. The frown of God will follow such a course, in this world, or hereafter. We have no question but that in many instances there has been too little care exercised in this matter. Not only is what has been said above true, but there are great dangers threatening our prosperity connected with this matter. We are in danger of drying up the liberality of our people. I verily believe there is no people in the world, as a whole, more sacrificing than our people. They are ready to take hold with their means in any enterprise in which they can see the hand of God leading out. Hundreds of them would sell their homes, at once, if they saw it was necessary for the prosperity of the cause, and put the means right in. The reason why they stand thus is because they have faith in the work as being God’s work, and because they have confidence in the integrity of those who have borne responsibilities in the work. But let those who have such confidence lose it, let them see the money for which they have toiled and sacrificed used lavishly and carelessly, and thrown into the hands of unconsecrated ministers, men who love their ease, and preach because they can’t support themselves in any other way, and their sacrificing spirit will soon dry up. When it does, woe to our prosperity. God’s Spirit will never go with a people who have lost the spirit of sacrifice. The responsibility, in that case, would certainly rest upon those who had caused such a state of things. Again, there is great danger that young ministers will be injured by a too lavish use of means. Poor human nature is far too selfish, at best, and I do not know that candidates for the sacred ministry are less liable to this besetment than other men. They ought to be, but history, sacred and profane, shows a very sad record in this respect. Nothing is more to be dreaded than a mercenary ministry. Men who represent the Lord Jesus Christ, and stand up between God and man, to declare his saving truth to a perishing world, and teach mankind the lofty principles of religion, must be illustrations of it themselves, or they will be a curse rather than a blessing. A spirit of sacrifice lies at the foundation of the whole structure. Without this, it will amount to absolutely nothing. This must be understood by those who go forth to be its exemplars before the world. In the infancy of the cause, no one could well preach its doctrines without sacrificing. They were bound to receive a poor support, because there were few who believed in it, and because of its great unpopularity. Those who did go forth under these circumstances, and with this spirit, were greatly blessed in their labors. God was with them, and we see the fruits now in the noble structure they have aided to rear. But now things have very much changed. Instead of going out now with scythe or axe to earn money, with which to go from place to place, as some of them did, our young licensed ministers go forth, feeling sure of a good support from the systematic fund. Where is the chance for the spirit of sacrifice to come in? Where is the risk, as things have gone in some of our Conferences? Now we have no question but that a portion of our young men who enter the ministry do so with pure motives, and with a willingness to sacrifice. But we do not see evidence of this in some. We have known of instances where individuals have pressed their own claims, and virtually demanded what they seem to regard as a right to a certain amount of this sacred fund. Our auditing committees must look after these things. It will not do for them to divide up the means which happens to be in the treasury, upon the plan of placating the feelings of certain individuals who think they have claims which must be met, and lest they should go home dissatisfied. The questions they have to settle are, What is right? What is just? And no man is fit for a position on an auditing committee, who will let personal sympathy or personal feeling swerve him a hair from justice and equity. It is time to be through with a temporizing policy, where such high and sacred interests are at stake. No man, be he minister, or licentiate, has any claims on this fund for a single cent of its means, unless his labors have really benefited the cause for which the fund is raised. This is so plain that it is a self-evident truth. When a person desires a license to improve his gift, and to ascertain if he has the qualifications that will enable him to labor in word and doctrine, he must consent to run some of the risk. The cause always has to run a risk when sending out untried and inexperienced persons to represent it. When it gives a license, it authorizes the person receiving it to represent the cause. Who knows what bad impressions will be received by those who hear an inexperienced person, in his first efforts? Who knows but he may leave a stain behind him? We are glad these results do not often occur. But no one can say they are not liable to occur. There certainly is risk in the premises. And under these circumstances, it would be highly unreasonable for the Conference to have it generally understood that they would pay well for all labor, whether it benefited or injured the cause. Such a precedent ought never to be allowed for a moment. The very idea of the term “license,” is a permission for one to try his gift, to ascertain whether he really has one worth employment. If persons have none, why should the cause pay out its means to them? We see no reason, either, why the cause should be under obligation to pay for labor that ceased to be valuable, because the one bestowing it had become unfaithful, or had backslidden. We claim that the cause of truth, represented by those who believe its doctrines, has as many rights as individuals who employ laborers in the market. A person hiring hands in some honorable and responsible business, would, in permitting a person to work on trial, consider it perfectly right not to pay for labor which was of no use to him, and would claim the privilege of discharging hands which were unserviceable because of unfaithfulness. We hope none will misunderstand the spirit and meaning of the above remarks. They are prompted by an earnest desire to benefit the cause we love, and to guard a sacred fund which, in some localities, is threatened with serious danger, unless care and faithfulness are used. We think every position taken in it will stand the test of reason and justice. At any rate, as a humble individual associated with my brethren in the ministry, I cheerfully hold myself amenable to a strict enforcement of every suggestion made. Our Systematic Benevolence Fund must be properly guarded. It must be used sacredly for the purpose for which it is raised. Let no conscientious, devoted minister, take an extreme view of what has been said. Our people will ever be ready to liberally support those who faithfully and sacrificingly labor to benefit the cause. We would urgently call upon all who can thus labor, to step in. Thousands of openings await such. Perishing souls are waiting for such laborers, and will receive them with open arms. Our people, with ready means, stand waiting to help them along with hearty good cheer and a reasonable support. Leave money entirely out of the question. Go forward with your hearts overflowing with love and faith. Labor to benefit others. Stand ready to make cheerful sacrifices for the cause, and for your fellow-men. Labor as though the success of the cause depended upon your efforts, and as though there was no fund in the world to bestow upon you money. You need have no fears but that you have brethren who will stand by you if you labor with that spirit. I fully believe there is no one fit to labor in this cause, only those who would go just as quick, and just as far as they could, if there was no fund for them to fall back on, within a thousand miles. If we have it in our hearts that we will labor if there is plenty of means in the treasury, otherwise we will stop, depend upon it, money, and not the fear of God, is our real motive. In conclusion, we hope our auditing committees will feel their responsibilities in the matter of distributing the funds this year. We hope they will do justice to the cause, and justice to the ministry. We hope they will look closely to the real value of the labor they pay for, to the benefit of the cause. It is not always the most showy that is the most useful. Many are nominally brought into the truth to keep the Sabbath, while the cause would be really better with them out. Thorough conversions are what are needed. To bring individuals in nominally, to stay a few weeks and then give up, or be a curse to us, is simply a snare and delusion. We hope our auditing committees will act like sensible men with the burden of the work upon them. Our brethren generally, if they know facts which have a bearing on the course a minister has pursued, where he has not acted becomingly, are under solemn obligation to make these facts known to proper persons, for the sake of the cause. We want this work to stand upon a proper basis, and we want to get rid of all abuses, as far as possible. Our pioneers have laid a good foundation. If we carry out the principles upon which our institutions are based, success will attend our efforts. We ask our brethren to carefully read these suggestions, and act upon them as far as they seem reasonable. Monroe, Wis., April 22, 1873.