TO CORRESPONDENTS by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 20, 1876

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

By Uriah Smith

SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE.

“Will you please tell me what S. B. really is? For instance, if I earn $1.00 a day, 10 cts. of that belongs to God. Does that 10 cts. belong to the S. B.? or can I give 5 cts. to S. B., and the rest to the cause as I may see fit?

“Is it right for a church to use a part of its S. B. to pay its running expenses, or does that come outside of the S. B.?” C. E. B.

S. B. (Systematic Benevolence) is benevolence by system, according to the direction of Paul in 1 Cor. 16: 2; and the object is to make the contributions as near as possible equal to the tenth which God anciently required of his people. Just what proportion of a person’s earnings should be given, has been a question of no small study. In the case above supposed, if the person’s necessary expenses were absolutely not less than 95 cts. a day, it clearly would not be his duty to give 10 cts. a day S. B., thus running into debt 5 cts. a day for the purpose. Again, if a person gives 10 cts. per day, but appropriates 5 cts. of that as he sees fit, we should say that only 5 cts. would come under the head of S. B., that is, a systematic contribution to the Lord’s treasury.

S. B. is designed primarily for the support of the ministry; its proper place, therefore, is the Conference treasury. Many churches appropriate their entire S. B. to their Conference; but some, under special circumstances, retain a portion for their own use. Were they required, without exception, to give it all to the Conference, the result would simply be that they would deduct from their entire contribution such portion as they wished to use themselves, and report the rest as S. B. The result to the Conference would be the same, but they would not get credit for a portion of what they raised.

CAIN AND ABEL.

“Were Cain and Abel born before Adam and Eve were driven from the garden?”

We read of but two that sinned and two that were sentenced, and driven out; and the account of the birth of Cain and Abel comes afterward.

SABBATH IN THE NEW EARTH.

“I frequently hear it said that Isa. 66: 22, 23, refers to the Sabbath in the new earth. How can this idea be made to harmonize with Rev. 21: 22-25?” T. J.

We understand Rev. 21: 22-25 to refer to the city only. But other portions of the earth will receive light from the heavenly bodies as now, only the moon then will be equal in brilliancy to the sun now, and the light of the sun will then be sevenfold what it is now. Isa. 30: 26. So days and weeks and months can still be reckoned; and the ransomed can assemble from Sabbath to Sabbath to celebrate the worship of the Lord, and gather from month to month beneath the tree of life to partake of its monthly yield of fruit.

W. G. SPRINGER: See explanation of Moses and Elias on the mount of transfiguration in Man’s Nature and Destiny, published at this Office. U. S.