SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE by James White

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 29, 1878

SYSTEMATIC BENEVOLENCE.

By James White

The object of this article is to answer the inquiry frequently made, “How much should we give for the support of the gospel?” We unhesitatingly say, A tithe of all our income. This does not mean a tenth of our annual increase of property after the cost of food, clothing, and other expenses is met, but that nine parts of our income are to meet all the expenses, while a tithe of our income is the Lord’s, to be sacredly devoted to the support of the ministry. We regard the plan of pledging a sum equal to one per cent annually on our property defective in several respects:—

1. It does not give a tithe of our income. We know a brother who, supposing that his property and that of his wife was worth twelve thousand dollars, pledged ten dollars each month, which would amount to only one hundred and twenty dollars a year. But when he became convinced that the plan was defective, and that the only pledge he should give was a tithe of all his income, he found that his figures were greatly increased. He receives six hundred dollars a year as preacher, editor, and general manager. A tithe of this is sixty dollars. His income from other sources is six hundred more. A tithe of this also is sixty dollars, making one hundred and twenty dollars. His wife receives six hundred dollars for her labors as a preacher, a tithe of which is sixty dollars, and she has also an income from other sources to the amount of six hundred dollars, making her s. B., according to the correct plan, one hundred and twenty dollars. This, added to that of her husband, makes two hundred and forty dollars, instead of one hundred and twenty dollars, according to the defective plan. And this is not all. They receive on the books they write, a tithe of which would swell their s. B. to three hundred and sixty dollars. So we see that acting on the defective plan their s. B. would be only one-third as much as they now pledge to give, acting strictly upon the Bible plan. But it is just to say that this brother and sister have given to the cause ten thousand dollars the past five years, which is four times the Lord’s tithe of all their income. It is our conviction that our people have robbed God of one-half of the tithes which are his, while acting upon the defective plan of paying s. B. to the amount of only one per cent per annum on their property.

2. The words of Paul touching this subject—“as the Lord hath prospered him”—are in strict harmony with that system in the Old Testament which claims one-tenth of all the income of the Lord’s people as his. The following we regard as a Scriptural and proper pledge for all of our people to make:—

We solemnly promise, before God and to each other, to conscientiously pay to the Systematic Benevolence Treasurer a tithe of all our income, to be paid on the first Sunday of each one of the four quarters of the year; namely, the first Sunday in January, the first Sunday in April, the first Sunday in July, and the first Sunday in October.

3. By the defective plan, those who had little or no property, and at the same time had considerable income, in some cases robbed the Lord of nearly or quite all of the tithes of their actual income. By the Bible plan, one dollar of every ten earned is secured to the Lord’s cause. This alone will make a difference of many thousands to be cast into the Lord’s treasury for the support of the cause of God. And we cannot see reasons why our institutions, such as publishing houses, schools, Sanitariums, and State Conferences, should not put into the treasury of the Lord a tithe of all their income. These are indebted to the Lord and his servants for their existence and prosperity. As these receive the support of the General Conference, their tithes should be put into the General Conference treasury. The annual sum to be collected from our institutions at Battle Creek alone would not be less than four thousand dollars, a handsome sum indeed to cast into a treasury which is not only empty, but actually in debt. And if our State Conferences also pay a tithe of their income into the General Conference treasury, a want will be supplied that has long been felt.

The Bible plan, conscientiously carried out, will raise the s. B. of the Seventh-day Adventists of America from fifty thousand dollars to one hundred thousand. A tithe of this is ten thousand. Add to this the sum which should be paid by all our institutions, and the annual amount will not be less than fifteen thousand dollars. This will place the financial condition of the General Conference where it should be. But this is not all. The Lord by his prophet makes this solemn charge against his people who live just prior to the burning day, that they have robbed him “in tithes and offerings.”

Here reference is made not only to the tithe, but offerings also. Anciently, when the people of God enjoyed tokens of the especial favor of God in deliverances and other blessings, they would make thank offerings to the Lord. There were also sin offerings, peace offerings, and trespass offerings. The prophet, doubtless, has reference to these in setting forth the duty of the people of God in our day. The deliverance of the Patriarch Noah from that disagreeable year in the ark and the offering he made well illustrate the subject.

When Noah and his family came forth from the ark, their hearts swelling with gratitude that they could set their feet on terra firma again, it was not enough that this righteous man should lift his voice in thanksgiving for his deliverance and past mercies and blessings, but he must there give more tangible evidence of his gratitude than words could express. He must make a burnt offering of a seventh part of his valuable stock unto the Lord, as it is written, “And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar, and the Lord smelled a sweet savor.” Gen. 8:20, 21.

The sacrifices of Noah had been very great. He had been a preacher of right-doing one hundred and twenty years. He had invested a fortune in the ark, and we venture the assertion that this boat way up on the top of Ararat was not worth, when the family of eight left it, one per cent of the capital invested. The patriarch’s boundless farm was poorly stocked with useful animals, for which he had provided at great expense during the time they were shut up in the ark. And more, under these circumstances for him to burn up one-seventh part of the clean beasts and clean fowls was a sacrifice of property which hardly has a parallel. If modern religionists had been there, they would have looked upon that waste of property with horror, and would have suggested to Noah that, as he needed all his precious stock, it would do quite as well for him to take his wife and children round on the shady side of the ark, and hold a prayer and conference meeting in which they could make a thank offering. And if at any time their meeting should become dull, Noah could urge them to pray and speak by saying to them, as is frequently done by the leaders of social meetings, “Bring in your tithes and offerings, and fill up the time.”

We do not object to Christians holding social meetings and filling up the time with prayer, singing, and bearing testimony to the goodness of God and the precious truth of his living word, but we do protest against the application of what the Lord says by his prophet Malachi of our tithes and offerings to the duties of a social meeting, without one sensible reason for such an application. When men and women are rescued from the darkness of error and are brought to the light of present truth, they should show their gratitude to God by making an offering of a portion of their means to take to others the light and truth which has been a great blessing to them. Are their children and friends converted to the Lord and his truth? Or, are members of the family rescued from sickness and death? Here are occasions for them to give more tangible expression of gratitude than talk, by making a thank offering unto the Lord of a portion of their property. Such offerings should be put into the treasury of our General Conference, as that has charge of all our missions at home and abroad, and from its treasury they should be supported.

There are hundreds of brethren among us who will be convicted by the facts we present before them that they have robbed the Lord of his tithe, or in Scripture language, (see Lev. 5:15, 16,) have committed “a trespass and sin through ignorance” in withholding a portion of the Lord’s tithe. Now it is not enough for them to adopt the Bible system, as though that would atone for the past. A trespass offering is required of them, which is nothing less than to put into the treasury of the Lord the entire amount they have kept back, adding a fifth to it. Therefore, if on reviewing the past, a brother sees that he has through ignorance or otherwise, robbed the Lord of five hundred dollars since he became a Bible Christian, his duty is clear to add one hundred, making six hundred dollars that he should put into the Lord’s treasury. If he has robbed the Lord of one thousand dollars, he should put into the treasury twelve hundred dollars; if of one hundred, he should put in one hundred and twenty; if of five dollars, he should put six dollars into the Lord’s treasury.

But if he neglects to do this, now that he sees the matter in its true Bible aspect, his sin is equal to that of the man who sees the true plan and neglects to act upon it. Both rob God, and will realize his curse in that way the Lord chooses to chastise. J. W.

(To be continued.)*