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EXPERIENCE OF SOME WHO HAVE PAID TITHES FAITHFULLY

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 31, 1878

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 52, No. 18.

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EXPERIENCE OF SOME WHO HAVE PAID TITHES FAITHFULLY.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

God has repeatedly promised to bless those who will faithfully devote one-tenth of their income to the support of the gospel. He has promised to give them health of body and soundness of mind, to multiply their seed sown, and to prosper them in all that they shall put their hands to. On the other hand, the Lord has threatened to curse those who withhold the tithe from his treasury. For a quarter of a century our people have been proving the truthfulness of these promises, and illustrations on both sides of the subject are numerous among us.
Some have been very faithful in giving to the Lord a tithe of their income. They unanimously testify that when they have done this they have been remarkably prospered in their business. But when through covetousness they have ceased to pay the full tithe, they have met with adversity in some way. I have heard hundreds confess this publicly and privately, and I have wished that some of these testimonies might be printed in the REVIEW for the benefit of our people generally. In response to a request made through the REVIEW, several have sent to me statements of their experience; but most of them are too lengthy for publication, and all of them are on one side,—the side of being prospered for giving. Will some one let us have testimonies on the other side?
A brother living in Hastings, Mich., writes thus:—
“I embraced the truth in 1860, when I was twenty years of age. I learned about the S. B. plan in the REVIEW, and resolved that when I became of age, and began to do business for myself, I would give to the Lord one-tenth of all my increase, which I endeavored to do. With industry and the blessing of the Lord, my property steadily increased until I became owner of a forty-acre farm, although it was badly run down.
“At the camp-meeting at Wright, Michigan, the first camp-meeting held by our people, as Bro. White presented the wants of the cause, my heart was touched. A love for the truth pervaded my being. I presented one hundred dollars, which was nearly all the money I had, to Bro. White, for him to use where most needed in the cause. He refused to take it; but finally concluded to take fifty dollars, which I gladly paid. The remainder seemed to go a good ways in household expenses.
“Since that time I have missed attending but one annual camp-meeting in Michigan, nearly always taking all the money I could gather up and putting it into the cause before leaving the camp-ground. For the last five or six years I have paid in from one to four hundred dollars a year, being prompted and encouraged by my faithful companion to do so. And the Lord has blessed us in basket and in store. We have a good house and barn well filled with the comforts of life. While sickness prevails among our neighbors and they are taxed with heavy doctor bills, we have been almost entirely exempt. We sometimes think, and it has been remarked by our neighbors, that nearly everything we turn our hands to prospers.”
“Once when I was at Battle Creek I told a brother who was then in comfortable circumstances, and was worth much more than I at that time (as he had a comfortable home), that I was out of debt and had some money ahead, and was going to the REVIEW Office to pay my S. B. six months or a year in advance. He and his wife advised me not to do it; said that I would be sorry, that I might just as well use my money. Nine or ten years have passed by, and I am not sorry yet. While I pay S. B. on $4000, that brother’s property has run down to almost nothing.
“The homestead was about to be sold, and six hundred dollars was coming to us from that. We consulted over the matter, and as the Lord had prospered us so far, we concluded to donate that to him, to be used as the needs of the cause demanded. Mother also had willed five hundred dollars to the cause. As I was appointed executor of the estate, we were anxious that the farm should be sold while means was so much needed. We had been trying to sell since the camp-meeting last fall. All efforts seemed to fail. An urgent appeal from Bro. White for the European mission stirred us up to more decided action, so we concluded to take the case to the Lord and earnestly plead with him to send us a buyer. In less than four days a man came and paid our price for the place.
“Our strawberry crop was larger than we expected, so we took $50.00 of the strawberry money and pay S. B. six months ahead. We feel safe in paying out of the first-fruits; for we have proved the Lord, and have been cramped for room for the bounties bestowed upon us.
“The enemy has sometimes tried to induce me to withhold my means when calls were made. Oh how poor he would make me feel, telling me how hard I have to work and suggesting that my family might be sick, or that my own health might fail. But as soon as I had made an effort and paid over what money I could raise, my despondency would all vanish, and I could see more money coming, and all our wants supplied. To the Lord be all the praise. ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.’”
We know this brother and know that he states the truth. Who will go and do likewise? Let us hear from others.
D. M. CANRIGHT.