HOW MUCH?

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 21, 1879

ONE of our exchanges of last week argues against the system of paying a tithe into the treasury of the Lord’s cause, on the ground that “all” is the Lord’s.

We wonder how much the Lord’s cause would receive on this plan? We think we can answer very nearly. There are some who claim that there is no particular day to be observed as the Sabbath in this dispensation, because all days are the Lord’s, and all are holy. But how much time do these persons specially devote to the service of the Lord? The amount is too small to be measured by the clock. It is very evident that this plea that all days are the Lord’s is only a pretext by which they may use them all for themselves.

We imagine it will be very much the same in pecuniary matters. “Oh! yes,” men may say, “all is the Lord’s; but I am of course to live and meet all necessary expenses from what I have;” and it is not difficult to so manage that these demands, either fanciful or real, shall absorb so nearly the whole of the income that only a sum, pitiful for its meagerness, shall be left to be applied directly to the cause of the Lord. In theory and profession, the Lord gets all; in reality and practically almost nothing.

This paper says: “There is not in all the gospel a ‘law of tithes.’ The only rule in the gospel anywhere in regard to your pecuniary offerings to the Lord is, ‘Let every one of you on the first day of the week, lay by in store as the Lord has prospered him.’”

Not stopping to comment on the accuracy of the quotation, we pass to the query which at once arises, How are persons to lay by them in store as God has prospered them? The apostle is of course speaking of prosperity as it pertains to income. A portion of that is to be laid by. How much? Suppose two individuals earn during a certain week thirty dollars each. They both claim that they want to carry out the scriptural injunction, to give as they have been prospered. One, Mr. A., says, “I can set apart one dollar to the work of the Lord; the other, Mr. B., who is troubled to a greater degree with the very common malady of covetousness, says, I can give fifty cents.”

Now will our friends tell us whether or not B. has laid by as the Lord has prospered him. If he has, then A. has not; for their income has been the same, and the same amount should be laid by by each. If you say that B. has not paid according to the directions, because with the same income he should give as much as A., then C. may step forward and say, Out of my thirty dollars, I feel that I ought to lay by two dollars. Then must A. and B. raise their amount to the sum that C. gives? What then if D. appears and says, I feel that I ought to lay by four dollars out of my thirty. Must then A., B. and C. give as much as D.? Where is the limit? What is the standard?

Perhaps you may say, It is left to each one’s own judgment. But on this ground you know as well as we that obedience to the injunction would be the exception, not the rule. The liberal might perhaps give too much; the stingy would be almost sure to give too little.

To the close reasoner it must be evident that a certain definite proportion of income is called for by Paul in 1 Cor. 16:2. Without this the instruction cannot be carried out. It must be every time, “as God hath prospered.” If there is no “law of tithes” in the gospel, here is certainly a “law of proportion” as God hath prospered us; or, in other words, in proportion to our income. Then we ask what proportion? If any one can find any other proportion of our income claimed by the Lord as his, than the oft-specified one-tenth, we should be happy to see it. With this rule Paul’s instruction can be carried out. Thus one man earns $15 per week. He lays by $1.50. Another earning $20, lays by $2. Another having an income of $30, lays by $3. Every one now knows just what to do, according to the measure in which God has prospered him.

Shall we then be circumscribed in our giving and limited to the tenth? By no means. There are the offerings in addition; trespass-offerings, thank-offerings, and freewill-offerings. These afford ample scope for the cheerful and liberal giving and bountiful sowing which the apostle recommends, and for the display of all the generosity, liberality, and consecration, of which any one is capable.

The writer further says: “Mal. 3:10 is more than eighteen centuries behind our times, and it will never be a moment nearer. It continually recedes into the distant past.” Indeed! Can there nothing then be found in the Old Testament which applies to this time or to the near future? What about “the day of his coming” spoken of in the 2d verse? When is the time when they that fear the Lord speak often one to another, of verse 16? When is the day when God makes up his jewels, when these persons are to be spared? Verse 17. Be assured the prophet was writing for these days, and that those who do not bring in their “tithes and offerings” are robbing God.

So far from there being no “law of tithes” in the gospel, the tithing system is most emphatically taught. To speak of no other place, it is taught in Heb. 7. If we are Christ’s we are children of Abraham, are we not? Yes. Gal. 3:29. He is the father of them that believe? Yes. Rom. 4:11. We are to walk in his steps? Yes. Rom. 4:12. Melchisedec was a type of Christ, was he not? Yes; for Christ is a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. Heb. 7:17. And did not Abram pay tithes to Melchisedec? Yes. Gen. 14:20; Heb. 7:4–9. What does this signify? That we are to pay tithes under the gospel. This conclusion cannot be avoided.

According to the plea that “all” is the Lord’s, certainly a tenth belongs to him, and is none too much to give. There is therefore no occasion to argue against the tithe, for fear professing Christians will limit their contributions to that amount, until they shall begin to equal or exceed it, which, with few exceptions, is not yet the case.