A Response to an Urgent Testimony
By Doctor Charles Stewart
16
How Mrs. White Paid Tithes
HOW SHOULD WE PAY TITHES?
I have just had placed in my hands a copy of a communication from you to Elder —, dated Mountain View, Cal., Jan. 22, 1906, which I quote as follows:
"My Brother:
"I wish to say to you, Be careful how you move. You are not moving wisely. The least you have to speak about the tithe that has been appropriated to the most needy and most discouraging fields in the world, the more sensible you will be.
"It has been presented to me for years that my tithe was to be appropriated by myself to aid the white and colored ministers who were neglected and did not receive sufficient to properly support their families. When my attention was called to aged ministers, white or black, it was my special duty to investigate into their necessities and supply their needs. This was to be my special work, and I have done this in a number of cases. No man should give notoriety to the fact that in special cases the tithe was used in that way.
"In regard to the colored work in the South, that field has been and is still being robbed of the means that should come to the workers in that field. If there have been many cases where our sisters have appropriated their tithe to the support of the ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is wise, hold his peace.
"I have myself appropriated my tithe to the needy cases brought to my notice. I have been instructed to do this, and as the money is not withheld from the Lord's treasury, it is not a matter that should be commented upon; for it will necessitate my making known these matters, which I do not desire to do, because it is not best.
"Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs from the tithe, as God has instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to me, 'Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most needed?" I shall say, 'Yes.' and I will and I have done so. I commend those sisters who have placed their tithe where it is most needed to help do a work that is being left undone; and if this matter is given publicity, it will create a knowledge which would better be left as it is. I do not care to give publicity to this work, which the Lord has appointed me to do and others to do.
"I send this matter to you that you shall not make a mistake. Circumstances alter cases. I would not advise that any one make a practice of gathering up the money. But for years there have been now and then persons who have lost confidence in the appropriation of the tithe who have placed their tithe in my hands and said that if I did not take it they would themselves appropriate it to the family of the most needy minister they could find. I have taken the money, given a receipt for it, and told them how it was to be appropriated.
"I write this to you so that you shall keep cool and not become stirred up and give publicity to this matter lest many more shall follow their example."
Do we understand this communication correctly when we gather from it that it is the Lord's will that we should appropriate our tithe to those whom he points out to us to be worthy and needy? You say in this communication that you "commend those sisters who have placed their tithe where it is most needed to help to do a work that is being left undone."
This seems to be a reasonable position with reference to the payment of the tithe, and it is gratifying to know that one who, has given so much thought and attention to the subject should consider it in this light.
It is quite difficult to understand why you should be so solicitous lest your manner of distributing the tithe should be made public, especially when the Lord instructed you that it was the proper way.
Perhaps if people generally knew that you distributed your own tithe, and commended some others to do likewise, they would feel that it was their privilege to do the same, and by so doing would make it impossible to carry on a large "denominational machine," and also make it impossible for so many officials to make such frequent trips to distant lands and around the world.
As an illustration of the enormous expense incurred in operating the work, we quote from a recent article on this subject:
"In the conference of the State of Pennsylvania, where for years has prevailed full-fruited organization rule, there is shown a loss in membership of nearly one hundred souls. Yet here in this country is where most of our ministers are laboring. The records show that each additional member in America was secured at an average expenditure of $552 tithe, and not less than nine months' labor of some ministers. In Pennsylvania an expenditure of $16,500 tithe and a year's labor of a dozen preachers could not prevent actual retrogression in point of numbers."
In view of these facts it is not very probable that the Lord is calling upon individuals to see that their own tithe is placed where it will accomplish the greatest amount of good?
Next: Comparing Dr. Cole with Mrs. E. G. White's Health Reform