Since the fall of man and the promulgation of the gospel, God has reserved holy unto Himself not only the seventh day, but the tithe of all man’s income. Man has no more right to use the tithe or the seventh day, only as directed by God, than had Adam to use the forbidden tree in Eden. All can see that in both the Sabbath and the tithe, man is brought to the same test on which Adam failed. Hence it has been on the same line of deception and transgression that Satan has led the world away from God into apostasy in all ages.
The fall of Lucifer himself came because he coveted the position and power bestowed upon Jesus Christ. He dared to question the right of the eternal God to bestow upon whomsoever He would His own free gifts. Isaiah 14:12–14. All can see that with the power to bestow there is power and right to withhold. It was this right of the Lord to do with His own what He chose, that Lucifer disputed in heaven. Therefore it is but natural that all departures from God should involve the same principles. Thus the gospel may be said to be the power of God to proclaim the sovereign right of God’s ownership.
In all the reformations brought to view in the Bible, the proper observance of the Sabbath, and the acknowledgment of the tithe as being holy unto God are the leading questions under consideration. This was so in the work of God by Moses. See Exodus 9:29; Leviticus 27:30; Exodus 16:28–30; 20:8–11. Nehemiah’s reformation was upon these two great questions. See Nehemiah 8:8; 9:13, 14.
It will be noticed that when Nehemiah read the law distinctly and gave the sense, the people “confessed their sins” (Nehemiah 9:2), and began the proper observance of the Sabbath and the paying of tithes. See Nehemiah 13:10–21.
Hezekiah was led to take a similar course. The record says: “And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field, and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. . . . Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadock answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the Lord hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store. Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the Lord; and they prepared them, and brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully.” 2 Chronicles 31:5, 9–12.
In apostolic times the same truths were received by those that accepted the gospel. See Acts 4:32, 33; Hebrews 7:8. In the last days the Sabbath and the tithe stand out in the work of reformation, under the closing work of the gospel. See Revelation 12:17; Isaiah 56:1; 58:1–13; Malachi 3:1–18. In the past, as now, the tithing system tested men’s souls. In Gospel Workers, p. 269 [1892 Edition], I read: “This tithing system, I saw, would develop character, and manifest the true state of the heart.”
The tithe is one tenth of all man’s income. What is the meaning of the word “income”? Webster defines it as follows: “That gain which proceeds from labor, business, or property of any kind; the produce of a farm; the rent of houses; the proceeds of professional business; the profits of commerce or of occupation; the interest of money or stock in funds, etc.; revenue; receipts; especially the annual receipts of a private person or a corporation from property; as, a large income, a limited income.”. . .
The definition of income is very clear. Man’s income is what comes in as gain from all sources—rents, labor, business, or property, interest, proceeds of stock, salary, etc. One tenth of all that income God claims as His own, with which He proposes to sustain His ministers who give their lives to His cause, and renounce the world.
Some think it a difficult matter to determine just what is the tenth of their income. Suppose you should rent your farm for one half of all its produce, the renter to have the other half for his labor in working the farm; would you consider it a hard task to determine what your share of the proceeds of that farm were? The renter who would not think carefully enough to divide the proceeds of your farm with you, according to the contract, in every item of product from that farm, you would soon judge unworthy to act as a steward of your goods, and he would be asked to vacate. It is true that we cannot enter into a single transaction or enterprise that brings into our hands gain, but that God is to be considered in the dividends. This is one of the blessed fruits of tithing.
But many think they are paying tithes when they come far short of doing so. They freely consume from the farm, milk, butter, eggs, vegetables, fruit, and the bread they eat, and simply pay a tithe on what they sell. This is not tithing. Jacob said, “Of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Our living is to come out of the nine tenths after the tithe has been taken out for God. Not only does God ask for a tithe of the grain, cattle, horses, sheep, fruit, vegetables, but of honey, oil, etc., a tithe of all. See Matthew 23:23; Leviticus 27:30–33; 2 Chronicles 31:5, 6. But some will say it is hard to know the cash value of the garden, the fruit we consume, milk, butter, etc., that we daily eat from the farm. I have known brethren to estimate the value of their garden from ten to sixty dollars, according to its size. If the garden is worth twenty dollars in the support of the family, we can easily find what the tithe would be. I have known the sisters to test the amount of butter and milk used in the family, by weight, for a few weeks, and then pay a tithe on the same amount for each week during the year. It is such as “thought” upon the name of God and acknowledged Him in all their ways, that will be gathered with the jewels to adorn the everlasting kingdom of God. Malachi 3:16, 17.