In the late 19th century Charles Hodge…complained that voluntary giving by congregations and individuals was not raising enough money…and proposed an obligatory “tithe” …. In objecting to this, Dr. Thomas E. Peck wrote probably the best critique regarding compulsory giving.

After some study of this issue, I find that Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is not the first Presbyterian denomination to debate the idea of obligatory funding, nor am I the first ‘Southern Presbyterian’ in church history to call such a funding method a tax or to object to it.

In the late 19th century Charles Hodge and a few other Northern Presbyterian ministers complained that voluntary giving by congregations and individuals (known then as “voluntaryism”) was not raising enough money for the support of some ministers, missionaries, and agencies and proposed that instead of support by voluntary offerings there be an obligatory “tithe” sent to the denomination (Hodge’s plan is included in his “Discussions in Church Polity”).

Southern Presbyterians and even most Northern Presbyterians strongly objected to the idea, and Dr. Thomas E. Peck wrote probably the best critique regarding compulsory giving in an article for the Union Seminary Magazine in 1890*.

The parallels between the situation then and now are uncanny, and the majority of Peck’s critique can be applied just as easily to the situation today:

1) Thomas Peck on the legitimacy of the use of the word “tax” to describe a compulsory system of giving:

“The two methods, support by tithes which are obligatory, and support by voluntary offerings, are in their nature, genius, and operation the opposites of each other. The one is of the nature of a tax; the other, of a free gift. The one is the expression of obedience to law; the other is the expression of the liberty which belongs to a voluntary compact.The one implies simply submission, more or less sullen; the other is the expression of confidence and affection towards him who dispenses the ordinances of the gospel.”

2) Regarding the argument that no government could be expected to exist on voluntary contributions alone:

“We do not desire to see the revenue of the church collected “bylaw.” Our tithe brethren insist that such a method of collection is necessary; and they ask, with an air of triumph, if any other kingdom could subsist upon the free offerings of the people. The answer is easy: There is no other kingdom like the kingdom of Christ; no other kingdom of truth, righteousness, joy, and peace; no other in which love is the reigning principle, love to the King and to his people; no other which is moral and spiritual in its origin, aims, methods, and ends; no other which, from its very nature, must abhor an appeal to force.

One of the weightiest objections to the tithe method is, that it would unspiritualize the church. “Our present system of ministerial support is,” as Dr. Thornwell maintained against Dr. Hodge, more than forty years ago, “as perfect in theory as the wit of man can make it. … It is a plan in beautiful accordance with the spirit of the gospel; it preserves the unity of the church without disturbing the free and healthy action of its parts.” Let it be repeated for the thousandth time, that what the church needs is, not other methods, but more life. Let us leave legal and compulsory methods to the papacy, which is a kingdom of this world, and, therefore, cannot rely upon the love of its people to Christ, and upon the power of the Holy Ghost.”

3) Regarding the lack of scriptural support for a compulsory system:

“But to return to the scriptural argument. The advocates of the tithe are sorely pressed for any New Testament support to their cause. It is not merely the silence of the New Testament that troubles them. This of itself is not conclusive, as we all hold, in regard to some subjects. The trouble is, that it is not silent in regard to the support of the ministry. It says a good deal on that subject, and what it does say makes it impossible to account for the omission of any allusion to the tithe, if the moral obligation of such a mode of supporting the ministry of the word was acknowledged or acted on…

But the New Testament is not merely silent about the tithe. It proposes a method of raising a revenue inconsistent with the method of the tithe. It is the method of voluntary contributions, in opposition to a tax, whether a tenth or any other. The proportion is a proportion to prosperity, of which the believer is to be the judge; and the judgment is to be made under the guidance and impulse of love.”

4) Regarding the idea that voluntary giving will never produce enough support for the church:

“As to the fears that voluntaryism will not yield sufficient revenue, it may be said, (a), that if voluntaryism is God’s way, it will yield enough, and all fears are begotten of unbelief. (b), That neither method will yield enough without the Holy Spirit of God in the hearts of his people. It is vain to attempt to make a law to do the work of the Spirit. A dollar is not a dollar in the kingdom of God. A dollar given from love to God is more than a dollar given from conscience or fear merely to comply with an external statute, (c), That the history of the two methods is, to say the least, not against the voluntary. (Compare Ex. 36: 5, 6; 1 Chron. 29:3-9, with 2 Chron. 31: 5-10, and see also Mal. 3. 8, 9.)

In these passages we have recorded an abounding liberality, both of tithes and of voluntary offerings ; but it is only in the case of the latter that it is said the people had to be restrained from giving more, while in the place of Malachi God charges his people with robbing him in the matter of tithes. So, also, in Scotland when the exodus of the Free Church took place, not only its enemies, but its timid friends, predicted that voluntaryism would prove a disastrous failure; but the event falsified the prediction.”

* The article is reprinted in “Writings of Thomas E. Peck”, Volume One, p. 150- 157, Banner of Truth, Edinburgh, 1999.
_______________
Andrew Webb is a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America and is currently serving as Senior Pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Fayetteville, N.C,