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A47743
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An essay concerning the divine right of tythes by the author of The snake in the grass.
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Leslie, Charles, 1650-1722.
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1700
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Wing L1132; ESTC R11457
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102,000
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made this Heave-offering of a Tenth of it was called a Polluting of the Tythes of the People which they had Received and made them Liable to Death ver 32. And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it when ye have Heaved from it the Best of it neither shall ye Pollute the Holy things of the Children of Israel lest ye Die Thus our entring upon any Part before we have Offered to God His Tenth Part is a Polluting of the Whole as to us For it is Sanctifi'd to us by our Offering the Tenth to God Till when the Whole is Hallowed to God and it is Sacrilege to Invade it Nor is any of it Releas'd to our Use till God's Part be first taken from it And you see how strictly this was Enjoyn'd by God and how Vniversally That as the People were not so much as to Taste of any of the Fruits of the Earth no not the Green Ears till they had offered to The Lord His Part out of it by Giving it unto the Levites so neither were the Levites to Taste of any of the Peoples Tythe till they had first Offered the Tenth of their Tenth to God by giving of it to the High-Priest And that under Pain of Death And of Rendering the Whole Polluted to them He that steals any of his Goods to his own use before he has given to God His Tenth steals it and all the Rest from God's Blessing And tries if he can grow Rich whether God will or not Which if God Permit it is for his Greater Judgment And God can Exact it from him or his Posterity Upon whom we Entail God's Curse when we Deprive God of His Due SECT XVII Of what Part of our Goods the Tythe is to be Pay'd OF the Very Best no Doubt for we offer it to God And in this we Express the Reverence Due to the Divine Majesty And to offer any thing to him that is not the Best we have Argues a Slight and Contempt of Him And Preferring our selves or something else before Him Therefor tho we give the full Proportion of a Tenth yet if we Give it not of the very Best we fail as to the Quality of our Gift tho not as to the Quantity We Forfeit the Blessing upon the whole And instead of that we bring a Curse upon us as seeking to Deceive or Blind the Eyes of God as if He took no Notice or did not Regard it Which is a Greater Contempt of God than if we did not offer to Him at all But cursed be the Deceiver Mal. i. 14. who hath in his Flock a Male and Voweth and Sacrificeth unto the Lord a Corrupt thing For I am a great King saith The Lord of Hosts And My Name is Dreadful among the Heathen But I need not Insist upon this The Commands are Numerous and cannot escape the observation of Any That whatever was offered to The Lord was to be without Blemish Deut. xvij 1. And the Texts before Quoted Num. xviij 30. and 32. do among Many others plainly Express it When ye have Heaved the BEST thereof from it then it shall be counted as the Increase of the Threshing-floor c. And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it when ye have Heaved from it the BEST of it i. e. if you do not Heave the Best it will be a Sin and you shall Bear it As to the same Notion among the Heathen see before p. 47. and p. 71. SECT XVIII Who they are that ought to Pay Tythe Ans ALL that Worship God For Tythe is a Part of His Worship 2ly All that Expect His Blessing upon the Remaining Nine Parts And upon their future Labours and Endeavours Object Tho the Rich may Bear this yet it seems very Hard upon the Poor Ans It is no Harder to the Poor than to the Rich because they Pay Proportionably So Equal is this Tax of God's Imposing After the Tythe of Worship the Jews were obliged to Pay another Tythe of Charity to the Poor which was call'd The Poor Man's Tythe And this latter sort of Tythe no Man was obliged to Pay to Any who was not Poorer than Himself By which Rule the very Poorest sort are Excused from this Tythe But none are Excused from the Tythe of Worship more than from their Prayers or any other Part of God's Worship None must Appear before the Lord Empty Ther is no Exception from this Rule If it be said what do's such a Modicum signifie which a Very Poor Man can Give Ans It is Accepted by God as much or more if given with a better Heart than the Great Offerings of the Rich. The poor Widow's two Mites were reckoned More than all that the Rich had offer'd of their Abundance Luke xxi 3. Observe That those Priests to whom this Widow gave her two Mites were Rich and Covetous beside they Devour'd Widows Houses Luk. xx 47. they were these to whom our Blessed Saviour said Mat. xxiij 33. Ye Serpents ye Generation of Vipers how can ye escape the Damnation of Hell yet He made it no Objection against this Religious Widow that she should throw in her Mite to swell the Wealth of those Wicked Men who were much more capable to have Relieved her Great Necessities than she was to add to their Store For He knew and has Instructed Us that her Offering was to God and not to the Priests tho the Prists did Receive it and it was put into their Treasury yet Christ calls those Gifts which were cast into it The Offerings of God Luk. xxj 1 4. Let us observe in the 2d place That this Farthing which the Widow gave was only a Free-will Offering which was of less Obligation than the Tythe for the Tythe was Positively Required and might be Exacted if not Pay'd How will this Rise in Judgment against those who have not the Heart to Give what is Barely Due And think a Tenth too much when it is Commanded It has been before observed how the Primitive Christians Gave Many of them All that they had as this Widow had done But None Less than a Tenth For that they thought themselves Bound to give More than the Jews because as Irenaeus said they had a Better Hope Now the First-Fruits the Tythe to the Levites the second Tythe to the Poor the Tythe for Feasts the Corners of their Fields which they were forbid to Reap and the Gleanings which they were not to Gather Lev. xix 19. are computed not to leave to the owner above a Fourth or a Fifth Part Clear to Himself Out of which their Daily and Multitude of Occasional Offerings for Legal Vncleannesses besides their Voluntary or Free-will Offerings which cannot be Reckon'd were to be taken How far short then of the Jewish Performance and how much shorter of the Primitive Christian Devotion do we come who will not Pay the one Tenth even of Worship which is Indispensibly due to God himself which he has Reserved by an Vniversal
since the Jews did pay a Tenth to the Poor I think we ought not to Pay Less but rather More because as Irenaeus said We have a Better Hope But I stint not the Proportion only Recommend St. Paul's Advice to our Consideration 2 Cor. ix 6. that He who soweth Sparingly shall reap also Sparingly And he who soweth Bountifully shall Reap also Bountifully III. But now as to the Tythe of Worship as that is Determin'd to a Tenth at Least so must it be Pay'd only to The Priests of the Lord. Because it is Part of God's Worship it is one of the Offerings of The Lord and as other Offerings and Sacrifices it cannot be Offer'd but by the Priests And particularly as to the Offering of our First-fruits and Tythes it is commanded to be done by the Priests Deut. xxvj 3 4. It is Invading of the Priest's Office for any other to Offer it The same Sin for which God smote Vzziah 2 Chron. xxvj 1 Sam. xiij 12. and Rejected Saul and Declar'd it Death for any but His Priests to Offer upon His Altar And the Sacrifices of such who Offer them by any other hands than those of His Priests are so far from being Accepted that they are Sin and like the Offerings of Korah Rebellion against God IV. But how shall they do who live in Foreign Infidel or Heretical Countries where they can have no Priests that is None whom they Own 1. Let them if they can Imitate the Zeal of Tobias who being of the Ten Idolatrous and Schismatical Tribes that had Cast off the Priesthood of Levi carry'd his Tythes to Jerusalem and offer'd them there by the hands of the Priests the Sons of Aaron as you find Tob. i. 6. 2. But if this cannot be done for the Distance of the Place or other Insuperable Difficulties then they ought to Send their Tythes to such Priests whom they think to be true Priests of God and consequently by whose hands they believe God will Accept of them Ther is no Place too far for Sending We Traffick for Mammon to all Parts of the World It was Common with the Gentiles to Send their Tythe Of which several Instances are before given Mr. Selden shews this That Tythes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were yearly sent to Delos History of Tythes c. 3. p. 30. where Apollo was born to be offer'd to him There Justin Hist l. 18. p. 186. The Carthaginians us'd to Send their Tythe to Tyre whence they had Come by one Cloathed in Priestly Purple Robes to be offer'd to Hercules And if We cannot take so Much Pains We have Less Zeal than they And Less Trust in our God Less Faith in His Promises and Fear of His Threatnings than they towards their Idols And our Reward will be Accordingly SECT XXI In what MANNER Tythes ought to be Offered I. THE Offering of our Tythe to God being an Act of Worship ought no doubt to be Performed with Prayers and Adoration of God And God Himself did Prescribe a Form for it Deut. xxvi Out of which and other Scriptures respecting Christians as Different from the Jews I have Compos'd the Form hereunto Annex'd Not that I wou'd Impose it upon any But the Church not having Prescrib'd such an Office leaves it to Private Christians to Exert their own Devotion And if what I have done may be helpful to any others I have the End for which I have Publish'd it II. And as under the Law a Basket of the First-fruits was to be brought to the Altar Deut. xxvj 4. and there Offered in Name of All the Rest which were Reposited in the Store-houses belonging to the Temple for that Purpose So I conceive it ought to be with us The Reason is the same and was before the Law and without the Law so Practis'd by the Gentiles pursuant to the Universal Tradition Receiv'd and Deduc'd down all the way from Adam as before has been Discoursed Nor can it otherwise at least not so properly be made an Act of Devotion that is an actual Tender and Offering of the Whole to God Which is not done by barely Parting with our Tythe or suffering it to be Drawn from us The Whole cannot be Offer'd at the Altar But a Basketful in Name of the Whole is a Dedication and Offering of the Whole Accordingly it was order'd in the Apostolical Canons Can. 4. that no more of the First-fruits shou'd be brought to the Altar than ther was use for there as the Elements for the Holy Sacrament c. and the Rest to be sent to the Bishop's House as the Repository for them For the Church was not then Divided into Particular and Distinct Parishes as now III. And surely if the Husbandman shou'd at the End of his Harvest bring a Basket of his First-fruits and offer it at the Altar with Thanksgivings to God for the Encrease He had given him that Year with Supplications and Prayers for God's future Blessings upon his Labours upon Himself his Family and Relations upon the Church and the King and whole Nation c. it wou'd tend to a Great Encrease of Devotion and Imprint very strongly upon our Hearts our Dependence and Trust in God For ther is no time wherein Men are more Sensible of the Immediate Hand of God than in the Seasons of the Year and the Weather especially in Harvest-time This God hath kept in His own hand more Immediately than any other part of the Material Creation The Courses of the Heavens we know in a great measure and therefor can foretell Eclipses Changes of the Moon Rising and Setting of the Sun c. But all the Rules of Mechanism are at a loss for the Change of the Weather If that depended wholly upon Second Causes and were Part of the Clock-work as the Virtuosoes express it of the Creation ther wou'd be the same Necessity for the same Weather on every such Day of every Year as for the Equinox Solstice or other Change of the Seasons Therefore says the Prophet Jer. xiv 22. Can the Heavens give showers And Job reckons this among the wonderful things of God Job v. 10. xxviii 26. Who giveth Rain upon the Earth To make the weight for the Winds And He weigheth the Waters by measure when He made a Decree for the Rain and a way for the Lightning of the Thunder And David expresses the same almost in the same Words Psal cxxxv 7. He causeth the Vapours to Ascend from the Ends of the Earth He maketh Lightnings for the Rain He bringeth the Winds out of his Treasuries The same is just so said Jer. x. 13. And Psal cxlvij. 8 15 c. Who covereth the Heaven with Clouds who prepareth Rain for the Earth He sendeth forth His Commandment upon Earth His Word runneth very swiftly He giveth Snow like Wool He scattereth the Hoar-frost like Ashes He casteth forth his Ice like Morsels Who can stand before his Cold He sendeth out his Word and Melteth