Of the Jewish Laws concerning Tithes, &c.

"Hat God created the World for the

Manifestation of his own Glory, is a most certain and unquestionable Truth. Now this End is moft vifibly ferv'd by the exterior Acts of Worship and Adoration which his Creatures are oblig'd to pay as an Acknowledgement of his sovereign Power and Wifdom, and concerning which he hath been pleafed from time to time to make fufficient Revelation to Mankind; particularly the Pa triarchs, and other holy Perfons of Old. And forafmuch as the faid Worship could not be Supported without a fpecial Defignation of the Place wherein it was to be celebrated, and of the Perfons who were to perform the facred Offices: He took abundant care to fignifie his Pleafure, with Refpect to both the one and the other. As to the Perfons who were to attend on his Service in the publick Adminiftration thereof, (which my prefent Defign obliges me chiefly to confi der) 'tis plain, that he ever expreffed a tender Concern for them, and therefore made ample Provifion for their Support and Maintenance: And as this was various according to the different Declarations of his Will in that behalf; fo that which moft univerfally obtain'd, and was of the earliest Institution,

was

was the Appropriation of Tithes to that facred use. Concerning which I fhall.endeavour to give a fhort Account as to their Origin, Nature and Design, particularly with reference to our Nation, taking in fuch incidental Matters as the Nature of the Subject shall require, and my defign'd Brevity fhall permit.

That the Cuftom of paying Tithes is of great Antiquity, is (I think) allow'd on all Hands. We have an early Inftance of it in the Patriarch Abraham, Gen. 14. Who in his Return from the Slaughter of the Four Kings, being met by Melchifedech, the Priest of the most high God, he gave him the Tenth Part, not only of the Spoil, but of all his Goods. Here Ahen Ezra is of Opinion that Melchifedech paid Tithes to Abraham, for which he seems to have fome Countenance from the Text, ver. 20. compar'd with the 18th and 19th Verfes, because he that gave the Tenth Part of all, feems to be the fame with him that had bleffed Abraham, and that was Mechifedech. But the rest ot our Doctors do univerfally agree, and with better Reason conclude, that the faid Patriarch paid Tithes to Melchifedech, in confideration of the Character which he bore, viz. on account of his being the Priest of the most high God. In answer therefore to Aben Ezra's Pretences, it may be fufficient to observe, that 'tis no unufual Form of Speech in Scripture to refer the pronoun Demonstrative to the more remote Subftantive, and not to that immediately preceding; as plainly appears D 3 from

from 2 Sam. 13.37. But Abfalom fled and went to Talmai the Son of Ammihud, King of Gefhur; and mourned for his Son every Day. Now we might as well from thefe Words infer, that Abfalem mourn'd for his Son, as from the Text before-cited, that Melchifedech paid Tithes to Abraham. But the fore going Part of the Hiftory does neceffarily determine us to refer thefe Words here to David, fo that the meaning will be that David mourned for his Son, i. e. Amnon whom Abfalom had caufed to be barbaroufly flain, ver. 29. That the Custom of paying Tithes did alfo obtain in the Days of the Patriarch Ifaac, our Doctors infer from, that Paffage, Gen. 27. ver. 12. Ifaac fowed in that Land, (i. e. Gerar) and received in the fame Year an hundred Fold, or an hundred Measures, as our ancient Writers interpret the Word, and declare that he measured what he had reaped in order to pay the Tenths. The Words of Jacob, Gen. 28. do likewife evince the certainty of our Pofition concerning the Antiquity of paying Tithes Jacob vowed a Yow, faying, if God will be with me, and will keep me in this Way that Igo, and will give me Bread to eat, and Raiment to put on; so that I come again to my Father's House with Peace: Then fhall the Lord be my God. And this Stone, which I have fet for a Pillar, fhall be God's Honfe; and of all that thou shalt givé me, I will furely give the Tenth unto thee. This Vow God reminded him of in his Return from Padan-Arain, Gen. 31. 13. I am the God of Bethel where thou anointedft the Pillar, and

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where

where thou vowedft a Vow unto me, and that Jacob did perform fully his Vow, no Question can reasonably be made; for Gen. 35. 14. we find, that he fet up a Pillar in the Place wherehe talked with God, even a Pillar of Stone; and poured a Drink-Offering thereon, and poured Oyl thereon. Where, tho' the Text does not exprefly mention the Payment of the Tenths, which was Part of his Vow, yet as it was not confiftent with his Piety to omit that, fo Rabbi Solomon Farchi and Aben Ezra do pofitively fay, that he did fulfil that Part alfo, in their Explications of the Chapter last cited. And with them Jofephus agrees: For having given an Account of this whole Affair, pursuant to the Scripture-Hiftory of it, he lays exprefly that Jacob perform'd his Vom upon his return to Bethel offering the Tenths of all his Goods, in the 1ft. Book of his Jewish Antiquities, Chap. 19. A further Argument in Confirmation of the Antiquity of this Practice, we meet withall in the Perfon of Job, (who by Confent of all Chronologers lived long before the Days of Mofes,) which ap pears as from other Places, fo particularly from the 3 ft. Ch. of his Book, v. 28. If my Land cry against me, or that the Furrows there of likewife complain. Which Paflage our ancient Doctors put this Interpretation upon: If the Furrows complain that have not brought out my Tithes, as was meet. By what we have hitherto advanced, it appears, that the Custom of paying Tithes prevail'd in the World before the Law was given by Mofes, and confequently doth not owe its Origin to DA

that

that pofitive Inftitution. Here a material Question doth arife, viz. whence the faid Custom had its Beginning; or by what Authority it was firft eftablished?

Some are of Opinion that it ow'd its rife to human Appointment, becaufe of the Evidence every where to be met with in prophane History of the early and univerfal PraEtice of it among all Nations, to whom it does not appear that God communicated the Knowledge of his Will in that Behalf. And hence they fay, it became Part of the pofitive Law of Mofes, which, not only in this Particular, but also in most, if not all, the other Precepts and Ufages enjoin'd by it, was, if thefe Men may be credited, drawn up perfectly in complyance with the commonly received Rites and Practices of the Heathens. But this Opinion is by no means to be allowed, much less the Ufe that is made of it. For fince it is granted (as by what we have already faid, it neceffarily muft) that the Patriarchs did pay Tithes, it is wholly improbable that they did fo in purfuance of the received Ufages of their Times. I fhall therefore endeavour to settle the true Opinion as to the Question in Hand, which will be a fufficient Confutation of the contrary Pretences. It is moft probable that the Practice of paying Tithes did owe its ori gin to Divine Appointment, and that God Almighty among other Communications of his Will to the Patriarchs, with whom he fre quently and familiarly conversed, thought fit to oblige them to the faid Practice; otherwise

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no