Tithe

“ The universality of the tithe, as a moral obligation, seems to me to be beyond question. It is the universal minimum of the race in the matter of giving to the gods and the conclusion seems inevitable that it is the original requirement of God. Forms, materials, and incidents of giving may have varied, but the standard never. There does not appear any satisfactory reason for believing that it does not survive the changes from the Old to the New Dispensation. ”

“ He who falls below one-fourth gives less than the Jew. Having a better covenant, established on better promises, and administered by a better Mediator, shall we grumble at one-tenth, the tribute of a heathen or savage to a god he dreads and with no spark of divine love to call forth his offering? To fail to pay the tithe is not only worse than Jewish but even worse than heathenish. Nowhere do we find such niggardliness, no not even in a heathen. ”

“ You render to your Lord such and such a thing; to your parish and priest such and such a thing; and to us you must render and deliver the tithe of the number of times that you have carnal connection with your husband. We will take no other tithe from you, for, as you know, we carry no money—for the temporal and transitory things of this world are nothing to us. ”

“ The shepherd who grazes his flock at different seasons in two parishes, should pay tithe proportionately to both churches. And since the fruit of the flock is derived from the pasture, the tithe of the flock is due to the church in whose lands the flock grazes, rather than to the church on whose land the fold is situated. ”

“ The priests at Jerusalem received the first fruits and heave offerings, but not the tithes. The heave offerings were the one-sixtieth of the gross produce. But the tithes were devoted to the whole tribe of Levi at Jerusalem, and they gave the tithe of their tithes to the priests—that is, one-hundredth part. It was from this custom, and in order to support the Crusades, that the popes of Rome exacted, early in the fourteenth century, the first fruits and the tithe of the tithes from the hierarchy and beneficed clergy, who were under their spiritual jurisdiction. ”

“ The word “legal” is the key to all this twisting and trembling. This will be explained, perhaps, when we recall that he is an Englishman, and comes of a race that has suffered much from enforced tithing. Uhlhorn’s Christian Charity in the Ancient Church is marred by the same tremendous anxiety to kill off any hope of this legal monster ever getting loose again. Hence it seems that it is now time to say that the tithe never was in Bible times, the legal monster that it afterward [47] became. Under Old Testament teaching and practice, the tithe was voluntary. ”

“ Seeing that the tithe has been so universal, it may be of interest to inquire why it should have been so universal. It matters little whether you take the portion offered to the gods or the tribute to the kings as the Sons of Heaven and representatives of the gods, why should we find in all these ancient civilizations one-tenth as the universal [36] offering? Why should not all have had one-sixth as in India at one time? It surely cannot be ascribed to the inherent generosity of the priests and rulers. ”

“ Will the people rob God? “Bring ye the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Why not make the test? Then God even our own God will bless us with the riches of His grace, to whom be glory in the Church of Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. ”

“ Without proposing to tithe land such as the woodland in the Weald, which is not subject to tithe, most persons must be aware how very unequally tithe often presses in a parish, some of the best lands, if grass or valuable building land, being very lightly charged, while poor arable land of old standing which now may have gone out of cultivation has a heavy charge upon it. ”

“ It has been pressed upon them very urgently by the tithe-payer, and has been conceded by them from motives of kindliness and generosity; but may I say how exceedingly mischievous a course I consider it, and how it tends to encourage the idea that the tithe is a tenant's charge, and stands in the same category as farm rent. If the tithe-owner is a wealthy man, and chooses to say to his parishioners, "The times are bad; you must be in difficulties owing to the losses in your business. ”

“ The tithe finds an interesting parallel in sacrifice with which it is closely connected. For when one is commanded to sacrifice, the minimum at least must be set to his sacrifice. Sacrifice, I believe, was a divine institution given to our first parents in Eden. Most likely the tithe is seen, in germ at least, in the offerings of Cain and Abel. The Council of Seville viewed Cain’s sin as one of covetousness in withholding a portion of the tithe or part that God required. ”

“ But if there be any thane who on his bookland has a church, at which there is a burial-place, let him give the third part of his own tithe to his church. If any one have a church at which there is not a burial-place, then of the nine parts let him give his priest what he will.... And let tithe of every young be paid by Pentecost, and of the fruits of the earth by the equinox ... and if any one will not pay the tithe, as we have ordained, let the king’s reeve go thereto, and the bishop’s, and the mass-priest of the minster, and take by force a tenth part for the minster whereunto it is due ”

“ The tithe is universal. Its duty remains to be performed. It seems an unnecessary trespass on time and patience to try to meet all the quibbles that may be started. It is not time for sentiment, nor is it well to bring in the poor, as if God did not know how to provide for them. ”

“ Our second instance is the tithe; it was to be paid, according to the Bible, by all the other tribes to the tribe of Levi, who served at the temple. Now Christians began to pay voluntarily a tithe to their priests, accommodating themselves to the Old Testament rule; but by and by the clergy derived from [Pg 58] the Old Testament a right of asking for the tithe. The farmer had to pay his tithe to his parish priest. Charlemagne proclaimed this as a law of his kingdom, referring expressly to God's commandments. ”

“ The enemies of the Evangelical Church recognize it. The Mormons, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Dowieites all find the tithe sufficient to carry on their wonderful propagandas and demonstrate the argument that God’s tenth if rightly used by His Church would enable us soon to take the world for Christ. ”

“ Instead of giving a tithe, we fall so far below it that the tithe actually seems visionary to us. The most careful calculations show very clearly that God knows how much money he wants for His work and that with the tithe of the Church’s income at present, the world could be evangelized in this generation. The early Christians gave often all their means and all their time. We complain of one-seventh of time and one-tenth of money. ”

“ Churchmen like Archdeacon Tillesley, many of whom are in the receipt of tithes or tithe-rent charges, will naturally act like drowning men, and snatch even at passing straws to save the tithes. Could anything, for example, be more childish and absurd than the story of tracing the payment of tithes to Adam? ”

“ It does not yield annual profits; yet the tithe of wood is due by common law right.
In reference to making canons at synodical meetings, it was both profitable and pleasant work for ecclesiastics. The laymen who had to pay were not permitted to be present to express an [136] opinion in the matter. The tithe system was a very elastic band. It was stretched as population and agriculture increased. We have the principle of development exhibited in a remarkable degree in the tithe question. As the power and influence of the bishops of Rome increased in the dark and middle ages, so did tithes. ”

“ The tithe-payer saw the good result of the administration of the Church's moneys, and was generally satisfied. He was promised eternal happiness if he paid an honest tithe, but he was also given an earthly reward—for the Church admitted him to many opportunities and enterprises from which the niggardly were adroitly excluded. He was spiritually elevated and enlarged by giving for a purpose that he considered worthy—the fulfillment of a commandment of God and the relief of his fellow-creatures—and the community benefited by having a part of its yearly surplus administered for the common good. ”

“ He therefore proposes a tithe,—not for God, but for man. He advises that at the time when the owner will feel it least,—when property is passing by inheritance from one to another,—the tithe shall be taken from it. ”

“ Besides those two tithes, which I have already said you are to pay every year, the one for the Levites, the other for the festivals, you are to bring every third year a third tithe to be distributed to those that want; (23) to women also that are widows, and to children that are orphans. But as to the ripe fruits, let them carry that which is ripe first of all into the temple ”

“ And indeed we, born and brought up and taught in the Catholic faith, scarce consent to tithe to the full our substance; how much does feeble faith not consent to the gift of tithe, and the infant will, and the covetous mind. ”

“ We are dealing with that which has no end, which is true as much in respect to the tithes paid as to any other part of this divine arrangement. Any claim that the Levites had was only for the time. Any claim that Christ has had is living, is perpetual and no posterior grant can make it null and void. Here, then, we have a strong and inconvertible statement of the claim that Christ has on the tithe and that at just the point where we might be led to expect it. It seems to me that a man must be hunting for something when he passes this by and cries out for proof. ”

“ This most ancient property of the Church in England, the tithe, is a law-created and law-extorted impost for the benefit of a particular sect. As far back as the Heptarchy, royal ordinances were given in various of the kingdoms of which England was composed directing the payment of tithes ”

“ When we consider the growing tendency in the clergy to make payment of tithe compulsory, the repeated exhortations of provincial synods to that 480effect, and the universal ignorance of the people, we shall have little difficulty in acknowledging that the English prelates laid a good foundation for the custom of tithing, long before they succeeded in obtaining any legal right from the State. ”

“ Text When you have finished tithing every tenth of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you will give to the Levite and to the orphan and to the widow and they will eat it within your gates and be satisfied. ”

“ On this tithe, indeed, they subsisted, and without it they would starve. Their divine bellies had to be filled, and their divine reproductive energies to be recruited; hence men had to give of their meat and drink to them, and to sacrifice for their benefit what is most manly in man and womanly in woman. ”

“ The first law making the payment of tithes legally imperative was enacted in 779 by Charles, King of France, in a general assembly of his estates, spiritual and temporal, viz., “Concerning tithes, it is ordained that every man give his tithe, and that they be distributed by the bishop’s command.” ”

“ The mere accident of living in a parish subject or not subject to extra tithe ought not to determine the liability of newly cultivated gardens. Having admitted the principle that newly cultivated gardens in parishes not subject to extraordinary tithe should not be charged, the same principle should be adopted in parishes subject to it; hops or fruit gardens newly cultivated should not be made to swell the amount of extraordinary tithe already existing, but should contribute rateably towards the amount now charged on a plan which I will propound directly. ”

“ While we might have cut short much debate by saying that the tithe is not a Jewish institution but is an ancient law of the race and we are no more called upon to prove its obligation than we are that of the law of the Sabbath or of marriage, yet we have tried to present the case as briefly and yet thoroughly as possible within reasonable limits. But, as I said at Winona last year, suppose you deny all this evidence and refuse to be convinced of its obligation, there is one plea that you cannot gainsay. It is the one system that has never failed to get the money. ”

“ Did Christ Himself approve of tithe-paying?
“Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” Matt. 23:23.
14. Of what is one guilty who withholds the tithe and free-will offerings?
“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings.” Mal. ”

“ The Poenitentials, Confessionals, and other works compiled by these prelates for the guidance and instruction of the clergy abound in passages wherein the obligation of providing for the poor out of the tithe is either assumed or positively asserted. In the ‘Capitula et Fragmenta’ of Theodore, dating in the seventh century, it is written, “It is not lawful to give tithes save unto the poor and pilgrims [1012] ,” which can hardly mean anything but a prohibition to the clergy, to make friends among the laity by giving them presents out of the tithe ”