Ebook The Sacred Tenth

HE scheme of the following Studies may be brie?y indicated as follows. The opening chapters are intended to show, apart from, and before the existence of, the Bible, that man, from the beginning, recognised it as a duty to offer a portion of his substance to his God; and that the portion so dedicated, throughout the ancient pagan and patriarchal world, was almost invariably a tenth. From the Jews, indeed, payment was required of two tenths in addition to God's tithe, and to these the Rabbis added a fourth, as appears from our studies in the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, and the Talmud. Nor did the Founder of Christianity repeal this Jewish tithing, but, on the contrary, He expressed distinct approval of it. When Church history on this subject begins, our sections on Catholic or Universal Teaching, Practice, and Legislation testify that the principle of tithing was taught and observed for sixteen centuries throughout the Christian world, including England, until the time of Henry VIII.