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mos esset.

From hence it came to be a custom of the laity, as we should say, that they paid a tithe to Hercules; but it was required by neither the civil nor the pontifical law. A tithe was often given as a thanksgiving after some increase of fortune, and often by a vow previously made; but was more generally bestowed on the increase of an estate, from money obtained upon sales, or from the spoils of war. Sometimes men are thankful for those things which make considerable accessions to their property, which induced Cicero jestingly to remark, neque Herculi quisquam decimam vovit unquam si sapiens factus fuisset ;* (no man ever vowed to Hercules a tenth, in hope of an increase of wisdom.) An example An example is given in the parasite, of money obtained upon sale, who, after reckoning up his good merchandize, says, he must sell it as dearly as he can, that he may spend the tenth upon Hercules :

"Hæc vœnisse jam opus est quantum potest,

Uti decumam partem Herculi polluceam."+

The Romans not only gave tithes to Hercules, but to other gods. We find the old Pelasgi, who transplanted themselves into Italy, gave their tenth of gain, from sea merchandize, to Apollo at Delphi, who before told them at Dodona, that being mixed with the Aborigines, δεκάτην ἐκπέμψατε Φοίβῳ, they shall

* De Natura Deorum, lib. 3. + Plautus in Sticho. Dionys. Halicarnass. lib. 1, and Steph. Tɛpi ToλIV. Aßopιy.

send their tithe to Phœbus. Camillus vowed the tenth of the spoils to Apollo, and most carefully took his order to perform it by advice from their most learned priests.* Posthumius, the dictator, upon his happy victory over the Latins, tithed the spoils, spent forty talents upon sacrifices and prayers, in honour of the gods, and erected a temple with what remained to Ceres, Bacchus, and Proserpina.† Other deities, beside these, received occasional tithes, as Fortune and Mercury, being the gods of travellers and tradesmen; and the deities of the way, or di semitales, as Vius and others.

In Italy, the custom to pay and vow tithes to the deities was arbitrary, and continued in use till the later times of the empire, as appears, also, in the law received from Ulpian by Justinian: "si decimam quis bonorum vovit, decima non prius esse in bonis definit quam fuerit separata, et si forte, qui decimam vovit, decesserit ante sepositionem, hæres ipsius, hæreditario nomine, decima obstrictus est: voti enim obligationem ad hæredem transire constat." By this it is manifest, that though the vow, or payment without vow, were arbitrary; yet, upon death, after the vow was made, the heir or executor of him that vowed was bound to pay.

* Plutarch. in Camill. Liv. lib. 5.

+ Vide Dionys. Halicarnass. lib. 6 et 4.

ff. tit. de pollicit. 1. 2. quis § 2.

To the foregoing instances may be added the example of the Carthaginians, that sent the tithe of their Sicilian spoils to Hercules at Tyre.* The Arabian law may be here remembered, in which every merchant was bound to carry his frankincense to Sabota (which the learned take to be Saubatha in Ptolemy, the chief city of Arabia Foelix), and there offer to their god Sabis the tenth of it, which the priests received. No sale was permitted till the tithe was paid. There is little doubt but Sabis was the same with Bacchus, Uranus, Jupiter, or Sabazius, under different names. The number of the deities of the Arabians were always accounted but two;† the god Uranus, known also by those other names; and the goddess Urania or Venus. It is, therefore, pretty clear that Sabis is the same with Sabazius, which was first corrupted from Zabaoth of the scriptures, an attribute of the only and true God. And as this name, so the payment of tenth, probably came to them from the use of it among their neighbours the Jews, as well as to the Carthaginians from their ancestors the Phoenicians, who spake the same language with the Jews, and frequently conversed with them. Nor is it unlikely that the ancient example of Abraham, as I before observed, gave rise to the Europeans to denote the tenth of their spoils of war being

* Vide Justin. lib. 18.

Celsus ap. Originem, lib. 2. Arrian. de gest. Alex. . Strabo, lib. 15. Herodot, lib. γ.

given occasionally to holy uses; for it is not uncommon to find Jewish customs prevail among the Gentiles, though they may ultimately vary, from the circumstances of time and place. The tenth paid among the Mahometans must be referred to the Mosaic law, which they receive as authentic, but keep according to the imposter's fancy, and the doctrines of his canonists.

118

CHAP. XI.

THE HISTORY OF TITHES, CONCLUDED.

No historical fact is more certain than this, that the system of tithes was not introduced into the Christian church till towards the close of the fourth century. The church, as I have before shewn, was, for several hundred years, maintained by voluntary oblations. In the age of the apostles we find that the unity of heart, among those at Jerusalem, was such, that every thing was in common:-"As many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet and it was distributed unto every man according as he had need.”* In Antioch, where the first Christian church was planted, every one of the disciples had a special ability or estate of his own.t In Galatia and in Corinth, St. Paul ordained that weekly offerings for the saints should be given by every man according to his ability. From examples like these, the course of monthly offerings succeeded in the next ages. They were given by * Acts, iv. 34.

:

+ Idem. xi. 29.

1 Cor. xvi. 2.

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