like the rest of the tribes; and why this proportion of a tenth was to be paid them, rather than any other, are questions not so easy to be resolved.

As to the former query, why God would have the priests and Levites supported by tithes, rather than by alloting them an inheritance in land, it was no doubt, partly, that their time might not be taken up with secular business, and their minds burthened about wordly cares and managing their estates, and that they might employ themselves wholly in the duties of their office; as Timothy is exhorted by St. Paul, "to give himself wholly to his ministry;" and for that end, cautioned against "entangling himself with the affairs of this life," 1 Tim. iv, 15; 2 Tim. ii, 4.

Again, God's commanding the other Israelites to pay tithe out of their estates to his priests and Levites might be designed as an acknowledgment, that they had received their estates from his free gift, and held them by no other tenure but his bounty. In which view the tithes may be considered as a quit-rent, to be annually paid to the original proprietor of the land, who had conquered it for them, and put them in possession of it*. Paying it to the priests and Levites, his immediate servants and ministers, for their maintenance and support, was paying it to him; and as they held their estates by this tenure, a neglect or refusal was a forfeiture. To this effect is the observation of Rabbi Bechai† on the following words, "And thou shalt eat before the Lord the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and thy oil," &c., Deut. xiv, 23. If, saith he, thou pay the tithe, then it is thy corn, &c.; if not, it is mine; as it is said in the prophecy of Hosea, "Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof," Hos. ii, 9. For they for

When William the Conqueror parcelled out the lands of England, he reserved a certain small rent to be annually paid out of every estate to the Crown as an acknowledgment, that it was received from, and held under him. This rent is paid to this day from all freehold estates, under the name of chief rent. Or if there be any estates, that pay it not, it is because they have been purchased out of others, of which purchase it was made a condition that they should be clear of this incumbrance, those other estates paying it for them.

+ See Patrick in loc

feited the whole, who did not pay a tenth, the rent which God had reserved to himself.

As for the second question, why God appointed the proportion of a tenth rather than any other; the Jews generally say, it was because ten is a perfect number, almost all nations ending their account of simple numbers with it, and then beginning again with compound numbers; or, as others phrase it, this is the end of lesser numbers, and the beginning of greater; on which account it was looked upon as the most perfect, and therefore had in great regard. But this is too frivolous; perhaps a more substantial reason may be drawn from the ancient laws and customs of most nations, of paying a tenth to their kings. Aristotle mentions it as an ancient law in Babylon*; and Dr. Spencer+ observes, from a pasage in Aristophanes, that it was the custom in Athens, though a commonwealth, for the people to pay a tenth to the magistracy. That this was reckoned a part of the jus regum, in the eastern countries, appears from hence, that among the other oppressions, which Samuel tells the Israelites they might expect from a king, he mentions his demanding their tithes; "He will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants," 1 Sam. viii, 15. Now, as we have shown before, the priests and Levites were properly the officers and ministers of state under God as king of Israel; and the Israelites paying through their hands one tenth to him was agreeable to the custom of almost all nations to pay one tenth to their king. Tithes, then, are to be considered as an appendage to the Theocracy; and I apprehend it will be extremely difficult to prove, that Christian ministers have a divine right to demand them, from this circumstance of a constitution peculiar to the Jewish nation. Thus much concerning the priests and Levites.

The rabbies speak of another sort of ecclesiastical persons, termed anshè mangnamidh, viri stationarii‡, stationary men; of whom we have no mention in scripture.

* Aristot. Economic. lib. ii, sub fin.

+ De Legibus Hebræor. lib. iii, cap. x, sect. i, tom. ii, p. 721, 722, edit. Chappelow.

Vid. Maimon. de Apparatu Templi, cap. vi, per totum, p. 126, et seq. Crenii Fascic. Sexti.

Nevertheless, there is some probability in the account of the Jewish doctors, that there were men chosen out of the several tribes, as representatives to attend at the sacrifices offered for all Israel; the law requiring, that the persons for whom sacrifices were offered should be present at the offering, Lev. i, 3, 4; chap. iii, 2-8. Among the sacrifices offered for all Israel, or for the whole congregation, were the continual daily sacrifices, provided at the public charge; and extraordinary sacrifices, when, on account of the sin of any particular person or persons, any judgment of God lay upon the whole nation; as in the case of the Israelites being worsted by the Canaanites at Ai, on account of Achan's transgression: in such cases the law directed, that "the congregation should offer a young bullock for the sin, and burn him before the tabernacle of the congregation," Lev. iv, 13, 14. On the annual fast, or day of expiation, there was likewise a solemn sacrifice of atonement offered for all Israel, "because of their transgressions, in all their sins," Lev. xvi, 16. On such occasions, it being impossible that all the people should be present, there were representatives chosen, say the doctors, for the whole body; who being divided into twenty-four courses attended by rotation, as the priests and Levites did.

The Nethinim, who come next under consideration, were so called from nathan, dedit, because they were given to the Levites for servants, or slaves, to do the drudgery belonging to the sacred service. Ezra says, they were given or appointed by David and the princes for the service of the Levites, Ezra viii, 20. They were originally the Gibeonites, who obtaining a league of peace with the Israelites, soon after they came into Canaan, by artifice and fraud, were condemned by Joshua to the lowest and most laborious offices belonging to the service of the tabernacle; drawing water, fetching and cleaving wood for the fire of the altar, &c., Josh. ix, 3, to the end.

We never find them called Nethinim before David's time; but afterwards, when the Israelites had enlarged their conquests, and probably added others of other nations to these vassals of the sanctuary, they were no longer called Gibeonites, but Nethinim, a name that would suit those of one nation as well as another. From this time they do not seem to have been considered and treated like slaves, but rather as

the lowest order of the servants of the sanctuary, having, no doubt, embraced the Jewish religion. At their return from the captivity they were placed in cities with the Levites, Nehem. xi, 3; Ezra ii, 70; 1 Chron. ix, 2. There were very few, indeed, that chose to return, probably, because of the lowness of their condition and station amongst the Israelites. We read of no more than two hundred and twenty, who came with Ezra, Ezra viii, 20; and three hundred ninety-two with Zerubbabel, chap. ii, 58. A number so insufficient for the service-work of the temple, that Josephus tells us they instituted a festival, which they called Euλogogia, on which the people were obliged to carry a certain quantity of wood, to supply the altar of burnt-offerings. The papists have a sort of officers in imitation of the Nethinim, whom they call subdeacons; whose business it is to carry a bason of water, and a towel, to the priests who minister at the altar, to wash their hands before they celebrate mass.

Of the Sacrifices.

To this chapter, concerning the ministers of the sanctuary, may properly be subjoined a brief account of that part of its service, in which they were chiefly employed, namely, the sacrifices.

Of their first institution we have no certain information in scripture. But they were practised, we find, in the first ages of the world by Cain and Abel, Gen. iv; and by our first parents, probably, presently after the fall. "unto Adam and to his wife the and clothed them," Gen. iii, 21. used till after the flood, which we formerly proved†, we can

verc.

For we read, that Lord made coats of skins As animal food was not

Joseph. de Bell. Judaic. lib. ii, cap. xvii, sect. vi, p. 194, edit. Ha

† Since we considered this subject, Dr. Sykes, in his late Essay on the Nature, Design, and Origin of Sacrifices, in order to explain the animal sacrifice which Abel offered, cousistently with his own notion of sacrifices in general, namely, that they were a kind of eating and drinking with God as it were at his table, and in consequence of that being in a state of friendship with him by repentance and confession of sins (p. 120); hath endeavoured to show, in opposition to Grotius and Le Clerc, that animals were used for food before the flood. And as these authors think the express

not easily imagine whence they so soon procured these skins, probably before any creatures had died of themselves, unless from beasts slain for sacrifice.

grant of animal food made after the flood is sufficient proof that it was not in use before the flood, he inquires into the meaning of the respective grants to Adam and Noah (p. 167-178).

The former is in these words (Gen. i, 29, 30), “Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the Earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree bearing seed, to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the field, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, have I given every green herb for meat." And the Doctor, remarking, that this grant must necessarily be understood with some limitations, some creatures being not formed for living upon herbs, and some herbs being of a poisonous quality, infers from hence, that it was not intended to intimate, that this or that food was prohibited, and not to be eaten by man, but to declare in general, how well God had, in his infinite wisdom, provided for the numerous species of creatures which he had created. But I apprehend, that, if we should allow there were noxious vegetables before the fall, when this grant was made, it is not a very natural inference, that, because it was to be limited to those herbs that were salutary in their nature, it might for that reason be extended to animal food, of which kind of food there is not the least mention. It is a maxim, that permissive laws are to be restrained to those objects which are expressly declared in them, or at least to those which are of the same nature, and are evidently comprehended in the general ground and reason of the law.

With respect to the grant to Noah, " every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things," Gen. ix, 3, he apprehends it does not imply any grant of animal food in general, but only of some particular sorts of it, such as are included in the word W remesh, here rendered "moving," which, according to him, signifieth creeping things, or such animals as are not comprehended under the words, beast and fowl. Consequently, whatever is the meaning of this grant, it may be consistent with men's eating sheep and oxen, goats, and the like animals from the first. But this criticism is without foundation, for it is certain that wremesh is of very general signification, and used for all kinds of animals, or all that can move. As in the following passages: "All flesh died that moveth, W haromesh, upon the face of the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every beast and creeping thing," Gen. vii, 21. Again, God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, won haromesh, which the waters bring forth abundantly, Gen. i, 21; that is, all kinds of fishes. When, therefore, God gave to Adam dominion over the fishes of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over every living thing that moveth, w haromesheth, upon the face of the earth, ver. 28; the WD or NW remesh, or remesheth, cannot here be understood to denote

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