much diminished,-whereby a minister of religion is maintained or partly maintained in every parish of the kingdom. A letter of King Edgar, who reigned more than one thousand years since, proves this, in which, amongst other things, he says, "Let the great devotion of our ancestors move you. My great grandfather, as ye know, gave the tenth part of all his lands to churches. My great great grandfather, Alfredus, of holy memory, thought it not meet to spare his treasures, his goods, nor costs, nor rents, that he might enrich the Church. Ye are not ignorant how great things my grandfather, the elder Edward, gave to enrich the Church; what gifts my father and his brothers did give to enrich the Church." Thus we see that the piety of our ancestors in these early times, before Popery, in the corrupt form it afterwards assumed, was established in these realms, gave up a large portion of their possessions to promote, as they believed, the glory of God. Whether they did not in some instances exceed the necessary supply, and their generosity was not in some cases misapplied, it is not for us to say; if their motives were good, the misapplying of their gifts is not to be laid to their charge. But it is not with a view of discussing this that I have introduced this matter into the present discourse; neither is it in order to show you that the clergyman has a right to his tithes upon as strong, if not stronger, ground than any of you can lay claim to your estates, even taking the law of the realm only for our rule, and saying nothing of the law of Christ; but it is rather to correct an error which is too prevalent among us, and into which, in fact, until we give the subject some consideration, the best friends of the Church are liable to fall. I mean the considering that when our tithes and rates are paid, we have done all that can be expected of us, and, in fact, deserve some credit for our generosity, when, in fact, we have done nothing, we have only paid that which was never our own to give; we conse have only that negative kind of goodness which every honest man has, of paying that which he owes, and certainly can claim no merit for it. This must be evident from a moment's reflection. Are you possessors of property?-you have bought your estates, knowing that this payment is attached to them, and have, consequently, given so much the less for them. Are you tenants of the lands of others?you have considered this payment in the terms you have made, and are quently, if you are wise, paying so much the less rent. Whether giving less, or more, the minister of God is not supported by your piety and your gifts, but by the piety and gifts of your ancestors; and some other way must be discovered for you to pay tithes, to imitate the example of Abraham in the text; of Jacob when returning from Padan-aram; of the faithful servants of God in all ages, before you can be free from the charge of Malachiof robbing God, and before you can expect to reap the reward of those who honour God. We must, as Solomon says, "honour the Lord with our substance, and with the first-fruits of all our increase, if we would have our barns filled with plenty, and our presses bursting out with new wine." We must all of us bring our tithes to the storehouse, "if we would have the Lord open unto us the windows of heaven, and pour us out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." It must be evident, from the circumstances before mentioned, that the tithes we at present pay cannot be considered as anything done by ourselves, and even if they were, as we are living in a commercial country, the tenths taken, as they are with us, must fall far short of the fair proportion. We find that Abraham gave the tenths of his gains-he gave him tithes of all; and Jacob vowed, that of all God should give him, "I will surely give a tenth unto thee;" and a portion of this tenth he afterwards employed in building an altar unto the Lord. And can we, my brethren, do better than imitate him in this respect? It has often struck me, in looking round this temple of God, and seeing the walls in the state in which they are, and afterwards visiting your private houses, how much we were like the unbelieving Jews, who, whilst they themselves were in the enjoyment of every luxury, suffered the Son of God to be worshipped in a stable. And certainly it is most surprising, when we consider that we have received all that we possess from God, that those of us who are rich should for a moment hesitate in devoting some of those riches which the goodness of God has given us to his honour, and while we can spend hundreds, and in some instances thousands, in the improvement of our own property, that when the glory of God is concerned, and the increase of his temple is proposed, we should look with alarm at the tens and the units. Were we, my brethren, children of the faithful Abraham, were we sincere followers of the patriarchs, were |