The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-04-18 00:00:00

ORIGIN AND BENEFICIAL INFLUENCE OF

TITHES.

(From the Rev. H. 111'Neile's Opening Sermon at St.
Paul's, Prince's Park.)
The first mention of a tenth in Holy Scripture occurs in
the history of Abraham, when, returning from victory, he
met and gave a tenth part of his spoils to the King of
Salem, the King of righteousness, the priest of the Most
High God, of whom it is written, that He ever liveth,
" abiding a priest continually." (Heb. vii. 1-8.
In the subsequent history, a tenth is adopted and in-
sisted upon, by the high and authoritative command of
Almighty God himself, the proportion of all property in
Israel to be devoted to the support of the ministers and
ordinances of religion. (Levit. xxvii. 30.) Abraham of-
fered, and Jacob vowed, by the secret guidance of the
same Holy Spirit of wisdom, who afterwards dictated the
mind of God to Moses. It was clearly under the sanction
of these Divine precedents, that, in the Christian Church,
a tenth of the produce of the land was dedicated to reli-
gious uses. Whatever may be said, whether dispassionate
argument, or party prejudice, against the wisdom of its
adoption under the New Testament dispensation, or
against the management or mismanagement of it when
adopted, there can be little doubt that such was the origin
of tythes.
This peculiarity connected with land in our own coun-
try ought in all fairness to be borne in mind, when the
comparative burdens on various descriptions of property
are discussed. At this time such a discussion is carried on
with great animation. Landed property, with all its per-
manence of value from generation to generation, is con-
trasted with professional and other life incomes, with all
their brevity and uncertainty ; and on this ground it is de-
manded that taxation should press more heavily on real
property than on income. The principle is fair; but, in
the application of it, it should not be forgotten, that al-
ready land is taxed ten per cent. for the maintenance of a
great public institution, from which the nation is deriving
public benefits of the highest order. Yes, the nation;
for the benefits conferred by the Church of England are
by no means confined to her own avowed members. Di-
rectly or indirectly, by the communication of instruction
in righteousness, by the mitigation of misery, bodily and
mental, by the prevention of crime, by an extended and
extending influence in favour of order, loyalty, and peace,
the Church is a national benefactress.
No such proportion as a tenth of any other species of
property than land, is systematically devoted to the pub-
lic good. Ido not deny, or wish to conceal or disparage,
the noble liberal contributions made voluntarily to the
highest objects. There are mar y such, I trust very many.
Occasions of special mercy draw forth, as in the case of
Jacob, vows of special liberality, which are frequently
followed by munificent performances. To such an occa-
sion we are in a great measure indebted for the " House
of God" in which we are this day assembled. A merciful
deliverance from the imminent peril of sudden death,
caused a Christian gertleman to feel afresh his many
obligations to Almighty God ; and the expression of that
feeling was a free-will offering of two thousand pounds,
sent to me through the post-office. It is true, a Church
in this district had been contemplated and several liberal
donations appropriated to it ; but still, I believe I may
with strict accuracy say, that but for the free-will offer-
ing of grateful love here referred to, we would not at this
time have had a church In this place, or at least not such a
Church of this.
But all voluntary contributions, whether from Church-
men or Dissenters, are desultory. They are not to be
calculated upon. They form no charge on incomes, as
tythes do on land ; and this is the special point to which
I thus briefly advert, not of course as embracing all the
merits of the controversy, but simply in mitigation of the
animosity with which it seems in some quarters to be
conducted.

THE.CoLn WATER Cont.—We never had so_ much-
reason to admire the efficacy and appropriateness of this
prescription, as in its application to the disease of re&hot
rebellion, in a case where M. De Lamartine administered
the cold-water cure with wondrous effect to the rabid
Wai!f deputation, who went over to Paris thirsting for fra
ternity, and who got their thirst quenched in a most un.
xp..cted manner. The French orator, poet, and states-.
man, deserves the thanks of Europe, and, indeed, of hu
inanity at large, for the unmistakeable hint he has given,
that Mr. Smith O'Brien, or any other foreign rebel, is a
proper goose if he expects to find in France any disposi-
tion towards propagander.—Punek.
LAW.—The Law of England forms the most remarkable
characteristic of the country. The laW is the spirit of the
national liberty, the guardian of the national religion, and
the foundation of the national government. Britain has
the proud . distinction of being almost the only country
on earth where no act of arbitrary power can be suffered—
where no man's person, power, or conscience, can be sub-
jected to insult with impunity—and where every man has
rights, and all are alike under the safeguard of Law. It
is singular that the most intellectual nation of the an-
cient world—Greece—has not left us any system of law.
Cicero speaks with professional scorn of all jurisprudence
ri.cept the Roman. He would not have spoken thus of
the Mosaic law, if he had known it. But one of the Most
extraordinary circumstances of the Hebrew common-
wealth, is the general ignorance of its incomparable insti-
tutions, which prevailed among the most active inquirers
of the northern world. But law existed from the earliest
periods in Greece, though its name was often and curiously
changed. In the time of Homer, the name of law was
The pis, or establishment. In the time of Hesiod, the
name was Nomos, or distribution. In after times, it was
Dike, or justiee. The cause of the Greek want of system
was said to be the number of judges in their courts, which
rendered the decision rather-a
-matter of sentiment than of
fixed rule. The systematic nature of the Roman law
arose from there being in general but one judge in each
court. The two prmtors—the one for the city, and the
other for the external jurisdiction—were annuallY ap-
pointed; and were accustomed, on entering their offices,
to state the rules on which they intended to act. Those
rules became gradually embodied, and -finally formed the
groundwork of the Roman-law. -In the language of RoMe,
Law was Lex, frOM Leyo, as the prbposal of the rule was
read by the magistrate to the assembly of the people.
The-Anglo-Saxon name Was Laga, from Lelfett,'to l+y
down, from which comes our word Law.—Blackwood..