makes the Duty fo too; infomuch that every one is obliged to pay Obedience to it, who has a due Value for God's Honour; or, his own Honefty and Religion, or, for the welfare of his immortal Soul.

The Almighty God, who alone was the Creator of Heaven and Earth; the Supreme Lord of all his Creatures, and the bountiful Giver of all the good Things which Man does enjoy, has not fo abfolutely beftow'd them upon him, but that he has referved a Portion to himself, as a Teftimony of his Right to all: And as a due Acknowledgment of his Bounty, and that all have a Dependance upon him.

This Portion he does expect fhould be faithfully returned unto Him, as an Honourary Tribute for what he has bestow'd; and in order to procure a farther Bleffing upon his Labours and Poffeffions.

Now what this Portion is, That God will accept as à just Tribute to his Honour and Service, would not have been known to all People as it was,

but

but by Divine Revelation. Which Learned Men, are of Opinion God at firft made known to Adam, and he to his Sons, and they to their Posterity; and fo onward for about Two Thousand Years, till there was a written Law for it, which made it known to fucceeding Generations, as far as the Law came; and where it did not reach, as it did not to the Gentile Nations, Thefe having not the Law, were Rom.2.14 a Law unto themfelves. And by the Law of Nature, or, the fecret Suggeftions of God's Will to them (without which, they could not be fuppofed exactly to hit upon the fame Duty and Proportion) made it an univerfal Practice, both among Jews and Heathens, to pay the Tenth of all their Increase; as was done before the Law, or any Gentile World was in being.

This is that Portion which God would be honoured with, the first Fruits of all their Increase, with the Prime Part of that Substance which they had received from God; which heretofore all People and Nations from the very beginning of the World,

B 2

World, have gratefully returned back again to God for his bountiful Goodnefs towards them, in beftowing upon them the Poffeffion of all the Things, which, under his Supreme Jurifdiction, they were owners of, or entrusted with.

And by returning back unto God, this his Portion with Thanksgiving, they not only acquitted themselves of that indifpenfable Duty, which was incumbent on them; but thereby, they fhew'd that their Truft and Dependance were upon God; and thereby also, they took the most effectual Course to procure a Bleffing upon their Store, and to add to it a manifold increase. According as the Verse following my Text intimates, as the Reason, or Effect, of this Performance. So fhall thy Barns be filled with Plenty, and thy Preffes burst out with new Wine. Wherefore, Honour the Lord with thy Subftance, and with the first Fruits of all thine Increase.

In

In handling of which Subject.

i. I shall first shew, the indifpenfable Obligation, which is incumbent upon all People to pay Tithes of all unto God, as being a part of his Divine Worship and Service: This being to Honour the Lord with their Subftance, and with the first Fruits of all their Increase.

2. I shall fhew the Antiquity of this Duty and Practice: It is much ancienter than the Law of Mofes, and long before the Ceremonial Law was inftituted, and confequently it could be no part of it; nor, therefore to cease under the Evangelical Difpenfation.

3. I shall shew how much the Chriftian Religion does oblige to this Practice; with the Advantages of paying Tithes carefully and honestly, both with Respect to this Life and the next; as it relates to Temporal Profperity, and Eternal Happiness.

4. I shall fet forth the Malediction, or Curfe, which does attend the Nonperformance of this Duty, or, the VioB 3 lation

lation of it, in the impious, odious, and damnable Sin of Tithe Stealing.

5. To these I shall add, in the last Place, fome few Observations upon the whole, and fo conclude,

But before I begin, it will not be amifs to obviate a popular Objection, against the handling of fo ungrateful a Subject as this, which will be accounted a Preaching for Self-Interest, for the Advantage of the Clergy and the welfare of the Church, which is already become fome Men's great Eyefore, as 'tis their Endeavour to run it down. And furely upon no other Ground fo defignedly as by their Ruine, to advance their own Covetousness and Ambition; their Libertinism and Irreligion; they do not fhew the prophaneness of their Hearts, their Ingratitude towards God, their Difregard to his Holy Word, and their Distrust of his Providence more in any Thing else, than by with-holding God's Portion from Him; as if they thought it. too great to be returned to Him again, out of all their Increase, tho' it be for his abundant Goodness and Mercy to

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