Unlike other religious sects professing Christianity, the Latter-day Saints do not observe the law of tithing, the ordinances of baptism, confirmation or any other sacred rite merely because the Bible records that such observances were had among the ancient saints, but for the reason that in this age of the world, God has commanded us to receive these laws and ordinances. The law of tithing was given in the early history of God's dealings with the children of men. Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedek, according to the statement of Paul to the Hebrews. The apostle also refers to the fact that the tribe of Levi had been selected from all the sons of Israel to officiate in that order of the priesthood which has to do with the outward ordinances of tithes and sacrifice, and notwithstanding there was a higher order, of which Melchisedek was the great High Priest, those bearing the higher priesthood were not exempt from the law of tithing. (Heb. vii:4-5.) Jacob also paid one-tenth to the Lord. (Gen. xxviii:20-22.) During the administration of Moses as the leader and lawgiver under the Almighty to Israel, tithing was enjoined as a universal law to the people of God. "And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy unto the Lord. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. He shall not search whether it be good or bad." (Lev. xxvii:30, 32, 33.) This did not require a selection of the very choicest product of the flock, the herd or the soil, neither did it justify a man in offering for his tithes the poorest or least valuable of his income. Of the flocks, each one "that passeth under the rod" was to be tithed. The custom was to pen the flocks in a corral, with a gateway too small for the passage of more than one animal at a time; and as they passed out, a man stood at the gateway with a rod in his hand, and as the tenth one of the flock went out, the man at the gate marked the animal with his rod. Thus every tenth one, whether it was good, poor or medium, was sanctified to the Lord as tithing; any disposition to offer as a tithe an inferior article was disapproved of by the Lord. In matters of sacrifice upon the altar, pointing to the sacrifice of the Great Redeemer who should be offered in the meridian of time to redeem a fallen world, Israel was positively forbidden to offer the blind, the lame or the bruised. "Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats. But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer; for it shall not be acceptable for you. * * * Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the Lord, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the Lord." (Lev. xxii:19, 22.)