The Roman secular law provided that any one who obtained a part of the public land in a conquered country should pay to the state a tenth of the revenue he derived from its rent, and this system was usually transferred to the colonies settled on the soil. When the church tithe came into prominence there arose two kinds, secular and ecclesiastical tithes, which to a greater or less extent have been associated and commingled in almost every civilization from the earliest times. It would be impossible, were it deemed necessary, to state in a brief limit the minutiæ of this complicated tithe system. It was not abolished by the Reformation. Luther and Calvin believed in tithing for the support of the Church. It may be worth while to quote from the First Book of Discipline, which Knox heartily approved. One section runs as follows: “The sums able to sustain the forenamed persons, and to furnish all things appertaining to the preservation of good order and policy within the Kirk, must be lifted of tenths, the tenth sheaf of all sorts of corn, hay, hemp and lint: tenth fish, tenth calf, tenth lamb, tenth wool, tenth foal, tenth cheese. And because that we know that the tenth reasonably taken, as is before expressed, will not suffice to discharge the former necessity” it directs other gifts and rents. These Reformers, however, felt the burden of the enforced tithe and the movement grew apace to remove it. It was abolished in France in 1789. Other countries where any law obtains, have largely commuted it to a fixed annual sum of money, after the system in vogue in England to-day. Enlightened Christendom is rightfully rebelling against this enforced tribute and is looking for a more spontaneous support. LINES OF ARGUMENT. There are certain conclusions, it seems to me, which may safely be drawn from this brief summary of the evidence now before us. First: THE TITHE IS A UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE, NOT A LEVITICAL INSTITUTION. It seems peculiar to one who has studied the subject in the light of the new data which is now being brought to light so abundantly, that one should be so regularly confronted with the assertion that the tithe is a Levitical institution. It is stranger still that so many ministers continue to assert this as a fact, when the unanimous testimony of such men as Prof. Sayce, Prof. Maspero, Dr. Hilprecht and others of their standing can easily be gathered to the contrary. They all assert that no matter how old the civilization there is always abundant evidence of proportionate giving to the gods and almost invariably the tenth. The only apparent exception is in the Laws of Manu of Ancient India, wherein we find one-tenth, one-eighth, and one-sixth specified as the tribute to the king who doubtless saw to it that one-sixth became general in India. It is likely that if we had the most ancient laws we would find that the one-tenth prevailed, even in India.