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conclude that this was either the first or the last occasion on which Abram paid a tenth of
his increase to Melchizedek. If the patriarch did so annually, it would be only in keeping
with the practice of his Babylonian ancestors, and what we know was afterwards
conceded by the Carthaginians to be due to their Phoenician priesthood.

This inference or supposition is strengthened to something like probability by
consideration of the subsequent conduct of Abram's grandson Jacob, who, being about to
undertake a journey, did what we know quite well was common among the Semites, the
Greeks and Romans, and, indeed, is still practiced: he vowed a vow, and he said:

"If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me
bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in
peace; then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone which I have set up for a
pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give
the tenth unto Thee," (Genesis 28:20-22).

Now it will be remembered that Abram lived till the boyhood of Jacob; that Jacob
was brought up in the faith of his grandfather; and that at Bethel YEHOVAH confirmed
to Jacob and his posterity all the promises He made to Abraham. What, then, could be
more natural than that Jacob should avow himself ready to practice Abraham's religious
observances? He promises to take the God of Abraham for his own God, to dedicate a
certain place to His worship as did Abraham, and also to follow his grandfather's practice
in dedicating to YEHOVAH God a tenth of all he should receive. But there are
manifested certain points in Jacob's tithe-paying which we could not have certainly
inferred in the offering of a tenth by Abram (Gold and the Gospel, p. 28).

For, first, Jacob's vow was, manifestly, to be continued throughout his lifetime,
and was not framed for the occasion or the journey, only.

The second feature in Jacob's tenth differing from that of his grandfather, is, that
no part of Jacob's tithe is mentioned as paid for the use of a priesthood. We read no more
of Melchizedek or of his successor; however YEHOVAH's claim is not remitted or
abated, and Jacob's tithe-paying is presented to us as an act of homage to YEHOVAH.

How, then, do these facts bear upon what may be called the scientific aspect of
the question?

The prevalence of tithe-paying amongst ancient nations, quite apart, so far as we
see, from the Bible, has, if possible, to be accounted for. If it was originally left to every
man to give for religious purposes merely according to his own inclination-- that is, as
much or as little as he pleased -- then how should so many peoples have hit upon a tenth
for YEHOVAH's portion, rather than a fifth, or a fifteenth,or any other? Does not the
universality of this proportion point to a time when the ancestors of those nations lived
together, and so derived the custom from a common source?