the Bible a very slippery thing. Sometimes you think you have seized it, but when you look, you find you have nothing in your hands.

Were we to go into minute particulars, this would be still more manifest. The priests and Levites had to travel, in their turns, from all parts of the country where they lived, to Jerusalem, the capital, where stood the temple in which they were to officiate. Should we like this? Some ignorantly suppose, that the priests had nothing to do but to pray and preach; but there was then no preaching in public worship. The priests had services to perform which required much bodily labour. The Levites were obliged to mount guard, and keep watch all night in the temple, which was a kind of fortress. But we will pass over the minutia, and keep to great capital points.

Here then is an important question to be considered, in trying the Bible on a charge of priestcraft. The tithes, which were the support of the sacred tribe, were given for the maintenance of the true religion. Suppose now the people should become indifferent to their religion, or should choose to change it for the idolatries of the surrounding nations, then where would the priests and Levites be? The other tribes had got hold of all the landed estates; and when they cast off the religion which deprived the tribe of Levi of its share, would they not fling that tribe out of its tithes too? Would they not say, "What do we care for the priests of Jehovah? We shall not give them our corn: we want our property to support our new religion, and

to offer sacrifices to Baal." Now this actually happened. The people became so indifferent to the law of Jehovah, that his ministers were left to want, and must often have been disposed to say, " 0, that we had taken our share of the landed estates, then we should have been independent gentlemen, instead of poor begging Levites !" The whole nation, with its king, frequently became deadly enemies to the worship of God, and to his temple at Jerusalem. Levites were then seen wandering about and begging their bread. The reproaches which the prophets poured upon the idolatrous kings and people, were mingled with accusations of cruelty and injustice towards their brethren the Levites, who had as good a right to be supported by the soil as those who held the estates. But what availed the sermons of the prophets, with a people who had learned to despise the God who sent them? How feeble were appeals to justice and humanity, with those who took delight in making their children pass through the fire to Moloch?

And yet infidels say, priests are cunning enough to take care of their own interests. They have plenty of sagacity in looking well after the loaves and fishes. Well then, would not the keen eye of selfishness see from afar the events we have mentioned, as likely to happen? Let us at least be consistent, for consistency is essential to any tolerable combination of sense and honesty. No fair reasoner would say, that the priests were at once cunning knaves and arrant fools. If they did not foresee the events that occurred, they were not the artful impostors that you would make them out; and

if they did, and yet submitted to the tithe system, it is a proof that they bowed to a divine law, which they could not resist.

Come on, then-this inquiry turns out so well for my cause, that you must not wonder that I am disposed to go forward in sprightly mood. What security had the priestly tribe against this event, which they might easily have foreseen as likely to happen? Nothing but religion. The continuance of the fear and worship of the true God could alone assuré them of the payment of their tithes. If they neg lected to do their own duty, and left the people ignorant of the claims of Jehovah and his law, farewell tithes. If the nation were suffered to fall into idolatry or infidelity, the Levites would be left to live upon the air, if they could. Now this, of itself, is a mark of sincerity. Whenever men submit to these terms, 66 as long as we do the work, we will receive the wages; but if we do nothing, we will have nothing;" you may give them credit for honest intentions.

Again, then I ask, does this look like priestcraft? Would not mere cunning impostors have said, " bird in the hand is worth two in the bush? Let us take care to have our share of the land, along with the other tribes, and then come what may, we are safe. As to trusting to the influence of religion, that may do very well for enthusiasts, but we should like something more tangible and durable. People may change their minds about religion, as we see they often do, but a good solid estate cannot run away. To get what we can out of the people while

they are religious may be a very good thing by the way, a pretty sort of pin money for our wives and daughters, but after all there is nothing like good meadows and arable land."

Now this uncertain provision for the priests lasted for nearly two thousand years, and, during all this time, they were frequently in the most distressed and humiliating state. It was, indeed, their own fault. The prophets who were raised up by extraordinary inspiration, from time to time, reproached the priests most severely for the general corruption of manners, which, by the way, is a plain proof that the Bible, which records these cutting reproaches, is any thing but a book of priestcraft.

If the Bible had contained a plan that furnished the priests with a security against the consequences of their own guilty negligence, what would infidels have said? Merely to prosper when we do our duty is a condition which none but honest men approve. Knaves like something else. We have found in the Bible, then, nothing but a provision for the rewards due to honest labour, and for the just, but severe punishment of guilty negligence. The outcry which, in our times, has been raised against tithes, has arisen from their being found to be a provision for idleness and luxury. There are, indeed, many who have long condemned tithes under the Gospel dispensation, as an incongruous graft of a Jewish slip upon a Christian stock. But the majority of the country never entered into this theological question. The present current that is setting in so strongly against tithes, flows from the evil working of the

system. Had those who hold the tithes been living among their parishioners, faithfully labouring to do them good, we should not have heard, " down with the tithes," from north to south, and from east to west. But the tithes, as God gave them, were a provision for the reward of honest labour and faithful service.

"Alas! alas!" the infidel must cry, "we have lost our hold again. Which way shall we turn now?" This Lecture shall help you to another chance. For I suspect we know more about the Jews and the Bible than the infidels do, and we are so sure of the goodness of our cause that we can afford to be liberal. We will do for you what you could not do for yourselves. For all that the Bible wants is fair play. Say all that you please, so long as you do but prove what you say. Act like the ancient Greeks, who engaged to suffer what they attempted to bring upon another, by the sentence of the law, if they did not substantiate their charge. Pledge yourselves to bear the blame, if you cannot prove the Bible guilty of abetting priestcraft.

We will tell you, then, what many of you may not know, that though the people did not make the priests rulers of Judea, but appointed the tribe of Judah to hold the throne, there was a time when the high priests were virtually kings also. Now make the most of this information. Say, then the priests took care to seat themselves on the throne at last! True, but what has the Bible to do with that? The Bible did not enjoin it; if the Bible had been obeyed, it never could have occurred, and the

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