Voss—A True Bit of Instruction. 
689 
maintain that since the Levitic priesthood is no more, tithes 
which were given to them by the law of Moses should no 
longer be exacted, for we who believe in Christ are all priests. 
Answer: The tithe was given by the dictates of nature 
and its laws, without doubt by the direction of the Spirit, 
even before the law of Moses was given, for natural law 
teaches that one should recognize in God the Giver of all 
things and that man has nothing by himself, but everything 
by God and from Him. 
For God who looketh on the heart alone needs no external 
token, and not the amount which one gives, but the spirit 
in which one gives it will be the determining factor with 
Him. But since Abraham (who was godly and to whom God 
spoke and to whom after Noah He gave His first promises 
and into whose hands he delivered his enemies) gave tithes 
of all his booty to Melchizedek a priest of the Most High 
who said to him, Blessed be Abraham of the most high God, 
possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high 
God which hath delivered thy enemies into thy hands. And 
thus the name tithe came into usage and (as Paul says) in 
the land of Abram tithes were given to the tribe of Levi, 
which tribe was given tithes according to the law of Moses, 
as will be seen later. None the less is Christ an eternal 
priest after the order of Melchizedek, the blessed son of 
Abram, to whom the tithes now belong, in order that His 
poor and His servants may live therefrom as well as all of 
Abram’s children after the spirit and after the flesh who be¬ 
lieve in God. Whoever would be a Christian and a follower 
of Christ, into whose name he has been baptized, should 
willingly give tithes, that is, by gifts and works, according 
to his means be helpful to servants of the Word and to poor 
Christians. He who would be a child of Abram, let him do 
the works of Abram which are like unto the faith. John 
YIII. If ye were Abram’s children, etc. 
Likewise Jacob (when in his sleep he saw a marvellous 
vision and when God spoke to him and gave him a promise) 
vowed a vow and said: If God will be with me, and will 
keep me in this way that I wiU go, and will give me bread 
to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I may come again to 
my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: 
And this stone which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s 
