Whether Men Are Bound to Pay Tithes of All Things?
Objection 1: It would seem that men are not bound to give tithes of
all things. The paying of tithes seems to be an institution of the
Old Law. Now the Old Law contains no precept about personal tithes,
viz. those that are payable on property acquired by one's own act,
for instance by commerce or soldiering. Therefore no man is bound to
pay tithes on such things.
Obj. 2: Further, it is not right to make oblations of that which is
ill-gotten, as stated above (Q. 86, A. 3). Now oblations, being
offered to God immediately, seem to be more closely connected with
the divine worship than tithes which are offered to the ministers.
Therefore neither should tithes be paid on ill-gotten goods.
Obj. 3: Further, in the last chapter of Leviticus (30, 32) the
precept of paying tithes refers only to "corn, fruits of trees" and
animals "that pass under the shepherd's rod." But man derives a
revenue from other smaller things, such as the herbs that grow in his
garden and so forth. Therefore neither on these things is a man bound
to pay tithes.
Obj. 4: Further, man cannot pay except what is in his power. Now a
man does not always remain in possession of all his profit from land
and stock, since sometimes he loses them by theft or robbery;
sometimes they are transferred to another person by sale; sometimes
they are due to some other person, thus taxes are due to princes, and
wages due to workmen. Therefore one ought not to pay tithes on such
like things.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Gen. 28:22): "Of all things that
Thou shalt give to me, I will offer tithes to Thee."
_I answer that,_ In judging about a thing we should look to its
principle. Now the principle of the payment of tithes is the debt
whereby carnal things are due to those who sow spiritual things,
according to the saying of the Apostle (1 Cor. 9:11), "If we have
sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we reap your
carnal things?" [thus implying that on the contrary "it is no great
matter if we reap your carnal things"] [*The phrase in the brackets
is omitted in the Leonine edition]. For this debt is the principle on
which is based the commandment of the Church about the payment of
tithes. Now whatever man possesses comes under the designation of
carnal things. Therefore tithes must be paid on whatever one
possesses.
Reply Obj. 1: In accordance with the condition of that people there
was a special reason why the Old Law did not include a precept about
personal tithes; because, to wit, all the other tribes had certain
possessions wherewith they were able to provide a sufficient
livelihood for the Levites who had no possessions, but were not
forbidden to make a profit out of other lawful occupations as the
other Jews did. On the other hand the people of the New Law are
spread abroad throughout the world, and many of them have no
possessions, but live by trade, and these would contribute nothing to
the support of God's ministers if they did not pay tithes on their
trade profits. Moreover the ministers of the New Law are more
strictly forbidden to occupy themselves in money-making trades,
according to 2 Tim. 2:4, "No man being a soldier to God, entangleth
himself with secular business." Wherefore in the New Law men are
bound to pay personal tithes, according to the custom of their
country and the needs of the ministers: hence Augustine, whose words
are quoted 16, qu. 1, cap. Decimae, says [*Append. Serm. cclxxvii]:
"Tithes must be paid on the profits of soldiering, trade or craft."
Reply Obj. 2: Things are ill-gotten in two ways. First, because the
getting itself was unjust: such, for instance, are things gotten by
robbery, theft or usury: and these a man is bound to restore, and not
to pay tithes on them. If, however, a field be bought with the
profits of usury, the usurer is bound to pay tithes on the produce,
because the latter is not gotten usuriously but given by God. On the
other hand certain things are said to be ill-gotten, because they are
gotten of a shameful cause, for instance of whoredom or
stage-playing, and the like. Such things a man is not bound to
restore, and consequently he is bound to pay tithes on them in the
same way as other personal tithes. Nevertheless the Church must not
accept the tithe so long as those persons remain in sin, lest she
appear to have a share in their sins: but when they have done
penance, tithes may be accepted from them on these things.
Reply Obj. 3: Things directed to an end must be judged according to
their fittingness to the end. Now the payment of tithes is due not
for its own sake, but for the sake of the ministers, to whose dignity
it is unbecoming that they should demand minute things with careful
exactitude, for this is reckoned sinful according to the Philosopher
(Ethic. iv, 2). Hence the Old Law did not order the payment of tithes
on such like minute things, but left it to the judgment of those who
are willing to pay, because minute things are counted as nothing.
Wherefore the Pharisees who claimed for themselves the perfect
justice of the Law, paid tithes even on these minute things: nor are
they reproved by our Lord on that account, but only because they
despised greater, i.e. spiritual, precepts; and rather did He show
them to be deserving of praise in this particular, when He said
(Matt. 23:23): "These things you ought to have done," i.e. during the
time of the Law, according to Chrysostom's [*Hom. xliv in the Opus
Imperfectum falsely ascribed to St. John Chrysostom] commentary. This
also seems to denote fittingness rather than obligation. Therefore
now too men are not bound to pay tithes on such minute things, except
perhaps by reason of the custom of one's country.
Reply Obj. 4: A man is not bound to pay tithes on what he has lost by
theft or robbery, before he recovers his property: unless he has
incurred the loss through his own fault or neglect, because the
Church ought not to be the loser on that account. If he sell wheat
that has not been tithed, the Church can command the tithes due to
her, both from the buyer who has a thing due to the Church, and from
the seller, because so far as he is concerned he has defrauded the
Church: yet if one pays, the other is not bound. Tithes are due on
the fruits of the earth, in so far as these fruits are the gift of
God. Wherefore tithes do not come under a tax, nor are they subject
to workmen's wages. Hence it is not right to deduct one's taxes and
the wages paid to workmen, before paying tithes: but tithes must be
paid before anything else on one's entire produce.
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