ipe
first of all into the temple; and when they have blessed God for that
land which bare them, and which he had given them for a possession, when
they have also offered those sacrifices which the law has commanded them
to bring, let them give the first-fruits to the priests. But when any
one hath done this, and hath brought the tithe of all that he hath,
together with those first-fruits that are for the Levites, and for the
festivals, and when he is about to go home, let him stand before the
holy house, and return thanks to God, that he hath delivered them from
the injurious treatment they had in Egypt, and hath given them a good
land, and a large, and lets them enjoy the fruits thereof; and when
he hath openly testified that he hath fully paid the tithes [and other
dues] according to the laws of Moses, let him entreat God that he will
be ever merciful and gracious to him, and continue so to be to all the
Hebrews, both by preserving the good things which he hath already given
them, and by adding what it is still in his power to bestow upon them.

23. Let the Hebrews marry, at the age fit for it, virgins that are free,
and born of good parents. And he that does not marry a virgin, let him
not corrupt another man's wife, and marry her, nor grieve her former
husband. Nor let free men marry slaves, although their affections
should strongly bias any of them so to do; for it is decent, and for the
dignity of the persons themselves, to govern those their affections. And
further, no one ought to marry a harlot, whose matrimonial oblations,
arising from the prostitution of her body, God will not receive; for
by these means the dispositions of the children will be liberal and
virtuous; I mean, when they are not born of base parents, and of the
lustful conjunction of such as marry women that are not free. If any one
has been espoused to a woman as to a virgin, and does not afterward find
her so to be, let him bring his action, and accuse her, and let him make
use of such indications [24] to prove his accusation as he is furnished
withal; and let the father or the brother of the damsel, or some one
that is after them nearest of kin to her, defend her If the damsel
obtain a sentence in her favor, that she had not been guilty, let her
live with her husband that accused her; and let him not have any further
power at all to put her away, unless she give him very great occasions
of suspicion, and such as can be no way contradicted. But