d 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.
_______________________

THIRD ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 87, Art. 4]

Whether Tithes Should Be Paid to the Clergy?

Objection 1: It would seem that tithes should not be paid to the
clergy. Tithes were paid to the Levites in the Old Testament, because
they had no portion in the people's possessions, according to Num.
18:23, 24. But in the New Testament the clergy have possessions not
only ecclesiastical, but sometimes also patrimonial: moreover they
receive first-fruits, and oblations for the living and the dead.
Therefore it is unnecessary to pay tithes to them.

Obj. 2: Further, it sometimes happens that a man dwells in one
parish, and farms in another; or a shepherd may take his flock within
the bounds of one parish during one part of the year, and within the
bounds of another parish during the other part of the year; or he may
have his sheepfold in one parish, and graze the sheep in another. Now
in all these and similar cases it seems impossible to decide to which
clergy the tithes ought to be paid. Therefore it would seem that no
fixed tithe ought to be paid to the clergy.

Obj. 3: Further, it is the general custom in certain countries for
the soldiers to hold the tithes from the Church in fee; and certain
religious receive tithes. Therefore seemingly tithes are not due only
to those of the clergy who have care of souls.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (Num. 18:21): "I have given to the
sons of Levi all the tithes of Israel for a possession, for the
ministry wherewith they se