eturn, according to 1 Paral 29:14, "We
have given Thee what we received of Thy hand." And since what we
offer God ought to be something special, hence it is that man was
commanded to offer God his first-fruits, as being a special part of
the fruits of the earth: and since a priest is "ordained for the
people in the things that appertain to God" (Heb. 5:1), the
first-fruits offered by the people were granted to the priest's use.
Wherefore it is written (Num. 18:8): "The Lord said to Aaron: Behold
I have given thee the charge of My first-fruits." Now it is a point
of natural law that man should make an offering in God's honor out of
the things he has received from God, but that the offering should be
made to any particular person, or out of his first-fruits, or in such
or such a quantity, was indeed determined in the Old Law by divine
command; but in the New Law it is fixed by the declaration of the
Church, in virtue of which men are bound to pay first-fruits
according to the custom of their country and the needs of the
Church's ministers.

Reply Obj. 1: The ceremonial observances were properly speaking signs
of the future, and consequently they ceased when the foreshadowed
truth was actually present. But the offering of first-fruits was for
a sign of a past favor, whence arises the duty of acknowledgment in
accordance with the dictate of natural reason. Hence taken in a
general sense this obligation remains.

Reply Obj. 2: First-fruits were offered in the Old Law, not only on
account of the favor of the promised land given by God, but also on
account of the favor of the fruits of the earth, which were given by
God. Hence it is written (Deut. 26:10): "I offer the first-fruits of
the land which the Lord hath given me," which second motive is common
among all people. We may also reply that just as God granted the land
of promise to the Jews by a special favor, so by a general favor He
bestowed the lordship of the earth on the whole of mankind, according
to Ps. 113:24, "The earth He has given to the children of men."

Reply Obj. 3: As Jerome says [*Comment. in Ezech. 45:13, 14; cf. Cap.
Decimam, de Decim. Primit. et Oblat.]: "According to the tradition of
the ancients the custom arose for those who had most to give the
priests a fortieth part, and those who had least, one sixtieth, in
lieu of first-fruits." Hence it would seem that first-fruits should
vary between these limits according to the custom of one's country.
An