Note 555 — NEW ENGLISH CANAAN OR NEW CANAAN. (continued 3)

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.” (Matt. xxiii. 23.)

“But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God.” (Luke xi. 42.)

The significance of the text referred to lay, of course, in Morton’s mind, rather in its indirect than its direct application,—more in its denunciatory than in its contributory portions. The clergy in early Massachusetts were supported by the voluntary contributions in Boston, and by a regular town-tax levy outside of Boston. (Plaine Dealing, pp. 48-50; Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., 1860-2, p. 116.)