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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	call_v	church_n	holy_a	2,804	5	4.7314	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56170	A gospel plea (interwoven with a rational and legal) for the lawfulness and continuance fo the antient setled maintenance and tenths of the ministers of the Gospel in two parts, proving that there is a just, competent, comfortable maintenance ... that the present opposition against tithes ... / by William Prynne ...	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1660 (1660)	Wing P3972; ESTC R33924	270,085	347

carry us Captives to a Foreign Nation as it did Gods own people heretofore 2 Chron. 36.15 to 22. Sufficient motives to deter us from such a dangerous practice 6ly I must inform our Army-Officers and Souldiers that it is expresly against the very Laws and Rules of War even in a Foreign Enemies Country won by Conquest to rob destroy pillage Churches Temples or things devoted for the Maintenance of Gods publique Worship which not only the best Christian Generals and Souldiers but many Heathen and Mahometan Generals Princes Commanders made conscience not to plunder deface demolish or substract as Grotius proves at large by many instances in his Book De Jure Belli l. 3. c. 2 12. sect 6 7 8. Annotata on them How much more then is it against the Law of War and Armes it self to make a prey plunder of Churches Rectories Glebes Tithes in their own native Country against their own Consciences Covenants Commissions to defend them Yea such Generals Souldiers and whole Armies who have made no Conscience to observe it have been frequently destroyed for their Sacrilege as many Heathen Historians observe as well as Christian Herodotus in my Edition p. 7 8 44 167 168 169 170 187 349 350 460 461 568. Diodorus Siculus Bibl. Hist p. 622 781 782. Dion Cassius Rom. Hist p. 589. Justini Historia l. 8. p. 87. l. 24. p. 227 to 231 269 271 308. Caelius Rhodiginus Ant. Lect. l. 18. c. 29 Eutropius Rer. Rom. Hist p. 175 228 334. Paulus Diaconus p. 417. Nicetus Hist p. 48 50. Laurentius Begerlink Chronogra p. 137 189 263. record sundry examples of this kind both among Pagans and Christians to deter others from this dangerous destructive sin which if they neglect scorn I shall then desire them to remember that saying of Euripedes an Heathen Poet in his Troadibus that he shall receive the like exemplary punishment Homo quisquis urbes vastat Dis Manibus Sedes Sacratas Templaque haud recte sapit Nam similis ipsum Pestis Excidii manet 7ly It is the Resolution of Seneca the Philosopher Quisquis id quod Deorum est sustulerit consumpsit atqu● in usum suum vertit sacrilegus est and all Canonists Casuists Schoolmen Divines whatsoever accord That it is Sacrilege for any Persons or Powers whatsoever to invade or take away any thing which our Ancestors or any others have solemnly vowed dedicated for the necessary maintenance of Gods publique worship and Ministers under what specious pretext soever it be done Therefore to take away or abolish our Ministers Tithes Glebes Rectories and other Dues conferred on them by our pious Ancestors and make spoyl havock of the Churches Edifices erected by them for Gods publique worship must questionlesse be Sacrilege as God himself expresly defines Mal. 3.8 9. With all commentators thereon old and new and Gratian Caus 16. qu. 1. This the famous Emperor Souldier Charles the Great and Ludovicus surnamed the Godly and most Christian joyntly resolve Capit. Caroli Ludovici l. 6. cap. 285 295 296 115 305. l. 7. c. 104. where they thus conclude Scimus res Ecclesiae Deo esse sacratas Scimus eas esse vota Fidelium pretia peccatorum Quapropter si quis eas ab Ecclesiis quibus a Fidelibus collatae Deoque Sacratae sunt aufert proculdubio Sacrilegium committit Caecus enim est qui ista non videt c. Si ergo amico quippiam rapere furtum est Ecclesiae vero fraudari vel abstrahi indubitanter Sacrilegium est Omnes enim contra Legem facientes Resque Ecclesiae dirimentes vel Ecclesias Sacerdotesque contra Divinas Sanctiones vexantes Sacrilegi vocantur atque Indubitanter infames Sacrilegique Habendi sunt c. What Penalties have been inflicted upon such who were guilty of this sin by Christian Princes in foreign parts I shall briefly inform this Sacrilegious age Theodoricus King of the Gothes in his Edict c. 125. enacted That if any man should violently take any thing from Churches he should lose his head And Alaricus the Gothish King though an Arrian when he took Rome by force of Armes and his Souldiers had taken the Sacred Vessels out of St. Peters Church there and brought them to him commanded them to carry them back again to the Church with their own hands which took them thence ut cupiditas quae depraedationis ambitu admiserat scelus devotione largissima deleret excessum as Cassiodor relates l. 12. Epist 20. Among the Friseans Laws made by their wisemen Tit. 12. De Honore Templorum this is one He who shall break a Church and take away the holy things thence let him be carried to the Sea and in the Sand which the Tide is wont to cover let his cares be slit and he be gelt and then let him be sacrificed to the Gods whose Temples he hath violated The Neopolitan Laws l. 1. Tit. 5. enact That whosoever shall violently break open a Church and take away any Gifts or consecrated Vessels thence shall be punished as a Capital Off●nder and lose his life Charles the Great and Lewes the Godly enacted That if any person violently took from any Church Priest or Minister any thing belonging to them and were convicted thereof or confessed the same he should have sentence of death given against him as guilty of Sacrilege and that it should be not only lawfull but commendable to prosecute and avenge this Sacrilege and Injury done to the Church Priests and Ministers as a publique Crime deserving punishment and that if any did Sacrilegiously invade or molest the Possessions and Lands of the Church he should be perpetually banished for it Capit. Caroli Ludovici l. 6. Tit. 113 125. And Tit. 305. they thus determine All things that are offered to the Lord are without all doubt consecrated to the Lord and not only the Sacrifices which by the Priests are consecrated upon the Altar to the Lord are called the Oblations of the faithfull but what things soever are offred to him by the faithfull whether in Sacrifices or in Fields Vineyards Woods Medowes Waters Water-streams Artifices Books Utensils Stones Buildings Vestments Wools Garments Cattel Parchments Moveables and Immoveables or whatsoever which of these things are made to the praise of God or the Supplement of the holy Church of God and his Priests and which may give ornament unto them whether they be freely offered by any one to the Lord and his Church are undoubtedly consecrated to the Lord and belong to the Priests Right And because we truly acknowledge the Lord and his Church to be one person what ever things are the Churches are Christs and whatsoever is offered to the Church either in the aforesaid things or in any other Kinds or by promises or pledges or writings or in corporal things are offered unto Christ and what thin●s by any devise are alienated or taken from his Church either by alienating or by wasting or invading or

brought away the Hallowed things out of mine House and also have given them unto the Levite c. According to all thy Commandements which thou hast commanded me I have not transgressed thy Commandements neither have I forgotten them I have not eaten thereof in my mourning neither have I taken away ought thereof for my Vnclean Vse nor given ought thereof for the dead but I have hearkened to the Voice of the Lord my God And have done according to all that thou hast commmanded me Look down from thy Holy Habitation from Heaven And bless thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us a Land that floweth with milk and honey Such a conscientious true payment of Tithes as this according to all Gods Commandements without the least Substraction or embezlement emboldens enables every particular man to make such a Prayer to God as this not only for himself but for the whole Land brings a blessing upon himself and all the Realm yea makes it a Land flowing with milk and honey and abundance of all rich blessings Besides we read in 2 Chr. 31.1 to 15. That when godly King Hezekiah had destroyed Idolatry and appointed the Courses of the Priests and Levites after their Courses every man according to his service he brought ●urings and Peace-offerings to minister and to give thanks and to praise in all the Gates of the Tents of the Lord He appointed also the Kings portion of his Substance for the burnt-offerings for the morning and evening for the Sabbaths the new Moons and set Feasts moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem To give the Portion of the Priests and the Levites that they might be encouraged in the Law of the Lord. And as soon as the Commandement came abroad the children of Israel brought in abundance the first Fruits of Corn Wine Oyl and Honey and of all the encrease of the field and the Tithes of all things brought they in abundance And concerning the children of Israel and Judah that dwelt in the Cities of Judah They also brought in the Tithes of Oxen and Sheep and the Tithe of holy things which were dedicated unto the Lord their God and laid them by heaps In the third moneth they began to lay the foundation of the heaps and finished them in the seventh moneth and when Hezekiah and the Princes came and saw the heaps they blessed the Lord and his People Israel Then Hezekiah questioned with the Priests and Levites concerning the heaps And Azariah the chief Priest of the House of Zadok answered him and said Since the People began to bring the Offerings into the house of the Lord We have had enough to eat and have left Plenty But did the people grow poor thereby no but much richer than before for the Lord hath blessed his people and that which is left is this great store Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare Chambers or store-houses in the house of the Lord and they prepared them and brought in the Offerings and the Tithes and the dedicate things faithfully over which Cononiah the Levite was Ruler How different was this practice of all the people and godly Saints in those daies in a chearfull bringing in their Tithes and Oblations to the Priests and Levites in abundance for their encouragement which caused King Hezekiah his Princes the Priests Levites and God himself to bless them from the sacrilegious practice of Tith-detaining Hypocritical Saints Anabaptists Quakers Sectaries and Christians in our daies who shall never receive such a blessing as this from God or good men but their curses If these Texts and Presidents will not move such hard-hearted men let them consider both this ●●●cept and promise of God Prov. 3.9 10. Honour the Lord with thy Substance and with the first fruits of thine encrease So shall thy Barns be filled with Plenty and thy Press shall burst out with new Wine And Mal 3.7 10 11 12. Return unto me and I will return unto you saith the Lord of hosts but ye said Wherein shall we return Bring ye all the Tithes into the Store-house that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts If I will not open you the windows of heaven and powr you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground neither shall your Vine cast her fruit before her time in the field saith the Lord of Hosts And all nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a delight some land saith the Lord of Hosts What Christians heart though never so covetous and worldly should not these sacred promises of God the last of them recorded in the last of all the Books and Prophets in the Old Testament they being not meerly Levitical and Judaical but of eternal verity use and evangelical too excite and engage most cheerfully to pay and bring in all their Tithes and Dues to Gods Ministers now as well as to the Priests and Levites heretofore Christ himself having made like parallel promises of blessings and rewards for relieving and maintaining his Ministers in the Gospel Mat. 10.40 41 42. Mark 9.41 Phil. 4.18 19 9. That the due payment of Tithes to Gods Priests and Levites was a great encouragement to them in the law of the Lord and in the diligent execution of their duties 2 Chron. 31.3 4 5 10. And on the contrary The with-holding of them from them a great discouragement necessitating them to desert their duties and functions witnesse that memorable Text Neh. 13.10 11 12. And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them mark the consequence For the Levites and the Singers that did the work were fled every one to his field Then contended I with the Rulers and said Why is the house of God forsaken and I gathered them together and set them in their place Then brought all Judah the Tithes of the Corn and the new Wine and the Oyl unto their treasuries And I made treasurers over the treasuries Shelemiah the Priest and Zadock the Scribe and of the Levites Pedajah c. for they were counted faithfull and their office was to distribute unto their Brethren Which reason still continuing under the Gospel in relation to the Ministers and Preachers thereof Heb 13.16 17. Phil. 4.10 to 21. is a strong argument to engage all true Christians desiring the propagation of the Gospel and a painfull able Ministry duly to pay their tithes and portions to them 10. That it was the bounden duty care of Religious Kings and Governours amongst Gods own people when the people were backwards to pay and bring their Tithes and duties to the Priests and Levites to command and enforce them to do it by special Covenants and Oaths sealed subscribed by the Princes and people Neh. 9.38 cap. 10.1 to the end and likewise by positive Ordinances