ἸΕΡΟΣΥΛΙΆΣ ΜΆΣΤΙΞ OR A SCOURGE OF SACRILEDGE In Answer to a Pamphleter calling himself ANTHONY PEARSON Concerning The Great Case of Tythes VVherein many gross Fallacies and Untruths of the Pamphleter are discovered and convinced By JOH READING once a Student of Magdalen Hall in Oxford It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy and 〈◊〉 after vowes to make enquiry Prov. 20.25 〈◊〉 are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this â—â—â—le Nation c. Mal. 3.9 〈…〉 abhorrest Idolâ— dost thou commit Sacriledge Rom. 〈◊〉 London Printed by Daâ—â—â—â—well and are to be sold by George Sawbridg at the sign of the Bible on Ludgate-Hill 1661. To the Right Honorable Sr EDWARD NICHOLAS Kt. Principal Secretary of State and one of His Majesties most honorable Privy Council Grace Mercy and Eternal Happiness in Christ Jesus our Lord. Right Honorable IT hath been the constant practice of the Adversary to oppose Truth and to use his power to the discouragement of Faithful Ministers and Professors thereof Sometimes like an envious Philistim by casting dirt and earth into the Fountain of living Waters opened by the hard labors of godly men Sometimes by casting out of his mouth water as a flood after the Woman the Church that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood Sometimes by supersemination of his pernitious Tares among the good Wheat in the Lords Field Hence were and now are those multitudes of Schisms and Errors which in all ages of the Gospel have infested the Church of Christ In this last age Satan knowing that his time is short hath more furiously raged moving all his engins and using all his stratagems for his siege against the holy City and Tents of the Saints Amongst other his artifices knowing how much innate avarice inclineth vulgar mindes to sacriledge he hath lately tempted many to endeavor the utter taking away of Tythes the Ordinance of God as ancient as his Church on Earth well-knowing that by subtracting the Oyl from the Tabernacle Lamps the light will soon go out and the people must be left to a darkness worse then Egyptian This fearful condition was coming on us so precipitately as that the enemies of Truth were not ashamed openly to boast That within one years time they would not leave either Church or Priest in England But blessed be God who hath broken the jaw-bones of these ravenous Lions and prevented their mischievous designs by his gracious and marvellous providence restoring his Sacred Majesty in peace unto his long afflicted people and them by Him to their just Laws and Liberties and therewith the free exercise of the true Religion maintained by our former Princes of ever-blessed Memory In which respect though divers able Champions of Christ and his Church have encountered the adversaries of these Church Rites with such full abilities as that they have left little to be added hereto Quod non fit dictum prius Yet seeing this conflict hath not so been ended but that new enemies still gird themselves to the battle it is necessary that they be invested and answered Therefore having brought to me from an adversary of all good this piece which I endeavor to confute as I conceive by way of challenge I could neither with credit to our Cause nor good conscience toward God be silent or leave the truth without defence my hope being that I may hereby undeceive some who have misunderstood the case which this adversary with his Jesuitical Arguments so stingily and contumeliously laboreth in Why I presume to prefix your Honors Name to this homely Tract none need demand who know the great favors which your Honor hath done for me others I desire to understand that in point of gratitude I humbly acknowledg the debt which I am no otherways able to pay then by acknowledgment and my daily and hearty Prayers to Almighty God abundantly to retribute for me by his preserving your Honor and all yours Which he really professeth who is Your Honors most obliged and humble Servant John Reading To the Christian Reader STanders by see more then the Actors especially in businesses Polemical wherein sundry motions are not so much composed unto comeliness Wisd 16.20 21 as present necessity of defence and offence It is very rare therefore that any piecce of writing like the Manna fitteth every palate or is as strong meat to the strong and as Milk to those who are of less exercised senses Hence are such variety of Censurers one profiteth by that he Readeth another is imbittered by Truth it self because some Spirit of Error possesseth him which like a Feavourish distemper makes the most wholsome things seem unsavoury It is an Insipid Discourse which falleth under no censure If in this velitation some things are let fall seeming more Sarcastical and sharp then the gravity of the cause may seem to allow I desire the prudent reader to consider that I deal with an adversary who careth not whether Dolus an virtus right reason or absurd and fallacious Mediums fair language or railing scurrility brings his deluded reader to an opinion of safe and impregnable conclusions on his side If any ask why I meddle with this Argument which some years past hath been discussed by so many learned writers the business in hand speaks my defence This bold Champion of Gath upon the matter cryeth out Give me a man 1 Sam. 17.10 in his opposing the Ministers of Christ and reviling Gods Israel and should we sleep The Enemy endeavoureth to bring Gods curse upon us and should not we arm and stand up in the Gap For my part however less able then many yet for Sions sake I cannot hold my peace nor sleep because the Ark and Israel 2 Sam. 11.11 and Judah abide under tents and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields Here is an emergent danger of seducement cast in among the people by which a dreadful curse must inevitably fall upon them because the Lord hath spoken it and should we be silent Consider who it is that saith Ye have robbed me Ye are cursed with a curse Remember who it is that saith to the Prophet concerning those sinners whom he warneth not Ezek. 3.18 Their blood will I require at thy hands Truly my hope is if my endeavours gain none of our adversaries Matth. 8. who are carried on with the foul spirits of Malice and Avarice like that precipitate Hoard to their own destruction yet by Gods mercful assistance we may stay and confirm our own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Henod lest being deceived by others examples they should likewise err in unjust gains embracing their own mischief How ever I would no have this bragging enemy go away with his vain oppinion Haec dici potuisse non potuisse râ—felli I have endeavoured to satisfie those who are not willing to be deceived but to know the Truth and their Duties hoping that others with their greater
the order of Melchisedec is not abolished nor the Tythes to the same belonging as the Apostle shews Heb. 7.8 saying And here men that dye receive tythes but there he receives them of whom it is written that he liveth that is Christ So then tythes still follow the Priesthood and so the Apostle makes a Priest and a receiver of tythes equivalents Instead of saying Men that dye are Priests he saith That men that receive tythes And instead of saying He that lives is a Priest he saith He that lives takes tythes As if in his judgment Tythes and Priesthood were as inseparable in point of right as Kingdom and Tribute and so the portion due to Christ is still due to his Assigns the Ministers of the Gospel who are his receivers and in their Ministration in his stead 2 Cor. 5.20 And so hath Christ appointed 1 Cor. 9.14 But to your Objection I suppose your familiar on which you rely is known to you except coming up Janus-like double faced you do not so well mark it The one is a Parologism à dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter the other is your old acquaintance Petitio principii We say that changing the Priesthood the Ceremonial part of the Law onely was changed but not the Law for tything which is Moral You say that Paul wrote so that the Law for tything was also changed Pauls words to the Hebrews in the cited place are these The Priesthood changed there is made of necessity a change also of the Law You corrupt the Text by adding thereto of tythes shew us these words The Law for tything was also changed either in that place or any other writing of St. Paul or in all the New Testament and we will rest satisfied therewith and never more speak for tythes But seeing you cannot for shame and danger of these plagues which are threatned Revel 22.18 leave that cause which you cannot uphold without so many untruths and falsification of the sacred Scripture You say For the first three hundred years while the purisy and simplicity of the Gospel was retained no tythes were paid among Christians If this were true what could it make against our right to tythes The causes which hindred their payment are laid down in our answer to that which you objected in your third Page Also for that you speak concerning the Apostles free Preaching of the Gospel to which I here adde that Origen who flourished about 226. or 230. in his 11. Hom. in Numb after many other forcible perswasions to pay their tythes by that which Christ said to the Pharisees This ought you to have done c. he presently addeth How therefore shall your righteousness exceed the righteousness of Scribes and Pharisees if they dare not taste the Fruits of their Land Priusquam primitias sacerdotibus offerant Levitis decimae separentur Lib. 1. ep 9. Cyprian whose Martyrdom fell not long after speaking of the Levites tythes saith Quae nunc ratio forma in clero tenetur c. And he blameth Victor for appointing Geminius Actorem his Attorney because he would not have him distracted from his Ministry and citeth these things as a Decree of his Ancestors The same Father in his third Tract De simpl Praelat speaking of the times before him complaineth of Charities growing cold Tunc domos fundos voenundabant Distribuenda in usus indigentium precia Apostolis offerebant Ut nunc de patrimonio ne decimas damus Sic in nobis emarcuit vigor fidei Sic credentium robur elanguit Then they sold Houses and Lands and offered the price to the Apostles to be distributed for the use of the poor but now we scarce give tythes of our Patrimonies Thus hath the vigor of Faith languished in us so hath the power of Believers grown faint Much concerning this hath been noted by others therefore I content me with these two antient witnesses but what now would you hence conclude What that craft and impurity brought in tythes among Christians But that were a poor fallacy Non causa pro causa Such as the old man used who said That Tenterden Steeple was the cause of Goodwin Sands For said he just as that was building they began to appear But if in the Primitive Church they had not the use of tything understanding Readers will consider that which hath been said therein persecution everywhere raging could not suffer the people to pay or Ministers to receive their tythes Yet no time can prevent God in his reserved right no use or practice of paying tythes while persecution hindred therefore there was no jus in re non sequitur Tythes came into use in Christian Churches so soon as the owners their selves retained use and dominion in their Possessions except in case of Scandal at the first planting the Gospel See 1 Cor. 9.4 1 Cor. 12.15 c. 1 Thes 2.9 That as the mystery of iniquity began to work c. Again 5. here is a Fallacia non causae pro causá Say soberly Think you that the working of the mystery of iniquity was the cause of Ministers Preaching of that which God had commanded to be done Or was that mens imagination as you say the ground whereof you confess was fetcht from the Law of Moses It is to be hoped that your second thoughts will be better Your sixth Observation is nothing to the purpose and therefore deserves no answer You say That in the first payment of tythes Pag. 15. they were not paid as tythes but as Free-offerings at the bounty of the giver c. Say now when where or by whom were tythes ever paid otherwise than by Gods Ordinance from the first mention of them unto this present and shew us if you can how identity admits of disparity Payment of tythes not paid as tythes You say As Free-offerings not as answering any Law that required the tenth part c. This hath and will appear most false mean time circular Arguments are usque ad nauseam tedious and absurd tautologies odious to the prudent Readers But Abraham paid tythes to Melchisedec and Jacob vowed a tenth to God which no doubt he also paid Did these acts of theirs answer no command or motion of Gods Spirit equivalent thereto Heb. 11.13 How then is it testified that these died in the faith Can faith as to please God be without a divine precept If you would suppose That Abraham gave tythes to Melchisedec as of meer benevolence to some distressed Prince how think you came Jacob to vow a tenth rather then some other part how so great a part of the world if not by imitation of Gods people constantly and religiously paying tythes Whatever you conclude of these certainly they were not guilty of Will-worship of whom God testifieth that they died in the faith It was not say you a received Doctrine that tythes ought to be paid till about the year One thousand and two It is easie to answer
upon Country-men open your eyes and let not these Wolves in Sheeps-clothing any longer beguile you the Fox under a stupid Animal's skin enough discovers his appetite to catch Geese and to bring you and your Children into the miserable darkness of Popery and the Tyranny thereof Consider before it be too late how easily they will do it if by taking away the Ministers of Christ from you depriving them of lively-hood they bring into their places Popish Priests and Jesuits if they get footing here again their little finger will prove heavier than your Ministers loyns were to you Tythes would not long suffice them John 9.21 Next yout talk of Impropriators Claim by purchase Concerning one of them we only say as the Parents of the once blind man answered the Jews he is of age ask him he shall speak for himself Here we thank you for your ingenuous Confession those you say that sold him Impropriations had no good Title neither can theirs be made good which is derived from them Page 31. By which you say it doth plainly appear that no man at this day can claim Tythe of another either by divine or humane Right c. If you speak of Impropriate Tythes we have nothing here to do with them If of Appropriate we say if begging the question would serve your turn we would at once confess actum est de decimis but you are here come to the same point of your Circle in evident begging the question saying no man at this day can claim Tythes of another either by Divine or Humane Right prae clara verba sed verba What Caesar's Veni Vidi Vici A singular faculty you seem to yourself to have no sooner do you think a thing but it must plainly appear to be so but that we sufficiently know your quality of begging the question we might think that some miles gloriosus were entred into the Scene telling how many thousand flying Enemies he fetcht down with his limed Barbolts and slew in one day To the next we say that we are not called to meddle with State-Interests and concerning the Pope and his we have here nothing to do only we mark how the declining of the Pope's Supreamacy sticks in your Stomack Now say you to plead for such wages of unrighteousness You dare call Gods Donation wages of Vnrighteousness Page 3◠speaking as they who care not what though blaspemy but how much they speak To that which you say concerning Priests receiuing Augmentations I say I know no Priest so much favoured here I know some reverend Ministers who are Which you say they may as well take away meaning Gleb-land as their predecessors did the revenues of Abbeys and Monasteries Yet your selves confess Page 33. that they were the Hives of lazy Drones We wish that in their just dissolution they had been better imployed but affirm that none can justifie the taking away things consecrated to Gods service but you constantly grumble at the decay of Popery we wish that your vizard were pulled off that speaking bare-faced your incautious reader might discerne on which side you are Whose Tythes you say again are often as much worth as the Land I once heard one Page 34. who being censured for reporting a gross untruth replied that he had told it so often that his self began to think that it was true But I hope you here speak Philosopher-like ex aliorum sententia not your own but others opinion Forthwith throw away Tythes c. We thank you as much as though we did and shall think of your Motion You say So long as they continue there can never be any possibility of raising maintenance in such places If you mean so long as impropriations continue c. per nos alia pax esto if otherwise your argument hence derived as to the taking away Tythes is very feeble being a fallacia non causae pro causâ For what hinderance can paying and receiving of sythes be to those places where none are payable as praedial as in Towns and Cities wherein are no fields But consider you that fear God what Azariah acknowledged 2 Chron. 31.10 Since the people began to bring the Offerings with their Tythes as appears there v. 5 6. We have had enough for the Lord hath blessed his people which was according to that which God speaks Mal. 3.10 Bring ye all the Tythes into the Store-house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of hosts if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it Next you ask concerning Towns and Cities or Lands Impropriate where there is no competency of maintenance by Tythes Must they never have an able Minister Have they no share in our Gospel because they have no maintenance I answer the cause why such as you specifie have no greater share of our Ministers pains is not so much because they have no maintenance as because they will have none while Gadaren-like they value their swine or temporal interests more than the Gospel And now think you that they do not put the Word of God from them and judg themselves unworthy of everlasting life not only who contradict the Word when it is preached but they also who take a course that it may never be preached unto them I speak of them who dwelling in populous Towns and Cities will not agree together to levy some such means for the support of an able Minister as may keep him alive and enable him to the service of God But to pass by this fault of Towns-men and Citizens c. we can justifie by thousands of witnesses that the Gospel hath been powerfully and diligently preached in sundry Towns by able Ministers where no maintenance was either raised by any Impropriator or otherwise could be by any appropriated Tythes there growing I will add without any reward of their pains either retributed by the auditors or expected by those preachers You demand again Have you not a more righteous Rule What than that which Gods Word prescribed This and your following farrago libelli may be satisfied with this answer that it is a dangerous thing to account a mans self more wise than God and a foolish presumption to endeavour any amendment of his Ordinances needs must he find his human wisdom foolishness who opposeth it to divine Your objection from the inequality of paying is vain for who can be ignorant that there were inequalities of Estates under the Law or that every man was bound to pay according to that which he had not according to that which he had not Your following cavils are more suitable to the gallfull pen of some apostate Julian or jeering Lucian than the writing of any professed Christian To that which you say of Throwing away Tythes as an old relique of Popery We answer that when you have proved them to be such you may have some ground for such
for the Altar of God and truly the annexed reason is remarkable For they were offered before the Lord therefore they are hallowed Numb 16.38 And is not the same reason good for reducing Tythes abused to superstitious uses in former times unto the present true worship of God seeing they were hallowed not by the dedication of a rebellious Corah but by God himself and that to his own holy service And what els means our Saviour by the Parable of the strong mans Fort Luk. 11.22 and reprizal of all his impropriated Vessels but Christs overcoming Satan and recovering the bodies and souls of his Elect from his Power and Captivity Body and Soul must perish eternally if that alteration which is wrought in the sinner by the Spirit of Sanctification make him not acceptable and beloved of God as a son who was before his reconciliation by Christ an enemy How else saith the Apostle speaking of many sorts of pollution by sin Such were some of you Rom. 5. â— Cor. 6.10 but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Upon the accompt of reducing that to a good use acceptable to God which hath been abused unto evil we retain our Churches and Oratories and worship God in Spirit and in Truth therein though they have been in times of Popery houses of Idols and Idolatry To your many following impertinencies if I should follow you in your Wilde-Goose-Chase I should tire the patient Reader therefore I onely adde That there is much difference between tythes of Mines Quarries of Iron Brass Tin Lead Coles and that which the Earths superficies brings forth as Corn Grass Fruits Wood c. though by your leave all these are increases of the Earth and therefore tythable Sir Edward Coke by you cited limits his sentence with a Till they be severed from the Land So that though no tythe be paid of the Land yet are they to be paid from the Land Your frequent talking of Popery is but to make your incautious Reader believe that you are no Papist and that you may insinuate into the peoples mindes an odium against Ministers whereas indeed in such seeming-opposition you do your uttermost endeavor to bring in Popery You further say When I bought my Land I bought not the tythes c. This you say some object to which you frame your answer But we require our liberty to answer for our selves Neither could you nor any man buy out Gods part for that no man had power to sell you So that in your conveyance there needed no specification of Covenant for or exemption from a tenth part of the increase of the Land that being presupposed payable by Gods reservation thereof unto his own service What ever man buyeth or selleth in point of commutative justice Gods part cometh not within the compass thereof neither can it be sold or alienated neither can any sale or purchase of man lessen or impeach his right or any part thereof which he never granted to any but those whom he appointeth to serve about holy things Next you bravely say I answer Pag. 29. that I have already proved all Land is tythe-free c. Indeed I think he meant it Magnis tamen excidit ausis Tell me now in sadness who can free the earth from the charge of tythes but that supream power of God who gave them for an inheritance unto those whom he designed to his publick service Here we require your explication of this term Tythe-free mean you this in respect of any Humane Law Ordinance Provision or Prescription of Men thereto pretended If so it is to no purpose seeing as hath been said None but God hath power of giving or alienating tythes Now once again we challenge you to shew us where God in holy Scripture ever repealed his Law of tything Further we say that all the habitable parts of the Christian world which yield increase are tythable and none exempted there-from by Gods Law in which if you beat our ears with a thousand beggings of the question you shall never obtain it of us That you say Tythes are a burden which the Pope laid on us Is a fallacious assertion the Heathen could here teach you that quod in divinis rebus sumes Plaut Mil. glor sapienti lucro est But God laid this duty on us which you call a burden and this grant of his no Ordinance or Law of Man though enjoyning the same duty can more drown than a Lease can a Fee-simple Mans Laws are alterable but the morality of Gods Law is not Next you talk of Theeves and Robbers Whom you mean I onely guess at and say Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes Clodius accusat maechos What great Theeves make hue and cry after true men you Church-Robbers stealers of tythes of whom you are at best an a better are the Theeves and Robbers Mal. 3. in Gods judgment if there be any such on these borders You say next That you may by as good reason be eased of your tythes as of the Popes yoke Which is in effect to say that you may as justly cast off Gods Law as the Popes is this Popery ho The reason offered as to the question if formed would appear to be a fallacia non causae pro causa Your Land you say was purchased when the Popes authority lay heavy on this Land That being cast off you would infer that we may with as good reason cast off tythes which he commanded to be paid Yea but consider a superior command and cause I mean a Divine inforcing that duty of paying tythes although the Pope had not at all commanded such payment and your fallacy is dissolved You say First to preach that tythes are due Pag. 29. and then to limit them to Parishes c. And why not Gods Word warranting the one and mans just accommodation requiring the other Once again I say as concerning Parishes there is a parochial or particular dueness of tythes or that of Parishes to the Minister there officiating in Gods publick service And there is a general dueness of tythes that is to say of tythes to be paid to the body of the Ministry which is by Gods providence distributed into several parochial Cures where they are by the increases of the Earth thence arising to be maintained that they may there preach the Gospel and administer the holy Sacraments c. unto the people there inhabiting You say again That tythes were at first as charity at most as a freewil-offering of the owner This is an absurd falshood and a shameless begging of the question and you seem to dispute non ad idem but circularly Speak plainly Do you mean that Mans charity giving and not Gods Law commanding brought tythes to be the Ministers maintenance If so it is apparantly false by Gods several commands to pay them to the Levitical Priesthood wherein I
suppose you will not affirm that Mens charity was the first or principal moving cause or do you mean that the freewil of man in this business of tythes preceded that command of God as a cause the effect or that posito Dei mandato man did yield a free and chearful obedience in paying tythes as God had commanded Which voluntary act was as Pauls preaching of the Gospel such as that wo had been to him if he had not done it Express your terms and sense and let us have no after-reckonings We know that Gods Children yield a chearful and a voluntary obedience they do their duty commanded not moillingly grudgingly or of necessity and 2 Cor. 9 7. 1 Pet. 5.2 1 Cor 9.17 that God loves and rewards chearful obedience and such are all acts of true Religion voluntary not compulsory the Spirit of God making us willing of unwilling so carrying about our wills and affections as Astronomers say the primum mobile doth the inferior orbs of Heaven in their Diurnal motion from East to West contrary to their Natural motion yet by an admirable influence Citra violentiam So we can admit tythes paid by Gods servants to be a free-will offering respectu offerentis but not ex parte praecipientis as if man instituted and paid them without Gods Command for the same and as if they were works of Supererogation We know that in every good which we do God worketh both velle perficere Phil. 2. we acknowledg that they are not rightly performed by any pure Naturals of man but of Gods free Grace both Jubentis quod vult praestantis quod jubet So Israel brought a willing Offering unto the Lord every man and woman whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work Exod 35.29 which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hands of Moses But our Adversaries would fain have it that Tythes were but as some votive Obligation of the Owners which they needed not to have dedicated or paid except themselves pleased This is the Witchess Herodias which they so ambitiously pursue that they might once conclude an Arbitrary maintenance for Ministers and do but mark the Circle to which this mole is Conjured Fain would they have Gods Ordinance undermined and dissolved into such Imaginary Principles as might bear this castle in the Air that Tythes should henceforth be only what men in Charity and Free-will would give their Ministers Thank you for you kindness gentle Sir but get you Alms-men where you will we are none of them The Papist hath too much advantage already in their large maintenance open Presses for their Students Works liberal Contributions for any advancement of his Cause while our Presses are too much shut to good Studies Contributions rare is Honesty and if the Jesuite could but yet more discourage us by taking away the remainder of Ministers necessary maintenance by Tythes his work were done and England undone To the reverend Ministers I entreat leave to say If they be Prophets and if the Word of the Lord be with them let them now make Intercession to the Lord of Hosts Isai 27.18 that the Vessels which are left in the house of the Lord go not to Babylon And now limit them that is Tythes to Parishes c. That which you speak Page 30. may pass muster among your Impertinences as to the present question concerning Parishes I have already spoken Gen. 14.18 here I only add 1. That the first place of Scripture mentioning a Priest mentioneth Tythes paid unto him 2. The first place also wherein House of God Gen. 28. â—8 â—2 or Church is spoken of there also are Tythes the maintenance of the Priest-hood vowed to God as some note by that name whereby Parish-Churches were anciently called that is tituli lapis iste quem posui in titulum erit Domus Dei So Damasus in the life of Evaristus Bishop of Rome Anno 112. saith hic titulos in Urbe Roma divisit Presbyteris Platins vit Evaâ—ist Onuthrius compuâ—eth Anno 96. Concil To. 1. Pag. 106. eâ—i 1606. And the Nicen Council c. 21 mentionth Parishes as Carraza reciteth the Canons thereof out of the second Epistle of Julius So that by those divisions the Congregations were assigned to such and such Churches and the Tythes thence arising belonged to the Ministers there serving as hath been noted from Gal. 6.6 what the Popes you speak of got of first-fruits impropriate Tythes c. is a loss to our Clergy and therefore not advisedly urged by you against them That which you further say that No man can prescribe to have Tythes c. Were somthing against those who make prescription the ground of their claim which concerns us not who claim from divine donation Again you say many may prescribe to be free from Tyithes or part thereof Consider of what value prescription can be against Gods unchangeable moral Law and your second thoughts will tell you that antiquity of error can never make any good Prescription Christ yielded the Pharisaical glosses antiquity on their side Math. 5.21 c. ye have heard of old time that it was said by or to them c. which he presently corrected with his but I say unto you c. The rest of your following discourse savoureth strongly of your siding with the Popish party as your stomaking the Title of the head of the Church which we understand to be the supream Governor under God of inchurched men neither is this as you say here The Kings new Authority as the head of the Church For what say we more therein than Tertullian many hundred years since said We honor saith he the Emperor as we ought Vt hominem a Deo secundum solo Deo minorem Sic enim omnibus major est dum solo vero Deo minor est In Scap. c. 2. I conceive that you are not to learn that Caput importeth a Chief First or Principal But you say That all Arch-Bishops Bishops c. were no longer to hold of the Pope Page 30. but of the King and not to claim their benefices by Title from the Pope but of the King by vertue of that Act of Parliament and here the succession from the Pope was cut off and discontinued c. A grief to all good hearts think the Papists But why should this trouble you if you be none of them What is this to us who acknowledg neither dependance on nor Succession from the Pope You say more And so all their Right Title and Claim was and is at an end What because the Popes donation is at an end must Gods also be involved in the same ruin How will that conclusion follow The abuse and usurpation is taken away ergo the right use and just possession must down Are Gods Laws grounded on the Popes Decrees and Grants I never yet heard that claimed by any of you And what wilde Logick stands your discourse