c. as are laudable and good agreeable to reason c. But what can bee lesse reasonable then x Faem Monor in the conclusion To take away a goose and sticke vp for it a feather or what more euill then to take from men their goods against their will and that without y 1. King 21. 2. any reasonable satisfaction Is it a thing laudable and good to pinch and pare away the profits of the ministers liuing in such a sort as in all reasonable mens knowledge and vnderstanding he cannot possibly in any good sort liue of the rest Is this to doe z Math. 7. 12. Note this well as they would be done vnto If there were anie such custome that the rate or price to be paid for anie thing titheable should bee double or ten times the value of the tithe the odds and inequalitie offered vnto vs * For where our tithe is wel worth two or three shillings we haue for it but two or three pence for foure pēce or twelue pēce at the least we haue but an halfe penie Item in rates of grounds where it ye elds now per an hūdred markes or hundred poūds we haue happely ten or twelue shillings for the tithe thereof after the old valew where reason would our rates should rise as well as your rent More in many places there is a custome that for pasture ground let to rent we take for tithe the tenth peny of the rent a course very equall and easie and of long practise as may appeare Lindw de dec cap. Quoniam prepter §. de Nutrimentis verb. diuidenda est in gloss Yet because it is some times a little more commodious to the Church then the tithe as now a daies it is paid can bee Lord how oft is it denied vs how hardly can we enioy it what repining and grudging against it is many times no lesse would they acknowledge it to be a custome laudable and good graunt that because it is a custome it ought not to be brokē not thinke it fit and seeke to haue it abated and reduced to reason and equalitie And why not we likewise to haue the contrarie to be increased and amended If wee should offer them for their goods their corne their cattell and other like as their fathers and grandfathers did sell the like would they not say we were either madde or senselesse yet the matter weighed in equall ballance there is as little reason and as small cause why they should doe it to vs as we to them If they of whom we receiue such pay were bound to sell to vs as their forefathers did to our predecessors what we needed to buie at the like rate there were yet some indifferencie But that they shall be free from vs and we onely inthralled vnto them agrees neither with conscience and equitie nor with that benefit and libertie which all others doe enioy If a man should offer to a seruant such wages or to a labourer such pay as for manie yeares past men of that ranke a See the state of An. 25. Edu 3. cap. 2. An. 12. Ric. 2. cap. 4. An. 23. Hen. 6. cap. 13 c. vsed to take hee should be condemned as deuoide of sense and conscience but the like is offered vs wee must take for our tithes but as they were worth one or two hundred yeares agoe and haue but such pay for our seruice such wages for our labour as was giuen then when men might haue liued better therewith then now with fiue times as much and yet we must bee thought vnreasonable that grudge there against and not they that preferring custome before conscience haue not reason to increase it answerable to the times as if we onely of all people in the land could liue at Other inconueniences They be the maine cause of the bad estate and needinesse of our cleargy Their original erroneous and euill the old rates and our estate alone were such as did not rise and fall as other mens doth Heereupon it comes to passe 1. that manie of vs namely such whose liuing consisteth most vpon personall tithes or vpon the smaller prediall tithes doe liue more like beggers then ministers 2. should starue for very hunger if we could not relieue our selues some other waies and 3. the more our parishoners do prosper flourish and increase in wealth as at this present in these Halcion daies of all peace and plentie the more doe wee decay and pine in neede 11 Further if we looke vnto their Originall what is it but errour and corruption They tooke their beginning and forme b Alex. Hal. part 3. qu. 51. 3. Tho. 22. ae q. 87. ar 3. See the view of l. pag. 143. 161 from Papists perswaded most vainely that whatsoeuer it pleased the Pope to approoue was lawfull and good and they haue increased and gotten head by c Pet. Marc. loc com class 4. C. 13 §. 18. Zanch. de Redē lib. 1. Cap. 19. Protestants resolued though faslely That tithes are not now de iure diuino and that the maintenance for the minister may be raised any other way Besides these but builded vpon one or other of these we may impute no small part of their being and increase to the d Ridl view of law p. 132. l. 14. Tertul. de virg Veland §. 1. Neuend part 2. C. de dec eccles negligence and simplicitie of such on the one side as not foreseeing or not regarding what might in time to come thereof insue and to the craftinesse or couetousnesse of such on the other side as knowing how to make vse of others weakenesse cared little so they gained what anie els God or man did loose Their beginning being no better and their breede so bad which thing I take to be so cleare and euident that it needs no demonstratiō as the tree once known to be nought we are assured the e Math. 7. 17. Luk. 6. 43. They are a kind of impropriations See more pag. 29. 30. Whether of the two is the worse may be doubted fruit cannot be good so these springing from causes so bad they the effects can be none other then euill 12 Lastly view these and consider of them well and you shall see they are none other then so manie pettie and particular impropriations And therefore vnlesse they bee lawfull and good these cannot be iustifiable and except they be no sacriledge no spoile nor mayme to the Church no bane to the ministerie no hindrance to the Gospell no decay to learning no hurt to the people these are and must needes be Neither is it easie to say whether of the two is to the Church the more iniurious and dangerous That the easier may he discerne which shall first obserue First That although Impropriations in their proper place giue to the Church the greater mayme yet those are but in some places onely but these in all For there is scant a parish what say
Daron pag. 43. them that count it An admonition vnto Magistrates a principall part of their charge to cherish good pastors set before their eies the religious example of good king z 2. Chro. 31. 4. Down Serm. on 1. Tim. 3. 1. Hezekiah who to the end the Priests and Leuites might be incouraged in the Law of the Lord tooke a strict and due course that the tithes of all things and other portions belonging to God and his Priests might iustly be restored and duely paid vnto them imitate the true zeale of that godly Ruler a Nehem. 13. 8. Nehemia who would not indure the alienation of one chamber of the Priests to the priuate vse of Thobijah and that neuer rested till he had b Nehe. 10 34. restored to the Priests and Leuites of the house of God all their tithes offerings and other duties that so being duely prouided for they might not forsake the house of God any more and pace in the steps of that thrice renowmed and religious Emperour Constantine the great which c Herm. Gigas confirmed vnto the Church the tithes of all things and d Zepper de polit eccles lib. pri capit 21. Zozom hist eccl lib. 2. c. 4. Euseb de vit Const lib. 2. c. 36. et lib. 10. c. 5. An Admonition to the Parliament restored vnto it all such lands fields houses c. As in former times the time of peace had beene giuen to the Church and in latter daies daies of persecution had beene taken from it againe And our Parliaments I would beseech in the name of God to be careful to auoid that imputation which S. Paul layeth vpon the Iewes e Rom. 2. 21. Thou abhorrest idols saith he and dost thou commit sacriledge And f Down serm on 1. Tim. 3. 1. let them consider that if not to the full restitution of all impropriations which at the dissolution of Abbies iustly ought and g View of L. pag. 169. easily might haue beene made they still remaine deepely obliged and for the not restoring thereof the whole land standeth in an high degree obnoxious to the iudgement of God yet their sinne cannot be little which not restoring them haue not prouided for euery such impropriated Church a fit Vicaridge at the least so sufficiently endowed First with part of the gleeb secondly tithes as well great as small thirdly other profits of the Church that so the vicar might be able first to doe diuine seruice secondly to informe the people and thirdly to keepe hospitality according to the very tenour and letter of their owne lawes enacted vpon due and mature consideration of the equity and necessity of such a course h An. 15. Ric. 2. cap. 6. an 4. Hen. 4. cap. 12. in time of i Othobon c. Quoniam de Appropriationibus Ecclesiarum palpable blindnes as well k An 1. Edu 6. cap. 14. as of better eye sight l As appeareth in the commoÌ„ formes of the Ordinations of Vicaridges and intent and minde of euen such as at first attempted that euill that so the people defrauded of their tithes c. might not with double sacriledge be defrauded also of the food of their souls whilst left to the curtesie and conscience of the m Constit eccles can 45. 46. exempted Impropriator which for the most part is cruell carelesse and couetous they are committed to the refuse of the Clergy such as wil be hired for least n Reynold in Obad Ser. 2. as if the olde Prouerbe best is best cheape were no longer true but the new practise best cheape is best were the right rule And that little is the Clergy of our land specially the inferiour Ministery of our Church beholding vnto them which after so many spoiles and iniuries done thereunto cannot obtaine so much onely as to haue that remainder which is left to be paid in specie or to be disburdened of those or at least of some of those pretended o Rid. view p. 160. exemptions p Carlet epist dedic Hous on Math. 21. Serm. 1. pag. 44. hard customes vnreasonable compositions pernitious prescriptions and q Ridl view of L. p. 113. 115. odious prohibitions wherewith it is daily more and more depressed and impouerished as if either that estate alone had already could not but haue an Omnia benè or we alone that be of the ministery aboue all other members of this common-wealth were eyther no part of their charge or not worthy to be respected righted and releeued Lastly let Lawyers and Iurors vpon whose pleading and Ad admonition to Lawyers and Iurors verdict those things do too often much depend take heed that they doe not rashly and partially giue away those things from God The cause and right is Gods and therefore they must know that in striking a poore Minister and wresting from him his tithes and other dues through his side they strike and wrong not the Church onely but God also of whom we hold originaly and in Capite whatsoeuer is the Churches It will ill excuse the one that they plead for their fee and therefore must make candida de â—igris et de candentibus atra r Ouid. Metam lib. 11. fab 8. of nothing something like the Heathen Orators which counted it their glory Å¿ Tull. de Orat. lib. primo Erasm Apotheg lib. 8. Licost Apoth pag. 105. to cast a mist before mens eies and make a bad cause seeme good nor acquit and iustifie the other that t Foem Monar they do gratifie men of their owne fashion do for them as they would be done for in like case These causes no lesse then any other should be handled sincerè et candidè with all sincerity and indifferency And reason it were u Ridl view of pag. 133. considering how much is already by sundry sacriledges by pretence of law by alteration of times and other vijs modis iniuriously taken from God and the Church they should fauourably interpret the Lawes to the good of the Church and restoring vnto God that which indeed is Gods rather then as adding affliction to the afflicted and trampling vpon those that be already vnder foot make our burden still more and more heauy as if there were a continuall and generall conspiracy of the laity against the Clergie they did all thirst for that little as yet left vs held it a ruled case the x Foem Monar n. 4. a. Rid. View of pag. 185. moderne practise makes it seeme probable that whatsoeuer cause comes into the common Law for tithes must goe against vs and would teach vs by often and wofull experience that y Foem Monar n. 8. b. we were better loose all then sue for any where the matter must come through their hands Howsoeuer credible it is that if those kind of persons were all and alwaies as able and carefull to make demonstration of Science and conscience
at the first the vnequall diuision or rather dissipation of Church-liuings since the multitude of vnreasonable customes and prescriptions together with the continuall imparity of learned mens deserts that pretence at this time especially * The whole being but enough how should halfe a quarter or lesse a great deale be sufficient can haue no place there is no cause why the deafe eare should be turned vpon vs vnlesse any will imagine that wee m Rom. 10. 15. the Preachers of the Gospell n Matth. 5. 14. the lights of the world o Matth. 24 45. Luke 12. 42. the stewards and p 1. Cor. 4. 1. diposers of the Ministeries of God q Act. 26. 18. Act. 16. 17. the leaders vnto life eternall and r 1. Cor. 3 5. Ministers of saluation are lesse worthie to be equally respected duely prouided for and condignely rewarded then Å¿ An. 12. Ric. 2. 4 an 23. H. 6. c. 13. an 6. H. 8. 3. an 5. Eliz. c. 4. the very seruants t An. 25. Ed. 3. 2 et 34. cap. 9. an 13. Ri. 2. 8. an 23. H. 6. 13. an 7. H. 8. c. 5. Pult. ab Just. of p. Num. 66. â— â—bidem the common labourers and the u manuary artificers of our parish 4. They be not a few that desire it Fourthly If the motion were but the suggestion of some few of the Clergy or among them but of the poorer sort vicars of Churches and other like and yet why should not x Deut. 24. 14. et 26. 7. Prou. 21. 13. et 29. 7. 14. the crye of the poore bee heard and y Ouid. de Trist lib. 5. â—leg 1. they that haue most cause be suffered most to complaine it might with some shew be contemned but since it cannot be denied but that the number is great both of the greater and superiour sort of the Clergie as well as of the meaner and inferiour besides no small number not Clergie men and those not meane persons onely well affected to the Clergie that desire and labour the same this so generall and weightie a cause may iustly challenge mature consideration speedy and condigne regard Fifthly Lastly if the cause were meerely ciuill and humane we might with some good colour haue the repulse 5. The cause is Gods but being as it is a matter altogether of diuine right wherin no man hath power to set God his bounds and where he hath right to this or that to limit him in lieu thereof what pleaseth them we ought to be admitted to claime for God and permitted yea and assisted by humane law to receiue the same Thirdly are they Gods that may teach vs that we must pay these things not as manie dooe as we are affected to These things must be paid as to God himselfe the partie which is to receiue them but as to God himselfe whose they are For bee hee worthie or vnworthie yet God is euer worthie of them The priests vnder Moses law are reprooued by the Prophets and tearmed z Isa 56. 10. Ezech 13. 3. 34. 2. Hos 4. et 5. Mich. 3. 5. Zach. 11. 17. dumbe dogs deceiuers sleepie watch men Idols c. But yet the people are not aduised and taught by the Prophets therefore to withhold from them their appointed portions but a Mal. 3. 9. the contrarie Neuer was there greater corruption among them neuer more wickednesse and all kinde of vnworthinesse then in our Sauiours time yet h hee sendeth the leper cleansed to the b Matth. 8. 4. priest and bids him offer as was appointed and that to testifie that c Melancth in locum the publique ministerie must be maintained be the ministers neuer so weake neuer so wicked Manie doe obiect saith d Gualt in Matth. 23. hom 269. one plerosque decimis turpiter abuti c. That some doe filthily abuse tithes and that manie doe employ them to vnlawfull and prophane vses But yet saith he This is but a balde excuse for of such abuses they shall shall giue account to God which doe commit such things not who pay the tithes And what reason will excuse him that withholds from the needie his necessarie liuing least happily he abuse it vnto surfetting and drunkennesse It is the part of euery Christian e Rom. 13. 7. to pay to euery man his due and not to goe about to excuse his owne iniquitie by anothers fault Hitherto hee And therefore as they did verie ill which before our time vnder color of suppressing the licentiousnes brideling of the insolencie of the popish or vnlearned cleargie did pull from the Church what they could so doe they worse which doe not onely not restore the same againe but daily practise all the shifts and deuises that may be as who can neuer bee satisfied to pull away still more and There be that still labour to pul more from the Church Foem Mo. ni b. Hous on Matth. 21. Ser. 2. pa. 33. more from the Church and so to bring vnto and to keepe in extreame needinesse and pouertie the true ministers and worthie preachers of the Gospell also That sinne had some colour this hath none But O Lord God f Psalm 126. 2. that our mouth may bee filled with laughter and our tongue with ioy mollifie their hearts or else make them and theirs like Oreb and Zeb yea make them and all their counsellers furtherers and partakers like as Zeba and Zalmana which yet say Let vs take to our selues the houses of God in possession and seeke still to sease vpon the inheritance of the Lord as if it were set to bee a pray vnto their teeth Amen Amen Lastly are they g Psalm 83. 11. Boys Dominic post Trin. 10. p. 227. Gods If then we rob and defraud we God wil plague them that pay him not these things duely and iustly spoile and debarre God of those things anie manner of way let vs looke for the hand of God to smite vs the wrath and plagues of God to h Zepper de leg lib. 4. cap. 10. C. multi i. q. 1. consume vs for such sin and iniquity God himselfe doth plainely tell vs Mal. 3. That for this sinne he doth curse euen i Mal. 3. 8. whole nations As they by their vnreasonable customes and compositions by violence and vsurpation take from him his tithes and oblations so he by vnseasonable weather by caterpillers k Hag. 1. 6. Math. 7. 2. and other deuouring meanes doth and will take from them the increase of their stocks the fruits of their fields c. that so hee may bring penurie into their houses as they doe into his and make them haue emptie barnes and hungrie bellies that leaue his barnes emptie and his seruants in hunger and neede For this is as l Aug. serm de temp 219. Idem homil 47. et de rectit cath conuers Iac. Gryn in Mal. 3. Ridl view of L. p. 177