discontenting his Clergy the halfe arch of his Kingdome even then hee forbare not to contest with them upon points of jurisdiction confining theirs unto matters of faith and extending his own to the uttermost limits of the outward government of the Church But because his hand and his seal doe more authentically enforce credit then the report of Authours and Historians see what he assumeth in his Charter of foundation of the Monastery Sancti Martini de bello commonly called Battail Abbey for that he built it as Romulus did the Capitol in the place where he overcame his enemies In this Charter he granteth that That Church shall be free from all servitude and from all things whatsoever mans invention can imagine and commandeth therefore that it be free from all government of Bishops neither shall the Bishop of Chichester though it be in his Diocesse make any Ordinations there nor grieve it any thing nor execute any kind of government or authority there but that it be as free saith he from all his exactions as my own Dominicall or Demesne Chappell The Abbot shall not be compelled to goe to the Synod nor forbidden to promote his Monks to holy Orders where him self listeth nor he or his Monks to require what Bishop they will to consecrate Altars c. And this also by my Regall authority I ordain that the Abbot shall be Lord and Judge of all things in his own Church and within one league round about it c. see the Charter at large Here it appeareth that this victorious King Will. 1. took himself to have Pallium Ecclesiasticae jurisdictionis the fulnesse of Ecclesiasticall power and as the supream Magistrate thereof not only abridgeth and revoketh the jurisdiction of other Bishops within this place as of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Chichester but disposeth the same according to his owne pleasure namely to the Abbey of Battail with so great enlargement of priviledge and authority as no Bishop of the Kingdome hath the like Free from all servitude and from all things whatsoever mans invention can imagine are exquisite words of priviledge and how far they might stretch at those times when the profession of our Laws was not a science into Regall or Canonicall jurisdiction I cannot judge but I know by Staffords case 1 H. 7. f. 18. they will now bee restrained with many exceptions So likewise that the Abbot shall not be compelled to come at Synods or to take Ordinations for his Monks or Consecration of Altars c. from the Bishop of his Diocesse are directly against the Decrees of the Church Canons Synods and generall Councels As also it is that hee should be Judge of things in his own Church and the circuit assigned which though here it bee but a league I see not but he might as well have made it ten if it had pleased him and by consequence a County or Province And lest the King should seem to have done this by some indulgence from the Pope or connivency of his own Clergy he saith expresly that he doth it by his Regall authority and that not closely or under-hand but Episcoporum Baronum meorum attestatione And to declare how far the Clergy of that time was from repining or impugning this his jurisdiction the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Chichester Winton and Worcester are witnesses to the Charter and denounce a curse against the breakers thereof One other thing also is worthy of note that the Kings Demean Chappell seemeth by this not to be within the jurisdiction and Diocesse of any Bishop but exempt and as a Regall peculiar reserved onely to the visitation and immediate government of the King or such as it pleaseth him to substitute for the Archbishop of Canterbury hath no jurisdiction there by his own confession ut pat Hoveden l. 4. 7. pa. 547. William Rufus in like manner told Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury that no Archbishop or Bishop of his Kingdome should be subject to the Court of Rome or to the Pope Quòd nullus Archiepiscopus vel Episcopus regni sui saith Mat. Paris curiae Romanae vt Papae subesset And because Anselm asked leave of him to fetch his pall from Pope Vrbane at Rome hanob rem saith Mat. Paris à rege majestatis reus postulatur he is called in question of High Treason an◠Gundulphus Bishop of Rochester and very many other Bishops approved the accusation In vita Will. 2. p. 17 18. Malmsbery reporteth that his offence was for appealing to the Pope in matters between the King and him but he agreeth that all he had was confiscate and himself banished by consent of the Bishops and he addeth further that being after recalled into the Kings favour upon a new difference between the King and him he appealed the second time to Pope Vrbane and without the Kings licence would go thither for which cause his whole Bishopricke and goods were reseised into the Kings hands and he exiled And though the Pope threatned to excommunicate the King if he restored him not and the Councell then holden at Rome stormed much at the matter yet Anselm continued in that plight during the lives both of the King and the Pope Malmsb. de gest Pontif. li. 1. pa. 221 c. FINIS An answer to a question of a Gentleman of quality proposed to and made by a Reverend and learned Divine living in London concerning the settlement or abolition of Tithes by the Parliament which caused him to doubt how to dispose of his Sonne whom he had designed for the Ministrey wherein also are comprised some Animadversions upon a late little pamphlet called The Countryes plea against Tithes discovering the ignorant mistakings of the Authors of it touching the maintenance of the Ministery Sir THough it were high presumption for a private man as I am to presage what so wise a Senate as the Parliament will doe for the future either in point of Tithes or any other affaire of so publike concernment yet I hope I may without reaching above my line take upon me to tell you that the ground of your doubt touching their alienation of Tithes from the Ministery which I shall bring in its proper place is but such as will serve rather to beare up a transient suspicion or surmise of such a matter then a settled assurance that it either is so already or that hereafter it will be so For the first That it is not so I am sure because 1. They have passed an Ordinance for the Ministers recovery of Tithes and other Ministeriall dues from such as doe detaine them November 8. 1644. which is still in force through the influence of their power and favour 2. They have made competent additions to very many livings out of impropriated Tithes in the hands of Delinquents and this they have done with so much cheerefulnesse and beneficence on the Ministers behalfe by the Committee for plundred Ministers that many have cause to blesse
Law of the Land did anciently reckon those parts For though the whole Fish Royall belongs to the King yet Bracton saith it sufficeth if he have the head and the tail for that in those parts the whole is implied and consequently when we give God the tithe or tenth part we put him in possession of all yea we put the nine parts remaining into his protection for the number of ten in like respect implieth the whole as Philo Judaeus discourseth it And so also doth Saint Augustine expound it and therefore thinketh that by the 10. horns in Daniel is meant the whole succession of Kings in the Roman Empire The same Father yet further saith that the number of 10. signifieth the Law of God Quia in decem praeceptis lex data est And in another place Denarius legem significat undenarius peccatum quia transgressio est denarii 1. The number of 10. signifieth the Law and for that the number of 11. exceedeth it the number of 11. signifieth sin Therefore because God hateth sin and hath made the number of 10. to be as it were the number of perfection and righteousnesse for so likewise doth Saint Augustine tearm it when he requires the number of 10. of us it puts us in mind that he requireth also the fulfilling of his Laws and the keeping of his Commandements That God accepted the tithe or tenth as and for the whole of that whereof it is yeelded is apparent by Gods own exposition for when he had reserved it to himself as his rent out of the Land of Canâ—an given by him to the children of Israel and assigned that rent over to the Levites for their maintenance yet out of that assignment he reserved also a â—ithe or tenth part to be laid up in the chambers of the treasure house to be offered to himself as it were thereby to hold his possession and to keep seism of his inheritance which in the 18. of Num. 20. is called an heave-offering and this very heave-offering which was as I say but the tenth part of the tenth that is the 100. part of the whole was accepted and taken by God as the full seisin and satisfaction for the whole therefore he biddeth Moses say to the Levites Your heave-offering shall be reckoned unto you as the corn of the barn or as the abundance of the wine-presse that is the tithe that you are to give though it be the hundreth part yet I will accept of it as if it were all the corn of your barn and of your fields and as the whole profits even as the abundance of your Vineyards In like manner also doth he accept the fat of such offerings in the 29. v. to shew unto us that since all is his he will have perpetuall seisin of the whole and will not be disinherited of the least part Doubtlesse he is well pleased with this tenth part for when he threatned the destruction of the Land by Isaiah he concludeth yet there shall be a tenth part remaining as to replenish it again and as holy seed Isa. 6. 13. he will save his own part We have received all things of the fulnesse of God therefore out of our fulnesse it is fit that we render something back unto him not by way of reward but in honour of him This number is also said to be the number of fulnesse and to signifie the greatest things wherein as numbers have their secreta and latebras to use Saint Augustines words so hath this number above all other a peculiar secret and blessing given unto it as if God had marked it for himself for as God in Hezekiah's time blessed the offerings and tithes in abundance so it seemeth the word abundance plenitudinem Exod. 22. 29. is used for the tithe and first-fruits and it hath of old been observed that in naturall things the tenth is usually the fullest and the greatest the tenth floud and the tenth egge Festus and many other Authors doe affirm it and to that purpose Ovid saith Vastiùs insurgens decimae ruit impetus undae i. e. The whole force of the tenth floud wave or billow rising up more hugely then all the rest rushed into the the ship And Valer. Flaccus tearmeth it Decimae tumor coeduus undae the high swelling of the tenth wave so likewise is it noted by Silius Ital. Lucan Seneca And this observation amongst the Ancients hath been so notorious and remarkable that they commonly used the word tenth in Latine decimus decumanus decimanus to expresse the greatest things therefore in the division of their fields they called the greatest extent decumanum limitem the greatest or chief gate in their Camp decumanam portam the greatest shields decumana scuta and so likewise decumanos fluctus and decumanaova decumanuÌ„ acipenserem upon the like reason they used the word decimare exdecimare for to choose and cull out the choice and principall things as Perrot reporteth And because in the procreation of men and many other living creatures the number of 10. is most happy and effectuall as the tenth month in some and the tenth week in others the Romanes admired the secret vertues of this number so superstitiously as they canonized it among their gods by the name of Decuma as you may read in Tertullian Gellius and many other And for this cause Romulus closed up the year in the compasse of ten months as the time of fulnesse and perfection I will prosecute the mysteries of this number no further but conclude with Philo Judaeus that he that should run into the Mathematicall powers and observations thereof hath work enough for a large Volume De ratione decimarum denario numero pluribus agit Philo lib. de congress quaer ernd gratia X Exprimit antiquis haec Christum littera scriptis Exprimit partem quam petit ille sacram Ergo citus Christi quae sunt dato munera Christo. Caesaris accipiat Caesar uterque suum This X of old exprest Christs holy name And eke the sacred Tenth which he doth claime Give then to Christ what 's Christs without delay Give Caesar Caesar's due and both their pay CAP. XV. Who shall pay Tithe THe Laws and Commandements of God are commonly given in the second person singular as thou shalt love the Lord thy God thou shalt not steal And so here thou shalt not keep back thine abundance that is thy first-fruits and tithes and thou shalt give the tithe of all thy encrease c. a Pronoun of particularity thou for the Adjectives of universality Nullus Omnis as if he should say None or no man shall keep back his abundance And all men shall give the tithe of all the encrease For it is an axiome in Logick that Indefinitum aequipollet universali Indefinite propositions are equivalent with universall And so every man must pay tithe Every man saith Saint Augustine Quia omnia Dei sunt per
a year So that the Appropriation of a Parsonage was no more at the first but a grant made by the Pope c. to an Abbot Prior Prebend or some other spirituall person being a Body politique and successive that he and his successors might for ever be Parsons of that Church that is that as one of them died his successors might enter into the Rectory and take the fruits and profits thereof without further trouble of admission institution or induction which upon the matter was no more but to doe that briefly at one cut that otherwise might and would in length of time be done at severall times as to admit institute and induct the whole succession of a religious body politique at once whereas otherwise every successour must have had a particular institution and induction and therefore every such successour during his time was as perfect an Incumbent as if he had been particularly instituted and inducted but when the succession failed then it was again presentative as upon the death of an ordinary Incumbent and by extinction of the House dissolution cession or surrender of the House and Order the appropriation is determined and they are now again presentative for the appropriation is but as a stop in a run which being taken away the former right renueth What alteration then did the Statute make of them did it make them lay or temporall Livings no the words of the Statute are That the King shall have them in as large and ample manner as the Governors of those houses had them c. So that though the Statute changed the owner of the thing yet it changed not the nature of the thing The Monasticall persons had them before as spirituall Livings and now the King must have them in as large manner but still as spirituall Livings and with much more reason might the King so have them then any other temporall men for as the Kingdome and Priesthood were united in the person of our Saviour Christ so the person of a King is not excluded from the function of a Priest though as Christ being a Priest medled not with the kingdome so they as Kings medle not with the Priesthood Yet by the Laws of the Land the King is composed as well of a spirituall body politique as of a temporall and by this his spirituall body he is said to be supream Ordinary that is chief Bishop over all the Bishops in England and in that his Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall authority doth many things which otherwise in his temporall he could not doe and therefore the Statute of 25 H. 8. cap. doth agnise the words authoritate nostra regia Suprema Ecclesiastica qua fungimur which the King useth in divers Charters touching spirituall causes doe testifie that he taketh upon him the execution thereof and therefore in this respect he may much better hold them then his lay subjects Neither is this authority of the King founded upon the Statute of H. 8. or any other puisne institution but deduced anciently from the very Saxon Kings as appeareth by many of their Laws and Charters wherein as supream Ordinary they dispose of the rights and jurisdiction of the Church delivering unto religious persons greater or lesser portion thereof according to their own pleasure and abridging and exempting other from the authority of the Bishops and Archbishops or any other Ecclesiasticall Prelate And in this respect it seemeth that the Chappell of the Kings house was in ancient time under no other Ordinary then the King himself for William the Conquerour granting all exemption to Battail Abbey granteth that it shall be as free from the command of any Bishops as his own Chappell Dominica Capella which as it thereby seemeth was under no other Bishop then the King himself But the Bishops agreed to the granting away of these Church Livings It is true that the Law accounteth the judgement of the major part to be the judgement of all but the Bishops cannot be said to have agreed unto it as being willing with it but as concluded by legall necessity and inference For though all the Bishops said nay yet the Lay Barons by reason of their number exceeding the Bishops were not able to hinder it and no man doubteth that in publique suffrages very many times major pars vincit meliorem therefore I neither accuse nor condemn the reverend Bishops herein for their voices though they had given them every one against the Bill were not able to hinder it Neither doe I think but that they being men of another profession unexercised in the elenchs of the Law were overtaken in the frame of words and thereby passed that away in a cloud which if they had perceived could never have been won from them with iron hooks But in this matter there being a question of Religion Whether Tithes be due jure divino or whether they could be separated from the Church it was not properly a question decidable by the Parliament being composed wholly of Lay persons except some twenty Bishops but the question should first have been moved amongst the Bishops by themselves and the Clergy in the Convocation house and then being there agreed of according to the Word of God brought into the Parliament For as the Temporall Lords exclude the Bishops when it commeth to the decision of a matter of bloud life and member so by the like reason the Bishops ought to exclude the Temporall Lords when it commeth to the decision of a question in Theology for God hath committed the Tabernacle to Levi as well as the kingdome to Juda and though Juda have power over Levi as touching the outward government even of the Temple it self yet Juda medled not with the Oracle the holy Ministery but received the will of God from the mouth of the Priest Therefore when Valentinian the Emperour required Ambrose to come and dispute a point of Arianisme at his Court he besought the Emperour that he might doe it in the Consistory amongst the Bishops and that the Emperour would bee pleased not to be present among them lest his presence should captivate their judgements or intangle their liberty That after the Appropriation the Parsonage still continueth spirituall It appeareth by that which is afore shewed and the circumstances thereof that the Appropriating of a Parsonage or the endowing of a Vicarage out of it doe not cut the Parsonage from the Church or make it temporall but leaveth it still spirituall as well in the eye of the Common Law as of the Canon Law for if it became temporall by the Appropriation then were it within the Statute of Mortmain and forfaited by that very Act. But it is agreed by the 21 Ed. 3. f. 5. and in Plowd Com. fo 499. that it is not Mortmain and therefore doth continue spirituall for which cause also the Ordinary and Ecclesiasticall Officers must have still the same authority over such appropriate Churches as they had before those Churches
their spirituall vocation for I see that the Apostles themselves were therein subject to the Heathen Princes and gave commandement to all Christians in generall that they likewise should doe the same and thereupon S. Austin saith that in those things that concern this life wee must be subject to them that govern humane things But my meaning is that a temporall Prince cannot properly dispose the matters of the Church if he have not Ecclesiasticall function and ability as well as Temporall for I doubt not but that the government of the Church and of the Common-wealth are not only distinct members in this his Majesties kingdome but distinct bodies also under their peculiar heads united in the person of his Majesty yet without confusion of their faculties or without being subject the one to the other For the King as meerly a temporall Magistrate commandeth nothing in Ecclesiasticall causes neither as the supream Officer of the Church doth he interpose in the temporall government but like the common arch arising from both these pillars he protecteth and combineth them in perpetuall stability governing that of the Church by his Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction and that of the Common-wealth by his temporall For this cause as Moses was counted in sacerdotibus Psal. 99. 6. though he were the temporall Governour of the people of Israel so the Laws of the Land have of old armed the King persona mixta medium or rather commune quiddam inter laicos sacerdotes and have thereupon justly assigned to him a politique body composed as well of Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction as temporall like to that of David Jehosaphat Hezekias and other Kings of Juda who not onely in respect of their Crown led the Armies of the people against their enemies but as anointed with the holy oyle ordered and disposed the very function of the Levites of the Priests and of the Temple as you may read in their severall lives in the books of the Kings and Chronicles But the Kings of England have proceeded yet further in the gradations of Ecclesiasticall profession as thinking it with David more honourable to be a door-keeper in the House of God then to dwell in the tents of the ungodly that is to execute the meanest office in the service of God then those of greatest renowne among the Heathen and Infidels Therefore they have by ancient custome even before the Conquest amongst other the solemnities of their Coronation not only been girt with the regall sword of Justice by the Lay Peers of the Land as the embleme of their temporall authority but anointed also by the Bishops with the oyle of Priesthood as a mark unto us of their Ecclesiasticall profession and jurisdiction And as they have habenam regni put upon them to expresse the one so also have they stolam sacerdotii commonly called vestem dalmaticam as a Leviticall Ephod to expresse the other The reasons of which if we shall seek from the ancient Institutions of the Church it is apparent by the Epistle of Gregory the great unto Aregius Bishop of France that this vestis dalmatica was of that reverence amongst the Clergy of that time that the principall Church-men no not the Bishops themselves might wear it without licence of the Pope And when this Aregius a Bishop of France requested that he and his Archdeacon might use it Gregory took a long advisement upon the matter as a thing of weight and novelty before he granted it unto them But 22. years before the time of Edward the Confessor unto whom those hallowed vestures happily did belong with which his Majesty was at this day consecrated these dalmaticae otherwise called albae stolae were by the Councell Salegunstadiens cap. 2. made common to all Deacons and permitted to them to be worn in great solemnities which the Kings of England also ever since Edward the Confessors time if not before have always been attired with in their Coronations And touching their unction the very books of the Law doe testifie to be done to the end to make them capable of spirituall jurisdiction for it is there said that Reges sacro oleo uncti sunt spiritualis jurisdictionis capaces the Kings being anointed with the holy oyle are now made capable of spirituall jurisdiction This ceremony of unction was not common to all Christian Kings for they being about Hen. 2. time 24. in number onely four of them besides the Emperor were thus anointed namely the Kings of England France Jerusalem and Sicil. The first English King as far as I can find that received this priviledge was Elfred or Alured the glorious son of noble and devout Ethelwolphus King of West-Saxony who about the year of our Lord 860. being sent to Rome was there by Leo 4. anointed and crowned King in the life of his father and happily was the first King of this Land that ever wore a Crown whatsoever our Chroniclers report for of the 24. Kings I speak of it is affirmed in ancient books that only four of them were in those days crowned But after this anointing Alured as if the Spirit of God had therewith come upon him as it did upon David being anointed by Samuel grew so potent and illustrious in all kindes of vertues as well divine as morall that in many ages the world afforded him no equall zealous towards God and his Church devout in prayer profuse in alms always in honourable action prudent in government victorious in wars glorious in peace affecting justice above all things and with a strong hand reducing his barbarous subjects to obedience of Law and to love equity the first learned King of our Saxon Nation the first that planted literature amongst them for himself doth testifie in his Preface to Gregories Pastorall that there were very few on the South-side Humber but he knew not one on the South-side of the Thames that when he began to reign understood the Latine Service or could make an Epistle out of Latine into English c. He fetched learned men from beyond the Seas and compelled the Nobles of his Land to set their sons to school and to apply themselves to learn the Laws and Customes of their Country admitting none to places of Justice without some learning nor sparing any that abused their places for unto such himself looked diligently He divided the Kingdome into Shires Hundreds Wapentakes and them again into Tithings and free Bourghs compelling every person in his Kingdome to be so setled in some of those free Bourghs that if he any way trespassed his fellows of that free Bourgh answered for him The memory of this admirable Prince carrieth me from my purpose but to return to it his successors have ever since been consecrated and thereby made capable of spirituall jurisdiction and have accordingly used the same in all ages and thought by the Pope to be so enabled unto it that Nicholas 2. doubted not to commit the government of all the Churches of England unto
being now dead in whose behalf I must avow that the originall is plainly ad nos and not ad vos which lest it should seem either mistaken or questionable King Edgar himself doth manifestly clear it both by deeds and words for of his own authority he removed generally the Clerks of that time that were not professed out of the Monasteries and placed in their rooms Monks and regular persons as appeareth by his owne words in his Charter of Malmesbury Malmsb pag. 58. l 17. And also in the foundation Book of the Abbey of Winchester written all in golden letters wherein likewise he prescribeth the rules for the government of the religious persons there and saith that himself will look to â—â—e Monks and that his wife Aelfthryth shall look to tâ—e Nuns And lest it should seem that he had done this rather out of the will of a Prince then by just authority Hoveden and Historia Jornalensis doe testifie that he did it by the advice and means of Ethelwould Bishop of Winton and Oswald Bishop of Worcester So that the very Clergy of that time agnised executed and affirmed his jurisdiction herein which I will close up with a materiall sentence out of his Charter in Glastenberry extant in Malmsbury de gest Reg. li. 2. pag. 57. where the words be these Concessit etiam scil Edgarus ut sicut ipse in propria ita totius insulae causas in omnibus tam Ecclesiasticis quà m secularibus negotiis absque ulla ullius contradictione Abbas Conventus corrigeret that is King Edgar granted that the Abbot Covent of Glastenberry should correct or amend all causes as well Ecclesiasticall as secular within the whole Isle of Glastenberry as himself did within his own Isle namely of England So that the King here denounceth that himself hath the correction or ordering of all Ecclesiasticall causes within this his Isle And in further declaration thereof doth by that his Charter by and by after prohibit all Bishops from medling within the Isle of Glastenberry and lest he should seem to doe a new thing he closeth it up with this apology That his predecessors Cemwines Ines Ethelardus Cuthredus Elfredus Edwardus Ethelstanus Edmundus had all of them done the like and he might have added out of Bede l. 2. c. 7. that Cenwalch King of West-Saxon of his own authority divided the Sea of Agilbert his Bishop being a French man and of another language which he understood not and gave one part thereof unto Winus a man of his own Nation which though he were afterwards compelled by necessity and discontent of Agilbert to reunite yet his successor Inas divided them again and then they so continued Hen. Huntington l. 4. pa. 33. l. 49. It is true that ad majorem cautelam King Edgar required John 12. to confirme these priviledges lest any as he saith should in future time either take them away or throw out the Monks but himself had first done it of himself and the vigor that the Pope added to it was rather a fortifying of it with a curse against robbers and spoilers then an enlargement of the validity thereof as quicking thereby a livelesse body For so likewise may the Popes own authority be disputable insomuch as he also required the generall Synod then holden at Rome Anno 965. as Malmsbur saith to confirm it But the fashion of those times was that secular Princes sought sometimes to have their temporall Laws confirmed by the Pope with a curse against the breakers thereof as did Howell Dhae for those his Laws of Wales and in like manner was it usuall for Councels and Synods to seek the confirmation of their Canons from temporall Princes as did that of Orleans before spoken of from Clodoveus and the Councell of Toledo from Euricus who made a speciall Law for establishing it as you may see in the Laws of the Wisegothes l. 12. tit 1. ca. 3. ut sic gladius gladium adjuvaret It may be objected that Edgar being the great King of this whole Isle for he styled himself totius Albionis basileus might usurp upon the Church and doe these things rather in the will of a Prince then by just authority It is manifest partly by that which I said before but plentifully by his Charters that the Clergy of that time were so far from denying or repining at this his jurisdiction that they affirmed and subscribed unto it as appeareth in his Charters And how large soever his Dominion was his humility was as great for though in matters of government he carried himself as the head Officer of the Church yet in matters of faith he was so obedient that to expiate his incontinency with a Nun he threw himself at the feet of Dunstan his Bishop submitted himself to seven years penance and presumed not to be consecrated till the 14. year of his reign But these things were no novelties either in the person of Edgar or in the Princes of those ages for the minor Kings themselves within the orbs of their own Dominion used the like jurisdiction as you may perceive by those cited by Edgar in the Charter of Glastenberry and by many other in particular Charters of their own Yea the Kings of Mercia that were but vassals and underlings to the Kings of West-Saxony within the limits of their little Kingdome used the same plenitude of authority as appeareth by the Charter of Kenulphus who lived about the year 850. made to the Abbot of Abingdon wherein he saith Sit autem prae-dict ' rus liberum ab omni regali obstaculo Episcopali jure in sempiternum aevum ut habitantes ejus nullius regis aut ministrorum suorum Episcopive aut suorum officialium jugo deprimantur sed in omnibus rerum eventibus as defensionibus causarum Abbatis Abbindenensis Monasterii de caetero subjiciantur Term. Trinitat 1 H. 7. f. 18. b. And it is there said by the Judges fol. seq b. that many Abbeys in England had larger words then these in the Kings Charter as Omnimoda justitia quicquid regales potestates conferri possunt To leave the Saxon Kings and to come to the Normans that we may see by what channell this fluent of authority hath been deduced to his Majesty Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury in the Conquerours time would have given the Abbotship of S. Augustines but the new King saith the book i. William the Conquerour did deny it saying that he would conferre all Pastorall Staves in his Realm and would not conferre that power to any whatsoever Govern you saith he that which appertaineth to faith and Christianity among the Monks but for their outward service you shall let me alone with that You see here that the King doth not in covert manner or by little and little creep into Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction but with an absolute resolution whilest he yet stood as it were but upon the threshold of his Kingdome and might justly fear some notable transmutation in
the Ministery for there were 8 of that Name and of those 8 if Origen be a witnesse of it it must be Vrban the first Anno 227 who sate but 6 yeares 7 moneths there was not another Pope called Vrban untill the year 1087. which was long after the latest of those three viz. Gregory whether they mean Greg. Nazianz. or Greg. Nyssen or Gregory surnamed the Great Bishop of Rome and if Origen testified so much of Tithes recalled by Pope Vrban their originall must be ancienter then 300 years after the ascenson for that Vrban lived not beyond the year 234 and Origen flourished Anno 226. and if Tithes began when Christians gave over the community of goods as these men say p. 2. in the name of Tertullian but bring no proofe of it then had Ministers a propriety in Tithes as soon as others had a propiety of estate and sooner it could not be And that which caused this community the persecution of the Church which reached to his age for the next predecessor to that Vrban Calixtus was a Martyr might very well cause a suspension of Tithes for all that time 2. For the tenure of Tithes there be 3 disputable opinions 1 Whether they be Morall 2 whether Judiciall 3 whether Ceremoniall there is a fourth conceipt that they are meere Almes which is imputed to Wickleff in the 8 session of the councell of Constance but that admits of no dispute since it is repugnant to all appearance of reason 1 Some hold them Morall as those Ministers whom these men pretend to answer most of the Canonists Marc. Anton. de Dom. de Rep. Eccl. l. 9. c. 2. Zepperus in Explic. legum forens Mos. c. 10. and many English Divines 2. Some hold them Judiciall as Bell. lib de Cler. c. 25. 3. Some Ceremoniall as these parishioners doe There is the least reason for this last opinion For Tithes were taken as a tribute by God himselfe as the chiefe Lord of all the earth Levit. 27. 30. whereby hee is acknowledged giver of all and that it is in his power to curse the earth with barrennesse and to starve the creatures that live upon it and this is true of all ages and therefore we reade of payment of Tithes by Abraham Gen. 14. 2. Heb. 7. 4. and vowing of Tithes by Jacob before the Leviticall Priesthood was established Gen. 28. 22. But sacrifices say they are ancienter then Tithes and were long before the Ceremoniall Law was ordained yet they are not to be continued in the time of the Gospel True because they were types of future things to be exhibited in the New Testament but Tithes have no typicall intimation in their institution or use being set apart by God for himselfe and given by him as the wages to his servants for doing his work which he assigned to the Levites for their time and made them sutable to their state by peculiar ordinances as Num. 18. 26 27. c. Levit. 25. 3. 4. 5. which expired with the Priesthood though Tithes in generall did not and therefore such particulars are no more to be urged against that maintenance of Ministers in the New Testament then the Jewish observations of the Sabbath against the keeping of a Christian Sabbath at this day 3. For that they say of inequality in respect of impropriations p. 6. in respect of tradesmen in Townes and Cities who gaine more then farmers and pay no Tithes p. 9. and in respect of the losse which may befall the farmer when he hath not increase to answer his cost and labour Ibid. For the two first it is worthy consideration of those who are in authority how to reduce them to more equality For the third the exception lyeth no more against Tithes now then in the time when they acknowledge them most in force and when it proveth an ill yeare with the plowman it will be well for him to consider whether his unconscionablenesse in Tithes have not procured a curse upon his portion according to the commination in the third of Malac. 8 9. And lastly for the trouble of the Minister 1 If he have but a little Tithe it will be no great trouble for him to order it especially since he may lawfully exchange it into money 2. If he have a great Tithe it will beare the charge of a servant to ease him of the trouble And 3. If this inconvenience could not be avoided as well it may there would follow farre greater upon the taking away Tithes such as before we have observed With these exceptions against this revenue of Tithes they have delivered something worthy the acceptation of Ministers which is p. 5. 6. It is the desire say they of al Gods people so it ought to be that the Ministers of the Gospell should have a sufficient maintenance allowed them nay not onely a sufficient maintenance but an abundant a large and rich maintenance such a maintenance as they may live liberally without any other imployment but the Ministery Nor is it fit or becomming Christians that their Minister should live in a meane condition either of diet or cloathing but as he is more excellent in calling so ought he to have a more large better maintenance in those respects then others for he feeding the soules with spirituall things the word of God the people ought to feed his body liberally with their base temporall things and in the next page say they And is it not a shame for a rich and flourishing common-wealth to have a poore and bare Ministery either in the generall or in some particulars yet into such a condition have Impropriations brought the Ministery of this common-wealth in very many places They conclude with an addresse to the high court of Parliament for a reformation in this particular of Tithes p. 10. and herein we are content to meet them at the barre of that most wise pious and impartiall Judicatory of the Kingdome who as they have so we doubt not but they will ratifie the ancient Statutes and their owne late Ordinance concerning Tithes and whatsoever their title be in respect of religion the people may though ignorant zelots hold and covetous worldlings pretend they may not pay them with good conscience for the State may impose them for the maintenance of the Ministery as well as they may impose the 20â— part or any other part they please to maintaine a just warre or to pay the debts of the Kingdome and others may conscientiously submit to such impositions and hereto the most learned Divines of the reformed Churches doe agree though the most of them as they are mistaken in the true doctrine of the Sabbath so are they also in this question of Tithes for albeit they maintaine their Ministers while they live and provide for their widowes and fatherlesse children when they are dead yet they resolve it lawfull to pay the 10th to the popish priests though they officiate in an Idolatrous
Augustin epist. 109. Quando ergo simul estis in ecclesia ubicunque viri sunt invicem pudicitiam custodite Hieronymus in Esaiam cap. 60. Videmus Caesares aedificare ecclesias expensis publicis epist. 8. Alij aedificent ecclesias vestient parietes marmorum crustis columnarum moles advehant earumque deaurent capita c. fastidit in re tam nota olei tantum perdere clarum est Ecclesiam idem esse christianis quod Synagogam Judaeis Augustinum habes in eandem sententiam in Psalm 82. unde priscus quidam Nobis ecclesia datur Hebraeis Synagoga Plura si cupias numerosa habeas exempla in Burchardi Deâ—retorum lib. 3. qui de ecclesijs inscribitur Besides also not to conceale the doubts and apprehensions of wiser and more learned men upon the argument there was also a gentleman of eminent quality and learning Mr. Richard Carew of Anthony in Cornwall who was not satisfied in all points with this treatise of Sir Henry whereupon he wrote his doubts in some particulars unto him submitting much to his judgement Vnto whom for satisfaction Sir Henry wrote a very pious epistle which shall here follow after the apology for satisfaction to the better sort who sometime stumble out of private interest or passion as well as inferiour men Hoping that such will be easily corrected in their opinion as Mr. Carew was being a Gentleman ennobled no lesse in regard of his parentage and descent then for his vertue and learning as Cambden testifieth of him in his Britannia THE APOLOGY This Apology cleareth some passages as 1. Touching the word Ecclesia which signifies either a materiall Church or the Congregation of the people assembled 2. An explication of the text of Esa. 56. 7. My house shall be called the house of prayer 3. The place of the Aposâ—le 1 Cor. 11. 12. Despise ye the Church of God 4. The expâ—sition of the 83. Psalm aâ—ainst such as destroy Churches and the maintenance of them and the Ministers 5. The number oâ— Churches spoilâ— amonâ— us COming to my worthy friend Sir Ralph Hare and lying a while idle there I thought that idle time fittest for some idle worke and disposed my selfe therefore to give some answer to such passages of this Treatise as the Author at his pleasure hath very idly if not maliciously taxed me in But being far from my books and having not so much as that Treatise of his by me or any note out of it I shall no doubt forget mistake omit and misplace many things Wherein good Reader I must entreat thy patience and favour It being brought unto me I ranne over divers leaves thereof wherein I met multa verba nulla verbera but judging therefore the Author by his worke I thought neither of them worth the answering himselfe as it seemeth some rude Naball delighting in contentions and uncivill speech wherein I will not contend with him onely I will consider of his reasons though indeed they are such as will shew him to be a weake adversarie Qui strepit magis quà m sauciat And therefore though I sit safe out of his dint yet will I let the reader see how vainely he bestoweth his shot and how farre from the marke As for the parts of my booke wherein I labour as he saith to prove tithes to be due â—ure divino and his answers thereto my purpose is not here to medle with them for that they require a more spacious discourse then either that volume admitted or I now meane to enter into it being not a private question betweene him and me but long controverted by greater clerks and left to this day as questionem vexatam non judicatam The truth is the course of my argument lead me upon it and I therefore produced some arguments tending to the maintenance thereof but referring the point unto a greater work and forbearing to declare my selfe therein without ample and more laborious examination of so great a controversie leaving therefore that as a generall cause whereof he may perhaps have more another time I will here wage my selfe against him onely in those things wherein he chargeth me particularly in my owne person and passing over amongst them such snatches of his as scarcely ruffle the haire I will onely meddle with those parts where he thinketh he biteth deepest First he quarrelleth with me about the title of my booke in that I use the word Ecclesia for a materiall Church or as in contempt he termeth it a stone-house affirming in his learning that it signifieth onely the congregation which assertion if he could make good would give him a great hand in the cause for that much of his argument following lieth very heavily upon this pin Surely if I guesse right some Dictionary hath deceived him for perhaps his reading reacheth not so far as to resolve him herein but if two thousand authorities be sufficient to defend me withall I speak it without hyperbole I assure my selfe I could produce them Who knoweth not how ordinary a thing it is to have one word signifie both the persons and the place as Civitas the citizens or towne Collegium the society or house Senatus the Senators or Senate house Synagoga the assembly or place of assembly I am sure he will confesse that where it is said He loveth our nation and hath built us a synagogue It is not there meant of the persons he built them a congregation but of the place A Synagogue and Ecclesia signifie both one and the same thing the congregation or place of congregation in which sense we Christians notwithstanding use onely the word Ecclesia for our congregations and houses of prayer for that the Jews had taken up the other word for their â— ratories according to an old verse Nobis Ecclesia datur Hebraeis Synagoga And in this manner was the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used amongst the Greeks before the Christians borrowed it from them as it appeareth by some of your Lexicons where it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caetus concilium congregatio c. ponitur etiam pro loco ipso in quem convenitur Lucianus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Ubi curiam in qua consultant undique stravero And that the Church hath ever since used it in the same sort shall by and by appeare when we come to insist more particularly upon this point Faine would I know what himselfe would call one of our stone-Churches in Latine Templum savours of Judaisme and if I should have used a word of the ancient Fathers and said De non temerandis Basilicis Curiacis or Dominicis it may be I should have driven him to his Dictionary and yet left him pusled I thought fanum too prophane a word but he perhaps would think it so much the fitter for a Church and a play-house seem a like to him Another of his quarrels is that I apply the place of Isaiah the Prophet cap. 56. 7. My