Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	aaron_n	law_n	levite_n	23	3	10.0213	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30253	A case concerning the buying of bishops lands with, the lawfulness thereof and the difference between the contractors for sale of those lands, and the corporation of VVells, ordered, Anno. 1650, to be reported to the then Parliament / with the necessity thereof, since fallen upon Dr. Burges.	Burges, Cornelius, 1589?-1665.	1659 (1659)	Wing B5670; ESTC R11486	85,757	85

voluntarily given without a command could fall from the bold pen of such an high-flown Author He also confidently affirmeth r Pag. 29. that to say That God accepts of money that Land was sold for and not of the Land it self and instanceth in the very case of Ananias is contrary not only to all reason and practise of all the world but to what God himself hath expressed in the Old Testament this in his sense is so false that it cannot but astonish a modest Reader that knoweth the truth to finde him so boldly to affirm what there is no foot-step for in all the Old Testament As shall now appear in the ensuing Discourse wherein that Authors Impertinencies shall take up no more room To return therefore to the proof of the first branch of the point before undertaken That there is no warrant in Scripture for giving Lands to Bishops nor proof of Christs acceptance of them take notice 2. The Priests and Levites especially Aaron himself were prohibited to have any Inheritance in Lands by divine Lot among their Brethren s Num. 18.20 And this was to be a Statute throughout their generations for ever t ver 23. The Reason was given before unto Aaron I am thy part and thine inheritance c. That is his portion in Tythes and Offerings due from Israel unto him should be theirs For of these to wit Tythes he there expresly speaketh u ver 24. I have given them to the Levites to inherit therefore I have said unto them Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance Levi was a Tribe that made up a twelfth part of Israel yet so careful was God to prevent their claim to any Lands by divine Lot that when the rest of the Tribes were numbred in order to their several Lots in Land God gave express order to Moses not to number the Tribe of Levi nor to take the sum of them but to appoint them over the Tabernacle of the Testimony c. Whereby is more then implyed that their Office of Priesthood was then a bar to their inheriting of Lands to such especially as were chief among them and were always to attend the Tabernacle as did the High Priest Indeed the inferiour Priests and Levites being numerous did not could not all attend the Altar at once but had their several courses and orders for waiting there Therefore were they appointed by God to spread all over Israel when their courses at the Altar were over to instruct the people in the Law of God w Deut. 33.10 in their turns Which being so there was a necessity of preparing some places for their own habitation and some ground for their Cattle which they were to make use of as well for their domestick provision as for travelling between those habitations and the Altar when their turns came about Upon this ground God by Moses layd his Command upon the children of Israel that they should give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their Possessions Cities to dwell in and Suburbs for the Cities round about for their Cattle Goods and Beasts Num. 35.1 2 3. But of these none were appointed to the High Priest who was always to reside about the Tabernacle and Altar His portion and such as served at the Altar in Person consisted in Offerings and in a Tenth of the Tythes which the Levites were to pay before they shared the rest among themselves x Neh. 10.38 But Lands he had none And as for Levites dispersed over Israel although they had Cities and some Lands yet God limited both For the Israelites might not give what they would but so many Cities and no more so much Land about them and no more The number of Cities were in all 48. y Num. 35.2 3. c. among which six were to be Cities of Refuge the names of all which and the allotment of them to the several Families of the Levites are set down in the 21 of Joshuah Their Suburbs also were bounded by a set number of Cubites For so God commanded the Israelites saying z Num. 35.4 The Suburbs of the Cities which ye shall give unto the Levites shall reach from the Wall of the City and outward a thousand Cubites round about The Israelites might not give nor would God accept one Cubite more although the Levites were as is before said a twelfth part of Israel But here take notice that those Cities were not inhabited by Levites only Others dwelt therein and had shares also in the residue of the Lands adjacent as well as they Only care was to be taken that in every one of those Cities and Suburbs so many of the Levites as were designed to each City should be first accommodated and well provided for and the remainder if any were should still be inhabited by the Owners of those Cities now allotted to the Levites That this was so is evident by the City of Hebron or Kiriath-Arba the City of Arba a The Father of Anak Josh 15.13 a Great man that first founded it for that City being given to the Kohathites who among the Levites had the first Lot b Josh 21.10 11. was yet inhabited also by Caleb to whom Joshuah had before given it for an inheritance c Josh 14.13 14. Therefore after mention of disposing Hebron to the Kohathites by the free Lot of the Israelites it is said But the Fields of the City and the Villages thereof gave they to Caleb the Son of Jephunneth for his possession d Josh 21.12 Out of which Fields it is manifest by the next verse that the Suburbs were excepted for these were given to the Sons of Aaron the Priest e ver 13. Now then if Bishops take upon them as of late they did to be above ordinary Priests Presbyters or Ministers as Aaron above the ordinary Priests and Levites it is as clear as Analogie can make it that there is no colour or shew for a warrant out of the Old Testament to inable Bishops to hold any Lands or for others to give them but an express Law against it It is true that after the Temple was built there was no doubt conveniency of habitation and perhaps of some Lands for the Cattle of the High Priest who is not to be thought worse provided for than his inferiours And when Bishops can make it out that they are as Aaron above the rest of Christs Ministers the like ought be allowed to them while they continued Nevertheless those Cities of Refuge and the rest set out for the Levites with the Suburbs pertaining to them for the Cattle of those Levites that were imployed in the several parts of Israel to be teaching Priests f 2 Chr. 15.3 of the Law of God to the people which Lands by Gods command were not to be alienated g Lev. 25.34 may by analogie be a good argument to prove that Lands setled upon the faithful and painful Ministers of

unlawful to endow particular Parochial Churches with Glebes or Lands necessary for building of Churches upon and for the accommodation and provision of faithful Ministers of Christ that faithfully dispense his Ordinances to their Flocks so it be with leave from Authority and all interessed in them and that it be done moderately for necessary sustentation of them and their Families The Levites that might have no large Territories answerable to the rest of their Tribes had yet several Cities set out for their habitation and Suburbs for their Cattle But withal they might not grasp all that the People would give but were con●●●ed and limitted to such a quantity a thousand Cubits outright from the wall round about their several Cities and no more as was before shewed And so far hath it ever been accounted from being lawful for Bishops to lay Field unto Field Mannor to Mannor to impoverish many to inrich one upon the account of the Church and Gods acceptance thereof as sacred and holy that even an Archbishop w Spalat de Repuo Ecclesiast l. 9. c. 7. n. 36. having deserted the Romish Church hath proclaimed it Sacriledge rapinam injustissimam and most unjust rapine This is not saith he to inable men to labour in the Gospel but to supply them with Fewel for Riot and Excess and to pervert what was given for the benefit of the Church and for necessary provisions to the shame scandal and ruine of the Church it is not to take off but to multiply the impediments of the saving of Souls Thus we see the Title of Bishops Lands what it was and upon what grounds and in what manner procured and enjoyed vvhich argues them to be in the construction of Scripture far from being sacred and holy unto God by such corrupt Dedications and particularly of those very Lands purchased by Doctor Burges It remaineth now to make out That the aliening diverting No Sacriledge or sin to buy or sell Bishops Lands or purchasing such Lands for common use notwithstanding their first dedication neither is or can be Sacriledge or otherwise sinful or unlawful This is in great part evident by what hath been before set forth yet for more full satisfaction somewhat more shall be added To begin with the Cities and Suburbs of the Levites will be a good step to the clearing hereof First their Houses might be sold even by themselves without sin For that Law which was made for the redeeming of it at any time which others might not do that sold Houses in a walled City unless they redeemed them within the compass of the first yeer after sale and for the return of it at the next Jubilee x Lev. 25.32 33. in case it were not redeemed before plainly implies a lawfulness for any man to buy an House that pertained to a Levite if it were to be sold and that it vvas no sin to detain it till it vvere either redeemed or returned at the Jubilee as all other Lands sold by others were to be This might be done without the least branding of the seller or buyer Yet those Cities were by Gods own appointment set out for the dwelling of the Levites Indeed God forbad the Levites to sell their Lands to wit the Fields of the Suburbs of their Cities for it was their perpetual possession y Ibid. ver 34. It was the same in effect vvith our Parochial Glebes and so might not be aliened or sold so long as their service and Priesthood continued Howbeit afterwards vvhen their service vvas ended and the Priestood removed they might as lawfully sell their Lands as their Houses Else Joses sirnamed Barnabas a Levite had committed Sacriledge for that he after Christ changed that Priesthood having Land sold it and laid down the money at the Apostles feet which is recorded by the Spirit of God as an eminent act of exemplary piety and charity and of the sou●●lness of his faith and conversion Now if it were no sin in him then to sell it could not be a sin in others to buy such Lands and other Lands the Levites might then have none albeit those Lands by God's own Edict were to be continued in the Priests while their Priesthood lasted Can it then be so haynously sinful to sell or purchase Bishops Lands which no Law of God ever settled upon them after their Office and Function is wholly taken away But it is happened to some of those rash Censurers as it did to those Oxen of whom Columella that famous Husbandry-Writer in the dayes of Claudius Caesar noteth z De re Rust lib. 2. that feeding upon some rank grounds ran wild with the fatness of their Food And vvhatever some think now that it is Sacriledge to aliene any thing once pretendedly dedicated unto God yet even the Bishops themselves in Parliament have thought and determined otherwise as well as Kings and the rest of the Parliament in the Acts formerly mentioned vvherein especially in one of them a 15 Ric. 2.5 they make all Lands given vvithout License to be forfeited and to be seised unless they procure a License to amortise them or sell or alien them to some other Use before Michaelmas then next coming This shews plainly that albeit it was not held lawful for Bishops Monks or others to receive or purchase Lands in Mort-Main yet it was lawful if they had so done to sell them for the Parliament directed the sale and therefore lawful for others to purchase them for common uses when once it should be discovered that those Lands were so given and dedicated as therein was forbbidden To which may be added 1. That Bishops Lands especially were at first given to maintain their State and Magnificence as Lords with special reference to State-Imployments For that the Kings were wont to have the greatest part of their Counsel for the safegard of the Realm when they had need of the said Prelates and Clerks so advanced b Stat. de Provis Benefic 25 Edw. 3. 2. That neither in those times nor since did many of them yea scarce any take paines to teach the Law of God to the People which was one end for which Bishops were endowed with such large Revenues as the Statute De Provisoribus Benefic before cited expresly declareth So that this being neglected they lived in so great a sin as in the judgement of those few of them who made more conscience of their Duty in this kind next to the sin of Lucifer there could not be a greater Witness that Learned and Zealous Bishop Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincolne in the reign of Hen. 3. who having received a Command from Pope Innocent the Fourth Mat. Paris ad Ann. 1353. to admit one Frederick de Lavania that Popes Nephew that is his Bastard to be a Canon and Prebend of Lincolne that Bishop wrote back to the Pope a flat refusal of that his command telling him moreover Post peccatum Luciferi c. That next to

the sin of Lucifer which shall be in the latter time to wit Antichrist the Child of Perdition whom the Lord shall destroy with the breath of His Mouth there is not nor can be any kind of sin so repugnant and contrary to the Doctrine of the Apostles and holy Scriptures and to our Saviour Christ himself more hateful detestable and abominable then to destroy and kill mens Souls by defrauding them of the Ministry of the Pastoral Office Which sin by most evident places of the Scripture such men are known to commit who being put into the Pastoral Office provide for themselves of the milk and wool of Christs sheep that by his appointment were to be vivified and saved but do not administer to them their due for the not administring of the Pastoral Ministration is by the Testimony of Scripture the slaying and perdition of the Sheep 3. That not onely all their Civil Imployment in State-Affairs for which they were exalted so high is wholly taken off by special Act of Parliament with the Royal Assent c 17 Car. c. 28. but their very Function and Office as Archbishops and Bishops as themselves and theirs were pleased to distinguish them from and to set them above the rest of their Brethren in the Ministry hath been since by the same Parliament pluck'd up by the roots Therefore their Lands must needs Eschete and revert to the Commonwealth the proper Heires of the first Founders and Donors being long yea many Ages since dead and their own particular Heires and Memory perished from off the Earth The Parliament therefore had as good right to sell or alien them to any other use as the first Donors had to give them to those uses expressed in their several Donations or as that Parliament in 15 Ric. 2. which had the consent of the then Bishops in Parliament had to appoint or permit all such as had gotten any Lands without License to sell or alien them to private uses or as any particular Lord in chief by the same Act of Parliament Ric. 2. had to seize and sell any such Lands so given if fallen unto him by such Forfeiture and Eschete So that now it is no more Sacriledge or sin to buy and enjoy Bishops Lands after the final and total abolition of Bishops then it was for Joses or Barnabas the Levite to sell his Lands or for any man at this day to buy any of those Suburbical Lands of those forty eight Cities heretofore set out for the Levites This might suffice if it were not ever too true of some non persuadebis etiamsi persuaseris Thou shalt never perswade me to be of thy Opinion although by Reason thou sufficiently convince me Therefore Answers must now be given to such plausible Objections as seem to carry most strength of Reason in them Object 1 First it is said by some That Bishops as such are of Divine Right or which is Equivalent of Apostolical Constitution and therefore could not by any law of man be taken away as the Levites might and ought to be when Christ himself had put a period to their Service and Office Answ To this it is Answered 1. That if a Parliament the Representative of the whole Nation shall enact an Abolition no private person or party out of Parliament may gainsay or oppose it without making himself liable to punishment 2. That if by Bishops be meant onely Ministers of the Gospel faithfully feeding the particular Flocks committed to their Charge not as Lords over Gods heritage d 1 Pet. 5.3 they could not be taken away for such are of Divine Institution not to be abrogated by man But 3. Our Bishops would none of this Nothing sounded so harsh in their Ears as a Parity This was not onely Schisme but Heresie in their Construction They claimed a Power and Dignity even by Divine Right above other Presbyters or Ministers as a distinct Order from and superiour to that of Presbyters And that in the two greatest points of Authority For they appropriated Ordination and Jurisdiction solely to themselves and to their Officers in their Right which is expresly contrary to the Testimony of Scripture both touching Ordination 1 Tim. 4.14 Act. 13.1 2 3. and Jurisdiction 1 Cor. 5.3 4 5. 2 Cor. 2.6 7 8. vers 10. And as upon this Account they looked upon themselves even in the beginning of that Parliament which after threw them out witness that Book of Episcopacy by Divine Right written by Jos Exon and published Anno 1640. and had their Lands vested in them as appears by that Statute of 25 Edw. 3. before mentioned So the Parliament taking them at their own words look'd upon them too and upon that very ground threw them out Since which time none of them have vouchsafed to assert their Title to be Jure Divino If therefore the Levites who had a clear plea for their Divine Institution justly lost their Lands and other Revenues with their Offices there can be no scruple of conscience to buy or enjoy Bishops Lands whose Title was never so good as that of the Levites after the Bishops themselves be laid aside for ever as Usurpers over the Ministry as well as over the rest of Gods Heritage They are no otherwise cast out of their Office then Diotrephes who loved to have the pre-eminence e 3 Joh. 9 10. was by St. John himself cast out of the Church whom that proud Prelate persecuted by his prating and malitious Words Object 2 But it is pleaded That the Bishops were Ministers too although aliquid amplius somewhat more and preached as well as others and were moreover of great Vse for the good Government of the Church and support of the Truth which since their ejection hath extreamly suffered Therefore at least as Ministers they and their Means should have been continued Answ Admitting but not granting all this to be true yet what they really did might have been and still may be done as Ministers although not as such Bishops It is their Episcopal Dignity not their Ministry that is taken from them And their Lands were fixed as hath been shewn to their Episcopacy not to their Ministry to their State of Prelacy not to the Presbytery If any of them as very very few of them had had a mind to preach the Gospel as that Archbishop Dr. Vsher did so long as he was able and was therefore honoured and incouraged both living and dying they might have had liberty so to do notwithstanding the abolishing of their Episcopal Usurpation But the generality of them were so far from it that they did their utmost against it while their Power continued Was it not by their procurement that preaching was prohibited especially in the After-noons of the Lords Dayes and the Book of Sports compiled and published with Authority and countenanced by them was not strict inquiry made in their Visitations whether every Minister had published that Book in his Church and they severely punished