which hereafter may be had or acquired to the contrary The which Pursute and Grant is apparently against the Laws and Customs of your Realm by reason that divers Compositions real and Indentures are made between many of the said Religious and others your Lieges of the prise of such Tithes and also by reason that in divers Parishes the Tithes demanded by the said Religious by colour of the said Bull exceed the fourth part of the value of the Benefices within whose limits and bounds they are and so if the said Bull should be executed much more the late Petions against all Tithes and coercive Maintenance for Ministers condescended to as well your dreadfull Majesty as your Liegeâ— Patrons of the said Benefices shall receive great losses in their Advowsons of the said Benefices and the Conusance which in this behalf appertains and in all times hath belonged to your Regality shall be discussed in Court Christian against the said Laws and Customes besides pray mark the prevailing reason the Troubles and Commotions which may arise among your people by the motion and execution of such Novelties within your Realm That hereupon by assent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament you would be pleased to ordain that if the said religious or any other put or shall put the said Bull in execution shall be put out of your Protection by due Process made in this behalf and their goods forfeited to You lost and that as a work of Charity Which Petition being read and considered was answered in the words following It is accorded by the King and Lords in Parliament That the Order of the Cistertians shall be in the state they were before the time of the Bull purchased comprised in this Petition and that as well those of the said Order as all others Religious and Secular of what estate or condition soever they be who shall put the said Bull in execution or shall hereafter take advantage in any manner of any such Bulls already purchased or to be purchased shall have Process made against them and either of them by sommoning them within a moneth by a Writ of Premunire Facias And if they make default or shall be attainted that they shall be put out of the Kings Protection and incur the peines and forfeitures comprised in the Statute of Provisors made in the 13. year of King Richard And moreover for to eschue many probable mischiefs likely to arise in time to come that our said Lord the King shall send to our Holy Father the Pope for to repeal and annul the said Bulls purchased and to abstain to make any such Grant hereafter To which Answer the Commons well agreed and that it should be made into a Statute From which memorable Record I shall desire Iohn Canne and all his ignorant deluded Disciples who cry out against Tithes and the payment of them as Popish to observe 1. That all the Commons of England in this Parliament even in times of Popery together with the King and Lords resolve the quite contrary That the exemption of any order of men from payment of their due and accustomed Tithes is Popish and that the Pope was the first and only man who presumed by his Bulls to exempt men from payment of due and accustomed Tithes to their Ministers 2ly That Popish Friers of the Cistercian Order not Godly Saints abhorring Monkerie and Poperie were the first men who sued for procured and executed such Exemptions from the Pope and that merely out of Covetousness against the express word and Law of God as our John Salisbury de Nugis Curialium l. 7. c. 21. and our Arch-deacon of Bathe Petrus Blesensis observe who tax them for it And therefore the petitioning writing endeavouring to procure a like exemption from the payment of antient and accustomed Tithes to our Ministers must be Popish and Monkish likewise infused into our New-lighted Saints by some Popish Monks and Jesuits disguised under the notion of New-lights Seekers Anabaptists c. 3ly That they declare this Bull though granted by their Holy-Father the Pope whose Authority and esteem was then very great to be against the Laws and Customs of the Realm and thereupon repeal null it for the present and provide against the grant of any such Bulls for Non-payment of Tithes for the future and make the Procurers and Executioners of them subject to a Praemunire Such a transcendent Crime and Grievance did they then adjudge it to seek or procure the least exemption from payment of Tithes from any earthly Powers yea from their very Holy Father the Pope himself then in his highest Power 4ly That they resolve the exemption from Tithes though amounting but to a fourth part in every Parish would prove a great prejudice to the King and all other Patrons in their Advowsons to the Lessors and Farmers of Tithes to the incumbents and people and that the moving of such Novelties might occasion great Troubles and Commotions within the Realm And will not then the abolishing of all Tithes in every Parish to the prejudice of the Patrons Ministers yea and people too as I shall prove anon the scandal of most godly men undoing of thousands of families and confounding all Parishes and order in them now much more do it in these dangerous generally discontented times instead of setling Unity Amity Peace and propagating the Gospel as some pretend Let those whom it most concerns consider it at their leisure lest they repent too late The next printed Statute for the payment of Tithes is 27 H. 8. c. 20. which in the preface gives this true Character of and fixeth this brand of infamy upon Tithe-detainers Forasmuch as many evil disposed Persons such are they justly branded for by this Act of Parliament have attempted to withhold their Tenths as well predial as personal and have also contemned and disobeyed the Decrees of Ecclesiastical Courts of this Realm c. Therefore it enacts the Civil Magistrate and Justices shall imprison such till they pay their Tithes After which followes a special Statute for payment of Tithes in London 27 H. 8. c. 21. confirmed enlarged by a Statute and Decree too 37 H. 8 c. 7. thus prefaced as if purposely penned for these times Whereas divers and many persons inhabiting in sundry Counties and Places of this Realm and other the Kings Dominions not regarding their duties to Almighty God or to the King our Soveraign Lord but in some years past more contemptuously and commonly Presuming to infringe the good and wholsome Lawes of this Realm and Gracious Commandments of our said Soveraign Lord than in times past have been seen or known have not letted to substract and with-draw the lawfull and accustomed Tithes of Corn Hay Pasturage and other sort of Tithes and Oblations commonly due c. After which it provides a remedy by coercive means against the detainers refusers of Ministers Tithes The last and fullest Statute for payment of Tithes of all sorts and
brought away the Hallowed things out of mine House and also have given them unto the Levite c. According to all thy Commandements which thou hast commanded me I have not transgressed thy Commandements neither have I forgotten them I have not eaten thereof in my mourning neither have I taken away ought thereof for my Vnclean Vse nor given ought thereof for the dead but I have hearkened to the Voice of the Lord my God And have done according to all that thou hast commmanded me Look down from thy Holy Habitation from Heaven And bless thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us a Land that floweth with milk and honey Such a conscientious true payment of Tithes as this according to all Gods Commandements without the least Substraction or embezlement emboldens enables every particular man to make such a Prayer to God as this not only for himself but for the whole Land brings a blessing upon himself and all the Realm yea makes it a Land flowing with milk and honey and abundance of all rich blessings Besides we read in 2 Chr. 31.1 to 15. That when godly King Hezekiah had destroyed Idolatry and appointed the Courses of the Priests and Levites after their Courses every man according to his service he brought â—urings and Peace-offerings to minister and to give thanks and to praise in all the Gates of the Tents of the Lord He appointed also the Kings portion of his Substance for the burnt-offerings for the morning and evening for the Sabbaths the new Moons and set Feasts moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem To give the Portion of the Priests and the Levites that they might be encouraged in the Law of the Lord. And as soon as the Commandement came abroad the children of Israel brought in abundance the first Fruits of Corn Wine Oyl and Honey and of all the encrease of the field and the Tithes of all things brought they in abundance And concerning the children of Israel and Judah that dwelt in the Cities of Judah They also brought in the Tithes of Oxen and Sheep and the Tithe of holy things which were dedicated unto the Lord their God and laid them by heaps In the third moneth they began to lay the foundation of the heaps and finished them in the seventh moneth and when Hezekiah and the Princes came and saw the heaps they blessed the Lord and his People Israel Then Hezekiah questioned with the Priests and Levites concerning the heaps And Azariah the chief Priest of the House of Zadok answered him and said Since the People began to bring the Offerings into the house of the Lord We have had enough to eat and have left Plenty But did the people grow poor thereby no but much richer than before for the Lord hath blessed his people and that which is left is this great store Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare Chambers or store-houses in the house of the Lord and they prepared them and brought in the Offerings and the Tithes and the dedicate things faithfully over which Cononiah the Levite was Ruler How different was this practice of all the people and godly Saints in those daies in a chearfull bringing in their Tithes and Oblations to the Priests and Levites in abundance for their encouragement which caused King Hezekiah his Princes the Priests Levites and God himself to bless them from the sacrilegious practice of Tith-detaining Hypocritical Saints Anabaptists Quakers Sectaries and Christians in our daies who shall never receive such a blessing as this from God or good men but their curses If these Texts and Presidents will not move such hard-hearted men let them consider both this â—â—â—cept and promise of God Prov. 3.9 10. Honour the Lord with thy Substance and with the first fruits of thine encrease So shall thy Barns be filled with Plenty and thy Press shall burst out with new Wine And Mal 3.7 10 11 12. Return unto me and I will return unto you saith the Lord of hosts but ye said Wherein shall we return Bring ye all the Tithes into the Store-house that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts If I will not open you the windows of heaven and powr you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground neither shall your Vine cast her fruit before her time in the field saith the Lord of Hosts And all nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a delight some land saith the Lord of Hosts What Christians heart though never so covetous and worldly should not these sacred promises of God the last of them recorded in the last of all the Books and Prophets in the Old Testament they being not meerly Levitical and Judaical but of eternal verity use and evangelical too excite and engage most cheerfully to pay and bring in all their Tithes and Dues to Gods Ministers now as well as to the Priests and Levites heretofore Christ himself having made like parallel promises of blessings and rewards for relieving and maintaining his Ministers in the Gospel Mat. 10.40 41 42. Mark 9.41 Phil. 4.18 19 9. That the due payment of Tithes to Gods Priests and Levites was a great encouragement to them in the law of the Lord and in the diligent execution of their duties 2 Chron. 31.3 4 5 10. And on the contrary The with-holding of them from them a great discouragement necessitating them to desert their duties and functions witnesse that memorable Text Neh. 13.10 11 12. And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them mark the consequence For the Levites and the Singers that did the work were fled every one to his field Then contended I with the Rulers and said Why is the house of God forsaken and I gathered them together and set them in their place Then brought all Judah the Tithes of the Corn and the new Wine and the Oyl unto their treasuries And I made treasurers over the treasuries Shelemiah the Priest and Zadock the Scribe and of the Levites Pedajah c. for they were counted faithfull and their office was to distribute unto their Brethren Which reason still continuing under the Gospel in relation to the Ministers and Preachers thereof Heb 13.16 17. Phil. 4.10 to 21. is a strong argument to engage all true Christians desiring the propagation of the Gospel and a painfull able Ministry duly to pay their tithes and portions to them 10. That it was the bounden duty care of Religious Kings and Governours amongst Gods own people when the people were backwards to pay and bring their Tithes and duties to the Priests and Levites to command and enforce them to do it by special Covenants and Oaths sealed subscribed by the Princes and people Neh. 9.38 cap. 10.1 to the end and likewise by positive Ordinances
him and his people even to their destruction he thereupon summoning a General Council or Parliament at Winchester in which himself Beorredus King of Mercia and Edmund King of East-Angles with all the Prelates and Nobles of England were present did by their wholesom Counsel for redress of these evils by his Charter ratified in and by this Council give the Tenth part of all his own Lands in perpetuitie to God and his Servants free and exempt from all Secular services and also from all Royal Tributes and Taxes Great and Small and from all Military Expedition Building of Bridges and guarding of Castles that so they might the more diligently powr forth their prayers unto God for him without ceasing who had in some part thus eased them of their servitude from which Grant of his Sir Henry Spelman conceives the Parsonage-House Rectory and Glebes in every Parish of his Realm had their Original though afterwards increased by the munificence of the Patrons And this shall suffice touching the true Original and progresse of our Churches Rectories and Glebes in the beginning of Christianity both amongst the Britains and Saxons of this Realm The first Law I find yet extant amongst us for the due payment of all kind of Tithes in use and being as the Law imports before its promulgation was made in the National Council or Parliament at Calchuth in the year of our Lord 785. in the Reigns of King Oswald and King Offa who by the unanimous consent of all their Princes Nobles and Senators as well as Prelates present therein made this memorable Decree touching the payment of Tithes as a Right and Duty which they were bound to render to God himself by his own Sacred Law originally given to the Israelites which they deemed Obligatory likewise unto them Cap. 17. ut Decimae justè solvantur usura iniqua Pondera Mensurae prohibeantur Thou shalt bring the Tenth part of all thy Corn or increase into the House of the Lord thy God as it is written in the Law viz. Levit. 27.30 Numb 12.17 18 c. Deut. 12.17 18. chap. 14.22 23. Neh. 10.38 not in the Popish Canons Again by the PROPHET not Pope Mal. 3.10 c. Bring saith he all the Tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in my House and prove me now therewith if I will not open the Doors of Heaven and powr you out a Blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it And I will rebuke the Devourer for you which eats and corrupts the fruit of your grounds and the Vine shall be no more barren in the field saith the Lord. As the Wiseman saith in the Book of Wisdom not the Pope No man can give any just Alms of those things which he possesseth unlesse he shall first separate to the Lord that which from the beginning himself hath appointed to be rendred to him And by this for the most part it happens that he who payes not Tithes is reduced by Gods Justice to the Tenth part of his former Estate whereupon not by any Command from the Pope or by his Authority We Command even with an Obtestation that all be studious to give Tithes of all things they possâ—sse quia speciale Domini Dei est Because it is the peculiar portion of the LORD GOD and let him live himself and give Alms of the Nine parts and we perswade him rather to doe it in secret because it is written When thou givest Alms do not blow a Trumpet before thee Matt. 6.2 After which follow Laws against Usury False Weights and Measures for the faithfull performance of Vows and abolishing the very Reliques of all Pagan Rites warranted by the very words and Presidents of the sacred Scripture Which Decrees being recited in a publick Council before these Kings and all their Prelates Dukes Senators and the People of the Land Illi cum omni devotione mentis juxta possibilitatem virium suarum adjuvante superna clementia se in omnibus custodire devoverunt they with all Devotion of mind according to the uttermost of their power by the assistance of Gods Grace vowed that they would observe them in all things which they all did with an unanimous Voyce a chearfull minde and most ready Will ratifying this Council with the Subscriptions of their Names and the Sign of the Crâ—ssâ— the usual form of those times before Seals were in use This is the first Law I finde extant in our Realm for the due payment of Tithes grounded only on Divine precepts cited in it not on the Popes Decreeâ— True it is that Gregory Bishop of Ostia Legat to Pope Adrian an Englishman born was President in this Council and had a chiefhand in making these Laws by this Popes direction to whom he returned them but are they therefore Popish and Antichristian Laws which ought to be now abolished to gratifie the present Pope his Emissaries the Jesuits as made against Jesus Christ as John Canne most Magisterially determines if so then these and our other Laws then made against Vsury false Weights Measures which too many cheating Anabaptists use Heathenish Pagan Cusstoms must be Popish Antichristian too with the Law for performing our Vows Covenants to God and men with the very Scriptures cited in them wheron they are grounded which Impudency and Atheism it self dares not affirm If he say they are Jewish Laws then the Scriptures cited in them must be Jewish too yea the very Title and every page of hiâ— new Pamphlet must be rejected as Jewish as well as Jesuitish being Intituled and Superscribed in every page A Sâ—cond Voice from the Temple The Temple being Jewish and abolished as well as Tithes 1 Cor. 9.13 John 4.20 21. Which I wonder this blind Zealot against Judaism and Tithes had not Eyes to see or Brains to consider Now these our Predecessors and many others since obliging themselves both by Vows Laws and Covenants to pay Tithes of all to God and his Ministers as Gods peculiar Right and God himself not only enjoyning men in the Old Testament not to remove the antient Land-marks their Fathers have duly set Prov. 22.8 and to make good their Ancestors Oaths and Vows which oblige their Posterity as Gen. 50.24 25. Exod. 13.19 Josh 24.32 ch 2.12 to 22. chap. 6.21 to 26. chap. 9.15 to 27. chap. 10.1 to 12. 2 Sam. 21.1 to 15. 1 Sam. 20.14 15 16 17 23 42. chap. 23.8 chap. 24.21 2 Chron. 16.3 compared together resolve but likewise informing them in the new as a Gospel-Truth Gal. 3.15 That if it be but a mans Covenant if it be confirmed by many successive Laws Statutes Curses Excommunications denounced against the infringers thereof in all succeeding ages as this of Tithes and the Churches Rights and Liberties have been no man disannulleth it By what Authority Right Law Reason Justice Conscience or power from God or Men any presuming Mortals at the sollicitations of Anabaptists Iesuits Quakers or Atheistical wretches can
teacheth him in all good things To which I shall subjoyn 1 Cor. 9.11 If we have sowed unto you spiritual things is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things Rom. 15.25 And their Debtors they are for if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things All these three Gospel Texts resolve That Ministers of the Gospel have a just due and right to a competent comfortable share in all the goods things Temporal blessings and necessaries for the support of this life which the people instructed by them and receiving spiritual things from them enjoy And that the people are bound both by expresse precepts in the Gospel and by the rules of common moral equity and justice chearfully to communicate and minister such a fitting share of all their good things and temporal blessings as a debt and due unto them for their ministring to them in spiritual things which I fully proved in the first Proposition and Impudency it self cannot deny The sole question then is what this share or portion ought to be and who shall determine it in point of difference I confesse the Apostle doth not decide either of these in terminis these Texts being general all in the plural number All good things your carnal things comprising all such things out of which Tithes predial mixt or personal as Canonists and Lawyers distinguish them are or may be paid Wherefore every faithfull Christian every spiritual son of God and of faithfull Abraham whose footsteps presidents they are to follow in all doubtful cases admit this one to satisfie his conscience and judgement in this case must and will resort to the presidents of the Eminentest Saints in former ages and Gods own prescripts in other expresse Texts Where finding the very Father of the faithfull Abraham himself giving his Grandson Jacob vowing and God himself specially reserving prescribing the payment of a Tenth of all good things from and by his own people for the maintenance of his Priests and Levites under the Law which they cheerfully rendred until and in Christs own time that the very Pharisees and Scribes though Hypocrites were so just as to pay Tithes of all that Christ resolved they ought to do it and not leave it undone and that none before the Apostles dayes ever gave lesse than a Tenth part as the premises largely evidence he must and will necessarily conclude from all these sacred Directories precepts presidents that the ordinary constant standing portion and proportion of all his goods and carnal things here prescribed and intended by Gods Spirit is the tenth part and in extraordinary cases more when Gods glory the Ministers necessities the Defence or Propagation of the Gospel require it And when he shall further read in the Gospel it self that speech of Zacheus the converted Publican Luke 19.8 Behold Lord the Half of my Goods I give to the poor And how the first converted Christians and Jews in the Apostles dayes sold their Lands Houses and brought and laid the money at the Apostles feet Acts 4.5 His conscience which must not guide the Word and Spirit of God as most mens consciences do now but the Word and Spirit it and him too will and must from thence conclude that he must not give his faithful Minister lesse than a Tenth part of all and in cases of extraordinary necessity share even half his goods yea the price of all his Lands and Houses between the Ministers and poor Saints of God specially in times of persecution when as he ought to hide and feed them too as godly Obadiah did an hundred of the Lords Prophets in the dayes of Jezebel at his own charge with the hazard of hiâ— Office and Life 1 Kings 18.4.13 If any mans conscience in a setled Christian Realm State be so obstinate or froward as not to submit to the lowest proportion of a Tenth which all ages and most or all setled Christian Realms have unanimously agreed upon and confirmed by publike Edicts as well Civil as Ecclesiastical whereof there are neer thousands in print the Christian Kings and Magistrates are to determine all controversies of this nature and state the just proportion of this Debt and Duty between the Minister and people where it is not publikely decided and may justly enforce the due payment of it when and where it is determined by positive publick Laws as a just Debt as they do in all other civil Debts Duties Accompts in controversie before them as I shall prove in due place even by these very Texts though John Canne denies it in his VOX praeterea NIHIL p. 14. To these I shall subjoyn that noted Text in the 1 Cor. 9.13 14. which John Canne cites by piece-meal as the Devil did Scripture leaving out the principal branch Mat. 4.6 Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the Temple and they that wait at the altar are partakers with the altar Even so hath the Lord ordained this Canne omits that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel I have urged this Text before for proof of the first I shall here apply it only to the second Propositions confirmation as to Tithes 1. Then we have here A Divine Gospel Ordinance made by the Lord of Hosts himself not repealable by any Army or Powers on Earth as well as Parliamentary Ordinances for the Maintenance of the Preachers of the Gospel and let Canne the poorest Preacher of the Gospel I ever yet knew in England except one of his fraternity who heard him once preach an Assize and Fast Sermon too at Chard deny our Ministers to be able Preachers of the Gospel at the peril of his Soul though he denies them to be lawful Ministers of Christ and censures them as Antichristian and Popish But why so Because forsooth they had their Ordination from Rome and by consequence are TRAYTORS and FELONS too by the Statute of 27 Eliz. c. 2. for which they might be legally executed for Treason and Felony if the State were not pleased to interpret the Statute contrary as he conceives to the Letter and form of it the words whereof he both curtals and misrecites just as he did this Text p. 5. To doe him and his best friends a kindness vindicate the lawfulness of our Ministers calling against this ordinary slander and convince him of his grosse mistake I shall truly recite the Statute Thus intituled JESUITES and PRIESTS in England shall depart and NONE SHALL COME INTO THIS REALM If so then many Dippers Speakers Administrators Members in Anabaptistical Congregations many New-lights and Gifted-brethren in separate Congregations many Shakers Quakers Ranters Broachers of new Notions Errours Blasphemies throughout the Realm many new Politicians Levellers Agitators Soldiers in the Army if not some Officers all the late converted pretended Jews dipped in Anabaptistical Congregations discovered and known to be disguised Iesuites
Learned Gulielmus Stuckius Antiquitatum Convivalium l. 1. c. 19. De Decimis Stipendiis atque Salariis eorum qui Ecclesiis praesunt proves from the example of Abraham and vow of Jacob Consuetudinem Decimas dandi etiam ante legem fuisse usitatam Veresimile etiam est Ethnicos ab illis commemoratis exemplis tritum illud suum et usitatum praedae spoliarum et quicquid ab hostibus captum est Decimam Jovi caeterisque Diis vovendi solvendique morem traxisse cujus multa sane illustria exempla extant apud Alexand. ab Alex. l. 3. Genial c. 22. Then he shews how God prescribed them to the Levites and Priests that the payment of them continued in Christs time and was revived by Christian Emperors and Magistrates as Constantine Charles the Great Concluding thus Ut ergo impie agunt illi Magistratus qui bona Ecclesiae dicata ad se rapiunt vel ad alios usus transferunt ita Impii et Sacrilegi sunt privati Homines qui non modo nihil pro suis facultatibus conferunt ad Ministri Ecclesiastici et Scholarum conservationem sed Decimas et Census devitos jam antea Ecclesiae dicatos vel omnino non solvunt vel non ea qua par est fide c. Itaque mirum non est multa quotidie cum privata tum publica mala annonae praesertim caritatem ingruere Cum Decime aliâ—que Census ad Ecclesiarum Scholarumque conservationem pertinentes vel negantur vel maligne persolvantur For our own Domestick Councils Parliaments and Writers Judgements herein Egbert Archbishop of York in his Excerptions about the year of Christ An 750. c. 4.99 100. The National Council of Calchuth under King Oswald and Offa ann 787. c. 17. forecited The famous Council of Grateley under King Athelstan ann 928. cap. 1. De Decimis sollicite reddendis Odo Archbishop of Canterbury in his Constitutions ann 943. c. 10. De Decimis reddendis The Canons under King Edgar about the year 967. Can. 54. The Ecclesiastical laws of King Aethelred ann 1012. cap. 4. The Ecclesiastical laws of Edward the Confessor c. 8. confirmed by William the Conqueror The Popish Schoolmen Canonists and Commentators on the Texts forecited whose names I pretermit the Convocation of England an 5 H. 6. and the Petition of the English Clergy in Parliament 50 E. 3. rot Parl. n. 199. resolve in positive terms That Tithes are due to God and his Ministers under the Gospel by Divine Right The same is asserted by divers of our Protestant Divines particularly by Dr. George Carleton in his Treatise intituled Tithes proved to be due by a Divine Right printed at London 1606. By Dr. William Sclater his Ministers Portion By Richard Eburne his Maintenance of the Ministry London 1609. By Richard Mountague in his Diatribe on the first part of the History of Tithes London 1628. by Robert Tileslee his Animadversions on Mr. Seldens History of Tithes London 1619. Mr. Samuel Purchas in his Pilgrimage l. 2. c. 7. with sundry others And though one or two English Writers are of a different opinion yet they all accord that being setled by our laws they are duely to be paid even in point of justice and conscience that they are not simply unlawfull but a just and fitting maintenance under the Gospel which Mr. Selden in his History of Tithes Review thereof doth affirm and no wayes oppose Seeing then all these with the laws of sundry other Kings Nations and Authorities of all sorts conclude them to be of Divine Right and conclude it both a grievous Sinne and Sacrilege against God to substract or abolish them and those who oppugn their Divine Right under the Gospel do affirm it is no sin but a bounden Debt and Duty to pay them as settled by humane Grants Donations Vows Laws Canons Constitutions Prescriptions time out of minde how any bearing the name of Christians can or dare with open face oppugn detain or attempt their total abrogation now as Jewish or Antichristian I referre it to their own consciences and others resolutions to determine I shall answer one grand Objection against Ministers Tithes under the Gospel and so cloze up this Chapter Neither Jesus Christ himself nor his Apostles nor the Ministers of the Primitive Church for two or three hundred years after them received Tithes for preaching the Gospel but lived onely upon the peoples alms and voluntary contributions Therefore the Ministers of the Gospel likewise after them ought to receive no Tithes of the people for preaching the Gospel but to live upon Alms and voluntary contributions as they did This was William Thorps chief Argument against Tithes Fox Acts and Monuments vol. 1. p. 699 700. who addes That those Priests who will challenge or take Tithes deny that Christ is come in the flesh and do the Priests Office of the Old Law for whom Tithes were granted for else Priests take now Tithes wrongfully citing this not as his own but a Doctors opinion whose name he remembred not but thought it was St. Jerome or rather St. Canne in his New Voyce p. 13 14 15. who delivers this for Orthodox Doctrine which St. Jerome directly contradicts with all other antient Doctors I have read Answ To this I reply 1. That Christ and his Apostles lived amongst the Jews who at that time were obliged by Gods own Law to pay their Tithes only to such Priests and Levites as were of the Tribe of Levi of which Tribe Christ and his Apostles were not therefore they challenged not Tithes from them Heb. 7.5 to 15. 2. They then paid their Tithes duly to their Priests and Levites mentioned John 1.19 for which Christ commended them resolving they ought not to omit it Mat. 23.23 Luke 11.42 ch 18.12 Therefore it was no reason they should pay them over again to Christ or his Apostles no more than Papists who pay Tithes in kind against their wills unto our Ministers though not to their own Priests but only voluntary Contributions whiles their Priesthood stood in force which they generally submitted to 3. The total abrogation of the Levitical Priesthood and Ceremonies by the death of Christ was not certainly known to nor resolved by the Apostles and believing Jews or Gentiles till some years space after our Saviours Ascension as is evident by Acts 15. in the great case of Circumcision about which there was a Synod assembled by Pauls circumcising Timothy after this because of the Jews Acts 16.3 his purifying himself and shaving his head after the Jewish manner many years afterward Acts 21.20 to 28. which he being a Jew was obliged even then to observe to avoid scandal but not the Gentiles Therefore Tithes amongst the Jewes upon this account were then still paid to their Levitical Priests not to the Apostles 4. Though Christ whiles on earth received no Tithes from the Jewes yet he had a just Right Title to Tithes from Abraham and all his Posterity yea from the
Levitical Priests themselves especially after their abolition as he was a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck to whom Abraham himself and the Levites then in his loins paid Tithes of all Heb. 7.1 to 15. of which at large before Therefore he had a just Right to receive Tithes from them both before the institution and after the abolition of the Levitical Priesthood which he might have lawfully claimed exercised and his Apostles likewise in his Right though they did it not We read that Christ had a just Right Title by Inheritance and lineal descent from his Father King David to the Temporal Crown and Kingdome of Judah being therefore said by the Wise men Mat. 2.2 to be born King of the Iews an unanswerable Argument for the lawfullnesse Excellency of Hereditary Titles to Crowns and Kingdomes before that of Election only wherewith I frequently silenced vapouring Souldiers against Hereditary Kingship being the very Title of Christ himself both to his Spiritual and Temporal Kingdome and that which God instituted amongst his Church people as the best surest of all other taken up by most Heathen Nations Now though Christ neither claimed nor exercised this his Temporal Right but avoided it when the people would have made him King by force John 6.15 who yet after cryed him up for the King of Israel John 12.13 15. which even Pilate himself acknowledged when he said unto the Jews Behold your King demanded of them Shall I crucifie your King and wrote fixed this Title on his Crosse Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iews John 19.14 15 19. will or can John Canne or any other of his antimonarchical confederates hence justly infer that it was unlawfull for Christ himself Right Heir by Descent to his Hereditary Temporal Kingdome kept and thrust out thereof by usurping Herod who murthered all the infants in Bethlehem and the Coasts thereof that were two years old and under and would have murthered our Saviour himself to secure his own usurped Power Mat. 2.13 16. such is the bloody cruelty Jealousie of Usurpers to have claimed or exercised this his just Hereditary Right to the Crown or unlawfull for the people to have thrust out this bloody Intruder Herod by force from his usurped Authority and made Christ King as they intended or because Christ did then voluntarily forbear relinquish his Temporal Right to Herod will it thence necessarily follow that it is therefore unlawfull for any other Hereditary Christian King or Right Heir to a Crown kept from or thrust out of his Throne Kingdome by armed violence against the generality of his peoples desires by any aspiring usurping Herod to lay claim to his Crown Kingdome or for the faithfull natural born Subjects according to their duty Oathes Allegiance to endeavour by all lawfull means and open force to expell dethrone such Herods and Crown set up their lawfull Soveraign on the Throne of the Kingdome Doubtlesse they cannot be so absurdly stupid to affirm it seeing Jehoiadah the high Priest the Captains of Hundreds Levites Souldiers and people too thrust out and slew with the sword Athaliah the bloody Usurper of the Kingdome and Throne of Judah in the second year of her Usurpation crowned Joash the Kings Son King as the Lord had said of the Sons of David and set him upon the Throne of the Kingdome whereupon all the people of the Land rejoyced and the City was quiet as is recorded at large to their eternal Honour by God himself and for others imitation in the like case 2 Chron. 23. and 2 Kings 11. The rather because all other men by our Laws may justly lay claim to and repossesse themselves of such Lands Houses Goods as others forcibly detain or take from them against all Law Right notwithstanding Christs Non-claim to his Rightful Crown Therefore by the self-same Reason our Ministers of the Gospel now may lawfully challenge and take Tithes from the people though Christ and his Apostles did it not albeit they had a just Right and Title to them which they might have exercised had they pleased without Sin or Judaism as our Ministers do now as Paul resolves in 1 Cor. 9.4 5 6 15 18. To clear which Right from Judaism and all other cavils beyond all contradiction I shall cite only two Prophecies relating joyntly to Christs Kingdom and Ministers under the Gospel The first is Jer. 33.15 to the end In those dayes and at that time will I cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up unto David and he shall execute Righteousnesse and Judgement in the Land In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely and this is the name wherewith he shall be called The Lord our Righteousness For thus saith the Lord David shall never want a man to sit upon the Throne of the house of Israel Neither shall the Priests the Levites want a man before me to offer Burnt-Offerings and to kindle Meat-Offerings and to do Sacrifices continually Thus saith the Lord if you can break my Covenant of the day and my Covenant of the night so that there should not be day and night in their season then may also my Covenant be broken with David my Servant that he should not have a Son to reign upon his Throne therefore our Covenants Oaths to our Kings their Heirs and Successors should be as stable as inviolable and strictly observed as Gods to David and his Posterity Ps 89.3 4 34. Ps 132.11 12. Hebr. 6.17 18. Ps 15.4 Eccles 8.2 Gal. 3.15 17. and with the Levites the Priests my Ministers As the host of heaven cannot be numbred neither the sand of the Sea measured so will I multiply the seed of David my Servant and the Levites that minister unto me c. The second is Isa 66.18 to 20. I will gather all nations and tongues and they shall come and see my Glory and I will set a Sign among them and I will send those that escape of them unto the Nations and to Tarshish c. and to the Isles afar off whereof England is chief and principally intended And they shall bring all your Brethren for an Offering unto the Lord out of all Nations upon Horses and in Chariots and in Litters and upon Mules and upon swift Beasts to my holy Mountain in Jerusalem saith the Lord as the Children of Israel bring an Offering in a clean Vessel unto the House of the Lord And I will also take of them for Priests and for Levits saith the Lord From which Texts I shall observe 1. That as Christs Title to his everlasting Spiritual Kingdom under the Gospel over all the converted Gentiles as well as Jews is expresly set forth to be neither elective nor by conquest but by DESCENT HEIRSHIP and lineal succession after the flesh from King David Whence he is stiled Heir of all things Heb. 1.12 And the Lord shall give unto him THE THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID and HE shall reign over the House of
and his Priests and Ministers in and by him by his special Donation and Institution not mans for the constant support of his continual publick worship and that by a Divine Right God in those things which are direct points of Piety and necessary appurtenances for his solemn worship such as are Tithes for his Priests and Ministers competent standing maintenance in all Ages places and weekly times for his worship never leaving men free to their own wills inventions or arbitrary pleasures no more than Land-lords their Tenants or Kings their Subjects but confining them to a certainty himself by his word as well as he doth it in all parts and duties of his worship That Abraham knew this Divine Right of God to Tithes when he paid Tithes of all to Melchisedec not arbitrarily but of due right by vertue of some Divine Precept else Melchisedec had been inferiour to Levi who received Tithes from his Brethren by a Divine Law and Command Hebr. 7.4 5 6 c. he receiving this Precept of paying Tithes by Tradition from Heber who learned it of Sem who was so taught of his Father Noah he by succession RECEIVING IT FROM ADAM who as he was wrought and fashioned by God so was he herein taught and instructed by God And therefore not only amongst the Sons of God such as called rightly upon the name of the Lord but even amongst the Giants of the Daughters of Men worshipping invented Gods by themselves and dedicating their TITHES unto them as the Premises evidence THERE NEVER WAS NUMBER THAT DID INTRUDE UPON THE TENTH MUCH LESSE SHOULDER IT OUT OF DOORS This Number of TEN writes Philo the learned Jew that most sacred Writer Moses hath not a little commended because the best Duties of Man are by him couched under that number as God TEN COMMANDEMENTS Vows Prayers First-Fruits perpetual Offerings pardoning Debts and reducing all things unto their First estate every Fiftieth year of Jubilee made up of Tenths the Fur niture of the Tabernacle with a thousand such like in the old Testament besides other things of like nature expressed under this Number of TEN in the New by which we may know that TEN IS THE NVMBER OF PERFECTION as â—ivers style it and hath near affinity with God in sacred things That from Gods own Original Reservation of TENTHS to himself and his Ministers this number became sacred and universal afterwards in all publick civil Taxes Dues reserved to Kings and Supream Magistrates For the First-born and chief of the Family from Adam till the Levitical Priesthood instituted being for the most part King as well as Priest thereof as Melchisedec who received Tithes of Abraham was Gen. 14.18 Heb. 7.1 2. when these two Offices came afterwards to be centred and settled in two distinct persons thereupon the antient TENTHS reserved by God and assigned to his Priests and Ministers in perpetuity for their subsistence and maintenance of his publick worship from the Creation to the end of the world by a Divine Law which no humane powers could repeal both amongst Gods own people and most Heathens Nations were appropriated to and received only by the Priests and Ministers though divested of the Royal dignity and a NEW TENTH by way of Tribute Tax Custome or Subsidy amounting commonly to the Tenth part of the people 's tithed increase and estates in all Kingdomes and Republiks was by Common consent imposed on and reserved received by Emperors Kings Princes and Supreme Magistrates from the people for their support defraying the charges of the Government and their peoples necessary defence upon all occasions Hence Tributes Taxes Customes and publick impositions were usually called TENTHS as well as Ministers Tithes both amongst Gods own people 1 Sam. 8.15 17. amounting To the tenth of their estates and increase as also amongst the antient Romans Grecians and most other Pagan Nations of old as Mr. Mountague proves at large in his Diatribae c. 3. by sundry Authors as they were anciently and at this day so stiled both amongst the Turks Moors Spaniards Germans Italians French Danes Swedes Poles Scots Irish and most other Pagan and Christian Nations at this day especially in England as you may read at large in Rastals Abridgments of Statutes Title Taxes and Tenthes Brooks Abridgement and Ashes Tables Title Quinzime Disme Tax and Tallage and our Parliament Records And from this number of Ten their Officers as well of State as Religion were usually stiled Decemviri Decuriones Decumani Decani Decadarchae Decatutae Decatologi Decatorii and the like our Names of Offices of Deans Tithingmen Collectors of Tenths c. proceeding from the self-same Number Sacred every way even amongst Pagan Nations both in their Duties of Piety and Policy by constant tradition they knew not why nor wherefore and likewise amongst Gods people upon the premised grounds Hence Doctor Tillesley thus concludes in his Epistle to King James before his Animadversions on Mr. Seldens History Surely the Number Tenth or Tithe is Sacred and very Mystical and communicated only to consecrated or Sacred persons That are Gods Vicars upon earth that is Kings and Priests Decima Regis et Decima Sacerdotis who both stand in Gods place and receive this Portion as Gods upon earth From all which premises Mr. Mountague Dr. Carlton Dr. Tillesley Dr. Sclater and others conclude and let our Army Officers New Legifers and all Tithe-oppugners consider it That the Ministers of the Gospel now as well as Gods Priests heretofore have an eternal Right to Ecclesiastical Tithes by Gods own unalterable Institution and none else any Right at all unto them but they From which Right no man nor all men can deprive or debar them by any pretended Right Prescription Modus Decimandi Custome Vsage Law Statute or appointment of any other maintenance in lieu thereof as more just equal and convenient 6. Tithes being originally due and paid to Jesus Christ himself God over all blessed for ever yea specially reserved by appropriated consecrated to our Lord God as his peculiar Holy Portion Tribute Rent Right Inheritance Homage from the sonnes of men for the constant maintenance of his publick Worship and support of his Priests and Ministers attending thereon to the end of the world Lev. 27.30 32. Numb 18.24 26 28 29. Mal 3.8 9. Heb 7 2 to 10. 1 Cor. 9.4 to 15. and thereupon being usually stiled both by Fathers Councils Popes Decretals Princes Edicts and Christian Writers in all Ages Dominica substantia Res Dominicae Dei census Dei debitum c. Non ab hominibus sed ab ipso Deo institutae quas Deus in Signum universalis Dominii Sibi reddi praecepit suas esse Decimas asseverans c. The constant payment of them to Ministers under the Gospel is not only warranted commanded by the equity and words of the 1 2 4 5 8. Commandements of the Decalogue therefore far from being a Sin against the 2 d. Commandement as
or to Confiscation of Goods or to Imprisonment And lest any should deem this a Tyrannical Oppressing Edict Ezra himself subjoyns in the very next words v. 27. Blessed be the Lord of our Fathers who hath put such a thing as this is in the Kings heart Which Law if now put into due execution would send Canne and most of his Confederates here packing back again to Amsterdam or some Gibbet or Prison and strip them of the Goods they have got by the warres and troubles of the time 4ly We have King Darius his Decree for repairing Gods House and furnishing the Priests there with all necessaries they required which thus concludes with a most severe penaltie against the wilfull Disobeyers of it Ezra 6.11 Also I have made a Dâ—cree That whosoever shall alter this word â—et Timber be pulled down from his House and being set up Let him be hanged thereon and his House be made a Dunghill for this Hâ—w many now Giâ—beâ—s should we now have throughout England and how many new-purchased Houses by those who had noâ—e of lâ—te would be made Dungheaps if this rigid Law were now put in are Which may stop the clamorous mouths of such who cry out against Laws and Ordinances for Tithes prescribing more moderate penalties Object But all this is but Old Testament will many now object what can you allege for your Propositions pâ—â—â—f out of the Gospel Answ To stop their mouths I answer 1. That the Gospel expresly commands all living under it To render to all their Dues Therefore to Ministers to whom I have proved Tithes and other setled maintenance to be a just Due and Debt to owe nothing to any Man Rom. 13.7 8. Therefore not to Ministers But what if bold atheistical obstinate or covetous Wretches will not pay these Dues to their Ministers doth the Gospel allow Magistrates and higher Powers to compel them to it Yes in the very antecedent words v. 4 5. If thou do that which is evil as the defrauding denying detaining of the Ministers as well as the Magistrates or any others Due Debts and Salaries is a doing of evil prohibited by the forecited words and many other Texts elsewhere insisted on be afraid for he beareth not the Sword in vain as he should do might he compell none by it to their duties For he is the Minister of God even a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil Wherefore ye must needs be subject in yielding to their commanding Laws and Ordinances for Tithes and Ministers Dues as well as others edged with coercive Penalties not only for wrath that is for fear of the Penalties which else fall upon you for your disobedience exasperate the Higher Powers and Civil Magistrate to execute wrath upon you but even for conscience sake which should more prevail with men than wrath and Penalties though our Tithe-detainers now are grown so atheistically impudent as to alledge conscience for not rendring them and robbing God himself of them Mal. 3.8 as well as his Ministers 2ly The Holy Ghost by the Apostle Peter thus seconds his former precept by Paul 1 Pet. 2.13 14. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether to the King as Supream or unto Governours who have made many Lawes and Ordinances for payment of our Ministers Tithes and Duties Yea but say our sturdy armed and unarmed Tithe-detainers now What if we will not do it as we are resolved notwithstanding all such Laws and Ordinances What Are you resolved to disobey and contemn Gods Gospel Laws and Ordinances as well as Mans Where is your Religion your Saintship you so much boast of Will you provoke the Lord himself to wrath are you stronger than he I presume not Therefore the Apostle subjoins That these Kings and Governours are sent by him for the Punishment of Evil doers And such are all those who detain the Ministers established Dues who are not only Theeves and Robbers of God in the Old Testaments language Mal. 3 8. but committers of Sacrilege Rom. 2.20 Thou that abhorrest Idols as many Tithe-oppugners pretend they do Dost thou commit Sacrilege and Church Robberie Acts 19.37 in the New Testaments and meer Heathens Dialect who fall under the just punishment of Kings and Governours whom God will bear out in the just punishment of such evil doers or else punish them himself in a more severe manner if the Armed sonnes of Zerviah be too hard for David and It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who even under the Gospel is a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 and hath proved so to many Tithe-oppugners very lately both in consuming their Houses and personal Estate as well by real fire as by inflicting Spiritual judgements on their souls 3ly Our Saviours own words recorded in the Gospel are direct in point Luke 12.57 58 59. Mat. 5.25 And why even of your selves judge ye not what is right in paying your just Dues and Debts to all you owe them without sute or coercion as the next words literally import When thou goest with thine adversary to the Magistrate as thou art in the way give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him lest he hale thee to the judge and the Iudge deliver thee to the Officer and the Officer cast thee into prison Verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing or very last mite Here is a Gospel resolution of our Saviour in two Evangelists ratified with a verily I say unto thee That all those who will not pay their Ministers Tithes and Dues as well as other mens Debts may be lawfully brought and haled perforce before the Magistrate and by the Magistrate and Judge condemned in double Dammages cast into Prison and not suffered to come out thence till he have paid the utmost farthing not only of his detained Tithes and Dues but of his sine forfeiture and costs of sute prescribed by our Laws And let all our Swordmen and other oppugners of our coercive Laws against detainers of Ministers Tithes and Dues give our Saviour himself the Title of a Tyrant and Oppressor a Lyar if they dare and that such proceedings are not sufferable under the Gospel 4ly There is nothing so free and voluntary in the world that I know as Almes and Charity to poor distressed Saints and Christians Yet the Gospel accompts this a due Debt and all able to give them Debtors Rom. 15.27 And if any refuse to render them out of their Hard-heartedness and want of Charity the Christian Magistrates under the Gospel may not only rate and assesse them according to their Estates towards the Poors relief as they do in all Christian Republicks and Realms but by Distresses sale of Goods and other coercive wayes compel them to render them and that both by the Common law of England and the Statutes of 22 H. 8. c. 12. 27 H. 8. c. 25. 1 Edw.
setting out Predial Tithes truly justly and without fraud or guile as hath of right been yielded and paid made not by Papists but our most religious first Protestant Parliament and King upon the beginning of Reformation and when Popery was ejected is 2 E. 6. c. 13. intituled AN ACT FOR THE TRUE PAYMENT OF TITHES under pain of forfeiting the treble value c. recoverable by an ACTION OF DEBT c. at the Common law What judgements have been given upon these Statutes in our Kings Courts from time to time you may read in Brook Fitzherbert and the Year-books in Ashes Tables Title DISMES and in Sir Edward Cooks 2 Institutes p. 639 to 662. To these I might subjoyn the late Ordinances of the last Parliament of 17 Caroli concerning Tithes and Augmentations of Ministers Livings like to end not only in the Diminution but total Annihilation and Substraction both of their Augmentations antient Glebes Tithes Dues The Constitutions of our Clergy in their Convocations under our Kings recorded in Lindwood John de Aton Willielmus de Burgo and others prescribing the due payment of Tithes under pain of Excommunication and other Ecclesiastical censures as likewise the Resolution of our Judges concerning the Right of Tithes and that no Lay-man by our Laws can prescribe to be exempted from payment of Tithes or lay any original claim unto them with the Laws of forein Kingdoms as well Civil as Ecclesiastical for the due payment of Tithes whereof you may find store in Fredericus Lindebrogus Codex Legum Antiquarum p. 674 675 703 c. Capitularia Caroli Magni Ludovici in Brochellus Decret Ecclesiae Gallicanae l. 6. tit 8. De Decimis in Binius Surius and others in their Collections of Councils But for brevity sake I shall cite only the Constitution of the Emperour Frederick for the payment of Tithes in the Kingdom of Sicilia which is short and very pertinent Constitutionum Sicularum l. 1. tit 7. Lex 1. which runs thus Quantò caeteris terrae Principibus munifica dextra Salvatoris in Temporalibus Nos praefecit tantò saltem Iuris naturalis instinctu ad antedicta strictius obligamur cum etiam veritate dicente cui amplius creditur amplius exigatur Quod in nostrae mentis intrinseca meditatione solicita revolventes illud etiam attendentes ☞ Quod divino Decimarum quarum Debitum ex utriusque Testamenti Tabulis confirmatur Let all Tith-Oppugners observe it tanti in Ecclesia Dei petidatior redditur quaniò Decimalis obligatio de bonis hominum A DAMNO REPUTATUR Officialibus nostris universis singulis praesentis Legis auctoritate Mandamus ut DECIMAS INTEGRAS prout Regis Gulielmi tempore praedecessoris nostri vel ab Antecessoribus Officialibus Bavilis exolutae fuerint locorum Praelatis exolvere absque omni difficultate procurent Nos enim qui favente Domino inter homines sumus in praeminenti culmine constituti quantum sine injuria Regalium possumus tollerare ECCLESIARUM JURA praesertim earum quae in Regno consistum Quas sub Protectione nostra accepimus et habemus in nullo diminuere volumus sed augere Subjectis etiam nostris indicimus ut Decimas quas de bladis et donis suis Antecessores eorum praedicti Regis Gulielmi tempore praestituerunt venerabilibus locis Quibus Decimae istae debentur cum integritate persolvant To which I shall only adde That Stephen King of Hungaria under whom that Kingdom was first totally converted to the Christian Faith as he built and endowed many magnificent Churches for Gods worship at his own cost so he enacted this good Law for the payment of Tithes That he who refused to pay his Tithes should forfeit the 9. parts to the Minister and he who should steal the Tithes should be reputed a Thief Si cui Deus Decem dederit in Anno DECIMAM DEO DET Et si quis Decimam suam abscondit NOVEM SOLVAT Et si quis DECIMATIONEM Episcopo separatam furatus fuerit DIJUDICETUR UT FUR ac hujusmodi compositio tota pertineat ad Episcopum And. c. 1. De Statu Ecclesiastico veneratione Domus Dei He enacted this good Law against the Invasion and Alienation of the Churches possessions about the year of Christ 1000. Quisquis fastu superbiae elatus Domum Dei ducit contemptibilem possessiones Deo consecratas atque ad honorem Dei sub Regia immunitatis defensione constitutas inhoneste tractarit vel infringere praesumpserit Quast invasor et violator Domus Dei excommunicetur Decet enim ut indignationem ipsius Dom. Regis sentiat cujus benevolentiae contemptor constitutionis praevaricator existit Nihilominus tamen Rex suae concessionis immunitatem ab hominibus ditioni suae subjectis illaesam conservari praecipiat assensum vero non praebeat improvide affirmantibus non â—ebere esse res Dominicas id est Domino Dominantium traditas Itaque sub defensione Regis sit et sicuti suae propriae haereditati magisque advertat Quia quaniò Deus excellentior est hominibus tanto praestantior est Divina causa mortalium possessione Quocirca decipitur quisquis plus in propriis quam in Dominicis rebus gloriatur Quarum Defensor et Custos divinitatis Constitutiones diligenti cura non solum eas servare sed etiam multiplicare debet Si quis igitur insanus importunitate illa quae diximus praestantiora quà m sua defendere oportet augmentare Si quis igitur insanus importunitate improbitateque sua Regem a recto proposito pervertere tentaverit nullisque remediis mitigari posse visus fuerit licet obsequiis aliquibus transitoriis sit necessarius abscindendus ab eo projiciendusque est juxta illud Evangelium Si pes manus aut occulus tuus scandiliâ—atâ—te erue eum projice abs te Since then Christian Emperors Kings Princes in Forein parts and our own Kings and Parliaments in and by all the forecited Laws and Statutes yet in force have established Tithes and other Duties on our Clergy and Ministers of the Gospel and thus publickly branded the negligent or wilfull detainerâ— sustractors of this just Debt and Duty prescribed by our Laws with Warrant from the Old and New Testament for evil disposed persons not regarding their duty to Almighty God which therefore none who claim their Power from or for God should now regard or countenance in the least degree enforcing them by actions at Law Imprisonment payment of treble Dammages excommunications and the like coercive wayes to render to them Tithes at last to their loss Why Christian Magistrates should not still enforce the obstinate detainers of Ministers Tithes and defrauders of them in their just Dues and merited rewards for their Ministery as hath been formerly practised in all ages and places too Let all Anti-tithers who would be Lawless as well as Titheless and Godless resolve me when they can and if they deem themselves above
then in England to advance their own power profit 2ly It is evident by Rob. Parsons and other Jesuites old Project for Reformation of England when they should get power in it To take away all Lands Manors Benefices and setled Maintenance of the Church from the English Clergy and Universities and make all Ministers and Scholars mere Pensioners and Stipendiaries at their pleasure◠set up Itinerary Preachers fixed to no particular Church like our wandring Quakers Anabaptists Sectaries of late instead of Parochial Pastors of which more anon 3ly Alfonsus de Vargas Toletanus in his Relatio ad Reges Principes Christianos De Stratagematis Politicis Societatis Jesu ad Monarchiam Orbis terrarum sibi conficiendam printed 1641. cap. 40 to 51. proves at large out of the Jesuites own printed Defence and other Writings That these new Doctors of no Conscience no Faith no honesty or shame have perswaded the Emperour and other Kings against their Oaths Trusts Duties Charters the Law of Nations and all Divine and Human Laws that it was lawfull for them upon a pretext of Necessity for the ease of the people and Maintenance of their Wars Souldiers to alienate the Lands Revenues Maintenance of Abbies Religious men and of the Church upon Souldiers for the defence of their Bodies and of the Church that so themselves might gain a share of them for the advantage of their own Societies contrary to the wills intentions of the first Donors and Founders Whereupon he thus justly jeers them cap. 46. p. 222. That the institution of the Jesuites Society peculiarly tends to this that their Colleges should be instituted and Society maintained out of the ruines of the Church and rapines of other mens Goods à quibus Societatis Institutor et Conditor Ignatius cum etiamnum ad legionem bellator esset minime alienus fuisse nec a solita Militum rapacitate quicquam demutasse sine ulla ejus contumelia creditur etsi autem Militiam mutavit ac simul cum Sociorum ne dicam furum manipulo Christo Imperatori Sacramentum dixit non propterea rapinam omnem ejerare necesse habuit c. he remaining a PLUNDERER still after he became a SAINT Seeing the Prophe◠Isay seemeth thus to prophecy both of his Rapine and Wound in his halting Legg cap. 33. Tunc dividentur Spolia multarum praedarum Claudi diripient rapinam Therefore no wonder this Spirit of Rapine continues in his Disciples who doubtlesse have infused the self-same Spirit of Rapine into our Anabaptists and Souldiers into whose Societies they have secretly insinuated themselves somenting and intending to lengthen out our wars so long of purpose to make a prey of our remaining Church-Revenues Rectories Tithes and College lands too at last as they have done of other Church-Revenues already dissipated out of a pretext of Necessity as is most transparant to all Intelligent peoples eyes thereby to destroy our Religion by devouring our Ministers Churches Patrimonies the probable if not inevitable consequence of this Jesuitical project if effected as is most apparent by this notable passage of Roderyck Mors formerly a Grey Fryer in his Complaint and Supplication to the Parliament of England about 37 H. 8. after the Dissolution of Monasteries pertinent to my purpose and as worthy consideration now as then Ye that be Lords and Burgesses of the Parliament House writes he I require of you in the name of my poor Brethren that are Englishmen and Members of Christs Body that ye consider well as ye will answer before the face of Almighty God in the day of judgement this abuse and see it amended When Antichrist of Rome durst openly without any visor walk up and down thorowout England he had so great favour there and his Children had such crafty wits for the Children of this World are wiser in their Generation than the Children of Light they had not only almost gotten all the best Lands of England into their hands but also most part of the best Benefices both of Parsonages and Vicarages which were for the most part all improved to them And when they had the gifts of any not improved they gave them unto their Friends of the which alwaies some were learned for the Monks found of their Friends Children at School And though they were not learned yet they kept Hospitality and helped their poor Friends And if the Parsonages were impropred the Monks were bound to deal Almesse to the poor and to keep Hospitality as the writings of the Gifts of such Parsonages and Lands do plainly declare in these words In puram Eleemosynam And as touching the Almesse that they dealt and the Hospitality that they kept every man knoweth that many thousands were well relieved of them and might have been better if they had not had so many great Mens Horse to feed and had not been over-charged with such idle Gentlemen as were never out of the Abbies And if they had any Vicarage in their hands they set in some time some sufficient Vicar though it were but seldom to preach and to teach But now that all the Abbies with their Lands Goods and impropred Parsonages be in temporal mens hands I do not hear tell that one half peny worth of Alms or any other profit cometh unto the people of those Parishes Your pretence of putting down Abbies was to amend that was amiss in them It was far amiss that a great part of the Lands of the Abbies which were given to bring up learnned men that might be Preachers to keep Hospitality and give Alms to the poor should be spent upon a few Superstitious Monks which gave not XL. pound in Alms when they should have given CC. It was amiss that the Monks should have Parsonages in their hands and deal but the XX. part thereof to the poor and preached but once in a year to them that paid the Tithes of Parsonages It was amiss that they scarcely among XX set not one sufficient Vicar to preach for the Tithes that they received But see now how it that was amiss is amended for all the Pretence It is amended even as the Devil amended his Dams Leg as it is in the Proverb when he should have set it right he brake it quite in pieces The Monks gave too little Alms and set unable Persons many times in their Benefices But now where xx pound was yearly given to the poor in more than C. places in England is not one meals meat given This is a fair Amendment Where they had alwaies one or other Vicar that either preached or hired some to preach Now is there no Vicar at all but the Farmor is Vicar and Parson altogether and only an old cast away Monk or Frier which can scarcely say his Mattins is hired for xx or xxx shillings Meat and Drink yea in some places for Meat and Drink alone without any wages I know and not I alone but xx M. mo know more than D. we may now adde 5000. Vicarages