Selected quad for the lemma: end_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	law_n	priesthood_n	tithe_n	1,449	5	10.7437	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95679	Gainsayer convinced: or, An answer to a certain scandalous paper, subscribed and sent by certain seduced and seditious people to a minister in the countrey: in which the calling of the ministry of the Church of England, the nature of a visible church, the power of the magistrate under the gospel, the right of tithes, with many other points now in controversie, are briefly, fully and plainly cleared, to the satisfaction of those that are wavering; also much of the spirit and many of the errours of the Anabaptists of these daies (who call themselves saints) discovered and confuted. / By T.T. Preacher of the word at Kemble in Wiltshire.	Thache, Thomas, b. 1616 or 17.	1649 (1649)	Wing T827; Thomason E568_1; ESTC R206240	79,821	83

you Again when or where or which of us have you known to be Beagles to our Reverend Patrons as you call them the Bishops where have we faced about and turn'd again as we were or whom amongst us can you prove to have taken the Bishops Oath with caetera we are able to make your falshood and slanders in this appear to the world that in this County of Gloucester it was generally opposed and refused how base then are these accusations Again whom of us have you known to have layen at the Ale-house three dayes in a week blush for shame Did you know what you did when you were led by the nose to set your hands to such an heap of lyes together which are all from the father of lyes and any one of which we challenge you and all the world to make good against us if you can Does it become the Saints to do such things as these are Me thinks here be fit grounds for you to be ashamed and confounded in your selves Paper In the next place you tell us that certainly if you should see the downfall of our means you should see the downfall of our Ministery that being the grand prop thereof And therefore rather then we will trust God for our maintenance we will take nay force the legall maintenance of Tithes from the people c. Ans I answer First we know that the downfall of our Ministery is that which you look and long and gape after that so you may run on without controul in your villanies But me thinks if you were not wilfully ignorant you might know that Tithes are not the grand prop of our Ministery 'T is a promise of Christ that is the prop of it And that is such a prop that the gates of hell shall never prevail against it he hath promised to be with our Ministery and us in our Ministery to the end of the world And therefore you are not like to see the downfall of it so soon as you think for except you have a revelation as one of your grand Prophets lately had that the end of the world will be very soon your hope in this therefore is but as the hope of the wicked which shall perish and be as a spiders webb If the Lord strip us of that which you call legall maintenance if he bring us to a morsell of bread yea down to sackcloth and ashes yet I doubt not but you shall finde that we shall trust God so farre for our maintenance that while we live we shall preach the Gospel And while we do preach the Gospel we doubt not but we shall live by the Gospel and if our maintenance be in that way which you call legall we shall not desire to keep it if we be not able to justifie it to honester men yea better wits then yours to be lawfull yea under the Gospel And that in the next place I shall undertake to shew you by removing all those silly and ridiculous objections which you in your Paper have layed in against it Paper First you say 't was a legall maintenance 2ly that 't was only given to the Priests under the Law for their service 3ly that 't was given to them as one of the ten Tribes which they took onely of their brethren and that not by compulsion but you say there is no equalitie that our Priests should have it First because they are not the hundredth part of the people 2ly because they have inheritance among their brethren 3ly you say the Priests of the Law had but the 10 th of the increase ours of mens labours 4ly the Priests of the Law were not so covetous as ours be 5ly you say Christ having put an end to the Priesthood hath also changed the Law which you say is Tithes here you urge Hebr. 7. 12. Hence you do farther inferre that to take Tithes under the Gospel is abominable heresie and a denying of Christ come in the flesh 6ly you say you may see God blasting them in our posterity for they generally come to nothing but are miserable Lastly that in this we are Jewish and may be call'd Jews Ans For Answer First whereas you say 't is legall maintenance this is just as you call repentance humilitie obedience and all duties legall graces and duties We need not value such a brand set upon the office or Ministery or maintenance of the ministery of the Gospel when the very graces of the Gospel suffer by you and your companions under the same reproach But to answer you 'T is legall maintenance say you how legall I beleeve your meaning in this is that which you speak more plainly in the 2d as it was paid onely to Priests under the Law therfore legall if this be your meaning as it can be no other here I shall presently shew you your grosse ignorance Were Tithes paid onely to Priests under the Law how false is this you might have seen in Hebr. 7. quoted by you that Abraham paid Tithes to Melchisede●h and Levi himself in Abrahams loins Now the Apostle shews you that the priesthood of Melchisedech was not that of Levi for this is taken away saith he but the order of Melchisedechs Priesthood abides for ever Here then you see that Tithes were paid to some other Priests then onely to the Priests under the Law Farther when you read that Abraham and Jacob paid Tithes I desire to know from you by what law they paid Tithes whether was it by the Law of Nature or by the Leviticall Law or by an Evangelicall Law one of the three must be 't is plain as the Sun that it could not be by a Leviticall Law and by virtue of that for that was not then enacted and by that Law Levi was to receive and not to pay Tithes yet Levi himself in Abraham paid Tithes to Melchisedech Again if they paid by the Law of Nature that Law binds all men still as well now as then And lastly if they paid by an Evangelicall Law that binds also all Christians to pay their Tithes towards the maintenance of Melchisedechs priesthood which endures for ever Pray let me see your Answer to this Paper In the next place you say Tithes were given to the Priests under the Law as they were one of the ten Tribes which they took onely of their brethren and that not by compulsion but there 's no equalitie that our Priests should have it first because they are not the hundredth part of the people 2ly they have inheritance among the brethren Again they had but the tenth of the increase ours of mens labours Ans In Answer to this I must tell you here again your ignorance hath made you very bold and impudent in speaking that which I shall shew to you and to al the world to be very false And it must be under these heads You put me here upon the consideration of these two things first the proportion of the persons of the Priests under the

Law and 2ly the proportion of their maintenance and to compare it with ours now If you will look upon these two things in Scripture you shall finde how falsly and absurdly you do argue in your Paper I will shew you first for their persons that it will not be hard to prove that the Tribe of Levi under the Law were not the fourtieth part of the people 2ly for their maintenance they had three times as much as any one Tribe First for their persons look upon the numbring of them and compare See Dr. Reynolds Exp Psal 110. pag 477 478 c. Numb 1. 46. with Numb 3. 39. and you shall finde that the other Tribes were numbred from 20 yeers old and upward to all that were able to bear Arms which was to the age of fifty yeers as Josephus reports for at that age they were supposed to be unserviceable for war and yet being thus numbred but from 20 to 50 yeers their number amounted to six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men able to go to war On the other side the Levites were numbred from one month old and upward and yet the whole number amounted but to two and twenty thousand Now conjecture the number of those in the other Tribes who were under 20 yeers of age and who were above fifty yeers to be but half as many as the rest as it cannot be supposed that they were lesse yet the whole number of the Tribes reckoned from their infancie upward will amount at least to nine hundred two thousand men of which number the number of the Levites is just the one and fourtieth part If you say that the Tribe of Levi increased to a mighty number afterwards as may be found 1 Chron. 23. 3. I say that the whole people increased accordingly for the Tribe of Judah which was before but seventy foure thousand was then five hundred thousand and in Jehosaphats time eleven hundred thousand See 2 Sam. 24. 9. and 2 Chron. 17. latter end here then ye see how ye are mistaken in the proportion of the persons of the Levites They were so farre from being a tenth part that they were not so much as the fourtieth part of the people And in the next place look into the proportion of their maintenance and you shall see your selves more mistaken there one would think that the fourtieth part of the people could require but the fourtieth part of the maintenance in proportion Paper You say they had no inheritance amongst their brethren and that they had but the tenth of the increase onely Ans How durst you thus belye the Scriptures do you do it ignorantly or wilfully First you shall finde that they had the tenth of all the increase of seed and fruit and great and small cattell See Levit. 27. 30. and 32. ver 2ly though they were not the fourtieth part of the people they had 48 Cities with suburbs for cattell and for gardens See Numb 35. the 7 first verses which Cities were next to the best and in many Tribes the best of all in Judah Hebron in Benjamin Gibeon both royall Cities so that those Cities with about a mile suburbe to every one of them can come to little lesse then the wealth of one Tribe alone in that little Countrey which from Dan to Beersheba was but about 160 miles long 3ly They had all the first-fruits both of clean and unclean beasts see Numb 18. 13. of the fruits of the earth and of the fleece of the sheep Deut. 18. 4. Nehem. 10. 35. of men to be redeemed Numb 18. 15 16. 4ly The meat-offerings the siu-offerings the trespasse-offerings the heave-offerings and the wave-offerings were all theirs Numb 18. 9 10 11. 5ly They had all vows and voluntary oblations and consecrations Numb 18. 8 9. 6ly excepting the Holocaust they had either the shoulder or the breast or the skin or something of every sacrifice which was offered Numb 18. 18. Deut. 18. 3. Levit. 7. 30 31. 7ly The males were to appear three times a yeer before the Lord and they were not to come empty handed Exod. 23. 15 17. Lastly unto them did belong many recompences of injuries which was the restitution of the principall and a fift part Num. 5. 7. 8. Now put the Tithes the Cities and these other constant revenues together and you shall finde that the Priests and the Levites who were but about a quarter as many as one Tribe had yet about three times revenues of any one Tribe And thus you may see how falsly how blindly and groundlesly you argue from comparing the revenues and the numbers of the Priests under the Law with the Ministers of the Gospel and their Tithes And whereas you say they took it not by compulsion how simple and silly is this where did the people deny it or where did they refuse the payment of it was it not a command of God Doubtlesse had there been denyall there had been compulsion in this as in other Laws Paper Your next objection against us why we should not receive Tithes is because we are covetous we bring into our store-houses but we do not give to the poore Ans I onely ask you here again how ye dare how ye are not afraid to judge others thus how came you to have that searching eye to look into mens hearts and to see how covetous they are Certainly though ye pretend to beleeve what 's written in the Law and the Prophets your practise shews that you make little conscience of making that your rule to walk by or else you have learnt the trick of many now a dayes to slip the collar and to lay by so much of the Word as doth in any way tend to the bridling or restraining of you in any of your unruly lusts Paper In the next place you charge us with abusing that place of Scripture Mala. 3. 10. which you say was lawfull then but not now and you prove it thus Christ having put an end to the Priesthood hath also changed the Law Hebr. 7. 12. which Law you say was Tithes And hence you conclude that to take Tithes under the Gospel there being not the least syllable for it is abominable heresie and a denying of Christ come in the flesh c. Ans I answer First for your charging us with abuse of Scripture I may say to you as Christ to the Pharisees judging others Matth. 7. 3. Why beholdest thou the moat in thy brothers eye and considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thy own eye what a beam there is in the eye of your judgement plainly appears to the world in the very next line to this in which you charge us with abusing Scripture And that is in your text cited Hebr. 7. 12. where the Apostle saying that the priesthood of Aaron and Levi being changed there is of necessitie a change of the Law you very boldly and impudently say

yet heard or read of or have spoken with I doubt not but to make it appear to you that these are onely the fancies and devices of Phanaticall Enthusiasts and not to be deduced from Scriptures who because they be dissolute would have no bonds of Laws because they are Schismaticks would have no discipline in the Church and because they walk inordinately they would have no coercive power of the Magistrate to restrain them This is onely the spirit of those Schismaticall Teachers who under a pretence of spirituall freedome will lead you into all carnall libertie prophanenesse sacriledge and faction And have they nor you nothing else to prove Magistracie to be Antichristian and to have no footsteps in the Gospel but Rev. 13. 7. 15. 16. Poore men did not I tell you but now what miserable Expositors and applyers and wresters of Scripture you were to your own destruction will you see how ridiculous you are in this place and how simply and sinfully you abuse Scripture The text alledged plainly shews that power was given to Antichrist to wage warre with the Saints and by his Armies to overcome them and this you bring to prove that the Sword of Justice in the hand of the Civill Magistrate under the Gospel is Antichristian oh miserable ignorance and impudence he that thus teacheth you to understand and apply Scriptures is a blinde leader of the blinde and if the Lord open not your eyes the sooner you will both fall into the ditch Again you urge Revel 12. 11. where the text saith that the Saints overcame Satan by the blood of the Lambe and the word of their testimony and this you bring to prove that the Power of the Magistrate under the Gospel in restraining and punishing errors and maintaining truth is an indirect and an Antichristian way may not he that hath but half an eye see how grosly absurd you are in these things The plain meaning of the place is no more then this That by the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ the Lambe of God slain the devill and all his Angels all the enemies of mans salvation are overcome and the Saints are said to overcome him by his blood as they have their garments washt in the blood of the Lambe as they are justified and sanctified by his blood and by his Word the victory of Christ over the devill and his Angels being obtained not in his own name but for us we that beleeve in his blood and the word of his testimony are said in him to have overcome Satan and his Angels the enemies of our salvation Do you see now how simply you have quoted Scripture here and how little to your purpose Surely this is no small fin thus to abuse and wrest the Word and the truth of God to the maintaining of errors therefore repent for it Again you say the power of the Magistrate under the Gospel is an Antichristian way and you have fairly prov'd it Let me tell you just thus did John of Leyden in Munster all Power of the Magistrate amongst Christians was by him and his followers cry'd down as Antichristian and persecution of tender consciences till he himself had gained power by his seduced ones to murther and banish all the Magistrates in Munster and John himself was got up into the Throne of Soveraignty made and proclaimed by them his followers to be King of the new Jerusalem in Munster where he exercised a great deal of most barbarous and unheard of cruelty and then Magistracie was no longer Antichristian when the Saints there as they call'd themselves were once become Magistrates I onely minde you of this story because the Town and Countrey Note that Giles Hancox one of the Subscriters hath since this taken his Oath for Iustice of the Peace and now executes that office in Cirencester speaks it that some of you that have here subscribed Magistracie to be Antichristian are designed and appointed and are ready to undertake the office of being Magistrates among your neighbours I hope when you your selves come to be Magistrates and Justices then Magistracie will no longer be accounted Antichristian amongst you when the Sword is once in the Saints hands But that I may not discourage you in your young undertakings I will take a little pains to inform your ignorance and to shew you what foot-steps the Magistrates executing of Justice upon transgressors both against the first and second Table hath in the Gospel I hope I shall make it appear plainly to you that 't is so farre from being Antichristian that it is Gods own ordinance and that under the Gospel and you shall see 't is onely ignorance that makes you so impudent as to say that this hath no foot-steps in the Gospel In the first place let me tell you that all the best reformed Churches in Christendome do renounce and detest these Anabaptisticall dreams of yours and most harmoniously and willingly confesse and acknowledge it to be Gods will that the world be governed by Laws by the way remember that the Church is within the Common-wealth and God himself hath appointed the Civill Magistrate and hath delivered to him the Sword to the protection and praise of good men and for punishment on the evill And by this bridle mens vices and wickednesses should be restrained whether committed against the first or against the second Table 2ly They confesse the Power and Authoritie of Magistrates to be the ordinances of God himself appointed as well to the manifestation of his own glory as to the singular profit of mankinde That by reason of the will of God himself revealed in his Word we must not onely suffer and be content that they should rule but also to love them fear them and withall reverence and honour and embrace them as the Embassadors and Ministers of the most high God being in his stead and preferr'd for the good of their Subjects that we should poure out prayers for them pay tributes to them and in all businesses of the Common-wealth which are not against the Word of God to obey their Laws and Edicts 3ly They beleeve also and do willingly acknowledge that every lawfull Magistrate being by God himself constituted the keeper and defender of both Tables of the Law may and ought first and chiefly to take care of Gods glory and according to his place to preserve Religion when pure and to restore it when decayed and corrupted and to this end to restrain and punish as well Atheists Blasphemers Hereticks and Schismaticks as the violaters of Justice and Civill peace Now by what spirit you are led to run out of and to cry down the opinions and practises of all the Churches of Christ in this point as Antichristian every man may judge And the Lord help you timely to see whither you are running headlong not onely beyond the Churches of Christ but into ab●urdities and extremities which even the Law of Nature teaches poore Pagans and Heathens to avoid who have