hold forth which is the Key that opens the mystery ground intent and end of every Law and Statute whatsoever so that of Henry the 8th about Tythes doth not institute enact or ordain settle or impose them as a Temporal Civil Injunction but they are there called Spiritual gifts belonging to holy Church and because many doth deny the payment c. so this Act doth but enjoyn the payment of them as a supposed due and right formerly belonging to holy Church and therefore doth but at the utmost repair strengthen and preserve that which was like to decay but doth not set up any new structure property or title so the reasons of this Law being taken away which is that they are a supposed due this Act is nulled These before mentioned being the only main Grounds and Reasons whereupon Tythes are claimed and payed which I hope is satisfactorily answered indeed some more frivilous Objections are made as what will not many say to save themselves when they are in an exigent yea brawl menace perhaps beat with wicked fist revile or scoff and it may be set an Officer on one and hale him before a Magistrate c. I say many more they make to little purpose as that in Luke 18. where the Pharisee payed Tythes of all he possessed which hath little in it unless they would be condemned with him as a Pharisee with their outside holiness others say Thou shalt not muzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the Corn I say so too if they be Oxen let them be unmuzled and live of what they tread out which is so little that they never durst rely upon it yet but they are more idle then such Oxen c. this is like their plowing in hope and sowing in hope which for the most part fails before they either plow or sow for in which of the Priests did ever the hope endure untill he reaped the Fruit of his plowing or sowing but rather first he must know what Stipend there is what Tythes or Gleab-lands or other Revenue belongs to the Incombent and how it doth arise this you may say is too true Again say they He that gathers a Flock let him eat of the milk of the Flock indeed so say I but they either get no flock gathered or else their Flock is barren and gives no milk or otherwise the milk they give doth not satisfie which makes them pull tug and draw so hard for milk meat and maintenance from others pertaining to another Flock which they never gathered as daily experience teacheth to their shame and to the shame of all that are gathered by them Again say they If we have sown unto you Spiritual things is it a great matter if we reap your carnal things I say it s no great matter but rather the part and duty of a Christian but to whom have they sown Spirituals I am sure not to me for L. W. hath Ministred nothing to me but that which is Earthly and savours of Death as I have elsewhere said which deserves not my Carnals nor any other maintenance from me not that I am strait-handed or so knit and joyned to the things the Lord hath endued me with but I can destribute them freely to such as sow Spirituals and Ministers freely from the mouth of the Lord or to any other in necessity but L. W. as is well known hath no such necessity for all his eager pursuit after my Carnals these Three or Four Years last past but he hath coveted an evil covetousness to set his nest on high but thereby hath not delivered his Soul from the power of evil but hath consulted confusion to his shame So Still I say the grand Title stood in the Mosaical Institutions all which pointed at Christ and Christ being come they fall flat and to them a period is set for its Evident for some hundreds of years after Christ there was neither Claim nor payment of Tythes nor no setling or confining of Ministers to such and such Parishes or Places but they that received freely preached freely and went from one Country to another and from one People to another as they were drawn by the Spirit of the Lord and in those dayes there was no setled nor forced maintenance belonged unto them but they who received Spirituals and were brought into the Faith and Fellowship of the Saints they administred of their Temporals freely without any injunction as many hath done in England these late years and the Lord having opened the Hearts of many as Lydia they called them into their House being open to distribute to their Necessities so that they that set forth without money or scrip c. wanted nothing yea I believe many of the Lords Ministers and Servants called Quakers hath Travelled in these late years many Hundred of miles from one People and Nation to another having been persecuted and beat and haled to Prison and out of Prison here and there amongst a strange Nation and People which they knew not who when they set forth could not assure themselves of one Nights lodgings or one meals Meat and yet they were in every place sufficiently provided for and had no want they only cast their care upon the Lord and lived upon the Gospel being Preachers of it and by the Faith of the Son of God as did the primitive Christians in the Apostles dayes and some Hundred of years after untill the power of Christianity was lost and the Apostacy crept in and then they fell into Forms and Immitations Rome being the leading Church setled Bishops Vicars and Priests and erected Monasteries Abbeys and Religious Houses and placed them there and brought in the old Rites and Customs of the Jews again under a colour of Zeal and Piety perswading the People to give gifts to pious uses so enjoyning them to one thing after another until their Traditions were received as Canonical and amongst the rest brought in this of Tythes again which for a long time was payed at the Owners pleasure either to the Poor or to the aforesaid Monasteries and Religious Houses for pretended Spiritual uses and when they saw that the greater part destributed their Tythes to the Poor Pope Alexander the third did restrain the Peoples freedoms Anno 1180. And Pope Gregory ordained that Tythes should not be destributed to the Poor but to the Mother Church Anno 1274. And Pope Pius the Fourth ordained the payment of Tythes upon penalty of Excomunication by a Council at Trent about the year 1560. And thus they crept in again as they fell from the Power of Godliness then they began to build again that which was before destroyed and so brought in these old Ordinances again in immitation of the Mosaical Law and so came to force and compel a maintenance for a Priesthood and Ministry which was not of Levi's Linnage which was never used nor known amongst the Christians in the purity of the Gospel but being little acquainted or read in
according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt for because they abode not in my Covenant I regarded them not saith the Lord But this is the Covenant that I will make with them after those days I will put my Law in their Hearts and write it in their inward parts and I will be their God and they shall be my People Jer. 31.33 Ezâ—k 37.26 c. Hebr. 8.8 9 10. and 10.16 They shall not need to Teach every Man his Neighbour or every Man his Brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me even from the least to the greatest of them and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more mark Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more here suffer me to enlarge a little by the way Now where Remission of sin is there needs no more Offering for sin and for this end was Christ made manifest to take away all sin and in him was no sin howbeit the Children of Darkness who are strangers to the Covenant of Promise being never yet come to the Light nor to the Second Covenant the New and Living Way they I say that have not received this they say there is no Redemption from under sin there is none say they can be set free from iniquity while on this side the grave there is not an upright Man upon the Earth say they that doth good and sinneth not there is none Righteous no not one a strange Doctrine in a Gospel Day this Generation used to bless the Name of the Lord for this glorious Day and Golden Age and time said some wherein his Gospel was so purely Taught and Preached mark this confusion is the Gospel purely Taught them when they are yet in their sins but it may be they have not received the Gospel in Power and Purity but in name and word only for the Gospel is the Power of God Rom. 1.16 or Christ Jesus the Light of the World the Power of God and the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.24 who was manifested to take away sin but these will pretend to be Gospel Men and Christians who say none can be purified from sin and thereby frustrate the end of the Lord and make void his coming who came to save his People from their sins and he is able to save to the utmost them that come unto God by him but may it not be said they come not unto God by him and they enter not in at the Door but climbs up some other way that holds sin for Tearm of Life which the Devil is Author and Lord of then whose Servants are they let wise Men judge a smookey Tenent a Principle of Darkness assended out of the Bottomless Pit sure no Christians what ere they may profess What hath Christ suffered in vain What hath the shedding of his Blood no more effect What is he not able perfectly to save those to come unto God by him Is he not able to save his People from their sins Is he not able to redeem from death Is his Hand shortned Or his Power weakned Is he not the same he was in the Apostles dayes Is not his power the same yesterday to day and for ever mark Was he not given for Salvation to the Ends of the Earth Was he not sent to redeem those that were under the Law Was he not sent to save his People from their sins Was he not ordained a Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of the People of Israel Yea a Light to lighten those that sit in Darkness and the Regions of the shadow of Death and to guide their feet in the Way of Peace Was he not manifested to take away our sins and was not his Blood shed for the Remission of sins the Apostle said yes and if it be not so that our sins be done away nor we not sanctified purified and cleansed through his Blood nor do not witness Remission nor forgiveness through his Sufferings and Death and our Consciences purged from dead works and our sins done away in him I say if none have this benefit by him then is our Faith vain and we are still in our sins and both the Apostles and we are found false Witnesses of him but neither they nor we are false Witnesses for we know and they knew before us That Life and Salvation is manifested and we have seen it and that which we have seen and heard we do declare that ye might have Fellowship with us mark that ye might also obtain Remission and Redemption with us And this indeed is the Message that we have heard of him and received from him and declare unto you that God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all and if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye But if we walke in the Light as he is in the Light then have we fellowship with him and one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all Sin c. mark ye Sons and Daughters of Darkness that say none can be cleansed from all Sin but no marvel if Infidels say so that never owns the Light that never came to the Blood of Sprinkling that never came to the Blood the Life of the Covenant that cleanseth and purifieth from all sin but are stumbling and groping in darkness immagining in their dark minds that all is like themselves and these will profess they know God but they are Lyars 1 John 2.4 for they neither keep nor believe that any can keep his Commandments but they seeing but in part believes that a Man can but be in part purified and in part sanctified but not throughout Now I would ask them one Question wherefore none can be sanctified throughout Is not that which sanctifies in part able to sanctifie throughout Is not the Blood of Christ able and sufficient to cleanse and purifie from all sin Was he not able perfectly to save those that come unto God by him Yes surely he was else he had been an imperfect Sacrifice but the cause is either they will not come to him for Life and Salvation or else when they do come they abide not with him nor continue not in obedience to press forward to the high Calling that is in Christ Jesus they sit down short of the prize they go not on unto perfection they faint and are weary before the work be compleated and finished like foolish Builders and then content themselves in their own vain immaginations and pleads inability weakness and failing which say they is insident to all Men thinking all like themselves but they measuring all by themselves and comparing themselves with themselves viz. with their own immaginations are not wise as said the Apostle but John said As many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe in his Name John 1.12 and
must have Tythes paid them as they were then all that Law say they is abolished since Christ came in the Flesh save that sweet morsel of Tythes which is so pleasant to their pallat like Achan's wedge of Gold and Babylonish Garment Josh 7.21 which they covet as much as he did and would save alive as Saul did the King of the Amalekites and the best of the spoyl as Sheep Oxen and Fatlings c. 1. Sam. 15.9 even so they would have Tythes kept up above all the rest of the Ordinances Ceremonies and Services of the first Tabernacle and that shadowy Dispensation Tythes is the sweetest of all many of the rest would be trouble and cost to them and diminish their Revenue So these they confess to be abolished and why not Tythes say I Of what institution was Tythes Or for what term more then the rest that they must not be abolished with the rest I know no cause but the reasons aforesaid crept in amongst their Ancestor or Mother the Church of Rome in the Night of Apostacy Then again there is that in Luke 11.42 where Christ said Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees c. from which they infer that Christ allowed the payment of Tythes under the Gospel indeed so say I that Christ there allowed the payment of Tythes the Scribes Pharisees being as under the Law but not under the Gospel its true he condems them for the neglect of weightier matters as Judgment c. may not I accordingly condem both Priest and People now he said they Strained at a Gnat and swallowed a Camel may not I say so now to them that makes so much ado about Tythes and neglects things of greater weight as departing from Iniquity as Swearing Lying Coveting Stealing Oppressing Defrauding Cozening Drinking Cheating Adultery Fornication and many more things of greater weight walking in disobedience to what God hath manifested by his Light in their Consciences doing that which they ought not and leaving undone what they ought they are at best but like the Pharisees Sticking at the outside things as Tythes Ordinances of the Church so called Conformity and the like Traditions required by Men but never shew so much zeal and diligence to keep their Consciences clear and to observe what is required of them by the Lord they 'll pretend a great zeal for the Church and Government c. but when appears so much zeal for God and the keeping of his Commandments and of loving him with all their Heart But to come more positively to the point of his allowing of Tythes in this place I say I grant it for they were then under the Law and the Law was but a fulfilling For he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it which he did observe in the dayes of his Flesh untill he had offered up himself a perfect and everlasting Sacrifice then he said It is finished then came in the Second Covenant and took place of the First it being disanulled the Second was Established when his Blood was shed by which Salvation was obtained For without shedding of Blood there is no Remission So may not we as justly Condemn then the Tything Priests and other fiery Zelots in our Age who is so Exact for their Tythes as if Salvation depended in that particular and is very negligent in seeking after Righteousness Piety and Reformation of Life but contrarily if any seek after God or the knowledge of his Way and Truth then they cry out of such with open mouth as Fanatick Schismaticks Seducers Erroneous persons who seek to be Wiser then their Forefathers What is become of them say they that the Way and Worship that served them cannot serve you but you must have a new Way of your own contrary to Church and State I now remember some of the same Spirit said to the Apostles They were setters up of strange Gods bringers in of new Doctrine turners of the World upside down away with them they Taught the People against the Law and the Customs of the Place and People they were not worthy to live so that I see by experience They that live after the Flesh persecute those that live after the Spirit in every Age but I shall not here insist but as I have said before to that of Luke he spoke to them that was yet under the Judaical Laws but so am not I and was a fulfilling them as appears elsewhere by his saying to John about Baptism Suffer it to be so now for so it becomes us to fulfil all Righteousness so he was but a compleating that Dispensation but when he came to suffer and was lifted up upon the Cross he said It s finished then he put an end to all the Ordinances of the First Tabernacle and brought in the Second the unchangeable Priesthood which stands for ever after the Order of Melchisedeck Thus much for Tythes as they were due under the Law and no where else and as they were an Ordinance amongst the Jews only in the Land of Canaan and no People else for it s said He gave his Statutes and his Judgments to Israel to every Nation he did not so but I am no Jew therefore not under that Law but rather of the Stock of the Gentiles as is believed and Tything among the Gentiles I never yet read of and Christ the end of the Law for Righteousness sake and the Heart and Life of what the Law figured out being come neither Jews nor Gentiles ought to be any longer under Shadows and Figures c. But again when their claiming of Tythes by vertue of the Mosaical Laws is overturned and will not hold plea Jure Divino as they say then they betake them to another that is Jure humano or The Civil Laws of this Nation by which Laws say they Tythes is established and setled to them say the Priests by vertue of their Place and Office as a most competent Livelyhood for them and their Families In answer whereunto I say that the radix and grand Original property of this Title and Claim did and doth still arise from the Mosaical or Levitical Law which is disanulled and done away in Christ as is before proved and hence they are accounted a Spiritual propriety and therefore a pretended Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Law and Court is kept and appointed by Episcopal Authority within their several jurisdictions distinct from their Civil Laws only for the tryal and recovery of Tythes and such other matters as they account Spiritual and this Levitical Institution is the sole Basis and Foundation upon which their Civil Law depends and the Foundation being taken away the Structure or Building falls so that being disanull'd in Christ the Civil Law hath no more power so that the Title of Tythes is lost Now again every Law is or ought to be grounded upon Equity and sound Reason and Righteousness and for some conscientious and pious honest end and purpose as the Preamble to all Laws do
World and all that nature that in it we may live and by it all may be preserved unto the end That so the Lord God Almighty his Living Holy Name and Eternal Truth may be Feared Served Honoured and Obeyed over all by and through all for He alone is worthy yea Everlasting worthy God blessed for ever and evermore Saith the Soul and Spirit of him who is the Lords and yours in the Unity of the Gospel of Christ Jesus T. C. A General EPISTLE CONTAINING Wholsom Admonition and Advice to Friends in IRELAND and else-where By Thomas Carleton DEar and well beloved Friends Brethren and Sisters who are in some Measure gathered by the Arm of God's Power and have known the blessed Appearance of Life and Salvation to you is the Salutation of my unfeigned Love and in the Fellowship of God's Everlasting Light do I tenderly greet you all and for the clearing of my Spirit of that which for some time hath been upon me do I communicate these Lines in the true Simplicity of my Heart dearly desiring all that love the Lord Jesus Christ To keep low and near the Lord and wait to feel God's living Power in your Hearts unto which we were turned or exhorted from the Beginning for in the Light of the Lord I see there is a Necessity for it For unless the Sense of God's living Power be felt Profession is vain and Meetings are not made profitable for the Mysteries of Life and Salvation and of true Christianity consist not only in any Profession Name or Notion of this or that Principle Article or Creed formed or received in the Minds of Men or Women but in a living Enjoyment and Possession of the Power and Spirit of Christ Jesus the Author and Finisher of the living saving Faith So my dear Friends all wait to feel the Operation of that Power in every Heart and Soul to subdue all to God and to work all into submission and real obedience to the heavenly Will and Mind of Christ Jesus who is come a Light into the World that all men through him might believe hear is the unchangeable standing Rule which every one is to measure themselves by and he or she that is measured or squared by this are as polished Stones for God's spiritual House and he or she that is not squared by this are not fit to be Members of God's Building so all having the Measuring line in your hearts let Judgment be laid to it and so try all things words works behaviours and the Intent of all and from what ground and spirit it doth proceed and this unchangeable everlasting Rule all keep to it and Build by it so shall you be justified with it in the Day of Tryal so all things done by this unchangeable unerring Rule the Law of the Spirit of Life this keeps clean and pure and sets free of all Mud and Confusion Sin and Iniquity and things that bring death and darkness over the Soul and understanding and so cloud the Testimony So let every man and woman by this standing Rule examine themselves and so let them eat speak or act as the Lord shall perswade them and wherein any one doubteth and is not clear in what he or she undertaketh let such forbare and wait in quietness till the Lord clear their way So all take heed and keep to the Rule for in the Lord's Light we see Light and have Clearness and Freedom and Peace but going from the Light without Rule without Guide the Vail comes over Darkness gathers in Confusion and Trouble then Peace comes to be lost So you that have known in any measure the work of Regeneration and of the New Birth through the working of God's Spirit and power in your Hearts by which some unclean spirits have been cast out keep to the Power still and beware of letting in the unclean spirit again for if you do the latter-latter-end will be worse then the beginning And lean not to the World's Wisdom beware of that spirit I advise all for by that wisdom God is not known and if once the Sense and enjoyment of God be lost then man and woman is in a woful state without God in the World so keep out of the world's spirit I intreat you all and live as Fools to it and all its wayes fashions customs for in the light of the Lord I see a great Snare there at this day and too many that make Profession of Truth are like to be split upon that Rock So dear Friends live loose to the world and all the glories of it and seek to be wise in that which is not of this world that you may be loved of God and so dwell in that which can bear the revilings and reproaches of this world and the contradiction of sinners as our Lord Jesus Christ hath left us an Example So beware of looking back to Egypt's Glory again to see any heauty or comliness in that dark Land for from the Lord I see a Temptation attending God's spiritual Israel in this day as surely as ever it attended Israel after the Flesh and many are too prone to desire the pleasures of Egypt again though the best of them be bondage as many to their Sorrow have found yea too many there be that cannot bear tryals and reproaches and the way of the Cross and self-denyal but think it long and wearisom and hard as they did in the dayes of old and so are too ready to murmur and repine and lust in their hearts after this World 's glory again and joyn to its fashions and customs again and so set up Idols again as they did whose Carcases fell in tho wilderness with whom the Lord was displeased So beware of letting in that spirit of destrust unbelief and rebellion against God and his pure Witness in your Consciences and beware of building that which was once destroyed or licking up that which was once vomited or entertaining of that which was once cast out or owning that which was once denyed either in words in works in behaviour in apparel in doctrine or faith hath Truth in you condemned for all idle vain prophane wicked unfound and unfavoury words and brought you into a Form of needful true and sound words keep to it still hath Truth condemned all idle proud prophane wicked and ungodly Actions and all empty airy foolish wanton lustful proud self-willed and Men-pleasing behaviours and brought you into moderation gravity plainness reallity and Truth in Life and Conversation keep to it still hath Truth condemned for decking and adorning the Body with vain superfluous proud needless worldly eye-taking Toyes in Apparel and led you into plain profitable decent needful things keep to it still and fashion not your selves like unto the World nor learn any of their manners nor of the breeding of that Egyptian-Spirit which keeps the Seed in bondage and oppressed the just in the particular and in the general so from the Lord I advise you all and