and here the poor people might easily understand what they might expect from them yet he that did not pay no great punishment could they inflict on him but excommunication out of their Church The Pope by all means willing to favour his chiefest props notwithstanding his general Decree could tell how to dispense with his own Lands at his pleasure and therefore frequently did grant exemptions to divers Orders to free them from payment of tythes witnesse the Hospitallers Cistercians Templers and generally to all I ands held in the occupation of the called religious Persons and Houses which is the ground of all those mens claims who have bought the Lands of dissolved Monasteries c. and say they are tythe-free When the Pope by colour of the Jewish Laws by which tythes were given to the Levitical Priesthood had gained an universal payment of tythes to all his Clergy in further imitation of that earthly Tabernacle he sets up a new building after the former pattern and therefore to himself he claims first-fruits and tenths as a Successor of the Jewish High-Priest fins also he undertook to pardon Cardinals also he appoints as Loaders of their Families Myters they were on their heads as Aaron did Synagogues they build with Singers Porters c. and into the sorm of the Levitical Priesthood they transform themselves thereby wholly denying Christ Jesus the end of Types and Figures to be come in the flesh Afterwards H. 8. King of England being a Papist and believing the Popes Doctrine as also did his Parliament that tythes were due to God and Holy Church made a Law that every one should set out and pay his tythes And seeing this is the great Law and the first of our Parliament-Laws for tythes and that upon which the rest are grounded I shall here insert the Preamble of it Forasmuch as divers numbers of evil-disposed persons having no respect to their dutyes to Almighty God but against right and good conscience have attempted to substract and with-hold in some places the whole and in some places great parts of their Tythes and Oblations as well personal as predial due unto God and Holy Church c. A second Law in his time was also made to the like purpose and in pursuance of the former and great reason he had and need there was for them for having dissolved many Monasteries who had many tythes and Rectories appropriated to them and either had them in his own hands or sold them to others to be held as lay-possessions and they having no Law whereby to recover them the Popes Laws not reaching to Lay-persons so called he was necessitated to make new Laws to enforce the payment of them which the better to colour over the matter he makes in general terms but still restrains the tryal of tythes to the Ecclesiastical Courts After him Edw. the sixth in pursuance of his Fathers Laws and upon the same grounds makes another Law for the payment of predial and personal tythes under penalty of trebble damages who also restrains the tryal to the Ecclesiastical Courts These Laws suppose that tythes were due to God and Holy Church and therefore they require that every man do yeild and set out his tythes as had been accustomed In pursuance of these Laws some Ordinances were made in the time of the long Parliament in the Exigences of the War because the Courts of Justice were obstructed And these are the substance of all our English Laws concerning Tythes Having thus generally and briefly run over the Laws and practices of tything both abroad and in this Nation I shall give some hints of the Opinions of former times concerning tythes About the yeare 1000. and 1200. after Christ when tythes were generally preached up and claimed great controversie did arise between the Canomists and the Clergy by what immediate Law tythes were payable The Canonists generally ground themselves upon the Decrees and Canons of the Church so called and on the Writings of Augustine Ambrose and the rest of the ancient Fathers who say they are due by Divine Right The Clergy of those times were at difference amongst themselves some of them saying That tythes quoad quotam partem or as it is a determined part is due onely by positive and Ecclesiastick Law but quoad substantiam suam or as it devotes a competent part to be allowed for the maintenance of the Ministry is due by Divine Law and that the tenth part was decreed by the Church per vim ejus exemplarem or by imitation of the Jewish State and not per vim obligativam or any continuing force of it under the Gospel and that the Church was not bound to this part but freely might as wel have ordained the payment of a 9th or 8th according to the various opportunity This was taught by Hales Aquinas Henricus de Grandavo Ride Media villa Cardinal Cajâ—ian Io. Mayer Snarez Malder and others who say it is the common Opinion of the greatest part of the Clergy of that time and that the tenth part was rather ceremonial then moral Here also was made a distinction and many said that predial and mixt tythes were due by the divine Ecclesiastick Law but personal tythes only by the Decrees of the Church but Hales said that tythes as well personal as predial are in the precept Quoad substantiam but neither Quoad quotam and therefore in Venice and other Cities where no predial tythes are a personal tythe is required by the positive Law of the Church by vertue of the substance not ceremony of the Command Another Opininion and that owned by many was drawn from the former Doctrine which concluded That seeing tythes as the quota pars were not enjoined by the command of God therefore they were meer Alms or as what debito Charitatis not debito justiciae was to be dispensed Of this Opinion were the Dominicans and Franciscans who both began about the year 1210. and by their Doctrine got many tythes to be given to their Monasteries and that whatsoever was given to the four Orders of Mendicant Fryars was a sufficient discharge from the Priest And our famous Reformers Iohn Wickliffe Walter Brute Will. Thorp and others whose Arguments are at large in Fox his Acts and Monuments did in their dayes bear their testimony against tythes for which some of them suffered in flames Agreeing herewith are the Articles of the Bohemians published near 300. years since wherein a divine right to tythes since the Gospel is denyed whereupon also long since they took all their temporalties from their Ministers And before Wickliffes time Gerardus Sagarellus was of the same mind And the great Erasmus also said That the common exacting of tythes by the Clergy of his time was no better then Tyranny Having thus briefly run over the Doctrines Decrees Practices and Opinions concerning tythes I shall make some short observations thereupon that the Reader may understand whereunto they tend and then proceed to the matter as it concerns
some of them have tythes been demanded and paid since the dark night of Apostacy overspread the earth under the Papal power till the Popes Supremacy and Religion was cast off in England and where the popish Religion is professed they are now by the same demanded and paid But now of late in England now Claims are made and the old pretences seem too much to savour of the popish Leven and therefore a humane right is pleaded which I shall briefly bring under these few heads 1. Some plead the gifts of Kings and Princes who were Rulers of the people as Ethelwosph c. 2. Others plead the temporal Laws of Kings Parliaments c. 3. Others plead the particular gifts appropriation consecration or donation of those who were former owners of the Land 4. Others plead prescription and a legal right by their possession 5. Others plead a legal right by purchase And besides these I never heard or read of any other pretence for tythes though I have diligently for two years and more laboured to inform my self fully what could be alledged for them To begin with the first Those that say tythes are due by Divine Right Some of them say That the Law given to Israel for payment of tenths to the Tribe of Levi doth also oblige Christians to pay tenths to their Ministers as succeeding in the Priests Office Ans To such it is clearly answered That the priesthood which had a commandment to take tythes being changed by Christ Jesus there is made of necessity also a change of the Law and now the priesthood is no more committed to the natural off-spring of Levi or any other tribe but to Christ Jesus the unchangeable priesthood whose Kingdom stands not in figures and carnal Ordinances but is the Substance of what that was but a figure And it is clear the primitive Church were assur'd of it who for some hundreds of years and till the mysterie of Iniquity began to work never called for the payment of tythes as is before plainly proved And how doth a Gospel Ministry succeed to the Levites who received tythes but were not priests much more colour had the Quiristers Singing-men and the rest of the Rabble brought into the late Cathedrals to claim them and onely to pay out a tenth part to the priests as the Levites did Others say That Abraham paid tythes to Melchisedec which was before the Levitical Priesthood and Christ Iesus is made a Priest after the Order of Melchisedec Abraham returning from the slaughter of the Kings was met by Melchisedec who brought him bread and wine and Abraham gave him the tenth of the tythes but what is this to the payment of tythes unlesse it oblige the Souldiers for it doth not appear that Abraham paid the tenth part of his own increase nor doth it appear that Abraham gave the tenth part at any other time and how will this prove a yearly payment of tythes to Ministers And what if Iacob gave tythes how are either of these examples more binding then any other of the good acts that either of these holy men did Object If it be said that Jesus Christ said ye tythe minâ— c. these things ye ought not to leave undone It 's answered that Jesus Christ then spoke to the Jewes in the time when the Levitical priesthood was not ended who were bound by the Law so long as it was of force till he was offered up and said It is finished But though Divine Right hath been of long pretended few are now left who will onely stand to it and the generalitie both of Lawyers Priests and people are of a contrary minde For if Tythes be absolutely due by the Law of God no custome usage prescription priviledge or popish dispensation can acquit from payment of the utmost peny of the tenth part but scarce the tenth person in England payeth Tyth in kinde and many plead they are tythe-free and pay none at all and others very small matters and so the greatest part of the people of England deny Tythes to be due by Gods Law Again if Tythes be due by the Law of God then is it to the end for which they were commanded for the Levites the Strangers the Fatherless and the Widows all therefore who plead for Tythes by Divine Right must not pay them to an Impropriator for by Gods Law he cannot claim neither ought any Impropriator of that minde to receive them And of late yeers it was by Rolls Chief Justice adjudged in the Vpper Bench That Tythes are not now due by the Law of God 2. To the next those that plead the Equity of the Law is still of force These plead not for Tythes properly but for a comfortable maintenance and by way of Tythes as they suppose most convenient c. And these bring many Scriptures in the New Testament that he that labors is worthy of his hire he that preacheth the Gospel ought to live of the Gospel let him that is taught communicate to him that teacheth and the like And to such I say that not onely the Equitie of the Leviticall Law for Tything the Doctrine of Christ Jesus and his Apostles do binde but even from natural thinge we are largely taught our duty therein No man muzleth the mouth of the Oxe and no man goeth a warfare at his own charge and he that plants a vinyard eats the fruit thereof And herein it is agreed that the Ministers of Christ Iesus who are called to his service and labour in the Word ought to be comfortably provided for that they go not a warfare at their own charge But this doth not require that the world which lies waste as a Wilderness and is not of the Vinyard should contribute much less be compelled to give a certain portion of the fruits of their labours towards the maintenance of Christs Ministers And these grant that every man is the sole owner of his own labour and possession and though by another he may not be compelled for such sacrifice God abhors yet ought every one freely to glorifie God with his substance to strengthen the weak hands and feeble knees and to give to him that teacheth those things that are needfull and such cheerfull givers God accepts And this leaves every one free to give to him that teacheth not binding to the maintenance of those who have lesse need then the giver or of those who are transformed as Apostles and Ministers of Christ who have the form but want the power who teach for filthy lucre keeping ever learning but cannot bring to the knowledge of the truth And of such as Christ Jesus sent forth he alwayes took care and they never wanted but they reaped the fruits of their labour and eat the fruits of their own Vinyards which they had planted by the Churches who were gathered out of the world were they maintained to preach the Gospel to th world unto whom they would not make the Gospel chargeable or burthensom which
but ex debito SHEPHERD by the Law of God for substraction whereof no remedy lay at the common-Law and therefore if a Parson let a Lease of his Glebe to another with all the Appurtenances yet he himself shall have tythe of it Terrae non sunt decimbiles and therefore neither Mynes nor Quaryes of Iron COOK Brasse Tin Lead Coles Stones Tile Brick or Lime are tytheable ner Houses Consimilar is felony trespasse between free-hold moveable goods nor Trees nor Grasse or Corn till they be severed from the Land the real Estate which descends by inheritance from the Ancestor and made a distinct personal possession And therefore tythe is not paid of Land nor by reason of the Land nor is it a charge upon Land like a Rent-charge nor was it ever so claimed till of late that the popish covers were not broad enough Obj. But some object and say When I bought my Land I bought not the tythe nor paid any thing for it Ans I answer That I and all men bought all our Land and that without any charge of tythe upon it and therefore in all Conveyances it 's still said All that c. and never any covenant for or exemption of a tenth part either of land or encrease and he that saith the seller or his Ancestor charged it with tythes as a Rent I say Where a Rent is charged it 's still expressed and finde any such exception or covenant and I will freely pay them as a just debt And is it not ridiculous for any to talk of parchasing his tythe for with his labour charge and husbandry he payes deere enough for his whole encrease Obj. Another objects That though I bought all my Land yet I bought it cheaper because it was supposed that it ought to pay tythes then I could have bought such Land as was known to be tythe-free and therefore having a cheaper bargain I am bound in equity to pay tythes Ans I answer That I have already proved all Land is tythe-free and the charge of tythe is upon the stock and personal Estate and not upon the Land And the strength of this objection lies in comparing those that pay tythes with those that are free they that buy lands tythe-free are eased of this oppression and are in no hazard and though all others ought to be so yet being a question whether they can ease themselves of the burthen they buy under a hazard and as subject to such a charge but if they can cast off the yoke they get but what is their own And seeing we have denyed the Popes Authority and Supremacie we may so soon as we can wholly cast off the burthens which he laid on us And thus he that buyes Land in yeers of trouble and heavy taxes may perhaps buy much cheaper then when none or little is paid shall he therefore alwaies be required to pay taxes when others are discharged or shall he that bought cheap pennyworths on the borders between England and Scotland when those parts were insected with Mosse-Troopers alwaies maintain or pay tribute to thieves and robbers We bought Land when the Popes yoke was upon our necks and if we can cast it from us we may by as good reason be eased of our tythes as they of their taxes But if I bought cheaper what is that to the State or to a Priest If in equity I be bound to pay any more it is must just that he have it of whom I bought my Land and not another There are others who plead a legal right by prescription and that they have a good right because they have so long possessed them This was the old device first to preach that tythes were due and then to limit them to the Parishes and when fourty yeers was past to claime that as a debt which before was paid as charity or ar most as a free-will-offering of the owner And thus the Pope got first fruits and tenths and Peter-pence and many great sums out of this and other Nations which long continued and he might as well have pleaded his prescription as any of his branches now can do In temp H. 3. the Pope had above 120000. l. per. an out of this Nation which was then more worth then the Kings revenue Is any so blind as not to see what poor shifts are now made to uphold so great an oppression which can find no better ground for its support then this that it hath been so long continued But shall the continuance of an oppression give right to perpetuate the grievance How many great and heavy pressures in other things did long lye on this Nation of customs and practices of former times which daylie were and still have been abolished as light did more and more encrease witness those many Laws and Statutes made and now in force abolishing the usages and customs of former ages but yet this is a great mistake for by the Common-Law and the old popish Ecclesiastick Law is out of doors no man can prescribe to have tythes though many may prescribe to be free from tythes or part thereof for he that claims tythes except Impropriators to whom I shall speake hereafter must claim them as a Parson Vicar or other called Ecclesiastick Officer and as I have hinted before he claims them not as such a person but as such an Officer and the prescription if any were is to his Office Now if no such Office be in being his claim is at an end That there is now no such Office is plain for when H. 8. renounced the Pope he was declared by Act of Parliament which was assented to by all the Clergy in their Convention to be the Head of the Church and all Arch-Bishops Bishops and all others in Ecclesiastical Orders were no longer to hold of the Pope but of the King and not to claim their Benefices by title from the Pope but of the King by vertue of that Act of Parliament And here the Succession from the Pope was cut off and discontinued and the King by his new Authority as Head of the Church made Bishops and gave them power to make Parsons Vicars and others called Ecclesiastick Officers Afterwards as the King renounced the Pope so the Parliament of England laid aside Kings who had assumed the Title and Stile of Head of the Church and also abolished Arch-Bishops and Bishops and all their dependancies root and branch and here the whole Ecclesiastick state was dissolved and the Body fell with the Head and the Branches with the Root both Parsons Vicars and Curates and all the whole progeny and off-spring and so all their right title and claim to tythes was and is at an end as is more plainly and more fully set forth in a late printed paper by Ier. Benson to which I refer And now I come to the last those that claim by purchase and these are the Impropriators and they say they have bought them of the State and have
THE GREAT CASE OF TYTHES Truly stated clearly opened and fully resolved By a Countrey-man A. P. LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert at the Black-spread-Eagle neer the West end of Pauls MDCLVII To the Countrey-men Farmers and Husbandmen of England IT is for your sakes that this small Treatise is sent abroad that in a matter wherein you are so much concern'd you might be truly informed And because there are many differing opinions and of late yeers have been great disputes concerning the right of Tythes which makes the case seem difficult to be resolved I have given you the substance of all that ever I could finde written or hear discoursed touching that point and for more then two yeers last past I have made much enquiry into it and if there be any who have something to say for them which is not herein touched or in some generall head comprehended it shall be acceptable to me to receive it The Method of the Discourse First I have begun with tything amongst the Jewes which either in precept or example is the foundation for all others Secondly I have given you a short view of the Doctrines Opinions Decrees and Practises of the Primitive Church concerning them and from thence-downward untill this day which is enough to clear the whole point Thirdly Out of which having made some short Observations I state the case as it concerns us in England Fourthly And then hearing what every one hath to say for them and giving them particular Answers Fifthly I proceed to satisfie some great Objections and so conclude the whole in as much brevity as the variety of the subject would permit A. P. OF TYTHING Amongst the IEWES GOD having chosen Aaron and his sons for the Office of the Priesthood and the rest of the Tribe of Levi for the service of the Tabernacle he gave unto the Levites all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance for their service and they were to have no inheritance among the children of Israel And the Levites out of their Tythe were to offer up an Heave-offering of it for the Lord even the tenth part of the tythe and give it unto Aaron the Priest for himself and his sons and no other portion had the Priests out of the tythes but they were for the Levites that did the common services of the Tabernacle for the strangers for the fatherless and the widowes Besides the tenth of the tythe the Priests had the first ripe fruits of the ground of Wheat of Barley of Figs of Grapes of Olives of Pomgranates and Dates at what quantity the owner pleased Deut. 18.4 Ezek. 45.13 a Heave-offering also of corn wine oyl fleece and the like were given to the Priests at the 60. part sometimes at the 50. or more at the devotion of the owner Of Cattel also the first-born were the Lords paid to the Priests of clean beasts in kinde of unclean in money with a fifth part added Also divers parts of the sacrifices were appointed for the Priests Exod. 13.2 But no tythes did the Priests receive of the people for those belonged to the Levites that were appointed over the tabernacle and the instruments thereof to bear it to take it down and set it up to serve Aaron and his sons and to do the Services of the tabernacle and keep the instruments thereof and their service chiefly was upon removing of the Host for better ordering whereof and every ones service they were divided into three parts the Koathites the Gerthonites and the Mararites and these received tythes of the people and out of them a tenth part they delivered to the Priests Afterwards when Solomon had builded a temple and placed the Ark therein other offices were appointed for the Levites one part of them were to be singers another to be porters and take the charge of the gates of the Temple another to be keepers of the treasury others of them also were placed abroad in the country 2 Chron. 26.30 32. on the West side of Iordan 1700. and on the East side 2700. By this time also the posterity of Aaron being much increased the Priests were divided into 24 ranks or courses according to the names of their Families and every ones attendance was required by turns and hereupon Zacharias is said to be of the course of Abiah and to execute the Priests office and burn incense as his turn came Luk. 1. and the first of the first rank had the pre-eminence and was the High Priest and so every one according to their precedency were preferred The Levites that were singers were divided as the Priests into 24. ranks or courses the porters into five parts one part to every of the four gates of the temple and the five to Asuppim i.e. the Councell-house The treasury was generally committed to one as the chief but under him to two sorts of other officers one to keep the treasures of the House of the Lord and those things that were offered to the Lord and the other to keep the dedicate things In these treasuries were put the second tythes the offerings of all sorts of people which were for the uses and services of the temple for the fatherless the stranger and the widow After the captivity and new dedication of the temple it appears that in many particulars their Laws Ordinances and Customs were very much changed especially in this of tything But not being much pertinent to this discourse I shall pass them over onely from these short hints let the Reader understand that though the Priests and Levites were both of the tribe of Levi yet was the priesthood setled in the sons of Aaron and the offices of the priests were quite different from the Levites and so was their maintenance distinct as before is herein plainly shewed These Priests and Levites being separated for the work of the Lord in the tabernacle and in the temple they ministred according to the Ordinances of the first Covenant which were figures for the time then present and shadows of good things to come A view of the Doctrines Decrees and Practises of TYTHING from the Infancy of the Christian Church untill this day BVt in the fulness of time God raised up another Priest Christ Jesus who was not of the Tribe of Levi nor consecrated after the order of Aaron for he pertained to another tribe of which no man gave attendance at the Altar who having obtained a more excellent Ministery of a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not of the former building being the sum and substance of all the patterns of things under the first Covenant put an end to the first priesthood with all its shadowes sigures and carnall ordinances and changing the priesthood which had a command to take tythes of their brethren there was made of necessity also a change of the Law and a disannulling of the commandement going before which was but imposed untill the time of reformation And the Apostles and Ministers of Christ Iesus when he
us at this day wherein he will finde the knowledge of these things will be useful First That amongst the Jews tythes were paid to the Levites that did the common services of the Tabernacle and Temple and not to the sons of Aaron the priests for they had onely a tenth part out of the tythes and therefore he that pleads for tythes from the Mosaical Laws of tything had need consider how the payment of tythes to Ministers succeeds to the payment of tythes to the Levites who were not priests nor were to touch or meddle with that holy Office least they dyed 2. That amongst the Jews no outward Law was appointed for the recovery of tythes but he that did not pay them robbed God and by him onely was punished 3. That the tythes were not for the Levites onely but for the stranger the fatherlesse and the widow who were to eat thereof and be satisfied 4. That when the Levitical priesthood was changed by the coming of Christ Jesus the law for tything was also changed as Paul writ to the Hebrews for it is evident that in the beginning of the Church for the first 300. years while the purity and simplicity of the Gospel was retained no tythes were paid amongst Christians 5. That as the mysterie of iniquity began to work and mens imagiginations were taught instead of the Doctrine of Christ divers men fetching their ground from Moses writings began to preach that tythes again ought to be paid 6. That those that first preached up tythes pressed the payment of of them not for the maintenance of a Ministry onely but chiefly for provision for the poor and needy 7. That in the first practice of the payment of tythes they were not paid as tythes but as free offerings at the bounty of the giver and not as answering any law that required the tenth part and so more properly were called offerings then tythes 8. That notwithstanding any Doctrines preached it was not a received Doctrine that tythes ought to be paid till about the year 1000. that the Pope had set up his Authority and usurped Dominion over the greatest parts of Europe and almost all Emperors Kings and Princes brought in subjection to him and his innovated superstirions 9. That notwithstanding the strict commands of the Pope no outward compulsary Law was made by the Pope or his Councils to enforce any to pay tythes but onely their excommunication 10. That tythes were alwayes accounted an Ecclesiastical duty and therefore by Ecclesiastical Courts were tryed and judged and til the dissolution of Abbeys c. were never called a Civil Right 11. That tythes were brought in as a duty owing unto God and were so required and enforced and therefore all laws made for the payment of tythes takes that for their ground and not any civil property or right in him that claims them 12. That till the year 1200. or thereabouts it was the common practice for every one to bestow his tythes where he pleased 13. That from such Arbitrary dispositions Abbeys and Monasteries came to be so richly endowed with Tythes and Rectories 14. That all exemptions from payment of tythes came from the Pope 15. That first fruits and tenths are but a late innovation and claimed by the Pope as Successor to the Jewish High-Priest as Cook in the third part of his Institutes also testifies 16. That tythes are the same thing whether claimed by an Abbey or Impropriator or a Priest and stand upon the same ground and foundation and differ nothing but in the person that possesseth them 17. Here also the declining State of the Church to corruption error may be clearly discerned traced for as the power of truth was lost so was the fruit thereof which caused such earnest pressing to needful contributions when that would not serve Laws Decrees were made to force them But in the beginning it was not so for while the purity and simplicity of the Gospel was retained there needed no pressing for their charity then abounded not onely to the tenth part but far greater parts as the needs of the Church required 18. That the right of tythes was never cleared but remained in controversie even amongst the greatest Papists and in all ages there were those that withstood the payment of them And many of the Martyrs for that amongst other things suffered in flames These things thus premised I shall briefly state the great Case and Question at this day chiefly controverted concerning tythes as claimed and paid in England The Case Whether any person have a true and legal property in the tenth part of another mans encrease now commonly called tythes The terms are plain and need no opening yet it is needful to declare why the Case is thus stated for the great Question rather seems to be Whether tythes be not due at this day That may be due to another wherein yet he may have no legal property as Custom Tribute Taxes which are to be paid because commanded by the State and though Law and Equity obliges the payment yet is no distinct property in him that commands and so tythes may be supposed to be due because so many Laws have been made for payment of them though the person that claims them may have no particular interest or property therein other then is derived from the command But now in England tythes are not onely claimed by vertue of divers Laws but also as being a distinct property severed from the property of the nine parts And if this could clearly be evinced all scruples of conscience were answered for if a true and legal property be in another person to the tenth part of any encrease I ought in conscience to yeild and set it forth because it is not mine and then the Name of tythe as having in any measure relation to the Jewish priesthood or popish Clergy were at an end but as a debt it ought to be truly paid to the proprietor Many things have been said and much written to prove such a property the substance whereof as far as hath come to my knowledge I shall briefly sum up under these general Heads as also the grounds of those who claim them to be due and yet plead no property which being the lesser may be fully included and answered in the other Several Claims made for tythes and a legal property therein set down and answered 1. The first claims tythes to be due jure divine and produce the Law of Moses for it it 2. Others say that as to the quota pars viz. the tenth part tythes are not now due by the Law of God onely the equity of the Law is still of force which obligeth to afford a competent maintenance for the Ministry but doth not bind to the certain quantity 3. Others there are who plead the Decrees Canons and Constitutions of General Councils Popes Bishops Convocations and these say that tythes are due jure Ecclesiastico Vnder these several Claims or
was their glory and their Crown And herewith let all our now called Churches be proved and tryed who separate from the world and yet many of them receive pay and wages for their teachers from the world who send none at their own cost to preach to the world And here our Rulers should learn wisdom to with-hold their hands from upholding any with their worldly Sword and compelling others to maintain them and to leave Christs Kingdom to his own Rule who is Lord of the Harvest and sends forth labourers and hath spirit to put upon them who sends forth the-Fisher-men the Shepherds the Herdsmen the tillers of the ground and the keepers of flocks who speake plain words that wise men cannot understand who are wise in the worlds wisdom gathered in Schools whither they are sent to learn a trade thereby to get their livings and in the time of popery they studyed the popish Doctrine and then preached them to others and in the time of prelacy they changed to a new form And when that was laid aside Presbytery was set up and then such the Vniversities sent forth and since Independency was preferred great store of them are spread abroad and look what pleaseth them best that have the greatest livings in dispose that is the most cryed up and most studyed and preached and here is the spring of our Teachers the Vniversities and these say that Greek and Hebrew are the original which they go thither to learn that they may understand what Christ spoke and the Apostles preached But the Hebrews and Greeks who heard them speake in their own Language could not understand their Doctrine for it seemed foolishnesse to them and these by their original are in no better state nor nearer to the knowledge of the Gospel And let our Rulers consider that Christs love to the world for whom he dyed is not abated neither is his spirit diminished nor his powde shortened that he will not or cannot send forth and fit Ministers for his service or that he needs Vniversities to instruct or Magistrates to provide maintenance for those he sends forth And let them look to their own kingdom the world therein to punish restrain the evil to encourage protect the good then all would be agreed and the Nation kept in peace every one enjoying his true liberty and freedom For in this it is assented that the Ministers of Christ Jesus who sowe unto us spiritual things should reap of our temporals But here is the difference first That our consciences must be our judge who those Ministers are and no other mans direction for to the conscience were Christs Ministers alwayes made manifest and not approved with the reason and wisdom of man Secondly That our gift must be free and by no mans compulsion Would not this ease the Magistrate of much trouble that he makes to himself and be more acceptable to God and man for who hath made him a Judge in these things A third sort plead the Decrees Canons Constitutions of General Councils Popes Bishops Convocations To such I shall onely say that for the first 800. years after Christ no Canon or Decree was made by general Council nor was it then determined by the Church as 't was called what part every man should pay And the first eight General Councils do not so much as speak of the name of tythes and that was till about 1000. years and then about that time it came to be received and believed that tythes ought to be paid yet in England as well as other Nations every man might have given his tythe where he pleased till about the year 1200. as is already proved But I need not say much to these few being of this mind but those who own the Pope for their Head we having in England denyed and cast off his Supremacy though in this matter of tythes and many other things we still feel his power amongst us And now having briefly gone over the substance of what is pleaded for a Divine of Ecclesiastick right I come next to what is pretended for a humane Right And the first sort pleads the gifts of Kings as Ethelwolph c. To these I answer If they could prove the whole Land had been the particular possession of any such King they said something though that would not justifie the taking tythes from all the people as shall be more fully proved hereafter But by what right could he give the tenth part of the encrease and fruits of the labours of all the people of his Dominions who had no legal property therein It was an easie matter when the Popes Emissaries had taught the people that tythes were due to God and them and had perswaded Kings and Nobles that Heaven might be purchased by then works to procure from them the gift of that which was not theirs the poor peoples tythes especially considering the people were of the same mind and as zealous of all the popish superstitions as themselves and every one striving who should therein most excel witnesse those many rich Abbeys and Monasteries lately in this Land But if that K. Ethelwolphs Grant be the foundation of tythes then how many succeeding Kings and Bishops and others have violated his Deed by appropriating them to Abbeys Monasteries and such like Houses And how hath all Ages since Ethelwolphs taken upon themselve the disposition of tythes without any relation to what he did which shewes clearly That neither Kings Parliaments nor prople did ever take themselves bound by his Grant But the folly and vanity of this Argument will more plainly appear hereafter The next and those which seem to have the strongest plea do urge the temporal Laws of Kings and Parliaments and say by the Law they have as good property in tythes as any man hath in his Lands Ans To such I say The Law doth not give any man a property either in land or tythes or any other thing but onely doth conserve to every man his property which he hath in his land and possessions either by gift purchase or discent and secure him from the injury or violence of another But let us not be deceived with a new pretence lately taken up to delude the simple minds of a legal property and a civil right for that is but a shift and it matters not what any say or now pretend concerning the right of tythes when they see their other claims will not serve the turn but let us hear what the Makres of the Laws say of them those from whom they claim and passing by the Saxon times and K. Stephen and the rest of those who were in the mid-night of popery let us come to H. 8. who cast off the Pope and upon whose Law all others that were since made are builded and in the preamble of the Act it is declared That tythes are due to God and holy Church and they blame men for being so wicked as not to pay them and therefore
never known And here what was by our forefathers superstition whom we look back at as afar off and pitty begun in ignorance we build up and confirm with tyrannie and instead of their Rods make to our selves Scorpions But herein is not all but the law requires every man to set out the tenth and so makes him a voluntary Agent in that against which his conscience testifies which is most cruel and unrighteous and he that cannot do so they sue and hale before Courts and Magistrates and there they get judgement of trebble damage and by that judgement frequently take five-fold yea sometime ten-fold the value Shall not these things render this age which so much pretends to reformation contemptible to future generations and for these things shall not even Papists rise up in judgement against us and condemn us But how is it that any law for tythes is now executed do not all laws and statutes for tythes restrain the tryal of them to the Ecclesiastical Courts and prohibit the temporal Courts from medling with them And since the Ecclesiastical Courts are destroyed who have power to give judgement for tythes no temporal Judge proceeding according to the laws for tything How is it then that so many persons are sued prosecuted and unjustly vexed for tythes in all the Courts at Westminster and not onely so but in the Sherifts Court and other petty Courts in the countrey Obj. If it be said The Statute gives double damages and costs and no Court being appointed where that shall be recovered it must be supposed to be the Common-Law Courts I answer by asking of what must they give the double or trebble damage seeing they are restrained from trying for the single value if they cannot judge the one how can they award the other will they condemn an accessary before they try the principal what is this but to make the law a Nose of Wax or any thing to uphold another unrighteous Kingdom Obj. It will be said Iustices of Peace have power It may be so by an Ordinance but no Act of Parliament which is the Law of England and that they do it many poor people feel for generally they give trebble damages for all manner of tythes when as the Statute gave but double and costs and that onely for predial tythes And they usually execute their precepts by such persons as will do it effectually who take generally five times more then the value which they prize and sell far under the worth and he that cannot comply with their cruelty and confesse their judgement just by accepting back what they will return doth frequently suffer five or six-fold yea often ten-fold damage And here the fingers of the Justices are too often found by consciencious men far more heavy then the loynes of the Law nay more then of the old Ecclesiastical Courts or the Pope himself who hath no such penalties I write what I can prove by manifold instances Though these oppressions be many and great yet are they not all that this age exercises for by a new device under pretence that Priests are not able to pay tenths to the Protector unlesse every man pay them their tythes they sue men for all manner of tythes by English Bill in the Exchequer and there would force them upon their oaths to declare what tythes they have when as in the Ecclesiastical Courts the Ordinary might not examine a man upon his own oath concerning his own tythe And here such as either make conscience of swearing which Christ forbids or cannot themselves tell what tythe they had are cast into prison for contempt where they may lie as long as they live no Law in the Nation reaching them any relief And divers upon this account have long lain in the Fleet yet are there and I believe above a hundred suits are in the Exchequer depending and proceedings stopt at this point the hearts of the very Officers of the Court relenting with pitty towards such numbers of poor men brought thither very Term from the most remore parts of the Nation and some of them not for above twelve pence such mercilesse cruelty lodges in the hearts of many if not the most of our pretended Gospel Ministers Oh shameful reformation What! compel a man himself to set out the tythe of his own Goods to maintain a Hireling-Priest it may be one openly prophane and so make him sin against his own conscience or take from him thrice or rather five times as much and not onely so but to force him to swear what tythes he had or commit him to prison there to lie without hope of relief doth not the cry of these abominations reach through Palace-Walls and enter Parliament-doors surely they reach the Gates of Heaven And though man have forgotten his fair promises God will in due time break these bands and send relief another way Oh cursed first fruits and tenths the superstitious relique of Popery and wages of unrighteousnesse the cause and cover of all these Exchequer Suits and of most of these mischiefs Must we still have Priests and tythes then may we not wish for old Priests and old Ecclesiastical Courts for much more moderation was in them and even Papists would blush at our cruelties Did but the Magistiate see what havock is made in the North what driving of Goods the Oxen out of the plow the Cows from poor and indigent children what carrying of Pots Pans and Kettles yea and fetching the very clothes of poor peoples Beds he would either be ashamed of such Justices or such Priests or Tythes or of them all Such instances I could give as would make the Readers ears to tingle and he that cannot believe me let him send into Cumberland and he shall meet with sew that cannot inform him of it or do but let him go a little after Harvest and he may find the Justices so busie as if they had little other work to be doing But whither have I digressed let me return to heare what the next can say 3. And these plead the gift of those that were formerly possessors of the Land and say Those that pay tythes do but that which their Ancestors justly charged upon them To such I answer That it 's true many Ancestors gave tythes which of them were required as before hath been declared but what is that to us or how are we thereby bound Did ever any man in any Deed or conveyance of his Land expresse any such gift or made any exception of tythes I never saw or heard of such a thing and let those who can find such reservations make their claim but I believe it will not be in England That which this sort pleads seems to make a ground for a distinct property for if there be a property it must of necessity arise from him that was the true owner and had power to charge himself and his posterity and these say they have as good right to the tenth part as the owner