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
institutae And at this time no regard was had to the nature of the increase but whatsoever did arise in profit whether by trade merchandize or husbandry the tenth was required to be paid for tythes He preaching on Zacheus charity sayes Dedit proprium reddiâ—ic alienum Graviter ergo peccant qui decimas primitias non reddunt Sacerdotibus sed eas pro voluntate distribuunt indigentibus But still the people had more minde to give them for the poor rather then the priests as may be understood by the complaint of Pope Innocent the third who cryed out against those that gave their tythes and first fruits to the poor and not to the priests as haynous offenders his own words take in the margin Also a generall Council held at Lyons under Pope Gregory the tenth in the yeer 1274. Vt nulli hominum deinceps liceat decimas suas ad libitum ut amea ubi vellet assignare set Matrici Ecclesiae omnes decimas persolverent it was constituted that it should not thenceforth be lawful for men to give their tythes of their own pleasure where they would as it had been before but pay all their tythes to the Mother Church By these it may be seen that though the people who then generally were Papists did believe they ought to pay them yet were they free to dispose them where they pleased till these Popish Councils restrained their librrty Non sunt ferendi qui vaerijs artibus decimas Ecclesiis obvenientes substrahere moliuntur an t qui ab aliis solvendas temere occupant in rem suam vertunt cum decimarum solutio debita sit Deo qui eas dare noluerins aut dantes impediunt res alienas invadunt Praecipit igitur sancta Synodus omnibus cujuscunque gradus conditionis sint ad quâ—s decimarum solutio spectaâ— ut eaâ— ad quas dejure tementur in posterum Cathedrali aut quibuscunque aliis Ecclesiis vel personis quibus legitime debentur integrepersolvant Qui vero cas aut substahunt aut impediunt Exoommunicenâ—ur Nec ab hoc crimine nisi plona restitutione secuta absolvantur But the great Decree which speaks most plain and till which nothing was given foath which did-directly constitute them but rather still supposed them as due by some former right was made at the Council of Trent under Pope Pius the fourth about the year 1560. And yet that great Council followed the Doctrine of their Father and said they were due to God and had no new Authority for their great Decree which they command to be obeyed under the penalty of excommunication Having thus briefly run over the Ecclesiastical State abroad from the Infant-purity of the Church to the height of the Papal Domination and given a small glimpse through every Age to the point in hand I shall now more particularly return to what may concern this Natition I shall not trouble the Reader with a relation of Ioseph of Arimathea and his eleven Disciples coming into Britaine sent by Philip the A postle in the reign of Arviragus as Histories report nor of the conversion of King Lucius afterwards who is said to give great endowments to the Church Nor of the British Christians nothing at all appearing of the payment of tythes in their dayes But passing by them and those many years wherein the barbarous Saxons over-ran this Nation exercising most cruel persecutions till the very name of Christian was blotted out and those Heathens seated in the quiet possession of a sevenfold Kingdom in this Land About the year 600. or soon after Gregory the first new Pope of Rome sent over Augustine the Monk into England by whom Ethelbert King of Kent was converted and by him and his followers in processe of time other parts of the Nation and others of the Kings were also brought to their faith This Augustine was a Canon Regular and both he and his Clergy for long time after followed the example of former Ages living in common upon the offerings of their Converts those that received them were joined in societies in imitation of the primitive practice having such direction sent him by Pope Gregory that in the tendernesse of the Saxon Church he his Clergy should still imitate the community of all things used in the prituitive times under the Apostles that they might not make their Religion burthensom But afterwards having brought a great part of the Nation to their faith they began to preach up the old Roman Doctrine That tythes ought to be paid and having taught the people that the pardon of sin might be merited by good works and the torments of Hell be avoided by their charitable deeds it was no hard matter when that was believed to perswade them not onely to give their tythes but also their Lands as the outward Riches of those called Religious Houses then here and elsewhere may testifie for in this Nation they and the Clergy had almost gotten the third part of the whole Land and so besotted were the poor ignorant people that had not a Law against Mortmain prevented it a far greater part of the Nation had been in their hands As conceruing Laws and Canons for tythes amongst the Saxons it is reported That in the year 786. two Legates were sent from Pope Hadrian the first to Offa K. of Mercland and Aelfwolfe K. of Northumberland who made a Decree that the people of those two Kingdoms should pay tythes Also that Aethelulph K. of the West-Saxons in the year 855. made a Law That the tythe of all his own Lands should be given to God and his servants and should be enjoyed free from all taxes Great difference is amongst Historians about this Grant few agreeing in the words or substance of it as Selden shews some restraining it to the tythe of his own Demesne Lands others to the tenth part of his Land others to the tythe of the whole Nation At that time the Nation being under groat and heavy pressures by Danish irruptions intestive wars Promeae remedio animae Regni populi great spoiles and miseries he called a Council where were present Bernredus K. of Mercia and Edmund K. of East-Angles and they to remove the heavy judgements then over them grants the tythe of all their Land to God and his servants K. Athelstone about the year 930. K. Edmund about the year 940. K. Edgar about the year 970. K. Ethelred about the year 1010. K. Knute about the yeare 1020. Edward the Consessor and others of the Saxon Kings made several Laws for tythes as Histories report Quoniam Divina Misrecordia prâ—vidente cognovimus esse dispositum longe latique praedicante Ecclesia sonac omnium auribus divulgatum Quod Eleemosynarum largitione possunt absolvi vincula peccatoruÌ„ adquiri Caelestium praemia gaudioruÌ„ Ego Stephanus Dei gratia Anglorum Rex parteÌ„ habere voleus cuÌ„ illis qui felici commercio Caelestia
pro terrenis Commutant Dei amore coÌ„punctus pro salute animae meae patris mei Matrisque meae omniuÌ„ parentuÌ„ meorum antecessâ— ruÌ„ c. And so he goes on coÌ„firms divers things that divers had graÌ„ted to the Ch. as tythes other things The Normans afterwards entring this Kingdom and subduing it to themselves William the Conqueror confirmed the Liberties of the Church so did H. the first H. 2. K. Stephen and it may be others of the succeeding Kings did the like Some Episcopal Constitutions also have been made to the same effect by Robert Winchelsey Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and others That the Reader may understand the Princiciples upon which these men acted and the Doctrine then preached amongst them and received and believed I have inferted in the Margin the Preamble of a Grant of King Stephens Porvenie ad audientiam nostram quod Mults in Diocessitua decimas suas integrasvel duaspartes ipsarum non 〈◊〉 Ecclesiis in quarum parâ—chiis haebitant vel ubi predia habent à quibus Ecclesiastica praecipiunt Sacramenta pâ—rsâ—lvunt sed eas aliis pro sua distribuunt voluntate Cum igitur inconveniens esse videatur à ratione dissimile ut Ecclefiae quae spiritualia seminant metere non debeant a suis parochianis temporalia habere fraternitatituae Authoritate praesentium indulgemus ut liceat tibi super hoc non obstante contradictione vel appell atiene cujuslibet seu consuetudo hactenus observata quod Canonicum fuerit ordinare facere quod Statueris per censuram Ecclesiasticam firmiter obligare Nullt ergo c. Confirmationis c. Datum Lateran 11. Nonas Iulii But notwithstanding the many Laws Canons Decrees of Kings Popes Councils Bishops that every man ought to pay the tenth part of his encrease yet was it left to the owner to confer it where he pleased which made so many rich Abbies and Monasteries and till the year 1200. or thereabouts every one gave their tythes at their own pleasure which made Pope Innocent the third send his Decretal Epistle to the Bishop of Canterbury commanding him to enjoyn every man to pay his temporal Goods to those that ministred spiritual things to them which was enforced by Ecclesiastical censures and this was the first beginning of general Parochial payment of tythes in England I have inserted the Popes own words in the Margin as they are recorded by Cook in the second part of his Institutes who saith That because the Popes Decree seemed reasonable it was admitted and enjoyned by the Law of the Nation King and people being then papists This Decree of the Pope receiving all possible assistance from the Bishops and the Priests in whose behalf it was made did not onely in a short time take away the people 's then desired Right to give their tythes to those that best deserved them but did also so much corrupt the Clergy that in the time of R. the second Wick liffe our famous Reformer did make a heavy complaint to the Parliament which in his own words I have inserted for the Readers better satisfaction Ah Lord God! where this be reason to constrain the poor people to finde a worldly Priest sometime unable both of life and ounning in pomp and pride covetise and envy gluttoness drunkennesse and letchery in simony and heresie with fat horse and jolly and gay Saddles and Bridles ringing by the way and himself in costly clothes and pelure and to suffer their Wives and Children and their poor Neighbors perish for hunger thirst and cold and other mischiefs of the world Ah Lord Iesu Christ sith within few years men paid their tythes and offerings at their own will free to good men and able to great Worship of God to profit and fairness of holy Church fighting in earth why it were lawful and needful that a worldly Priest should destroy this holy and approved custom constraining men to leave this freedom turning Tythes and Offerings unto wicked uses That the meaning of these and the practice of this Nation in this matter may the better be understood it is needful to inform the Reader that when the Popes Doctrine was received in a Nation that Nation was divided into so many Bishopricks as were needful and every Bishoprick into so many parishes as were thought convenient and parishes are but of late erection and till then most Preachers were sent out of tho Monasteries and religious so called Houses and the people did at their own free will give their tythes and offerings where they pleased which liberty they enjoyed till about the year 1200. And though it was generally believed that tythes ought to be paid yet did no man claim any property therein but every owner of the nine parts was required to give the tenth part to the Priest or poor as due unto God But now the Pope having set up Parishes did enjoyne that a Secular priest canonically instituted should attend the service of each parish and that where tythes were not already setled they should be paid to the Parish-Priest notwithstanding any custom to the contrary the people then generally being Papists did yeild obedience as they durst not do otherwise and it may easily be supposed that having perswaded the people to pay tythes it was no hard matter to appoint the person to whom they should be given Parishes being set up Priests appointed and tythes paid to them after fourty years possession what before was owned as the gift was now claimed as a debt and prescription was pleaded by the priests as their just title the people then seeing themselves in a snare began to contend but the imperious Pope now in a great height of pride and insolence to uphold his Creature-Clergy thundred out his Interdict against this Nation excommunicaeted the King frighted the Subjects with his Bulls stuft with Commination and that against the very point of Arbitrary disposal of tythes And Rome now grown formidable did highly insult over Kings and Princes winesse Frederick Barbarossa Hen. the 6th and other Princes of the Empire and the Stories of our H. 2. and K. Iohn are obvious And our Rich. the first to gratifie the Clergy for their exceeding liberality in contributing to his ransom from captivity with great favour gave them an indulgent Charter of their Liberties and in this advantage of time the Canon-Laws gained such force that Parochial-payment came generally to be setled Yet notwithstanding our English Parliaments not willing wholly to forget the poor for whose sake tythes were chiefly given did make divers Laws that a convenient portion of the tythes should be set apart for the maintenance of the poor of the parish for ever R. 2.15.6 4 H. 4. as the Statutes at large do witnesse The Pope having by these means brought in tythes and made a pretended title by prescription set up Courts to recover them which were called Ecclesiastical Courts where his own creatures were Judges
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
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
paid great summes of money for them and many of them have no other subsistance To these I answer That I have shewed before that in the root all tythe is alike whether it be now claimed by a Priest or an Impropriator and both must fall together And seeing those that sold them had no good title neither can theirs be made good which is derived from them But seeing it was the State that sold them and that the whole Nation had the benefit of their moneys it is equal and just when they cannot have what is sold that their moneys be repaid to which point I shall speak more fully hereafter in answer to an objection which I meet with in my way needful to be resolved And thus I have briefly gone over the whole matter and heard what every one can say and have returned them answers by which it doth plainly appear That no man at this day can claim tythe of another either by divine or humane right and that tythes are neither due by the express Law of God nor by the equity of that Law nor by the Decrees of the Church nor grants of Kings nor Laws of Parliaments nor gifts of the people nor prescription of the possessors nor the purchase of Impropriators It now onely remains that I answer some general objections which I shall do in as much brevity at I can and so leave the whole to the Reader The first is made by the State The second by Impropriators And the third by Parish-Ministers And all these together object and say That though it should be granted that the right of tythes cannot be proved yet if it be found that taking of them away will bring great losse to the Publique Revenue much damage if not ruine to many particular persons and families and great hazard of bringing confusion to the Nation by such a great alteration after so long a settlement and endanger the very publike professien of Religion by taking away Ministers maintenance and consequently Ministry it self it is not prudence for satisfying some to bring so many and great inconveniences upon the Nation These objections plead not for the right of tythes but against the removing of them to prevent inconvenience and if the one be granted that tythes are an innovated popish exaction and oppression and neither due by law of God or man such considerations as these ought not to obstruct the removal of so heavy a grievance and oppression but that which is just ought to be done which is a general good to the whole body and almost every individual member and then such parts as are sound grieved may be afterwards eased and relieved and though all these should in some measure suffer it were but just seeing their compliance with the oppressor hath brought such a general yoke and barthen upon the whole body and now they are become the onely obstructions of the general easement and publike freedom And yet a few words I shall answer to every one and first to the State which complains of a great losse by taking away first fruits and tenths which are paid out of tythes When the Pope had established the payment of tythes and set up a new Hierarchie after the pattern of the Jewish Priesthood he tooke upon on himself to be Successor to the Jewish High-Priest Ierom in Ezek. ch 44. v. 28. c. and claimed tenths from all his inferior priests jure divino and in processe of time he got to himself by the like colour first fruits also and though it was long ere he brought his work to pass in England yet at last it was effected you may by these following instances know how much our English Nation strugled against them The King forbad H. P. the Popes Nuntio te collect first fruits 2 Ed. 3. Rol. Claus M. 4. Parl. 1 Ri. 2. Nu. 66. Rol Parl. 4 R. 2. Nu. 50. The Popes Collector was willed no longer to gather the first fruits it being a very novelty and no person was any longer to pay them The Commons Petition that provision may be made against the Popes Collectors for levying of first fruits The King in Parliament answers There shall be granted a prohibition in all such cases where the Popes Collectors shall attempt any such Novelties Vpon complaint made by the Commons in Parliament Rol. Parl. 6. R 2. N. 50. the King willeth that Prohibitions be granted to the Popes Collectors for receiving of first fruits First fruits by Arch-Bishops and Bishops to the Pope were termed an horrible mischief 6 H. 4. Rol. Parl. 9 H. 4. N. 43. and damnable custom The Popes Collector were required from thenceforth not to levy any money within the Realm for first fruits The Pope thus claiming first fruits and tenths as annexed to his Chair Successor to the Jewish High-priest and Head of the Church continued to collect them till H. 8. discontented with the Pope though himself was a papist renounceth the Popes Supremacy and assumes it to himself and by Act of Parliament in 16. of his reign got first fruits and tenths annexed to his Crown as Head of the Church and so himself became worse then the Pope taking the wages but not doing the Popes work and that which before by Parliaments in height of popery was declared a damnable custom was now in the beginning of reformation made a foundation-stone to support the greatness of the new made Head Afterwards Q. Mary not daring to assume the Head-ship of the Church did relinquish and by Act of Parliament wholly took away first fruits and tenths she doing no work to deserve such wages And what a shame is this to our Nation and our great professions after so long talk of reformation now to plead for such wages of unrighteousnesse first exacted by the Pope and then by such as assumed to themselves the stile of Head of the Church upon that very account had them annexed to the Crown And shall we now who pretend to have cast off the Pope and left the Head-ship of the Church unto Christ worse like then Queen Mary uphold such wicked oppressions which are the ground of a great part of goods mens sufferings for tythes this day for the pretence of paying tenths is the ground of the many suits for tythes in the Exchequer where otherwise by law they could not nor ought to be recovered And as to the Publique Revenue I am informed they add not much thereunto but all or a great part of them are give in augmentations to Priests who no doubt will receive them without scruple though I know many of them not long since did complain against them as a popish oppression But take away tythes and there are as many Glebe-Lands ' will fall to the State as will fully make up that losse which they may as well take away as their predecessors did the Revenues of Abbeys and Monasteries and when the people are eased of tythes they will be better able and more