still Due from us tho neither they nor we had ever Vowed them Ther is a Greater Complication of Daring and Provoking Sins in this Matter than perhaps is to be found in any other Instance now in Practise amongst Us. And which we ought not to Forget in the List of those Sins for which God is now visibly Punishing of these Nations We have Refus'd Him His Tenth And He has taken our Nine Parts from Us and scarcely left a Tenth in the Nation of what but a few years ago we did Possess And His Hand is stretched out still 6. Mr. Selden tho he bent his whole strength against the Divine Right of Tythes yet when he came to Consider the Solemn Dedication of them with Vows to God he yields upon this score that they were Vnalienable and Irrevocable I will set down some of his words in his Review p. 486. And let him that Detains them the Tythes says he and believes them not to be Jure Divino think of the Ancient Dedications of them made to Holy Vses And however they were abused to Superstition as the other Large Endowments of the Church before the Reformation yet follows it not without farther Consideration that therefor although so Dedicated they might be Prophaned to Common uses or Lay-hands Consult herein with Divines But I doubt not but that every Good Man wishes that at our Dissolution of Monasteries both the Lands and Impropriated Tythes and Churches possessed by them that is things sacred to the service of God although Abused by such as had them had been bestowed rather for the advancement of the Church to a better Maintenance of the Labouring and Deserving Ministery to the fostering of Good Arts Relief of the Poor and other such Good uses as might retain in them for the benefit of the Church or Commonwealth a Character of the wishes of those who first with Devotion Dedicated them as in some * Christoph Pinder de Bonis Ecclesiae in Ducat Wittenberg pag. 94. c. other Countrys upon the Reformation was Religiously done than confer'd with such a Prodigal Dispensation as it happened on those who stood ready to DEVOVR WHAT WAS SANCTIFY'D and have in no small Number since found Inheritances thence Derived to them but as SEJANVS his Horse or the Gold of THOLOVSE 7. This Observation of Selden's has been more Particularly Insisted upon by Sir Hen. Spelman in his Hist of Sacrilege and his Son Clem. Spelman in his Preface to his Father's Book De non temerand Eccl. Who has given Many and Remarkable Instances of the Ruin and Destruction of those Families who shar'd most of the Church Lands and Tythes in the Beginning of our Reformation and before from William the Conqueror Especially it was taken notice of That the Heirs of such Familys were taken off untimely or that they had no Heirs and their Estates and Honours went into other Familys This was chiefly Remarkable in Hen. VIII himself All of whose Children Dyed Childless and left his Crown to another Family and Nation And whereas the Addition of the Church Lands and Treasure which were Annexed to the Crown were thought so In-Exhaustable that Hen. VIII Promised to his Parliament that if they wou'd settle them upon the Crown he wou'd free the Nation for ever from Taxes and Subsidies would Maintain 40 * How 's Preface to Stow's Annals Coke's Jurisdiction of Courts f. 44. Earls 60 Barons 300 Knights and 40000 Soldiers and that they shou'd always be so Maintain'd upon the Expence of the Crown Yet when these Church-Lands and Tythes Impropriated were accordingly Granted to the Crown together with the Plunder of All the Church-Plate and Jewels offer'd at their Shrines which were Inestimable All that the King had Promis'd in lieu of them was forgot And the Nation never Pay'd such Heavy Taxes as since that time Instead of being Eas'd from Taxes as they Expected and was Promis'd from that Day Taxes seem'd to be Entayl'd upon them And ever to Encrease They have already as above observ'd brought Us to a Tenth who have seis'd upon the Tenth of God And unless we Repent And as for the Crown that vast Accession of Sacrilegious Wealth and Lands Eat out themselves and all the Crown Lands with them Insomuch that at this Day several Private Gentlemen in England enjoy more to their own Estates than all the Lands which are left to the Crown do now yield And Hen. VIII himself who thought never to be Poor liv'd to see that Incredible Mass of Wealth which he had Robbed from the Churches All Melt away like Ice before the Sun And his own Vast Treasure with it insomuch that he was at last Reduc'd to Coyne Base Money The Fate of the Great Duke of Somerset is very observable He was Vncle to King Edw. VI. and Protector of England he built Somerset-House with the Stones of a Church Reform'd to Ruin And was the Great Patron and Promoter of Impropriations He was taken in the same Net he had laid for others an Act of Parliament he had Procur'd for his own safety and to Crush his Enemys by which he was Trapped himself and lost his Head for so Poor a Crime as Felony And which is more extraordinary had not the Power or Presence of Mind to Demand the Benefit of his Clergy which cou'd not have been Refus'd him As if says an Historian God wou'd not suffer him who had Robbed His Church to be saved by his Clergy Many are too Rash in Determining the Judgments of God to be sent for this or that And the Excess of this especially of late times even to Superstition among those who Cry'd out most against it and were most Superstitious but knew it not has Run others to the Contrary Extreme of Irreligion to think God wholly Vnconcern'd in the Affairs of the World and that no Notice at all is to be taken of any Events which they suppose to happen Casually and to have no Relation to either the Good or Evil that we do This is to Deny all Providence in God which is Atheism for it destroys the very Notion of a God which cannot be without His Providence suppos'd and an Universal Influence and Inspection over All things And though it is hard to make an Argument and Conclude Positively for what Particular Sin such a Judgment was sent And we often Mistake in this and make Applications according to Humour or Interest yet Sometimes Judgments are so very Legible that we may Read our Sin in our Punishment And God frequently in Scripture Reproves the Hardness of their Hearts who shut their Eyes against the Observation of this signal part of His Providence Isa v. 12. Who Regard not the Work of the Lord neither Consider the Operation of His hands They have Belied the Lord and said It is not He Jer. v. 12. neither shall Evil come upon us It is â—all'd a Belying of God to think that â—he Evils which come upon Us are not sent
set the Sacrifices to Farm Wou'd it have been a Reasonable Proposal to have said to a Priest Your Proportion oâ— the Sacrifice is a Shoulder or a Leg come I will give you the Value of it in Money or next Beast I kill I will send you a Shoulder or a Leg home to your House and Excuse me from the trouble of Bringing my Sacrifice to the Temple Wou'd not the Answer have been I cannot Excuse you from your Sacrifice for it is Offered to God and not to Me My Maintenance out of it is but a Secundary and the least Consideration I cannot Commute or Alter the Nature or Manner of your Sacrifice or take a Bullock if you wou'd give it me instead of a Sheep or a Barly-Corn where that is Appointed No more cou'd he Commute or Change or Compound for the Tythe for that was a Sacrifice and Offer'd to God as well as the Rest and was to be Brought by the Owners to the Temple to be there Offer'd to God in their Names by the Priests The Priests were no more to Draw the Tythes of the People thither than their other Sacrifices SECT XXII How Priests are to Pay their Tythe 1. Ans TO the Bishop as the Levites to the High-Priest They are to Pay the Tenth of their Tenth And the Levites Tythe which they paid to the High-Priest was as much an Offering and Sacrifice to The Lord as the Tythe which the People pay'd to the Levites and under the same Limitations They are call'd an Heave-Offering and Holy unto The Lord. The Levites were not to Taste of their Tenths till they had first Offer'd the Tythe of them to the High-Priest and of the very Best of them As you may see Numb xviij from Ver. 26. II. Tythes argu'd the Superiority of those to whom they were Pay'd Whence the Apostle inferr'd the Superiority as of Melchisedec above Abram Heb. vii 4 9 10. so of the Priesthood of Melchisedes and in that of the Christian Priesthood above the Levitical And as the Levites TYTHING of the People or putting them under that Tribute argu'd the Superiority of the Levites above the People so the High-Priest's TYTHING of the Levites shewed the Superiority of his Order above that of the other Levites And this is as Necessary to Preserve the Superiority of Episcopacy above the Order of Presbyters in the Christian Church The Reason holds the same and the Levitical Priesthood was an Exact Type of the Christian Bishop Presbyter and Deacon being the same in the Church that Aaron his Sons the Priests and the Levites were in the Temple as St. Hierom observes Ep. ad Evagr. III. If it be ask'd To whom the Bishop shou'd pay his Tythe Ans He having no Superiour as Aaron had none I conceive that he is not under the Tythe of Worship For it must End somewhere But then as the Heaven returns the Tribute of those Exhalations which it draws from the Earth in Dew and Fruitful Showers so the Bishop being the most Immediate Representative of Christ ought to Distribute his Tenths and more of Charity and to Water his Flock with his Beneficence Thus Returning to the Poor with Encrease their Tythes and Dispensing the Temporal as well as Spiritual Blessings of God to them That the Revenues of the Church whatever other Abuses were in the Administration of them were Apply'd more to this End than since they came into Temporal Hands will be shewn in the Next Section Let it be only Observ'd in this place That even since the Reformation more Acts of Charity and Publick Works are to be seen from what is left to the Church than from Many Many times the Greater Proportion of Wealth that is amongst the Laity And this notwithstanding that ther are some Thousands of Parishes in England which Exceed not Twenty Pounds a Year And but very few of the Bishopricks that can Afford a Decent Subsistence with the Best Husbandry And notwithstanding that the Church has been for many Years in the Revolution of 1641 totally Divested of all her Revenues SECT XXIII The Remedy HAving thus far Consider'd the Divine Obligation of Tythes and the Breaches of it that have been in this Nation We ought not to Leave the Subject till we can Propose a Remedy if any such can be found I. For the Obligation of Conscience That lies upon Every Man Concern'd to Restore what has been Robb'd from God in order to Procure His Blessing instead of that Curse which is Intail'd upon the Sacrilegious Possession of the Spoils of His Church into whatever Hands they come II. But because this has been a National Sin and these Impropriations have been Bought and Sold upon the Credit of Acts of Parliament Therefor ther ought to be a NATIONAL REPENTANCE and RESTITVTION Which may be by a Tax to Purchase the Tythes from the Impropriators and Restore them to the Church That the Whole Burden may not Lie upon those who have been Ignorantly involv'd in this Sin as having Descended to them from their Fathers and may be the Whole or Greatest Part of their Estates Tho that nor any thing else can be an Excuse for Continuing in any Sin God is Able to make Amends and has Promis'd it to those who will Trust in Him And as said before there are Examples of it even here in England whose Hearts God has Touched III. The House of Commons have in their Votes Encourag'd any to Make Proposals for the Employing and Maintaining of the Poor who are now so Great a Burden upon the Nation I have no Skill at Proposals or Projects Yet may Offer some Considerations which others may happen to Improve 1. First then Let it be observ'd Ther never was any Tax laid upon England for Maintaining of the Poor before the Latter End of the Reign of Q. Elizabeth as may be seen in our Book of Statutes 2. That before the Reformation the Poor were Maintain'd by the Clergy besides what was Contributed by the voluntary Charity of well-dispos'd People But ther was no such thing as Poor-Rates or a Tax for the Poor The Bishops and Clergy as well Secular as Regular kept open Hospitality for the Benefit of Strangers and Travellers and the Poor of the Neighbourhood And were so oblig'd to do by their Foundations They had Amberies for the Dayly Relief of the Poor And Infirmaries for the Sick Maimed or Super-Annuate with Officers appointed to Attend them They Employ'd the Poor in Work which is the most Charitable way of Maintaining them It was they who Built most of all the Great Cathedrals and Churches of the Nation besides the Building and Endowing of Colleges and other Publick Works of Charity and Common Good They bound out to Trades Multitudes of Youths who were left Destitute Bred others to Learning of whom some grew very Eminent And gave Portions to many Orphan Young Women every Year They Vey'd with one another in these things What Superstition or Conceit of Merit ther was in
it was our own Skill and Strength which Got us All these Riches by which our Portion was made Fat Hab. i. 16. and our Meat Plenteous therefor we Sacrific'd to our Net but thought it needless to Acknowledge God in all this by giving Him a Tenth Shall He not therefor Empty our Net We have Empty'd it with our own hands Yet will not see this to be a Judgment from God! But we shall see and consider for he is stronger than We. We thought a Tenth too much for God and Grudg'd the ordinary Tribute of our Kings But have Pay'd Ten times over by Extraordinary Ways and Means We Robb'd God of His Tribute the Tythe and thought it Good Husbandry to save it in our own Pockets And he has taken the Nine Parts from us and not left us a Tenth of what but a few years ago we Possessed And what will be the End of these things Except ye Repent If any think that the seizing of the Tythes in Hen. VIII's time cannot be visited now 150 years after let them Reflect that God visits the sins of the Fathers upon their Children to the 3d and 4th Generation That He bore with the Jews in their Continual Breach of the Sabbatical year for 490 years yet Forgot it not but Punished it afterwards with a Fearful Destruction even the Captivity and Removal of the whole Nation for 70 years together Pray God we may not continue to Provoke Him to the same Degree VI. What shall I say more We have the Promises of God who cannot Lye That if we will shew our Trust and Dependance upon Him so far as to give Him a Tenth if we will thereby Acknowledge Him to be our God and that by His Blessing we are made Rich He will Return it to us an hundredfold till ther shall not be Room enough to Receive it Again if we will not Trust to Him but to our own Net that he will Empty it and shew Himself to be our God by Manifold Judgments till He overcome Us and make Us see and confess That it is He who hath done All these things unto Us And that ther is not an Evil in the City which He hath not sent upon us We have seen the Faith of Jews and Heathens to exceed ours It was a Proverb among the Jews Pay Tythes and be Rich. So much they acknowledged All that they had to come from God And the Heathens made the same Observation that they who Pay'd most to God did Receive most from him They saw God's Judgments upon them for not giving Him His Tenth They Repented and Restored the Tythe and were Delivered But we Christians remain the only Incurable Infidels We will not Trust GOD and Provoke Him to Convince us by All His Judgments Which God Avert by Opening our Eyes and Enlarging of our Hearts that with a sincere Repentance for all our other sins we may likewise Restore His Tythe and Learn to Trust in Him That he may yet Repent for All the Evil he has brought upon Us and with which He still threatens Us and may leave a Blessing behind Him even a Meat-Offering and a Drink-Offering unto The Lord our God that ther may be Meat in His House and thereby Plenty in Ours May His Judgments have this Happy Effect with us to make us Search and try our ways to Examine seriously this Matter of Tythe And to Turn again to the Lord in this as well as in any other Breach of God's Commands of which we have Many to Reckon and this not the Least Now is the time to search out All. For when God's Judgments are upon the Earth Isa xxvi 9. the Inhabitants of the World will Learn Righteousness SECT XIV Of what things Tythes are to be Paid 1 Ans OVT of All your Gifts Numb xviij 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. vi 6. Of All our Goods or Good things Of All things that God gives us Of All things wherein we Expect the Blessing of God For All come under the same Reason of Paying Tythe as an Acknowledgment and Tribute to God for the Nine Parts which He has given to us And to shew our Dependence and Trust in Him for All that we shall Receive All the Tythe of the Land whether of the Seed of the Land or of the Fruit of the Tree is the Lords it is Holy unto the Lord Lev. xxvij 30. Thou shalt truly Tythe All thy Increase of thy Seed that the Field bringeth forth year by year Deut. xiv 22. The first-fruits of Corn Wine and Oyl and Honey and of all the Encrease of the Field and the Tythe of All things The Tythe of Oxen and Sheep and the Tythe of Holy things which were Consecrated unto the Lord their God 2 Chr. xxxi 5 6. Of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the Tenth unto Thee Gen. xxviij 22. Honour the Lord with thy Substance Prov. iij. 16. and with the First-fruits of ALL thine Increase So shall thy Barns be filled with Plenty c. This is the Reward God has Promis'd to it if we Dare Trust Him And wherein soever we Expect God so to Bless us of All those things we must Pay Him the Tenth else have we no Title to this Promise And this was the Notion of the Jews I give Tythes of ALL that I possess said the Pharisee Luk. xviii 12. And our Saviour Determines Matth. xxiij 23. that we ought to Pay Tythes even of Mint Anise and Cummin i. e. of the smallest things This was the sense of All the Fathers in the Primitive Ages of the Church They Excepted Nothing from Tythe of which I have given some Instances and many more are to be Produc'd II. We are moreover bound to this by the Solemn Vows Dedications and Laws of our Predecessors Kings and Parliaments of England before-mentioned In the first Great Charter or Act of Parliament of King Ethelwolf which I have already Mentioned and which Selden Recites ut supra p. 200. it is thus Vowed Constituted and Ordained Vnde etiam cum Obtejtatione Praecipimus ut omnes studeant de omnibus quae Possident Decimas dare quia speciale Domini Dei est i. e. Wherefor we Command and Objure All to Pay the Tythe of All things that they Possess because it is the Peculiar of the Lord God And thus it is in all the following Grants and Dedications of the Kings and Parliaments downwards Many of which are Recited by Mr. Selden And some of them Descend to name All Particulars that well cou'd be thought of As in the Laws of Edward the Confessor set down at large by Mr. Selden c. 8. n. 13. p. 224 225. which Names Tythe de omni Annona of All sorts of Provisions Victuals Wages or any Income Moreover of Colts Calves Cheese Milk Lambs Fleeces Pigs Bees Wood Hay Mills Parks Warrens Fishing Orchards Gardens Negotiationibus Trading Merchandise and all Business omnibus rebus quas dederit Dominus