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
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
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
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