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A11600
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The ministers portion· By William Sclater. Batchelar of Diuinity and minister of the word of God at Pitmister in Somerset
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Sclater, William, 1575-1626.
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1612
(1612)
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STC 21841; ESTC S116822
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29,708
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56
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3 Be it granted that this was some reason of their assignement to Levi how concludes this the ordinance in generall For the iniunction of tithing was as old as Abraham l Gen 14.20 when was no place for partition of Gods people by tribes And if this be all they haue to proue them iudicials J shall craue pardon for subscribing to their iudgement Lastly yeeld them Judicials yet if of common equitie if confirmed by positiue law if consenting with law of nature if serving to vphold morall duties binds not the ordinance for ever J conclude therefore sith neither ceremoniall nor iudiciall or if iudiciall yet of commoÌ„ equitie therefore their payment is perpetually to be observed The last reason for I had rather giue reasons by weight then number is taken froÌ„ practise of the church in all times froÌ„ beginning of the world downe to these last daies of reformation ever since God had a ministry in the world tithes were their maintenance Before the law the first borne then the ordinary priests received tithes m Gen. 14.20 For that that Melchisedec was SheÌ„ Noahs eldest son at least by priviledge if not by birth few question none disproue for the time vnder the law is no question For Apostles times or much of them the vse of tithes persecutioÌ„ or scandale forced to be intermitted Yet continued that Ius ever in them and their inferior Presbyters And therefore they vrge yeelding of maintenance such no doubt in their generall aime as was certaine by the word of God such as had bin in vse yea plead for portion n Gal. 6 6. 1. Tim. 5.17 of al goods for double honour After when God was pleased to graunt even but a little rest breathing time to the Churches presently came tithes againe to be the Ministers portioÌ„ Cyprian whose martyrdome fel into the yeare of the Lord 259. according to Eusebius his computatioÌ„ Epist 66. amongst other goods of the church more then intimats tithes to haue bin coÌ„mitted to Bishops as generall stewards by whom they were distributed to inferiour Ministers Vpon occasion taxing Geminius Victor for appointing Geminius Faustinus a presbyter overseer of his will and thereby occasioning distraction from his ministery sets down by way of aggravation the course established in the Church of God for preventing such distractions in the ministry As by Gods owne authority and disposition the tribe of Levi received tithes from the other tribes c. that they might by no meanes be called away or coÌ„strained to thinke or deale with things secular the same course and order is now holden in the Church Vt qui in Ecclesia Domini ordinatione clerica promoventur in nullo ab administratione divina avocentur nec molestijs negotijs secularibus alligentur sed in honore sportulantium fratrum tanquam decimas ex fructibus accipientes ab altari sacrificijs non recedant sed die ac nocte caelestibus rebus spiritualibus serviant this mentions Cyprian as a course in his time received in the Church In the same age a few yeares after was Dionysius bishop of Rome about the yeare 266. Cant. 3. cap. 10. This man as Platina in his life testifieth and as himselfe of himselfe in his epistle to Severus assigned severall Churches to severall Ministers as parishes least one Pastor might defraud another Gratian caus 13. q. 1. the question being then not whether to any but vnto what church tithes were to be paid The conclusion extant at large in the body of the Canon law with some reasons both most coÌ„sonant to his decree it will not be amisse briefly to collect because it is of some vse in this matter of tithes That which is proved there is that tithes are payable to the baptismall Churches and to the Ministers there serving God and ministring to the people After many testimonies heaped vp togither Gal. 6.6 1. Cor. 9. at length it is concluded with this expostulation Quis plantat vineam c. who plants a vineyard eats not of the fruit thereof Nos plantavimus vineam vos vultis edere Item praecepit Dominus per Mosem vt nemo mittat falcem in alienam messem Haec messis nostra est vos vultis falcem in eam mittere Item Apostolus they that serue at the altar liue of the altar sed numquid de eo cui noÌ„ serviunt Qui in sacrario operantur cum sacrario participant sed numquid cum illo in quo non operantur c. That I may not spend time paper whiles I doe but actum agere for the next age read what Hierome hath touching practise of the Church in his epistle to Nepotian Ambrose his iudgement in ser quadrages In times succeeding Chrysost hom 18. in Act. August in Psal 146. c calling for tithes and sharply reproving their detainment or spare payment For Councils that one Synode called Matisconensis held anno 580 Cenâ—uriat the second holden at that citty Can. 5. Cent. 6. cap. 9. not only ordaines their payment but sheweth the observation of that duety to haue bin of long standing in the Christian Church Leges divinae consulentes sacerdotibus ac ministris ecclesiarum pro haereditaria portione omni populo praeceperunt decimas fructuum suorum locis sacris praestare vt nullo labore impediti per res illegitimas spiritualibus possint vacare ministerijs Quas lege Christianorum congeries longis temporibus custodivit intemeratas nunc autem paulatim praevaricatores legum poene Christiani omnes ostenduntur dum ea quae divinitus sancita sunt adimplere negligunt Vnde statuimus ac decernimus vt mos antiquus à fidelibus reparetur decimas ecclesiasticis famulantibus ceremonijs populus omnis inferat After this say the Century writers out of Aventine Cent. 8. c. 7. de bonis Eccl. lib. 3. Annal decimas à profanis occupatas Carolomannus suo edicto restitui iubet Tithes vsurped by seculars or as perhaps he names them for their fact profane persons Charlemaine by his edict commaÌ„ds to be restored The same authors out of Crantzius his metropolis lib. 1. cap. 8. talem statum Carolus magnus post impositum iuguÌ„ Christi reliquit in provincia vt liber esset populus à tributorum iugo caeterum Ecclesijs pontificibus iure decimaruÌ„ obnoxius permaneret To leaue forrenners in England Anno Dom. 786. Cent. 8. cap. 9. after accompt of these writers was holden a Synode of all states of the kingdomes and the decrees therof subscribed by the severall kings then raigning and their assessors Bishops Dukes and Cominaltie In the 17 chapter of which Council thus we read De Decimis dandis sicut in lege scriptum est decimam partem ex omnibus frugibus tuis seu primitijs deferas in domum domini dei tui rursum per prophetam adferte inquit omnem decimam in horreum meum vt sit cibus in