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A42727 A sermon on the sin of stealing custom, and the duty of paying tribute from the 13. Rom. 7. v. / preached at St. Peter's Exon by John Gilbert ... Gilbert, John, b. 1658 or 9. 1699 (1699) Wing G709; ESTC R40886 10,825 34

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of the Government but also their conscientious paying of the Tribute for the Support of the Empire and this as oblig'd to it by the command of Christ To render to Caesar the things that are Caesars Not long after this another Apology was written for the Christians by Tertullian Vectigalia gratias Christianis agunt ex fide de pendentibus Debitum quâ alieno fraudando abstinemus Tert. Apol. Sect. 42. p. 72. and he saith they paid the Tribute with the same Fidelity with which they abstain'd from all Frauds thereby declaring it was as much against their consciences to be guilty of publick as private Frauds And St. Ambrose or whoever was the Author of those Commentaries on the Epistle Bel. c. ascribe them to Hil. Diac. Tom. 5. p. 232. to the Romans which go under his Name speaking of the reason why St. Paul commands the paying of Tribute before Honour saith Quia Major Causa aut major necessitas Because there is greater Reason or greater Necessity for it The legal Revenue is the Strength and Sinews of the Government and the with-holding of this weakens it and exposeth it to contempt It tends to make a Prince a Beggar This is therefore of greater moment than giving to Kings bended Knees or pompous Titles these without the other are little better than Mockery or Scorn little better than the Soldiers honouring of Christ when they bended the Knee and said Hail King of the Jews But I proceed to consider the Opinion of some Modern Divines who liv'd since the Reformation and who have greater Authority with some than more ancient Writers and therefore I shall give you some account of them both Foreign and of our Church and Nation Vectigalia Tributa persolvant c. non quia Cogimur sed quia Deo gratum est obsequium Calv. Rom. 13. 7. v. Calvin speaks plainly for it in his Commentary on the Text he joins this with other Duties to be perform'd to our Governours not by compulsion but as an acceptable Service to God Peter Martyr who came into England and was highly instrumental in our Reformation speaking of the paying Tributes legally impos'd admires Quo Jure ratione Loc. com p. 307. by what Law or upon what account any can think themselves exempted from it Aretius in his Common Places hath a p. 877. large Tract on this Subject and he proves by many Arguments that Men ought to pay the Tributes and Customs by lawful Authority imposed on them and this not propter Iram for fear of the Penalty of the Law sed ut conscientiae satisfaciamus coram Deo that we may keep a good conscience towards God The same may be found in the Works of Episcopius who fully answers the Objections that can be made to exempt the consciences of Men from the Obligation of this Episc quaest 28. p. 26 27. Precept I might have given you large Citations from Grotius Gerhard Philip of Limburg but I am confined to narrow Limits and must hasten to give an account of the Judgment of some learned Divines of our own Church and Nation The learned Bishop Taylor in his Discourse of Laws Penal and Tributary is plain in this case Tribute saith he is due by the Duct Dubit Lib. 3. p. 125. Laws of Religion where it is due by the Laws of the Nation And therefore those Persons are very regardless of their Eternal Interest who thinks it lawful Prize whatever they can take from the Custom-House c. Let no Man think that because some Subjects Farm the Customs and that the Portion which is concealed doth not lessen the Incomes of the Prince therefore it may be Lawful to hide from them all they can For the Farmer hath what he gets in the right of the Prince and in his own right he hath nothing from the Subject but from his Supreme who is therefore bound to defend that Right and complain of that Wrong And the Husband-Men in the Gospel who denied to pay the Stewards of the King the Fruits of the Vineyard which in their King 's Right were demanded of them were cast into utter Darkness And Mr. Baxter proposeth this case when Christi Direct part 4. p. 164. an Estate is intrusted with a Friend to secure it from paying great Taxes or Tribute to the King whether a Man may keep such a Trust and he answereth He may not the Taxes being Just and Legal for the maintenance of the Magistrate or the preservation of the Common-Wealth Now that the Non-payment of the Tribute and Customs appointed by the Law is an Offence some will not deny but they think it hard that such Offences should be ranked with Robberies and Thefts But though this Practice may be no Theft in a Law sense that having not declared it Felony yet in a Scripture sense it is no better and for this I could produce many Divines of great Note who have ranked this among the Sins forbidden by the Eighth Commandment Mr. Dod in the Exposition of that Command hath these Words For things pertaining to the Common-Wealth that is another kind of publick Robbery when Men that have the disposing and ordering of things that pertain to the Common-Weal and are to be used for the common Good will take them to themselves and make a private Gain of them this is a foul Fault and a high Degree of Theft so much the more heinous because it is the more general and greater wrong by how much it toucheth more And Dr. Towerson in his Explication of In res singulorum majus est dominium regis ad bonum commune quàm dominorum singularium Grot. de Ju. Bel. Pa. Lib. 1. c. 1. Sect. 6. the Eighth Commandment saith In as much as the Public is capable of a Property as well as private Persons in as much as it is not only capable of a Property but cannot subsist without it hence it comes to pass there may be a theft of public Goods as well as private and consequently that as well as the other to be concluded within the Force of the Prohibition And from hence it will follow saith that Learned and Pious Doctor That denying just Tributes are Entrenchments upon the Goods of the Public and consequently proper Thefts And he afterwards affirms That As the Mischief which ariseth from publick Thefts is much greater than that of private ones consequently they are much more criminal Chemnitius amongst the Sins forbidden by Peculatus Furtum quod committitur in Repub. vel subtrahendo vel non persolvendo res communitatis Loci Theol. pars 2. p. 81. this Command reckons the Offence which the Romans called Peculatus and which he defines to be a Robbing of the Common-Wealth by with-holding or not paying what is due to it To these I shall only add the Judgment of two Reverend Prelates both once well known and esteemed in this City Bishop Hall I mean and Bishop Hopkins