Increase I have not Transgressed His Commandments Deut. xvi 16. To Appear Empty before the Lord Neither will I offer unto the Lord my God of that which doth Cost me nothing 2 Sam. xxiv 24. And O Lord that it may please thee Graciously to accept this Offering at my hands and to make it well-pleasing in thy sight O Lord Jesus Christ Heb. vij 8. the Priest who ever Liveth to Receive Tythe and to make Intercession for us Receive this our Tribute our Bounden Duty and Service 1 Pet. ij 25. O thou Bishop of our Souls in Thy Goodness and make it acceptable to Thy Father and our Father Joh. xx 17. to thy God and our God O Thou who art able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by Thee Heb. vij 25. And to succour them that are Tempted Ch. ij 18. in that thou thy self wast Tempted O Thou Merciful and Faithful High-Priest 17. in things pertaining to God O do Thou make Powerful Intercession for the Sins of the People Mal. iij. 8. who have Robbed GOD in His Tythes and Offerings O Thou who did'st open the Eyes of the Blind open the Eyes of this People and smite Lord their Hearts they that may See and Consider their Horrid Sacrilege and Repent and Return And that Thou may'st Pardon all that is Past all their Neglect of Paying their Tythe Hitherto all Mine O God who smite upon my Breast this Day and turning my self I mourn for this great Offence and Bless Thy Name with the Vtmost Powers of my Soul That Thou hast Graciously and Wonderfully had Mercy on me and now tho Late hast shewn to me Thy Glory and Thy Truth O Preserve and Bless me in it And bring more and more into it even this whole People Hos ix 4. That his their Bread for their Soul may never Hereafter cease to come into the House of the Lord Mal. iij. 10. that ther may be Meat in Thine House and that Thou may'st open the Windows of Heaven and Pour us out a Blessing till ther shall not be Room enough to receive it 11. That thou may'st Rebuke the Destroyer for our sakes that he may not Destroy the Fruits of our Ground nor our Corn cast her Fruit before the time in the Field 12. That all Nations may call us Blessed That we may be a Delightsome Land unto the Lord of Hosts Look down from Thy Holy Habitation Deut. xxvi 15. from Heaven and Bless thy People Israel and the Land which Thou hast Given us Bless Thy Holy Catholick Church and Every Land and Country where she Dwells This in an especial Manner O Lord our God Her Governours the Bishops with the Inferior Priests and Deacons And all Thy Faithful committed to their Charge their Kings their Princes and Temporal Government Isa xlx 23. Make them faithful Nourishers to Thy Church and to Bow down their Ear to her Instruction and submit themselves to her Discipline That Thy Worship may be set up amongst us in its Purity and Fulness That Thou may'st Delight to Bless us Deut. viij 16. and to do us good at our Latter End And now O Lord and my God let me Return unto Thee for a Blessing upon my self a most Miserable and wretched Sinner who am less than the least of all the Mercies which Thou dost daily Renew unto Me and for my and Whom Thou hast Graciously given unto Thy Servant And all my Family Friends Relations Benefactors and Well-wishers Feed us O Lord with Food convenient for us Gen. xxviij 22. And of all that Thou givest us Grant that we may surely give the Tenth unto Thee 21. that the Lord may be our God And may Bless the Fruit of our Body Deut. xxviij 4. c. and the Fruit of our Ground the Fruit of our Cattel and the Increase of our Kine and the Flocks of our Sheep that the Lord may Command a Blessing upon us in our Store-Houses and in all that we set our hand unto When we come in and when we go out That we may be Blessed in our Basket and Blessed in our Store Blessed in the City and Blessed in the Field That the Lord may open unto us His Good Treasure the Heaven to give the Rain unto our Land in his season and to Bless all the work of our hand And that we may Lend un-Many but not Borrow That the Lord may make us the Head and not the Tail and to be Above only and not to be Beneath when we shall hearken unto the Commandments of the Lord our God And therefor we do now Honour and Hallow and Worship Thy Holy Name in Rendring our Bounden Tribute and Service Thy Tenth of all our Increase which we offer with Thankful and Joyful Hearts Adoring Thy Goodness and Praising Thy Mercy in Giving us All that we have Blessed be thou 1 Chr. xxix 10. Lord God of Israel our Father for ever and ever Thine O Lord is the Greatness and the Power and the Glory and the Victory and the Majesty for all that is in the Heaven and in the Earth is Thine Thine is the Kingdom O Lord and Thou art Exalted as Head above All. Now therfor Our God we Thank Thee and Praise Thy Glorious Name But who am I and what are we that we shou'd be able to Offer so willingly after this sort For All things come of Thee and of Thine own have we given Thee For we are Strangers before Thee and Sojourners as were all our Fathers our Days on the Earth are as a Shadow and ther is none Abiding O Lord our God All that we have cometh of Thine Hand and All is Thine own I know also My God that Thou triest the Heart and hast Pleasure in Vprightness As for me in the Vprightness of mine Heart I have willingly Offered the Tenth unto Thee And Pray God that I may yet see with Joy All Thy People offer the same willingly unto Thee And O Lord God keep this for ever in the Imagination of the Thoughts of the Heart of Thy People Lord Psal x. 19. Prepare their Heart and let Thine Ear hearken thereto Redeem Israel O God 25.21 out of All his Troubles Our Father c. A Blessing to be Pronounced by the Priest BLessed be Thou of the most High God Gen. xiv 19 20. Possessor of Heaven and Earth And Blessed be the Most High God who hath given Thee a Heart to Fear before Him and to fulfil His Law 1 Sam. i. 17. And the God of Israel grant Thee thy Petition that thou hast asked of Him though Jesus Christ who Dyed for Thee To whom be Glory with the Father and the Holy-Ghost for ever and ever Amen FINIS
our Tongue Prov. iij. 9. which is but an Inferiour and Contemplative Worship But He has Requir'd that we shou'd Pay Him an Active Honour that is Worship Him Ecclus xxxv 8. with our Substance This is a Necessary Part of that Glory which we must give to God and as much Preferable to Verbal Praises as Deeds are more than Words The Psalmist Describes this Plainly Psal xcvj 8. Give unto the Lord the Glory due unto His Name or The Glory of His Name as our Margin reads it What is that Glory The next Words shew it Bring as Offering and come into His Courts Hence that Command is so oft Repeated Exo. xxiij 15. Ch. xxxiv 20. Deut. xvj 16 17. That None shou'd appear Empty before the Lord. When we Approach to Worship GOD we must Sacrifice more or less of our Mammon before Him to shew that we Depend upon God for our whole Subsistence and that Mammon is not that God But we offer him up as a Sacrifice to another God to a Greater than he I will not offer unto the Lord my God said David of that which doth Cost me Nothing 2 Sam. xxiv 24. But I will not Labour this Point further because I suppose that I shall have none to oppose me For All Christians do Grant that some Part of our Substance is Due to God Nay this is a Notion wherein All Mankind do agree and have done at All Times since the Beginning of the World No Nation was ever so Barbarous that did not Sacrifice to some God or other And though the Outward Typical BLOODY Sacrifices have ceas'd among Christians since Christ the True and only Propitiatory Sacrifice offer'd His own Blood for Us upon the Cross yet I hope ther is not any Christian to be found who thinks that we are therefore Releas'd from the Command of Honouring the Lord with our Substance and Disposing of some Part of our Money though not in Beasts for Sacrifice yet in the Service of God which never did Consist wholly in the Sacrifice of Beasts Ther are and ever were other Parts of His Worship and from which we are not Releas'd For as Irenaeus proves Advers Haeres l. 4. c. 34. Ther are Offerings and Sacrifices under the Gospel as well as under the Law that the Command is not Abolish'd only the Species of some are Chang'd It being therefore Granted That some Part of our Substance is Due to God let us proceed to Enquire what that Part is or whether God has left us wholly at loose to give what Part we Please and in what Manner we think fit 2. This being a Part of God's Worship it cannot be Paid after our Fancies but as God has Appointed it To Give Alms to a Poor Man iâ— an Act of Charity and Commanded by God But it is not a Dired Act of Worship or Devotion Every Good Act we do whether of Mercy or Justice or any other Morality is and may be Constru'd Consequentially to be a Worship of God as being done in Obedience to His Command And thus every Act of ouâ— Life may be counted an Act of Worship because Whether we Eat or Drinâ— or whatever we do 1 Cor. x. 31. we are Commanded to do All to the Glory of God Buâ— all these Acts have ever been Distinguish'd from the Acts of Direct WORSHIP which are to be Regulateâ— strictly according to the Positive Command of God in Scripture from which we must not Depart either 〈◊〉 the Right Hand Deut. v. 32. or to the Left neither to Add to it Ch. xij 32. or Diminish from it But in General Actions of Morality we are left to the General Guidanoâ— of our own Reason according to the General Directions of the Scripture and the Ordinary Assistances of the Holy Spirit and to the Performance of which General Promises are annexed But in the more Direct Acts of Worship which are All Commanded by Revelation we are Limited Precisely to what is so Revealed and ther are Particular and Peculiar Promises annexed to the Performance and a more than ORDINARY Assistance and Participation of the Holy Spirit of God Therefore what Part of our Substance God has Reserv'd as a Part of His Worship is not to be Reckon'd among Bare Acts of Charity but must be Offer'd in such Manner and Method as He has Commanded This being Premised we will now see whether any Determinate Quantum of our Estates has been Reserv'd by God as Sacred to Himself SECT V. Of the Determinate Number of a Tenth under the Law THE Cabalists make many Mysteries in this Number It is the Completion of all Single Numbers and the first Number of Increase by which all Nations do Multiply And therefore ther seems to be even some Natural Aptitude in this Number beyond that of any other which forces all Mankind without Concerting to Multiply by it And being thus in many Respects the most Perfect of Numbers the First and Last of Numbers comprehending all Single Numbers and Multiplying them in Infinitum it seems the most Fit and Proper Number wherein to Pay our Tribute to God who is the First and the Last and Multiplies all we have unto us by this acknowledging that All we Enjoy and all our Increase is His and comes from Him Ther are Cabalisms upon this Number as to the Decalogue comprehending all Duty and the Ten Candlesticks in the Temple 1 Kings vij 49. representing the Ten Severities and Mercies as they reckon them of God and the Holy Seed is called a Tenth Isa vj. 13. They tell us that ther is a Mytholology not only in the Quantum or Number of the Tythe but in the Manner of its Payment viz. The People were to Pay the Tenth to the Levites and the Levites the Tenth of their Tenth to the High-Priest They say that the People do represent the Corporeal Part of Man the Levites the Animal and the High-Priest the Spiritual which is the Highest And that as the People fed the Levites by Paying their Tythe to them and the Levites in the same manner fed the High-Priest so in Man the Corporeal Part feeds the Animal and the Animal feeds the Spiriâ—ual But I leave these Allusions and whatever Truth ther may be in â—hem yet I lay no Stress of my present Argument upon them I Enquire not now after Tythes upon account of the Reasons either Natural or Cabalâ—istical for the Fitness of that Number above any other But I desire to follow Matter of Fact and see what God has Appointed for if that can be found out it Determines our Obedience more Positively and Certainly than a Thousand Conjectures or Contrivances of our own Let me only observe that Ten being the utmost Number it is the leasâ— Proportion that cou'd be Reserv'd for Nine wou'd be a Greater Proportion of our Goods and Eight a Greateâ— than that c. But now to follow the Clew oâ— Matter of Fact by which I intend to Determine this Cause
AN ESSAY Concerning the Divine Right OF TYTHES By the AVTHOR of The Snake in the Grass LONDON Printed for C. Brome at the Gun W. Keblewhite at the Swan in St. Paul's Church yard E. Pool at the Half-Moon and G. Strahan at the Golden-Ball in Cornhil MDCC PREFACE THE Subject of Tythes is the Great DIANA of the Quakers They have Bent their Whole Force against Tythe as the likeliest Means to overthrow the Church And herein they have Many Abettors Upon whose Account I Resolv'd to Consider of Tythe in a Discourse by it self My Controversie with the Quakers has led me into Subjects of Different Natures and Engag'd me among other Parties As when they began to be Convinced concerning the Necessity and Benefit of the Sacraments of Baptism and The Lord's Supper But stuck upon the Administrator to whom they should go for it To satisfie them in this forc'd me Directly upon the Cause of Episcopacy This concerned other Dissenters And received a very Angry Answer from one who Stiles himself a Presbyterian Wherein I cou'd find Nothing to Reply to but Passion and Personal Reflections therefor I let it Sleep The like Fate I may meet with in this That it will be Oppos'd by others than the Quakers And indeed it is for the sake of others more than the Quakers that I write it Of others who shou'd have more understanding as not being Carry'd away with that Blind Enthusiasm which Possesses the Quakers But yet who suffer themselves to Swim down the Stream of a Popular Sacrilege Ther is nothing needful to these Men but to Rouse a little to open their Eyes and Consider And not to follow a Multitude to do Evil. I have not in the following Sheets quoted any of the Quaker-Books or Repeated their poor Arguments which they only Pickt up and down the High-way the Common Objections that were then Running about and you will meet with every where they are all Answer'd tho not Nam'd in what follows But it is very observable to what an Excess of Fury and Madness against all the Institutions of God that Spirit of Delusion which Possess'd the Quakers did Hurry them Even to Account this Part of the Worship of God the Offering of His Tythe to be a Renouncing of CHRIST a Denial of his having come in the Flesh and a Mark of Antichrist As you may see in The Snake in the Grass Sect. XIX And there sufficiently Answer'd Together with their other Designs they had in their Opposition to Tythes on Purpose to Ruin and Destroy the Clergy Therefor leaving these Men I turn to More Considerable Adversaries And first I Name Milton only for his Name lest the Party should say That I had not Consider'd his Performance against Tythes Which has More Wit but little more Argument than the Quakers His Fancy was too Predominant for his Judgment His Talent lay so much in Satyr that he hated Reasoning Or rather he got not leave to make use of it while he wrote for Hire against his own Opinion Which Appears by what he wrote Vnbrib'd which Mr. Toland has not Reprinted contrary to what he afterwards had a Pension to set up He sacrific'd a Noble Genius to the Vices of the Age. He has thrown away some of his Railery against Tythes and the Church then underfoot Which Tickl'd little Toland to that Degree That tho he has Reprinted that Precious Piece against Tythe call'd Considerations touching the likeliest Means to Remove HIRELINGS c. among the Rest of Milton's SHAME yet he has thrust Platches of it into that Life he wrote of Milton the most Considerable we must suppose that he cou'd find to be Worth this Repetition as A Pulpit Divine a LOLLARD indeed over his ELBOW-CVSHION And his Sheep sit as the Sheep in their PEWS at SMITHFIELD And such like Contemptible WITTICISMS Vnworthy an Author of any Name And shew Mr. Toland's Judgment in Picking out these to Adorn his Life lest the Reader might have Over-look'd such Delicious Stroaks in the Perusal of his Works But to Men of Sense it seems rather lik Playing of Booty to Please those Fools and Knaves who Hir'd him to write against Hirelings Nothing else cou'd have made him Submit to set down what he must know to be False unless we have a very Mean Opinion of his Knowledge the Cry of the Ignorant QVAKERS That we made Use of The POPISH Arguments against Tythes which Mr. Toland likewise Reprints in the Quotations he Repeats in his Life Whereas all that have any skill in these Matters do know That the Popish Writers were the First and Great Corrupters of the Doctrine of Tythe As is told Pag. 128 129. And that the Opposers and not the Defenders of Tythe have borrow'd their Arguments But Mr. Milton knew what wou'd Please he Regarded not the Truth but the Hire And knowing this he was Resolv'd to Cry Whore first Therefor he Charg'd the Clergy with the Name of Hirelings Which if it be Meant of those who take any thing for their Preaching it flies Directly in the face of our Blessed Saviour who uses the same word concerning Preachers saying that The Labourer is worthy of his Hire Luk. x. 7. But if it be Meant as it can bear no other Meaning That they are the Culpable Hirelings who value the Hire more than the Work That is to be known only by Him who knows the Heart And can be Guest at by us only from the Consequences And for St. Paul's Preaching Gratis to the Corinthians and Thessalonians which is urg'd by the Quakers and Milton it makes against them for the Apostle Asserts his Right to have been Burthensome as the Apostles of Christ 1 Thess ii 6. And says I have Robbed other Churches taking Wages of them to do you Service 2 Cor xi 8. And he gives the Reason ver 12. To cut off occasion from them that Desire occasion Such are False Apostles c. who had Rais'd a Great Schism in the Church of Corinth Alledging that the Apostles sought their own Gain by their Preaching And Endeavour'd to Make Disciples to themselves rather than to Christ For which Cause he says he was glad that he had Baptized so few in Corinth Whence the Quakers Argue against Baptism too Lest says he any shou'd say that I had Baptized in mine own Name 1 Cor. i. 15. And asks them v. 13. Were ye Baptised in the Name of Paul For the same Reason he wou'd take no Wages from the Church at Corinth to stop the Mouths of these Schismatical Apostles And says he Boasts in it 2 Cor. xi 10. But where had been the Cause of Boasting if he had only Refus'd to Exact what was None of his Due He stands upon it to be his Due And says So hath the Lord Ordained that they who Preach the Gospel shou'd Live of the Gospel 1 Cor. ix 14. But says he I have used none of these things that is Amongst you And therein he Glories He says Tho I
Preach the Gospel I have nothing to Glory of for Necessity is laid upon Me Yea Woe is unto Me if I Preach not the Gospel But ther was no Necessity laid upon him to Abate of his Right which Christ had given to all his Ministers of taking Wages or a Maintenance from the People to whom they Preach And he Abating of that for Prudential Considerations at that time is far from a Precedent to all other Times and Places For the same Apostle tells us that the other Apostles did not so and that he did otherwise at other Times and Places If these Quakers and others who Rail at Hirelings wou'd Imitate the Apostle's Example herein And take Nothing themselves for their Preaching while they as the Apostle Assert the Right of Others to it they might have some Pretence But when we see Geor. Fox from a Poor Journey-Man to a Shoemaker in Manchester from his Leathern-Briches and going on Foot and often Bare-foot Mount by his Preaching-Trade on Horse-back with his Man carrying his Cloak before him to Act the Gentle-Man And leave 1000 l. behind him for Printing of his Books which cry out against Hirelings and say Freely ye have Received freely Give And when we see a Man of Milton's Wit Chime in with such a Herd and Help on the Cry against Hirelings We find How Easie it is for Folly and Knavery to Meet and that they are Near of Kin tho they bear Different Aspects Therefor since Milton has put himself upon a Level with the Quakers in this I will let them go together And take as little Notice of his Buffoonry as of their Dulness against Tythes Ther is nothing worth Quoting in his Lampoon against the Hirelings But what ther is of Argument in it is fully Consider'd in what follows But ther is another who has gone about his business more like a Work-Man and Attack'd Tythes with great Subtilty and Learning it is the Famous Mr. Selden in what he calls The History of Tythes And pretends that it is Nothing else but a plain History without any Design against the Divine Right or any other Settlement of Tythes But then he Carries on his Mine under Ground and gives such Accounts of them as wou'd Effectually overthrow them Therefor I have Consider'd this Book of Mr. Selden's with more Care as supposing it to Contain the Utmost that can be said or Insinuated against the Divine Right of Tythes Whether I have done him Justice or not Let the Reader Judge I have one thing More to Advertise in this Place By what is said p. 138. it may be thought as if I were of Opinion that Ananias and Sapphira had neither Vowed nor Promised the Price of their Lands Though ther is a Caution put against this if observ'd in the Wording of it as it is said they had not FORMALLY Vowed or Promised Nor is that Averr'd Neither but as follows for ought Appears i. e. in the Text where it is not so Expresly said But I think it is Implied For it is Plain by their Answers that they sold their Lands under the Pretence of Giving the Whole Price as others did How FORMALLY they had before Promised or Vowed this is not said in the Text. Nor was ther need of it for supposing as I do in the place above Quoted That they had only Resolv'd it in the Thoughts of their own Mind it was Sacrilege after that to Subtract from what was so Design'd and by that Dedicated to God though none Knew it but God and Themselves Therefor I took this way to Obviate the Cavils that might be Rais'd Concerning the Formality of their Vow or Dedication of this Money which we are Requir'd to Shew and Produce out of the Text. Nothing less will serve Some Men upon Some Points Though they will be very Loath to be Ty'd to it themselves For Example That the Sin for which Belshazzar was so Suddenly and Miraculously Punished was Excess in Drinking of which ther is not one Word in the Text. But the Sin of Sacrilege is there Plainly set down viz. His Profaning the Holy Vessels of the Temple Yet in the Assemblies Annotations An. 1646. upon Dan. v. 2. They cou'd find no Sacrilege in this No Nor in the Sin of Achan Josh vi 17 18 19. and Chap. vii This was put upon Covetousness Though the Text says Plainly that it was for taking of what was Accursed that is Devoted and Consecrated to God and therefor Accursed to any whosoever shou'd Invade it Neither cou'd they find any Sacrilege in the Sin of Ananias only Covetuousness there too and Vanity Lying or any thing but Sacrilege These two Instances of Achan in the Beginning of the Jewish Church and of Ananias in the Beginning of the Christian are set in the Front That All Might take Notice of God's High Indignation against this Sin of Sacrilege And it is to be Notic'd too how Close Men that are Resolv'd can Shut their Eyes Ther is not only no Sacrilege in these Instances But ther is not Now any such Sin as Sacrilege Or Some Men are not Capable of Committing it A poor Rogue may be Whipt for Stealing a Cushion or an Hour-Glass out of a Church rather for Example sake than that ther is any Great Matter in it besides the Humor of Pilfering which in time may lead them into our Houses But ther are others who can Seize upon CHVRCHES and Convert them to COMMON use And yet None Dare call it Sacrilege or Any Fault at all For it is None if it be not Sacrilege And I wou'd gladly be Inform'd What that Sin of Sacrilege is if this be not it I can see no Remedy but that we Must even Drop this Sin as to some Particular Persons Times and Places And the More Sins we Drop we leave the Less behind And so may come to be Good in time CONTENTS PREFACE Concerning THE Quakers Excess against Tythes Page iii. Concerning Milton against Tythes Page iv Concerning Selden his History of Tythes Page xii Concerning Dropping the Sin of Sacrilege Page xv BOOK Introduction Page 1. Sect. I. Of Trust in God Page 4. Sect. II. Judgments upon Distrust Page 20. Sect. III. Of Trust in Riches Page 23. Sect. IV. That Some Part of our Substance is Due to GOD as an Act of Worship Page 27. Sect. V. Of the Determinate Quantum of a Tenth Page 32. Vnder the Law Page 34. Sect. VI. Before the Law in Abram Page 36. In Jacob. Page 50. Sect. VII That this was the Universal Notion and Tradition of the Gentile World Page 52. Sect. VIII The Original of Tythe Page 84. Sect. IX An Answer to the Objection That Tythes are not Commanded in the Gospel Page 105. Sect. X. An Answer to the Objection That no Tythes were Paid in the days of the Apostles and first Ages of Christianity Page 115. The Church of Rome first Corrupted the Doctrine of Tythe Page 127. Sect. XI The Tythes in England are Dedicated by Particular