Ages but this was still a time when the Church was subject to persecution and dangers and many poor and so a necessity to live in Societies as the people of God did in those dayes a full answer you have in my Justification of Tythes to belong to Christ and his Ministers Hom. 23. ad Epist 1. a Cor. â— in cap. 16 Ambros Tom. 5. Serm. in Ascenti Domini by Divine right and yet all places were not in like condition even in those times Now Sir you proceed forward and bring in Hierom and Chrysostome who you say did press payment of Tythes and Ambrose Bishop of Millan about the year 400 after Christ pressed the payment of Tythes Anthony Peirson's case And page 5. Augustine say you in Sermon de tempore in Tom. 10. This is the just custome of the Lord that if thou dost not give the Tenth to him thou shall be called to the Tenth thy self And after Decimae ex debito requiruntur tythes are required as due debt you add Leo Severine and Gregory Mr. Bourn's answer Thus you have now alledged divers Antients who do not only declare for payment of tythes but for payment of them by Divine right or as a duty Gregory's judgement was that the tenth of all was to be given to God as many others and truly any man that rightly considers the Histories of the Church and what is written by the Antients may see clearly that howsoever in the beginning and dangerous times tythes were not pressed for weighty Reasons as I have shewed in my Defence page 44 yet so soon as ever the Church came to a settlement and they were more free from persecution tythes were preached and pressed and payed as a duty not as alms or liberal devotions as you would make men believe Anthony Peirson's case Again page 6. he affirms that from the opinions of these and other antient Fathers who took their ground as he thinks from the Law tythes were brought into the Church but not received as a general Doctrine that Tythes ought to be payed till about 800 years after Christ Mr. Bourn's answer First how know you that these antient Fathers took their ground out of the Law that Tythes ought to be pay'd as if it had been the Levitical Law only why might they not take their ground long before that Law even from that payment of Tythes by Abraham to Melchizedeck the Priest of the most high God and from Jacobs Vow and what Christ spake and his Apostles writ in the Gospel and Epistles especially that to the Hebrews chap. 7. I am sure some of the Fathers do alledge arguments from divers of these See my Book pag. 59 60 61 62 c. and so it might be from a light to the conscience that Tythes are Gods part and Christs right for maintenance of his worship and service hence might press the payment of them For what you say that the Doctrine was not received till the 800 year certain it doth not appear but the contrary for many Writers before that time did assert the payment of Tythes and that as a due yea by Divine right as I have declared in my Defence of Tythes read my Book with Doctor Slater and Doctor Tilseley his Animadversions on Mr. Seldens History and others Anthony Peirson's case In his 7. page and following he endeavours to prove That Tythes belonged to the Poor above 800 900 1000 years after Christ and that the Clergy was not to use them as their own and people had more willing mind to give them for the poor than the Priests but after in the year 1274. there was a Law that people should not give them at their pleasures but to the Church this by Pope Gregory Mr. Bourn's answer I answer that before that time there were amongst the people divers things out of order it was some reason till Ministers of the Gospel were setled people should have more liberty to pay their Tythes where they pleased but yet they were paid and due to be paid long before that time and that Law was good by whomsoever it was made That Tythes should be payed to the Church where Ministers were setled to preach the Gospel or to be pay'd to them for their labour in the Word and Doctrine which was most agreeable to the Divine Institution Peirson's Case Now page 8 9. c. Peirson brings History to witness payment of Tythes I shall not trouble the Reader saith he with a relation of Joseph of Arimathea coming into Brittain sent by Phillip the Apostle in the Reign of Arviragus as History reports he about the year 600 of Augustine the Monk who came and preached the Gospel in this Land and when they had brought a great part of the Nation to the Faith they began to preach up the old Romish Doctrine that Tythes ought to be paid c. Mr. Bourn's answer For answer I desire the Reader to observe he relates indeed the story of Joseph Arimathea coming into Brittain to preach the Gospel but he leaveth out the History of that gift of Gleab lands in those dayes at Glassenbury for the maintenance of them that preached the Gospel yet he confesseth that when the people were converted to the Faith then they pressed the payment of Tythes this saith he about 600 years after Christ and yet he saith they began to preach the old Romish Doctrine that Tythes ought to be pay'd I would ask first how old the doctrine of payment of Tythes was at Rome 600 years after Christ if it was an old doctrine within 600 years after Christ certain then it was in or near the Primitive times as indeed it was in some places long before the Pope or the universal Bishop of Rome was born for Origen speaks of the payment of Tythes who lived near the Primitive times about 200 after Christ as I have shewed in my Justification of Tythes read page 59 60. Secondly I demand why old Romish Doctrine for Hierom was not Bishop of Rome and yet he approveth of Tythes and Augustine Bishop of Hippo in Alexandria and divers in other places in those times writ of Tythes as due to be paid and due by divine Right but he would fain make Tythes Romish that he might make them odious though they were thought by the Lord the best way to maintain his servants for his worship and service and indeed are Gods right and Christs right for the maintenance of his Ministers to the end of the world Anthony Peirson's case Anthony Peirson goeth on page 9. c. As concerning Laws saith he for Tythes in the year 786. of a King of Merceland and Elswolph King of Northumberland made Decrees that those two Kingdoms should pay Tythes And Ethelwolf King of the West Saxons in the year 855. made a Law that the Tythe of all his own Land should be given to God and he tells us out of the History that at that time the Nation being under heavy pressure by
the Danes Bernredus King of Mercia and Edmund King of Eastangles being present he called a Counsel and they to remove the judgements then over them granted the Tythe of all their Land to God and his servants and divers other Princes after made Laws for the payment of Tythes thus Anthony Peirson Mr. Bourn's answer To which I answer that even this making Laws for Tythes and that when Judgements of God were upon the Land this certainly doth witness evidently that they were perswaded in their consciences that Tythes were due to God and his servants and the detaining of them was a sin and therefore they made Decrees and Laws to pay them to God as due to him and his servants by divine right for had they not believed that the payment of Tythes had been well pleasing to God they would never in that time have made Laws that Tythes should be pay'd to God for his servants Anthony Peirson's case Now that the Reader may understand saith he the ground that some men pay'd Tythes I have in the margin declared the grant of King Stephen pro salute animae meae c. For the health of my soul c. I Stephen King of England do grant Tythes c. Mr. Bourn's answer I answer still though there was some errour in king Stephen yet this doth witnesse that there was a Conscience in him perswaded that Tythes were Gods due and therefore he confirms Tythes as other Princes upon the same ground had done before him Peirson's Case In the tenth page Wicklâ—ffe saith he did make a complaint to the Parliament which he sets down in Wickliffes words Ah Lord God that people should be constrained to find a worldly Priest unable both in life and cunning in pomp and pride covetise and envy drunkennesse gluttony and lechery in symony and heresie with fat horse and jolley with gay saddles and bridles c. when within few years they pay'd Tythes and Offerings at their own wills to the worship of God and fairness of the holy Church c. Mr. Bourn's answer Let the Reader observe Wickliff doth not complain that Tythes were paid but to such prophane wicked men still this doth argue a due of Tythes to be paid and that for Gods worship whatsoever Anthony saith to the contrary Anthony Peirson's case Anthony Peirson proceeds to add to Wickliff VValter Boute and VVilliam Thorpe and others whose arguments saith he are at large in Fox his Acts and Monuments they did in their dayes bear testimony against Tythes for which some of them suffered in flames as he thinks this page 14. Mr. Bourn's answer To this I desire the Reader if he can to read the History in the Book of Martyrs page 669 670 c. and you cannot find that they or any other were burned or suffered flames because they spake against Tythes for there were other Articles which were more fundamental for which they suffered death had there been nothing else but Tythes no doubt they would not have laid down their lives against Tythes as Anthony Peirson would make men believe Again particular mens opinions do not determine the right which God hath in the world and the encrease of the earth for the maintenance of his worship and service the Scripture-proof is sufficient to witness perpetuity of Tythes Anthony would handle the Question whether Tythes be due or not Anthony Peirson's case But Peirson alledgeth the Laws for Tythes page 15 16 17. c. some made by the Pope and Papal decrees and the opinion of Schools Popes exemption c. as if Tythes had not been Gods part before Mr. Bourn's answer I answer if tythes be due to the Ministers of the Gospel by divine Right as I have proved these several claims of several men do not infringe nor can these Laws or Cannons of Popes hinder Christ or his Ministers from challenging tythes as Gods reserved part for his worship and service I may say the same for the Laws of King Henry the Eight and since Edward the 6. Queen Elizabeth thus we bless God for these good Laws and confirmations and settlement of the paiment of tythes to the Ministers of the Gospel by so many Honourable Parliaments for whom we pray that God will guide them still in his waies for the maintenance of his worship and service and for the good of the Common-wealth yet this will not therefore conclude against the Divine right of tythes good Parliaments and godly men have been and are more willing to pay and establish the paiment of tythes because they are perswaded a godly Ministry ought to be maintained and countenanced and this way of tythes is a way which God himself hath prescribed of old and the Kingdoms that have received the Gospel have approved and practised in several ages of the world this still confirms the divine right of tythes I let pass his seeming Answers to Objections as to Abrahams paiment and Melchizedecks receiving of tythes before Levies Priesthood page 17 18 20 c. and the rest I have given answer to that in my Justification of Ministers maintenance by tythes which may satisfie any good man that is not prejudiced against the Ministers of Christ or hath not some self-end in his not being satisfied Anthony Peirson's Case But Anthony Peirson cryeth out page 25. VVhat a shame it is that a man should be compelled to set out the tythes of his own Goods c. Mr. Bourn's answer I answer though the goods be his own the Corn Hay c. yet the tenth is not his own nor ever was neither theirs or their Fore-fathers never bought nor sold with the Land but are Gods reserved part as we have proved to the full and they are by right from Gods Law to be tythed and by the good Laws of the Nation to which Ministers may lawfully appeal for recovery of their just Rights Paul did appeal to Caesar for his just defence Acts 25.1 Anthony Peirson's case But Anthony Peirson objects if any claim tythes by my Ancestors gift may I not ask him to whom and for what my Ancestors gave them all those tythes since Augustine the Monk were given to Popish Priests for superstitious uses or causes Popish Mr. Bourn's Answer I answer there were no tythes given them as if those that gave them had any right of their own in them originally they did not give them to God but restore them to God again when they had been stollen and unjustly detained from God and abused that continuing to be pay'd they might be for maintenance to Christs Ministers in times of Reformation and this no more than what duty men owe to God witness our Saviour Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods Mat. 22.21 for his other Objections page 14. c. I have answered see my Book Anthony Pierson's Case And for that Anthony Peirson alledgeth out of learned Mr. Shepheard page 28. that tythes was never claimed in respect of any
ownership of the Land but Ex debito by the law of God for substraction whereof no remedy lay at the common law and therefore if a Parson let a lease of a Gleab to another with all appurtenance yet he himself shall have the tythe of it page 28. Mr. Bourn's Answer I entreat the Reader to confider here is a testimony of the claim of tythes by the law of God or divine right this in antient times It is no new doctrine then as in my Justification I have declared at large Anthony Peirson's case For his other Objections which he prevents and answers they are nothing to the claim of tythes by divine right but by humane right that Land saith he which any man hath bought or his Ancestors it was bought with this supposal that it ought to pay tythes and so bought cheaper then it should have been if the Land had been free from Tythes Mr. Bourn's answer But I answer it is true that the Land was ever charged with tythes but not that the Land is free from tythe for the Land payeth tythe Hay and tythe Corn and the tythe of Cattel is not in respect of the Cattel but in respect that they feed upon such Lands therefore Anthony Peirson is deceived and tythe neither sold nor bought therefore must be paid Peirson's Case For his last Objection that prescription is an old device Mr. Bourn's answer I answer if prescription be good in Law against a Minister for non-payment of tythes or of small composition why may it not be good for a Minister for payment of tythes whatsoever Anthony Peirson would declaim or exclaim to the contrary Anthony Peirson's case Thus Authony would affirm that because Bishops were voted down by the Parliament therefore all Parsons Vicars and Curats lost their office and so tythes belonging to their office they are lost also and so for maintenance all ends together Mr. Bourn's answer I answer this is a conceit of his own and witnesseth the malignity of his antichristian spirit against the Ministers of Christ he declareth but what he is and into what condition he would bring the Ministers of Christ Jesus certainly he is either a Quaker or possessed with the spirit of Antichrist or infefected with some Jesuite he discovers so much envy and hatred against the faithful godly Ministers of the Lord Jesus dost thou expect thanks for this at the Day of Judgement beware of your enmity Anthony fight not against Christ and his Ministers but submit to Christ and embrace him and his servants that you perish not and be wise ye Kings Psal 2.11 12. be learned ye Judges of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish in the way if his wrath be kindled yea but a little Blessed are all they that put their trust in him if those shall receive that dreadful sentence at the last day Go ye cursed Mat. 25.41 who have not relieved Christ and his servants what shall be the punishment of those that seek by all means to rob and spoil the Lord Christ and his Ministers and Ambassadors the Lord pardon and change your hearts if it be his blessed will Anthony Peirson's Case You now come to the last those that claim Tythes by purchase and those say you are the Impropriators and you prevent an Objection that they bought and some paid dear for them therefore no reason they should be taken a way from them to which you answer that you have shewed before that in the root all Tythes is alike whether it be claimed by the Priest or Impropriator and both must fall together and seeing those that sold them had no good title neither can those be made good which are derived from them Mr. Bourn's answer I answer for the Impropriators I cannot defend them though some consideration is to be had of them but yet you err in saying the Tythes impropriate and the Tythes which is still continued for the Ministers of Christ are alike in the root for the tythes of Impropriators were alienated by the Pope to his Abbies and Monasteries and then again by King Henry the Eight and by him sold and there was the root of Impropriate-tythes but tythes belonging to the Ministers of the Gospel whom you with a malevolent spirit call Priests as if they were Popish Priests which we are not that so you may make them more odious to the people and Parliament their tythes I have proved to have a higher Root than Proprietors even Gods own appointment even Gods reserved part for his worship and the maintenance of his Ministers who labour in the Word and Doctrine and are worthy of double honour of reverence and maintenance witness the Apostle 1 Tim. 5.17 18. whatsoever Anthony Peirson would make men believe and therefore I cannot but observe that you are so just and charitable to the Impropriators that they must have some recompence for their tythes but for the poor Ministers of Jesus Christ they must be turned off with nothing for this is the cry of many of you as if we were thieves and robbers as your Generation please to call us and not Ministers of Jesus Christ But let me speak a little further to what you say to the Impropriators you say the Root is all one I deny it as before I did the tythes of Ministers are more antient many hundred yea some thousand years before any Impropriate tythes were heard of in the world Now you would have the Impropriators to have some recompence for them so would I also but the less because they bought them of such persons as had no right nor lawful power to sell them if Anthony Pierson would remember what he saith page 18. the conclusion will be against Impropriators and all others Anthony Peirson's case If tythes be absolutely due by the Law of God saith he no custome usage prescription or Popish dispensation can acquit from payment of the utmost penny of the tenth part Mr. Bourn's answer Now I assume but tythes are absolutely due by the law of God as I have proved at full from the holy Scriptures besides multitudes of testimonies witnessing the divine right both in antient times and at this day Therefore no custome usage prescription or Popish dispensation can acquit from payment of the utmost penny of the tenth part this conclusion necessarily followeth from Anthony Peirson's premises And then first all prescriptions compositions and customs for payment of less than the tenth part are utterly unlawful and the detaining of such tythes must needs be sacriledg for to take or keep away that which is Gods and belongeth to Christ and to his Ministers and Ambassadors is a robbing of God and sacriledg against which the Prophet Malachy proclaimed a curse Mat. 3.6 7. and promiseth a blessing to the restorers of them It is a lamentable thing that Lay men should receive the tythes and the people maintain their Ministers to
must be a change of the Law We grant a change of Levi's Priesthood and of Levi's Law and yet the Law of Tythes as maintenance for Christ's Ministers remains still not from Levi but Christ who is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec and ever liveth to take Tythes though not in his own person yet as he or God his Father did before Christ's coming in the flesh by his Ministers and Servants whom he hath ordained to teach his people Sir J Sempil in his Sacriledge S. handled in which he proves the Divine right of Tythes Hebr. 7. I shall conclude the evidence of this Answer to this Objection against the continuance of Tythes in the Gospel with a few Syllogisms of that worthy learned and religious Knight Sir James Sempil in his Sacriledge sacredly handled and Tythes proved due by Divine right 1. He that takes Tythes and liveth is a perpetual Priesthood Melchisedec taketh Tythes and liveth Ergo Melchisedec is a perpetual Priest 2 Whatsoever is spoken here viz. Heb. 7. of Melchisedec typically is transferred unto Christ's verity But Tything is spoken of Melchisedec typically Therefore Tythes must be transferred unto Christ's verity 3. Whatsoever is due to an eternal Priest is perpetually due Tythes were and are due to Melchisedec an eternal Priest viz. in himself the Type or in Christ the verity signified Therefore Tythes are perpetually due to Melchisedec or to Christ who is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec 4. Whatsoever was given as maintenance of both the Melchisedecian and Levitical Priesthood must be also the maintenance of the Evangelical But Tythes were given as maintenance of both the Melchisedecian and Levitical Priesthood Ergo. Tythes must be also the maintenance of the Evangelical Priesthood These Syllogisms are well fortified by Sir James Sempil himself against all pretended Objections so as what hath been said might satisfie a Quaker himself if he would be satisfied But yet another Objection is made by some Anabaptists Object and these quaking adversaries John Cann his second Voyce from the Temple of Babylon or Baal p. 13 14. and their confederates or rather a false accusation damning Tythes as Popish and the pleading for them a pleading for Babilon and for Baal Thus doth John Cann in his Second voyce from the Temple of Babilon And that Pope Gregory the tenth was the first that ordained Tythes to be paid to the Priests in the year 1214. And that with much mistaken ignorance and impudence as learned A Gospel plea by W. Prynn or Swainsw Esq godly and laborious Mr. William Vrynn observes in that excellent Gospel plea for Ministers maintenance proving the antient setled maintenance of â—ythes due by Divine Right and contrary to these malevolent Quakers or Anabaptists who would perswade men that Tythes are no older or not so old as Antichrist and to be abolished as Antichristian But for answer Answer let us reason the case with them a while If they had that light within them which they boast of they might see that Tythes are far more antient then Antichrist even as old as Melchisedec and faithful Abraham the father of the faithful many hundred years before the Levitical Law and above two thousand and five hundred years before that Romish Antichrist had lift up his head in the Church Let us enquire into the History of the Church and antient writers since Christ and we shall finde Tythes to be Christian divers hundred years before Pope Boniface who was the first that took upon him the name of Universal Bishop and the chair of Antichrist at Rome was born First If we examine the Apostles time Act. 4.34 35. and times immediately after there was a community of goods as we proved before the converted Christians sold their lands and brought the money to the Apostles and then no need nor indeed power of paying Tythes in the Christian Jewish Church the Tythes being paid to the Priests amongst the Jews whiles their Synagogues and Priesthood lasted as before you heard and for the Gentiles converted in those times there was such persecution that it was best for the Ministers of Christ to live upon the common Treasury among Saints Tertul. Apol cap 3â— He lived about 200 years after Christ Euseb eccl hist lib. 2. cap 47. This community did continue until Tertullian's time about two hundred years after Christ All things are common with us saith Tertullian praeter uxores except our Wives yet this community was chiefly at Jerusalem and at Alexandria in Egypt and at Carthage in Africa where Tertullian lived and some other places where persecution was And then in the private meetings of Christians each one give in to the common Treasury what they had laid by them in store for the maintenance of the Saints 1 Cor. 16.1 2. Act. 24.17 Rom. 15.26 27. 2 Cor. 11.9 as St. Paul directed 1 Cor. 16.1 2. This Paul brought from the Gentiles to the Jews and without question the Apostle Paul had his part for he himself testifieth that the Brethren which came from Macedonia supplied his want and others also were supplied out of the common treasury Thus for those times of danger and persecution as it was in the Apostles days few in comparison of the multitude being converted and the Emperors being no Christians The beginning of petsecution we read Acts 7. and Acts 12 c. Herod c. After Emperor Nero. First of ten persecuting Emperors c. Eusebius Eccles Hist lib 2. cap. 25. l. 3. c 1. Tertull. Apol c 1. Marsilius Patavinus Defen pacis per. 2. c. 15. but pesecutors it was sufficient they had their lives for a prey and yet often times these also were taken away by cruel tormentors as the histories of the Church doth witness at full And then it was no time to demand or receive Tythes of the people but to live of the common Treasury and of lands and rents of lands and other gifts given to the church for maintenance of Saints and the Ministers of Christ who did preach the Gospel unto them as God stirred up beleivers hearts to give them out of conscience that they were bound to maintain the Ministers of Christ and that those who preached the Gospel should live of the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.14 as the Apostle Paul witnessed it was the Ordinance of Christ But when community of goods was ended at least in that manner as it was used in the primitive times And when the Church had more quiet rest from persecution and the Ministers of Christ were setled in particular cities and places certain to abide as Pastors and Teachers over particular congregations then we read Lands and Tythes setled and given to the Church not as out of Frankalmoign or Free alms but as Gods due right and the maintenance of the Ministers of Christ who did labor in the Word and Doctrine The glebe-Glebe-lands and Tythes were part of that double honor which S. Paul witnesseth the
not as a free gift from him but as Gods Right and an owning of him to be Gods High Priest and Tythes Gods reserved part as I have proved at large in my History of Tythes and upon this account Jacob vowed to pay Tythes not as a will worship odious to God Col. 2.22 and spoken against by the Spirit of God in that holy Apostle Anthony Peirson's Case Again in the same Page he tells us That besides the Tythes the First-fruits also were given to the Priests but yet he would insinuate that they were but as the Owner pleased and at the devotion of the Owner for which he quoteth in the margin Deut. 18.4 and Ezek. 45.13 Mr. Bourn's Answer For answer if the Reader consult those places of Scripture he shall find Deut. 18.3 4. this shall be the Priests due from the people both for Offerings and First-fruits and if due then not at the peoples devotion as Peirson would infer because a direct quantity is not expressed if the First-fruits were a duty then not an arbitrary devotion And here I pray you consider what Doctrines we are like to have of his collection when he endeavours to draw a false Doctrine from the first Scripture he names and to lay this as a Foundation to build his opinion That Tythes and Ministers maintenance are but Devotions arbitrary to be given or not given at mens pleasure as it God had no right in them which is the drift of his History And if you read that other Text Ezek. 45.13 the direct part what shall be offered is expressed and what ground is there then of gathering a Doctrine hence of arbitrary devotion as if no command from God but at mens pleasure as he would have Tythes to be the Lord open his eyes to see his Error I pass over what he hath said little to this purpose Anthony Pierson's Case Page 3. He proceeds A view of the Doctrines Decrees and practises of Tything from the Insancy of the Christian Church to this day And in this view he tells us that when Christ was preached the Apostles and Ministers of Jesus Christ did not go about to establish the Law by which Tythes were given in the former Priesthood but preached freely and did not require any setled Maintenance but lived of the Free Offerings and Contributions of Saints Hierom. in vita Mar. Philo Judaeus for which he alledgeth Scriptures Acts 11.29 1 Cor. 16.2 and that Christians lived together in societies for which he alledgeth other testimony Mr. Bourn's answer For answer I grant this to be so in those Primitive times as Acts 4.31 c. when they had all things common then the Apostles and Ministers of Christ had their part yea when men sold their Lands and brought their money into the common Treasury of the Church they laid it down at the Apostles feet Read my Book p. 55. then was no need to desire Tythes or any setled maintenance they having no certain dwelling-places But I have answered this at full in my Defence of Tythes to which I desire the Reader to look back where he may find full satisfaction this community of Goods in those times of necessity and danger doth nothing hinder but that when better times came and Churches were setled the Duty of Tythes might be required and paid as it was in after ages as I have evidently manifested and this as a due by Divine Right to the Ministers of Christ Anthony Peirson's Case pag. 4.5 And all those humane testimonies he brings of Tertullian in Apologet cap. 39. the practise of the Church according to St. Paul's direction 1 Cor. 16.2 And Eus bius that this custome continued till the great Persecution under Maximinian and Dioclesian Eusâ—bius lib. 4. c. 22. as appears by divers as Origen that Lands were given to the Church c. and used in common Ministers had but their maintenance with the people not by Tythes Mr. Bourn's Answer I grant that in those times of persecution it was the best way for Ministers to live and for the Church they having many poor to maintain of the common treasury Justification of Tythes p. 55 56. but this will nothing disprove the Divine right of Tythes to be paid to Gods Ministers as it was when times of persecution were ended as I have proved at large in my Justification of Tythes Anthony Peirson's Case For that he saith page 3. They preached the Gospel freely Mr. Bourn's Answer I answer for that direction of Christ Mat. 10.7 8. Freely you have received freely give this relates to that power of working miracles of healing the Sick cleansing the Leapers raising the Dead for these freely you have received freely give But for preaching of the Gospel Christ when he sent his Apostles he giveth them no provision yea wisheth them to take none but to receive and expect their maintenance from their hands to whom they brought the Gospel and this out of Christ his part which was in their hands for we must not think that Christ would have his Labourers paid out of other mens estates but out of his own and out of that they must be payed for saith he The Labourer is worthy of his meat Mat. 10.8 9 10. and worthy of his reward Luke 10.7 c. and this to be paid out of Christs own reserved part not out of other mens goods as if Christ had said fear not provisions for the people to whom I send you to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God they have my goods in their hand viz. the Tenth of every encrease or else the price of the redemption of it and I will rule their hearts to pay You my Labourers out of my part in their hands for your labour in my work This not as a free benevolence but as a duty due to me and to you Luke 10.7 for it is my Ordinance that those that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.14 as afterward the Apostle Paul did witness so that this preaching doth nothing hinder the Divine right of Tythes as in my Defence to which I refer the Reader I have declared at large Our Friend Anthony Peirson brings in divers more humane testimonies to the same purpose to prove as he would have it no right of Tythes nor setled maintenance to be given as a due for the Ministers of the Gospel but to live of the benevolence and charity of the peole together with the poor Anthony Peirsons case For this he brings Origen Homily upon Gen. and Urban Bishop of Rome Anno about 227 after Christ Cyprian Bishop of Carthage Prosper and others about 250 years after Christ in which times it seemeth that Lands were given to the Church for maintenance of poor Saints as well as the Ministers and Ministers were thus maintained not by Tythes Mr. Bourn's answer If I grant this as I may yet this hinders not that Tythes were Gods right in all
thought more acceptable I should not have remembred these Religious and conscientious payments of Tythes by these Heathens these Gentiles children of Japhet or Ham but to answer a proud peremptory Quaker who called me Old Jew because I justified that it was lawful for the Ministers of Christ to take Tythes and that they were justifiable by the written Word of God Jos B. when as he thought them to be onely a Jewish Ceremony But it is evident that Tythes are not onely Jewish or paid by the Jews onely For antient History tells that the Gentiles paid Tythes as well as the Jews And although these Histories are not to be received with a divine faith as well as Scripture yet they are to be credited as well as our Chronicles which testifie there was a King William the Conqueror or King Henry the Eighth that pulled down or dissolved the Abbies or a King Edward the Sixt Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth or as after ages may believe there was a King Charles and a dismal War in England upon which hath followed these sirange and wonderful changes we have seen with our eyes I might add more but who are not satisfied Dr. Carleton Tythes examined and prov'â— to be due by Diviue right I leave them to those learned men who have writ and proved the Divine right of Tythes and to other Histories which record the practises of Painims This that you have read may suffice to witness that the payment of Tythes was acknowledged a due to God amongst the Gentiles to that God they did know Dr. Tillesley his Animadvers upon Seldens Hist of Tythes Dr. Slater Mr. Prynn c. and this even by the Law or light of Nature or Tradition of Gods Law acknowledged by a common consent that Tythes were due to God to that God they did know and worship and certainly this custom could not be so common amongst or in so many Nations had there not been some Divine instinct from the Law of Nature or knowledge of some divine law from their forefathers that Tythes were due to God from all nations by a divine right for his worship and service as an owning of a Divine Power Ps 40.10 11 12. who is chief Lord and owner of all we have But of the tenth God's own part he is owner of that in a special manner as his own reserved portion for his worship and service for this the Lord challengeth in a special manner for his own portion witness God's servant Voses that great Prophet All the Tythe of the land Lev. 27.30 31. of the seed of the land and of the fruit of the tree it is the Lords Lev 27.30 He doth not say it is the Priests or the Levites or the peoples but it is the Lords And thus the Lord himself by the Prophet Malachi doth many hundred years afters challenge the Tythe as his own And when the people did not pay their Tythe as his due the Lord calleth them thieves and robbers and tells them they had robbed him Will a man rob God Mal. 3.8 9. yet ye have robbed me saith the Lord. But ye say wherein have we robbed thee And he answers In Tythes and Offerings And he concludes v. 9. Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this whole nation So that the Tythes were the Lords his own part and portion to be disposed of at his pleasure all the time of the Old Testament from Adam to Moses and from Moses to Malachi the Lord had a reserved part due to him as chief Lord of all But the Quakers and some of these Anabaptists will object Objection What is this to the Priests and Levites either before or since Christ If Tythes be the Lords portion what have the Priests and Levites to do with it or how come they to challenge any right in them or title to them The Answer is easie Answer When the first-born in the family were the Lords Priests and Prophets to offer sacrifice to God as Adam and Cain and Abel did or to teach their families Gen. 18.18 19. Gen. 20.7 Gen. 26.25 as faithful Abraham and the Patriarchs and their first-born did as we read Gen. 8.18 19. Num. 8.17 Then the Lord needed not his part of his Tenths for maintenance of his Priests and Levites but what part he had was chiefly for his sacrifices and services But when he took to him the Levites in stead of the First-born as Num 8.18 then you may read the Lords Deed of gift of his part of the Tythes to Levi for an inheritance Num. 18.20 21. Behold saith the Lord to Aaron I am thy part and thy inheritance amongst the children of Israel and behold I have given the children of Israel all the Tenth in Israel for an inheritance for the service which they serve even the service of the Tabernacle of the Congregation Lev. 18.21 And thus you may see what title the Levites and Ministers of God have to the Lords part even by a Deed of gift from the Lord himself And this is a Deed or Great Charter enrolled and recorded in sacred Scripture the written Word of God himself Object 2 I know the common Objection We will grant say they that the Lord did give part of the Tythe to Levi and his posterity that taught the people as Nehemiah Nehem. 8 7 8 9. But he did not give all to them for part was to be eaten before the Lord in the place which the Lord did choose to put his name there they the children of Israel were to bring their tythes and their sacrifices and their choise vows and to eat them before the Lord with their families they and their sons and daughters and men-servants and maid-servants and Levite within their gates yea the poor stranger and widow and fatherless as we may read Deut. 12.11 12. Deut. 14.29 Therefore the Tythes were not all given to the Levites as their portion as is said by the Ministers that plead for Tythes For Answer If you read Answ Vltra duas Decimas quas quotannis pendere jam jussi 1. Alteram Levitis 2. Alteram in sacras epulas 3. Tertia tertio quoque anno est conferenda quae in egenos vicinos pupillos distribuatur Joseph Antiq. lib. 4. cap. 8. you may find there was a threefold Tythe which the children of Israel did pay The first Tythe was the tenth of the whole increase which was first tythed and this was the Levites portion and might be eaten every where with their houshold because it is a reward unto them for their service But first they were to give the Heave-offering the tythe of that tythe to Aaron the High-Priest as you may read Numb 18.26 And this Tythe hath a Morality in it as after we shall shew Again there was a second Tythe of the Nine parts that were tythed before And this Tythe might not be eaten in any place as the first Tythe which
was the Levites portion might but at Jerusalem Thus you may read Deut. 14. Deut. 14.22 23 c. Tything thou shalt tythe or thou shalt truly tythe all the increase of thy seed which thy field bringeth forth and thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place he shall chuse to place his name there and if the place be too far thou shalt turn it into money and buy what thy soul liketh and shalt eat there before the Lord thy God and thou shalt rejoice thou and thy houshold and the Levite within thy gates Ainsworth in Deu. 14. This second Tythe might not be eaten any where but before the Lord in Jerusalem as the Hebrew Doctors affirm and is evident from the text This might be Levitical and to end with that Temple-worship Thirdly besides these two Tythes there was in the place or stead of this second Tythe a third Tythe every third year Amos 4.4 Tythes after three years c. which was for the Levite the stranger the fatherless and the widow within their gates as you may read Deut. 14.28 29. This may cease in part as a Tenth but the substance is moral But the first Tythe was wholly for the Levites for their maintenance as the Lords wages or reward the Lord alloweth them for their service in the Sanctuary to continue in the Gospel as after will appear Yea besides the Tythes the Lords portion the Lord commanded that the Levites should have their Cities to dwell in Num. 35.3 4 5 6 c. and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattel and for their goods and for all their beasts and the suburbs of the city shall reach from the wall of the city two thousand cubits round about Num 35. Rich conveniences besides extraordinaries which were very many This was the Levites lawful gain due unto them by Divine right by the law of God and law of Nature as a reward for their labor in the Lords service And this gain they might lawfully seek after every one for his gain from his quarter And this they did when their just portion and maintenance was not brought them by the people Nehem 13.10 11 12. The Levites went every one to his field for his just gain or portion as you may find Neh. 13. Thus did the Levites seek every one for his gain from his quarter to live of his portion of land and tythes at his field when the second tythe was not brought into the treasury as it ought to have been And this was just and lawful for them to do as the Ministers of Christ may lawfully do at this day There is another Objection Object 3 Though the Lord had a part in every mans estate the tenth of every increase which the Lord did give to the Levites the Lords Ministers before the coming of Christ yet now since Christ is come and is not only dead as the High-Priest of our profession having offered himself to God for us once for all Heb. 3.1 2. and is not only risen again and ascended into heaven and liveth for evermore Rev. 1.18 but maketh intercession for us to God his Father and the Levitical Priesthood is ended Now what evidence is there that God hath any part or portion in mens estates or the increases of them for himself or to be disposed of as his own or that the Ministers of Christ have either Tythes or any Maintenance due unto them by Divine right since Christ And then how can it be lawful for them to seek after every one his gain as they do For answer Answer First if it be granted that the Lord had a reserved part of the earth and increase thereof for himself yea that the Tythes or Tenths were the Lords excepted and reserved portion which he had not given to the sons of Adam or to Noah's posterity and that this was the Lords for his service until Christs coming in the flesh Gen. 3.17 c. which I conceive none will deny that truly believeth there is a God that created the world and gave part only not all to Adam or that truly believes the Holy Scriptures to be the written word of God Question Then I desire to know by what Deed of gift the Lord hath given these Tythes his own portion from himself or from his Ministers and servants who once had them Whether he hath released his right and title which in a special manner he had in the earth and the increases thereof to any man and to whom Hath God released his special right in the tenth part the Tythes of all which were once yea which are the Lords own if none can shew a better title to them Let us search the Records in the New Testament and first see if we can find any such Release or Deed of gift from God and his servants and to whom Secondly see what is registred for the maintenance and continuance of Gods right unto them That so we may better answer the Anabaptists who call Tythes the wages of unrighteousness or the Quakers who accuse the Ministers of Christ as if they did seek for unlawful gain the gain of Tythes of that which is neither God's nor theirs every one for his gain from his quarter or people I have searched the New Testament and can find Tythes mentioned but only in four places and in none of these doth Christ deny or give away or release his right to his tenth part or forbid his Minfsters to receive Tythes yea rather Tythes are approved by Christ and his Apostles that speak of them First place The first place is that of our Saviour Mat 23.23 where he pronounceth that woe against the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisie Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye pay tythe of mint and annise and cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith These things ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone It is evident our Saviour doth not reprove them for their paiment of Tythes but for their omission and neglect of the weightier matters of the Law judgment mercy and saith For he tells them plainly it was their duty to pay their tythes even of the smallest things mint and annise and cummin these things ought not to be left undone Thus both the payment of tythes even in the time of Christ and Christs approbation of tythes is witnessed at full in this place No prohibition of tythes evidenced no cessation of tythes declared no denying of Christs Ministers to receive tythes 2. Again a second place we find Tythes spoken of in the New Testament is that of our Saviour recorded Luke 11.42 to the same effect with the former Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees for ye tythe Mint and Rue and all manner of Herbs and pass over judgement and the love of God these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone You see our
Ministers of Christ are worthy of 1 Tim. 5.17 This truth we may find witnessed in antient Histories and in the primitive Fathers of the Church First for History we will begin with our own British Antiquities remembred by that learned Mr. Pryn in his Gospel-plea proving that the present opposition against Tythes proceeds not from any real grounds of conscience but base covetousness Mr. Prynne his Gospel plea p. 123. cites John Capgrave in vila Joseph Christ Glastoniens Vincent spect Hist lib. 23 cap. 147. cited by Doctor Vsher Brit Eccles Antiq cap. 2. pag. 973. c. carnal policie c. and a Jesuitical and Anabaptistical design to subvert our Ministers Church and Religion Now Mr. Pryn out of that godly learned and worthy Dr. Vsher relates that Ioseph of Arimathea who with Nicodemus took care for the burial of our Saviour in a new sepulchre where never man was laid as S. John witnesseth Joh. 19 21. This Joseph came with some others into England about the year of Christ Forty eight and preached the Gospel to Arniragus a British King a valiant Prince Dr. Prideaun in Rom. Tribun pag. 289. called Hector of Britain who embraced the Christian faith and understanding the purity of their doctrine and holiness of their conversation he gave as the History relates twelve Hides of land in the Isles of Avalon since called Glastenbury in Somersetshire where they built the first Church made as the Historian speaks of Wattle and Reeds and there they continued together preaching the Gospel and living upon this their Glebe now of great value saith Mr. Pryn which was afterwards confirmed to them and the Ministers of the Gospel there succeeding them both by Marius and Coilus next successors to Arniragus whom also they instructed in the Christian religion Thus was Ministers maintenance taken care of by that Christian King here about forty eight years after Christ Dr. Vsher Brit. Eccles Antiq. Spelmanni Conc. pag. 12. cited by Mr. Prynne his Gospel plea. pag. 124 The Poet thus Lucius in Christum credit Christoque dicatos Ecclesias dotat distinctas ordinat urbes c. Again about the year of Christ One hundred seventy six within two hundred years after Christ we read of Lucius our King of Britain that being converted to the Christian faith by Faganus and Damianus Preachers of the Gospel sent to him at his request by Elutherius Bishop of Rome he builded and endowed Churches through his Dominions with glebe-Glebe-lands and Tythes and this for the maintenance of the Ministers of Christ long before Pope or Popery was set up in the world And this afterwards the British and Saxon Kings confirmed and enacted more fully I may tell you that about three hundred years after Christ the Christians being here and elswhere restored to peace Gildâ—s Dr. Vshers Brit. Eccles Antiq. pag. 193. SpelConc p. 36. 45. Cited by Mr. Prynne and freed from persecution by Constantine the Great who was born in England the first Christan Emperor they began to build and repair those Churches or Meeting-places the Emperor Dioclesian and other persecutors had rased to the ground And then were Churches endowed and Ministers maintained by Tythes as well as Glebe-lands witness the antient Writers and Fathers of the Church then and before those times And this long before Pope or Popery and Antichrist of Rome was stiled Universal Bishop and declared Antichrist in the Church I might give you a catalogue of Godly men from those times almost to these very days who witnessed Tythes to be Gods right and due by Divine right to the Ministers of the Gospel I will name but a few And first I begin with Irenaeus Iren. lib. 4. cap. 20. who lived about one hundred and eighty years after Christ and he tells us that the Apostles and so the Ministers of Christ are the Lords Priests that serve at the Altar 1 Cor. 9.13 14. that must eat the Lords part that must have the substance of the Levites not of gift but of right Of them spake Moses And what was the principal substance of which the Levites did live but the Tythes which God gave to Levi for his fervice in the tabernacle Num. i8 2i Therefore certainly Irenaeus witnesseth what was due of right to the Ministers of the Gospel in his time and this was Tythes Again Origen who lived about two hundred years after Christ Sed in novo Testa mento similiter venerabilis est decas c. in his Homilies upon Genesis as in other places he declareth his judgment concerning Tythes But also in the New Testament saith he the Tenth is venerable And because there is one Author of all one fountain one beginning even Christ therefore the people pay Tythes to the Ministers of Christ Thus you see in Origen's time within two hundred years after Christ Tythes were esteemed venerable in the New Testament as well as in the Old and the Christians paid Tythes as of old And this was four hundred years before the Antichrist of Rome was risen up in the Church or made himself manifest in the world Tythes were not then Antichristian nor Popish as the Quakers Anabaptistical Can and others would make men believe Thirdly Cyprian de unit eccles Cyprian who lived about two hundred and fifty years after Christ They did then viz. in the primitive times sell their houses and lands and laid the money down at the Apostles feet for the use of the Church laying up treasure in heaven But now saith he De patrimonio nec decimas damus We do not so much as give the Tenth of our patrimony to God The Father reproveth the Christians for coming short of the Jews in giving God his right But some Quaker or Anabaptist will object Object This sheweth rather that Tythes were not due or not paid in those times of Cyprian I answer Answ Mal. 3.6 7. That is not so For you may read Mal. 3. that the Lord reproveth the Jews for not paying of their tythes and tells them they were robbers of God guilty of that odious sin of sacrilege Ye have robbed me saith the Lord and ye say wherein In tythes and offerings but ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this whole nation Doth this prove that Tythes were not due then by the law of God or that none were then paid in that Nation Certainly no but rather the contrary that they were due by Gods law yea that they were the Lords and that those whosoever kept them back they were thieves and robbers then as they are now in the times of the Gospel Tythes certainly were due by Divine right in S. Cyprian's judgment which was long before the days of the Pope or Papacie or that Antichrist of Rome in the world Fourthly Hilar lib. explan in Mat. c. 24. Hilary who lived about three hundred and fifty years after that in his book of Explanation upon Matthew Because the
and his Ministers by Divine right and this was two hundred years before the Pope or Antichrist of Rome was born But I might go on with a long Catalogue of antient Writers to the rising of Antichrist yea and since that Antichrist of Rome did exalt himself and give evidence from many godly men in several ages who have witnessed and confirmed by divers arguments the Divine right of Tythes as due to Christ's faithful Ministers in the Gospel by Divine right But I commend those that desire to see many more testimonies D. Tillesley in his Animad on M. Seldens hist of Tythes to that excellent Catalogue composed by learned Dr. Tillesley wherein he produceth about Threescore witnesses that assert the Divine right of Tythes or give arguments to that purpose That they have been and ought to be so paid And I might add the judgement of the godly learned of later times But these before Antichrist's time are sufficient to witness Tythes are not Antichristian nor any popish invention whatsoever the Quakers or Anabaptists or others imagine to the contrary But when did Antichrist arise Object 1 Joh. 2.18 may some demand Doth not St. John say there were many Antichrists in his time 1 John 2.18 I answer It is true the Apostle doth witness that there were then many Antichrists and so there are now many Antichrists many adversaries to Christ and his Ministers now in the world Those malignant Quakers who plot and labor the overthrow of the Gospel established Ministery what are they but the spawn of Antichrist Rev. 16.13 and creeping frogs out of the mouth of the Beast of the Dragon and the false Prophet But the Apostle in the same Chapter and the same verse 1 Joh. 2.18 he spake of another Antichrist that Antichrist that principal Antichrist whom St. Paul describes 2 Thess 2.3 4. The man of sin the son of perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God or as if he were God we may say suffering himself by his flatterers to be called God as some Popes have done that scarlet coloured Beast full of names of Blasphemy As Jewel against Harding proveth to whom the ten Kings give their power and strength to fight against the Lamb Christ as Antichrist and the whore of Babylon is decyphered Rev. 17. Rev. 17.1 2 c. This Antichrist did not arise until about six hundred years after Christ Gregory the Great 600 years after Christ We read of Gregory the Great who was Bishop of Rome about the year six hundred that he foretold whosoever he was that should take unto him the name and title of Universal Bishop he was either Antichristus or praecursor Antichristi Antichrist or the forerunner of Antichrist and this was fulfilled in his next Successor Boniface the Third For when that peremptory proud Centurion Phocas Phocas killed Mauritius the Emperor about 600 years after Christ The papacy began as the great Autichrist had wickedly and treacherously killed his Lord and Master the Emperor Mauritius then Boniface the Third being Bishop of Rome by the countenance of the Murderer Phocas did take upon him that Antichristian name and title of Universal Bishop So fulfilling the the Prophesie of Gregory the Great his Predecessor And this pride of papal dignity his successors imbrace as well as he then laboring by all means to exalt the Papacy yet many hundred years after yea and to this day God preserved some holy men to preserve the Truth and to defend Gods right and the right of his servants As in the days of Ahab and Jezabel God had seven thousand in Israel which had not bowed the knee to Baal Divers Councils confirmed and good Laws were enacted to maintain the Divine right of tythes I shall omit the Councils and give you an antient Law or two for this purpose First King Ethelstan a King of this land about nine hundred and thirty years after Christ by the advice of his Council at that time I do command all my chief Officers saith he in all my Kingdom in the name of the Lord that first of my own proper estate they give the tenth to God as well in my living goods as in the dead fruits of the earth and the same he requires his Bishops Aldermen and others to do Thus he doth as out of conscience acknowledge Gods due And that Law of King Edward the Confessor The Laws of K. Edw. the Confescited pag. 224. 1050 years after Christ who lived about a thousand and fifty years after Christ six hundred years since De omni decima garba Deo debita est ideo reddenda c. Of all the corn the tenth sheaf is due to God and therefore to be paid And if any one hath a flock of Mares he is to give the tenth Foal and if he have but one or two he shall give for every one a penny and he that shall have many Kine he shall give the tenth Calf and he that hath but one or two he shall give for every one a half-penny And he that maketh cheese let him give God the tenth and if he make none then the milk the tenth day likewise the tenth Lamb the tenth Fleece and of Bees the tenth of the profit and so of lesser Tythes of Boss Gardens and other things And this Law you see doth witness Tythes due to God by divine right many hundred years since to let pass Statutes made of later years but I cannot pass over that of Sir Edward Coke that learned Judge and famous Oracle of the Law who affirms That in the very body of the antient Common Law of England Tythes are due Jure Divino by Divine Right and we have declared they were so judged for the first six hundred years after Christ and after that again until the time of King Edward the Confessor about a thousand and fifty years after Christ When the Pope would appropriate Tythes to Abbies ben began the opinion that Tythes were not due by Divine Right the same opinion continued in the Church But after that the Popes of Rome began to be more politick to maintain their own greatness by enlarging the maintenance of their Abbots Monks and Fryers in the Monasteries of several orders devised to maintain the Popes great ness not content with those Lands which out of fair pretence were given to them by men and women religiously Gratian c. 3 q. 2. Leo 4. Cited by D. Carleton in Tythes examined and some superstitiously affected but seeking also to get the Tythes from the particular Parish Ministers to whom they were antiently setled as their proper right which was done in part by Dionysius Bishop of Rome about two hundred and seventy years after Christ Mr. Hanmer his Cronography pag. 577. Jo Canne his second voice from the Temple which was many
this is to examine throughly upon all that I have writ A Case of Conscience and is further manifested by godly men concerning the Divine Right of Tythes Whether the taking away of Tythes from the faithful Ministers of Christ be not that abominable sin of Sacriledge for which God hath not onely threatned but punished men with fearful plagues and judgments in several ages of the World as we shall manifest by some examples before we end this Question It may be some will demand Objection What is this sin of sacrilege and of which commandment of the Law or Gospel is this a breach or transgression 1 Joh. 3.4 for sin is the transgression of the Law I answer Answer Sacrilege is a breach of the eighth commandment Thou shalt not steal And every theft is sin But sacrilege is a stealing from God or a robbing of God and so a sin of a higher nature then the robbing from any man whatsoever Sacrilege is as stealing or robbing God of his holy things Will a man rob God saith the Prophet yet ye have robbed me saith the Lord Mal. 3.6 Mal. 3.6 The taking away of the holy things of God and turning them to mans private use or to any other use then God hath appointed this is sacrilege Now things are said to be Gods and holy to the Lord two ways or by a twofold means First by way of Reservation when God reserveth or excepteth them for himself for his own pleasure or service As God did reserve and except the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Paradise from our first parents It was Gods reserved part holy to the Lord and might not be eaten of upon pain of death Gen. 2.17 And secondly Levit. 27.30 31 32. so are Tythes Gods reserved part as we proved before they are the Lords and holy to the Lord Lev. 27. 2. Again things may be said to be holy to the Lord by way of consecration And this first either by God himself to some holy use Or secondly by men to God and his service First thus did God consecrate the gold and silver and vessels of brass and iron which were found in Jericho these by Gods appointment were consecrate to the Lord But all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron are consecrated to the Lord they shall come into the treasury of the Lord Jos 6.19 Secondly whatsoever is consecrated or devoted unto God by men that also is holy by consecration unto God Levit. 27.28 Thus Lev. 27. Notwithstanding no devoted thing that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all things he hath both of man and beast or of the field of his possession shall be sold or redeemed every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. First then to take away or steal Gods reserved part was and is sacrilege As the taking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil Gen. 2.17 Mal. 3.6 7. Gen. 2. and the taking away or stealing of Tythes Mal. 3. And thus the taking away or stealing of things consecrated by God himself as the gold and silver of Jericho is sacrilege or whatsoever else is given to God by men for his worship or service or the maintenance thereof this is sacrilege for whatsoever is devoted is is holy to the Lord. And the wise man Solomon guided by the Spirit of God tells us It is a snare a deadly snare to devour that which is holy Prov. 20.25 or consecrated to God and after vows to make enquiry Men cannot give to God and take away again at their pleasure without sacrilege Act 5.1 â— 3 4. c. This is evident in the example of Ananias and Sapphira Act. 5. First they gave to God the price of their lands and so the Apostle and the Church did understand them but they secretly kept back part after they had given it to God and to Christ and his Church and this was sacrilege and for this and their lying they were strucken dead suddenly as you may read there at full And now I desire all these Anabaptists or Quaking or other adversaries to Tythes who pretend to conscience to enquire diligently into this case of conscience and search whether the taking away of Tythes from the right use God hath designed them unto be not sacrilege in a double respect First as being Gods reserved part kept to himself for his worship and service and for the maintenance of his Ministers to the end of the world as we have proved at full and which to take away is declared sacrilege Secondly as Gods consecrated part given by men out of conscience to the Ministers of Christ both in the primitive times and in later ages witnessed both by their Donation of and good Laws enacted for due paiment of Tythes as we have in part declared in those laws of King Ethelstan and King Edward the Confessor noted before And as may appear in the Donation and and Gifts of Constantine the Great his care for the maintenance of the Ministers of Christ not only the good Bishops assembled at the great Council at Nice Euseb Ecclde vita Constant lib. 1. cap. Epist. of Constant to Euseb B. of Câ—saria in Palestine Levit. 27.30 31 The taking away of Tythes is Sacreledge as witnesseth Eusebius but of other Ministers and Churches appointed for the more convenient meetings of the people and furtherance of the Christian faith as Socrates relateth And the taking away of Tythes consecrated to God by holy men given out of conscience and duty to the maintenance of Gods service what is it else but sacrilege except they be redeemed as Lev. 27. they may And these consecrations of Tythes and further manifestations of this truth that the taking them away is sacrilege we shall declare by several examples partly in other and partly in this our own Nation First Mr. Mr. Selden in his Hist of Tythes pag. 49. Selden in his History of Tythes tells us that a perpetual Right of Tythes was consecrated to some Churches by grant or assignment out of such and such lands at the owners pleasure that is as he intends it as voluntary contributions this was his new opinion But here I cannot but demand upon what ground was this done or what was the cause that moved these good religious men instructed in the faith of Christ to consecrate their Tythes the tenth part of their increase to the maintenance of the Ministers of Christ or to what end did they do this And certainly if we consult their donations and declarations of their minds if we had them written at large they would witness that they did consecrate their Tythes as being convinced in conscience they are Gods due and Christs right for the maintenance of his faithful Ministers who are careful and painful in preaching the Gospel of Christ not out of any wrong ground or superstitious end as a will-worship And therefore the taking
them away from God and the right use and end the Donor gave them what can it be less then the sin of sacrilege And upon this ground and reason I believe was the gift of King Lucius Lucius king of Britain Dr. Vsher his British Antiq. and his endowment of Churches both with glebe-Glebe-lands and Tythes within or near two hundred years after Christ besides all the practice of holy men converted to the faith then and in succeeding ages And what other can we conceive of that Donation of Pipin King of France the son of Charls Martel that Church-robber certainly out of conscience they were Gods due and belonging to the Ministers of the Gospel he did restore those tythes which he and Charls his father had taken away Dr. Tilsley his Animadvers p. 64 65 66. So Dr. Tilsley in his Record of the History of Charls Martels Sacrilege and Animadversions upon Mr. Selden's History of Tythes observes This King Pipin lived about eight hundred years after Christ Molanus de sanctis Belgii In 18 Octo. bris in vita Monen and royally gave the tythe he had between Lesche and Ourt to Monon that blessed man who was slain for his profession of Christ But what need I travel beyond sea for proof That excellent example of King Ethelwolph the Son of King Egbert a King of this land of the Saxon race who brought the Heptarchie or Sevenfold Kingdom of the Saxons into a Monarchy this King Ethelwolph having received the Christian Faith he had by his conquest all the lands in England for his Demesn as is acknowledged by that learned Judge and judicious Lawyer Sir Edward Coke in his Commentary upon Littleton and conferred the Tythes of all his Kingdom upon the Church by his Royal Charter Sir Ed Coke his com on Littleâ—on Sir H. Spel. com 85. dated in the year of Christ Eight hundred fifty five related in these words King Ethelwolph by the consent of his Prelates and Princes which ruled in England under him in their several Provinces did enrich the Church of England with Tythes of all his lands and goods by his Charter Royal c. Adding in the end That whoso should increase that gift God would please to prosper and increase his days But if any should presume to diminish the same An item against Sacriledge or sundry Queries concerning Tythes printed 1653. that he should be called to an account for it at Gods Judgement seat c. And this he did not onely as Lord Paramount but as Proprietary of the whole land the Lord and great men having no propiety or estates of permanency but as accountants to the King whose the whole land was and yet they also gave their free consents which the King required that thereby they might be barred from pleading any Tenant right as also to oblige them to stand in the maintenance of Tythes against all pretenders that might come in after-time Here you see was a free and full donation of all the Tythes of England unto God and to the Church of Christ for the maintenance of the Gospel and Gospel-Ministery and this no doubt out of conscience informed by the word of God that they were due to them by Divine Right Now if all the Tythes of England be be God's First by reservation as his own proper right Secondly God's by dedication and consecration unto him for his service Rev. 20.12 Then I desire that men would enquire into the Book of Conscience which one day shall be opened and be fully resolved whether to take away Tythes from their proper use for which God and good men did give them be not horrid Sacriledge Mal. 3.8 that dreadful sin which subjects men to the wrath and curse of God To quicken your meditation upon this case of Conscience now consciene hath so much liberty and to move it to look within doors and truly to see if it know its own face let me mind you of some few examples of Gods direful Judgements against this sin of Sacriledge First Gen. 3.132 3 4 5 c. We have all cause to remember the sacriledge of our first parents in taking of Gods reserved part the forbidden tree for which they were driven out of Paradise and they and all their posterity subject to death and the curse of God yea Gen. 3.15 all miseries in this life and the life to come had not God given the seed of the woman Christ our Savior to break the serpents head and make our peace with the blood of his cross Col. 1.20 had not God in his unspeakable love in Christ reconciled us unto himself as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 5.19 yea by the death of his son Rom 5.10 without which we were all the children of wrath as well as others Ephes 2.3 Eph. 2.3 Secondly And what need I rehearse that judgement of God that fell upon sacrilegious Achan Josh 7.1 2 3 4 c. yea that great affliction that fell upon the Army of Israel for Achan's sin First the Army of Israel did flie before the men of Ai vers 4. And Achan his sons his daughters Jos 24 25 all he had were stoned with stones and burnt with fire for that sin Thirdly Sacrilegious Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar his son 2 Chro. 38.18 Dan. 5.1 2 3 c. the Father took away all the consecrated Vessels of the house of God and brought them to Babylon and the Son Belshazzar he repented nor of his Fathers sacriledge but prophaned those holy vessels in his drunken Feasts and what was his punishment God smites him on a sudden with trembling terror and amazement his knees smite one against another and the joynts of his loyns are loosed the hand-writing upon the wall witnesseth an end of his life and Kingdom he was weighed in the ballance and found wanting and that night was Belshazzar slain and Darius the Median took the Kingdom Dan. 5.31 Fourthly How sudden and fearful the death of Ananias and Saphira was Act. 5.1 2 3 4 c. I related before Fifthly King Herod committed Sacriledge in robbing God of his honor taking that glory to him him which was due to God and you may read both his sin and judgement The Angel of God did strike him that he was eaten of wormes and gave up the ghost Act. 12. Act. 12.23 Sixthly In particular the sin of Sacriledge in taking away of the Tythes the tenth part which is Gods part Mal. 3.8 it was to be cursed with a curse a fearful curse Mal. 3. Seventhly If we proceed to the antient History of the Church and Records of latter times wherein the acts of Gods providence and his works of Judgement are registred we may finde too great a number of sacrilegious persons and fearful judgements to be their portion 1. I shall onely name that wicked Emperor that Apostate Julian Socrat. Ecel Hist lib. 3. cap. 12 14 16 â—7â— â—8
Archbishop of Canterbury his project destroyed lest as was pretended Puritan Ministers should fill the places But how sad his end was for this and other practises proved against him is yet fresh in memory All the politick wisdom in his head could not keep his head and body together It is and ought to be grief of spirit to remember or record these things to posterity I shall only leave some Quaere's or Cases of Conscience to be enquired into and laid to heart of all they may concern and draw to an end of this Branch and Reply to that false accusation of these Anabaptists That Tythes are the wages of unrighteousness and Ministers that take them Antichristian deceivers as in their Answer they declare themselves First let all enquire and consider Quaere 1 or Case of conscience since as God did take away the posterity of King William the Conqueror he did also take away the posterity of King Henry the Eight both guilty of this sin of Sacrilege Whether this sin was not or might not be one principal â—in which provoked God to remove them and theirs from the Government of these Nations Secondly Quaere 2 Since God hath removed King James and King Charls and their children from the power of Government whether their not endeavoring to reform this sin of Sacrilege might not be one sin and cause amongst others of their removal and translating of the power from them to the present Power now in the Land Thirdly Quaere 3 Whether the Honorable Parliaments since that Parliament in the time of King Henry the Eight when this Sacrilege was chiefly committed and the Popes Sacrilege in part justified by their giving consent to King Henry to alienate Impropriate Tythes and Glebe-lands from their proper particular Churches and especially later Parliaments to whom God gave a greater power to reform this sin of Sacrilege and to redeem Impropriations have not been one sinful neglect and cause which provoked God to afflict them and the Nation with such ill success of Disagreement among themselves and with the chief Magistrates of these Nations from time to time yea to humble them and us with the loss of that power which once God had put into their hands not only for redeeming Impropriations and setling a sufficient honorable Maintenance for an able godly Ministery throughout the Nation that so many thousand souls might not perish for lack of knowledge But of the power and opportunity of enacting other good Laws for preservation of Truth and true peace and prosperity in this Commonwealth which we have cause to seek the face of God daily for in and through the Lord Jesus Christ Fourthly Quaere 4 Whether the great losses that the Nation hath sustained in general and of those noble and ignoble men in special who hold Impropriations and Tythes from the Faithful Ministers of Christ the right owners may not in part arise from this sin of Sacrilege for detaining that in their hands which is Gods reserved part or Gods consecrated portion for the maintenance of his faithful Godly painfull Ministers in the service of Christ I have said enough before I need speak no more for the justification of the right of Tythes both Divine and Civil by the Laws of God and the Law both in former and late Parliaments His Highness Procl Novemb. 1659. in the Humble Petition and Advice in the days of the late Lord Protector and of his Highness since by his late Proclamation for encouragement of godly Ministers and enjoying their dues and liberties according to Law I shall conclude this but with a few words to you John Darker and Tobias Watsen and to the Thirty Congregations whose Faith you sent me and which you would pretend to be of your opinions Friends I desire you to consider what is professed by them in the Fifty eighth Section That it is the good pleasure of God which hath given gifts of his grace to the Saints or Church of God that some of the gifted men should be appointed or set apart to attend upon the preaching of the Word c. And Section Fifty nine A book intituled The Faith and practise of Thirty Congregations printed 1651. p. 50. sect 58 59 60. That it is the will of God that those which are appointed so to spend their labors in teaching or exhorting in the knowledge of God to their edification and consolation ought to have maintenance of those that receive spiritual food by them You say They ought to have maintenance certainly then it is the peoples duty to maintain them by your own confession otherwise how can you say they ought to have maintenance And if they ought to have maintenance why not Tythes appointed by God himself and approved both before and since the coming of Christ and in the Church of God yea by Christ himself as I have proved at large as well as any other maintenance of Charity or Alms as you or they would pretend in their next Section And if they be appointed or set apart to attend upon the preaching of the word as they say in the Fifty eighth Section Then how ought they to labor with their hands that they may not be over-chargeable as they say in Section Sixty and for which they alleadge 1 Cor. 4.12 St. Paul's practise in a time of persecution and extreme necessity This they seem to bring in by head and shoulders to justifie the preaching of laborers men of Mechanick Trades Taylors and Carpenters Smiths and Tinkers and of Mercers and Bakers and other such like But if you or they had consulted the same Apostle in the same Epistle Chapter 9. Verse 6 7. you might have learned that both Paul and Barnabas had power to forbear working It was not any Ordinance of Christ that they or any other Minister of Jesus Christ should work with their hands to maintain themselves or get a livelihood but that they that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel as the Apostle testifieth 1 Cor. 9.18 I let pass divers Errors in that Declaration of their Faith too long to trouble the Reader with I shall conclude this with prayer to God that the Lord would open the eyes both of you and them to see your error and sin in departing from or at least continuing your forsaking of our Reformed and Reforming Congregations making Rents and Schisms in the Churches of Christ and giving advantage to the common enemy to destroy the godly party either amongst us or your selves For although you are too full of error yet I dare not think but some who are not satisfied with the practise of Infant Baptism may yet be members of Christ though sick with error and such as stand in great need of healing by the Sun of Righteousness who will arise to them that fear his name with healing in his wings Mal. 4.2 For such as are of Antichristian persecuting spirits against the godly faithful Ministers of Christ in England who have and
teach if they will have any Again if the Tythes be Gods reserved part and belong to the Ministers of Christ who preach the Gospel to the people by Divine right as we have proved out of the Word of God sufficiently then as Anthony Peirson confesseth the Popes dispensation or acquitting of any Lands from payment of tythes was utterly unlawful and sacrilegious as was all his improper Appropriation or tythes to Abbies Monasteries or any such popish inventions sacrilegious also certainly it was and was not King Henry the Eight his taking and selling of tythes from the Church sacriledge also certainly it must needs follow it was a robbing of God and of the Ministers of Christ and so sacriledge and then is it not sacriledge in them that withhold them this God hath witnessed by many examples his wrath against such as detain them from the faithful Preachers of the Gospel as I have declared in my Justification of Ministers maintenance by tythes and as might be proved by many sad examples of Gods judgements against Sacriledge both in this and other Nations therefore it is very good all the Impropriators should part from them yea upon reasonable considerations since many bought them as Anthony Peirson intimates for little or nothing but it is not that tythes should be taken away from the faithful Ministers of Christ but restored to them as their just due both by the law of God and the most antient laws of the Land The Lord grant the Parliament may lay these things seriously to heart and provide a remedy that the danger of Gods curse may be removed from the Nation and Gods blessing be upon them and the people till Shilâ— the Saviour Christ our Lord come again Amen Amen I. B. I Shall add but a little concerning our Gleab-lands and haste to a Conclusion Anthony Peirson or at least many of his Society or erring way have cryed out against our Houses and Gleab lands also yea would have all our Meeting-places our Churches our Steeple-houses as they call them pulled down to mend High-wayes so Churches and Parish-Ministers all must be cast away together And would not this prove Sacriledge If you read Numb 34.13 c. the Land of Canaan was commanded to be divided by Lot and Numb 35.2 3.4 the Lord commands the Children of Israel that they give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession Cities to dwell in and shall give also for the Levites suburbs for the Citysround about them and their Cities shall they have to dwell in and the suburbs of them shall be for their Cattel and for their Goods and for all their Beasts and the suburbs of the City which ye shall give to the Levites shall reach from the wall of the City and outward a thousand Cubits roundabout A Cubit was from the top of the point of the elbow to the top of the middle finger as learned Weames affirms Doctor VVeams his Christian Synagogue p. 192. And the Cubit of the Sanctuary was a hand-bredth more than the common Cubit was so that here it is evident the Lord had not only given the Levites Tythes but convenient Houses to dwel in and Gleab-lands for their Beasts and Cattel and our Godly and Learned Countryman Mr. Ainsworth upon that affirms that the equity of this Law both for honouring the Lord with our substance Prov. 3.9 and for maintenance of his Ministers Gal. 6.6 is perpetual Josh 21. and these Lands were set out to the Levites according to Gods command and they taught the people by office as Nehem. 8.8 and these Lands were never to be sold or alienated from the Levites and certainly the equity of this remaineth still that the faithful Preachers of the Gospel should have not only Tythes or value of them by redemption but convenient Gleab also the taking away of these what is it but Sacriledge Caveat Emptor Again you seem to be charitable to the Poor and would be profitable to the Common-wealth to pay the Souldiery and provide for the Poor and it is with our Tythes and Gleab-Lands as many of you profess You would have us robbed that others may be relieved is this your charity and piety like a Thief that steals to give Alms robs by the High way and giveth liberally to the Beggars and poor Cripples that are there waiting for an Alms certainly this charity is not Christian charity but abominable iniquity In our Honourable Army I know there are many truly religious and godly Gentlemen who would not be pay'd with that which belongs to Christ but with the Money and Estate of the Common-wealth and good reason they should For who goeth a warfare at their own charge saith that great Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 9.7 I have done with this also But a word to your word to the Parish Ministers Anthony Peirsons case Thirdly say you to the Parish Ministers With these I desire to expostulate the matter First as touching the end of their work Secondly as to the way of their maintenance c. Mr. Bourn's answer I answer to your quarrel why in Market-towns and other places where there is small Maintenance there is but a poor Vicar or poor reading Curate and the people untaught you mean why do not Ministers preach there without Maintenance or take such small places is this your meaning I answer that there is not maintenance in such places see where the fault is I am sure it is none of ours we must live of the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.14 And Secondly for Preaching if your eyes be not blind or your ears deaf and refuse to hear you might hear and know that many godly Ministers do preach in Market-Towns and many other places freely witness weekly Lectures and monthly Exercises in which commonly two Ministers joyn together and preach to the great comfort of Christian souls whose hearts God moveth to attend at wisdoms gates Prov. 8.34 this is the practice in London in Derby-shire where I lived and is in Leicester-shire where I now live and in Lincoln-shire and Rutlandshire Northampton-shire and in many other places and this I have known near this fifty year and have Preached my self in many places but you would fain find some fault with the Ministers of Christ that you like other Antichristian enemies might root us out if it lay in your power But this I shall and do tell you that if Ephesus judgement fall upon England for the loss of our first love if God remove the Candlestick of the Church and Gospel then England is undone Rev. 2.3 4. as was Ephesus and those Eastern Churches I have said enough to answer your quarrel against our Tythes enough to satisfie any godly undeceived man whatsoever and spoken sufficient concerning our Gleab-Land at which it seemeth you have an evill eye Anthony Peirson's case There is a way say you page 41. which would establish the Nation upon a sure foundation of true freedom and give satisfaction to some separated