Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	child_n	israel_n	pharaoh_n	1,683	5	10.2863	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30255	No sacrilege nor sin to alienate or purchase cathedral lands, as such: or, A vindication of, not onely the late purchasers; but, of the antient nobility and gentry; yea, of the Crown it self, all deeply wounded by the false charge of sacrilege upon new purchasers. By C. Burges, D.D.; Case concerning the buying of bishops lands.	Burges, Cornelius, 1589?-1665.	1660 (1660)	Wing B5676; ESTC R202286	78,792	78

it is no Sacrilege to sell or buy them To make this out take notice of these Propositions 1. Under the Law in the Old Testament God was so far from commanding owning or accepting of lands to be given to the Priests or Levites especially to Aaron the chief Priest excepting a definite number of Cities for the habitations of the Levites that were to be spread over the whole Land of Canaan and the parts without Jordan and a set quantity of Pasture for their Cattle that he absolutely forbad them to have any inheritance among their brethren And this was to be a Statute for ever throughout their generations The reason was given before unto Aaron in behalf of himself and the rest of the Levites to whom God thus I am thy part and thine inheritance among the Children of Israel That is his portion in Tythes and Offerings due from Israel unto God should be theirs For of those to wit Tythes he there expresly speaketh and upon that ground denieth them a portion in Lands I have given them namely Tythes to the Levites to inherit therefore I have said unto them Among the Children of Israel they shall have no inheritance Should not he then blush who so confidently affirmeth that to say God in the New Testament accepteth of money and not of lands is so contrary to all reason c. so contrary to what God himself has expressed in the Old Testament and no where recalled in the New that he that can quiet his conscience with such conceits as these may be doubts not attain to the discovery of some Quirks which in his conceit may palliate either murders or adulteries For admit God should in the Old Testament accept of some Lands upon such and such Terms as in Leviticus or elsewhere yet then God expresly giveth all Rules about the nature of the Land and of the redeeming or not redeeming it to be consecrated to him will this prove his acceptance of Lands in the New Testament of any kind quantity or quality by any man given upon any other account whatsoever until a Cathedral man shall say Hold your hands Levi was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel therefore as considerable a part as any other Nevertheless God was so careful to prevent their claim to Lands among their brethren by Divine Lot that when the rest of Israel were numbred in order to their several Lots in Land God expresly forbad Moses to number the Tribe of Levi or to take the sum of them and commanded him to appoint them over the Tabernacle of Testimony c. Whereby is more then implyed that the Office of Priesthood especially of the High-Priests who were always in person to attend the Tabernacle was then a bar to their inheriting of lands proportionable to their Brethren The inferiour Priests and Levites from thirty to the fiftieth year of their age were in their courses according to their three great families of Gershom Kohath and Merari put upon the most toylsome work in and about the Tabernacle of the Congregation But being numerous in all 8580. they did not could not all attend the Altar at once but onely in their turns Therefore were they to be dispersed all Israel over to instruct the people in the law of God save onely when their several and respective courses came about to serve at the Tabernacle Which being so there was a necessity of preparing habitations for them in all the Tribes and some ground for their Cattle which they were to use as well for travelling thence to the Tabernacle when their turns came as for their own Domestick Occasions Upon this ground God had Moses to command the Children of Israel to give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession Cities to dwell in and suburbs for the Cities round about for their Cattle Goods and Beasts Numb 35. 1 2 3. But of these none were appointed to the High Priest who was always resident about the Tabernacle His house no doubt was also allotted to him His portion and the portions of such as served at the Altar in person consisted in Offerings and in the second Tythes that is in the Tenth of the Tythes gathered by all the Levites which Tenths they were to pay to Aaron and the rest that Waited at the Altar before they might share the rest among themselves or partake of it in common It is true that the Levites had forty eight Cities in all set out unto them and some Lands but God first gave the Word for the giving of them and also limited both the number of Cities among which were six Cities of Refuge and the quantity of the ground that the Israelites should give unto them The several names of the Cities and how and where situated are set down in the 21th of Joshua Their Suburbs were also bounded by a set number of Cubits Nor might the Israelites give nor the Levites accept one Cubit more Nor were they lords or sole proprietors or inhabitants of those Cities Others dwelt therein and shared also in the residue of the Lands adjacent as well as they onely care was to be taken that in every of those Cities so many Levites as were assigned to each City should be well accommodated and the remainder should still continue to the former Owners Hence Lyra on those words Cities to dwell in Non dicit ad dominandum vel ad redditus inde accipiendum quiasic erant ipsius Regis vel aliorum Dominorum urbes in quibus habitabant Levitae He saith not Cities for them to lord over or to receive the whole profits of them for so they were either the Kings or Cities of other lords in which the Levites dwelt That this was so is manifest by the City of Hebron or Kiriah-Arba the City of Arba Father of Anak and a Great man that first founded it That Citie being given to the Kohathites who were Levites and had the first Lot was yet the City of Caleb to whom Joshua had before given it for an inheritance Therefore after mention of disposing Hebron to the Kohathites by the free Lot of the Israelites it is said But the fields of the City and the Villages thereof gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession Out of which fields it is clear by the next verse that the Suburbs were excepted for these were given to the sons of Aaron the Priest Here by the way a few words to him whether he were a Bishop or not that hath taken much pains to demonstrate that Church-lands are not to be sold. 1. He is much mistaken in the greatness of those Cities and Suburbs so also are others building upon St. Hierome's report who say That those forty eight Cities had Suburbs of so large circuit that they exceeded the portion of any other Tribe in Israel Which cannot be For the circuit of the Suburbs given to the Levites were

indeed there is not to found any Title of such Lands upon But one hath found out a gallant passage of Moses to prove that very Heathens by light of natural reason found and held it requisite that their Priests should have a setled maintenance in Lands The place is in Gen. 47. 22. where it is said that when Joseph in the extremity of the seven years famine bought all the Lands of the people of Egypt for bread to keep them alive Onely the Land of the Priests bought he not which shews they had Lands and that oseph would not meddle with the buying of them But why what because they were hallowed or consecrated to the Egyptian Gods and therefore Holy No such matter but because Pharaoh provided a portion of meat for them and they did eat the portion which Pharaoh gave them Wherefore they sold not their Lands Indeed Nature may teach that God is to be worshipped that he is to have Priests for his worship and that they are to be maintained but out of Lands where did Nature ever teach that If the Heathens that were most civilized made any standing provisions for their Priests it was in Tithes and Offerings This the Reverend Dr. Carlton hath industriously noted out of Plutarch Herodotus Macrobius Diodorous Siculus Xenophon and others But for making such provisions of Lands none of those Authors are alleged And whereas the Apostle saith that the things which the Gentiles sacrificed they sacrifice unto Devils it ill becomes a Bishop to urge that Act of the Kings of Egypt in setting out Lands for such Priests as done by the light of nature which was done out of ignorance and corruption of nature as a warrant for Christians to give Lands to Cathedrals 2. Come we from the Law to the Gospel from the Old Testament to the New Neither here can we finde one silhable that countenanceth much less requireth the endowment of Cathedrals with Lands as holy to the Lord. It is true that the Learned Knight Sir Henry Spelman in his Treatise de non temer andis Ecclesiis hath Learnedly proved it to be Sacrilege to rob Churches of the maintenance by Divine right due unto them but that is not spoken of Lands given by men but of Tithes setled by God as the standing maintenance of Ministers of the Gospel as is obvious to every eye that carefully heedeth the body of that Book There are indeed some wyre-drawn Arguments produced by a great D. in his Answer to the Letter to Dr. Turner to make out Gods acceptance of and propriety in such lands But these have been examined before and therefore shall be here passed over In the New Testament there is recorded 1. Matter of fact 2. Matter of Ordinance for the providing of maintenance for Ministers so soon as that Ordinance could be put in execution 1. The matter of fact will appear by what Christ himself and afterwards his Apostles had for their maintenance in those times As for Christ himself although he were of the bloud Royal of the lineage of David both by his mothers side and his supposed fathers side too he prosesseth that very foxes and birds of the air were better provided for then himself for the one had holes theother nests but he had not so much as whereon to lay his head neither room nor pillow It is true there was a common purse or bag with which Judas was trusted and thereupon tempted to become a thief And it is manifest that out of that Cash contributed by well-disposed Converts both he and his Disciples furnished themselves with necessary food and gave to the poor besides But as for any House or Land for a standing or setled maintenance or abode it is clear he had none although Heir of all things Nor was that provision which he had any dainty or costly fare but only some loaves of bread and a few fishes not above five barley loaves and two stshes at a time which a boy might carry for Christ and his twelve Apostles And whatever Judas did in purloyning for himself the rest of the Apostles were content to observe their Masters Injunctions not onely when he first sent them out at what time he charged them to provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in their purses nor scrip for their journey neither two coats c. but even long after when he had left the earth and ascended heaven and the multitude of believers dayly encreased Even then Peter professed to the lame man that lay at the Gate of the Temple and asked an Alms of him Silver and Gold have I none Yea a good while after that blessed Paul laboured working with his own hands as a Tent-maker and that night and day not for recreation or out of covetousness but to minister to the necessities not onely of himself but of those that were with him not as having no right to maintenance but that he might not be chargeable unto such as being yet unconverted or not fully satisfied touching this matter might take offence at his requiring of present maintenance Therefore sometimes he would take maintenance of one Church convinced of their duty in administring to him to supply his wants while he preached to another more disaffected unsatisfied covetous or quarrelsome Thus he preached the Gospel of God freely to the rich voluptuous and quarrelling Corimbians robbing other Churches by taking wages of them to do service to the Corinthians Where by the way take notice that he that taketh wages where he doth not or hath not done service is a Church-robber It is true if he work faithfully elsewhere and no maintenance is there without scandal to be had and another place where he hath industriously laboured is willing to afford contribution upon that account it is not such a robbery as is sin in him but rather in them who put him upon it as Quakers and others would now do the Ministers of the Gospel for they refusing to maintain him do what in them lies to put him upon robbing others Let no man hence conclude I. That Christ meant to starve his Apostles when he sent them out to preach or took not sufficient care for their provision For by their Ministry He so wrought upon those to whom he preached if sons of peace that his Apostles wanted nothing and that upon this account That the labourer is worthy of his meat saith Matthew of his hire saith Luke This is then allowed to those who are commissionated by Christ to preach the Gospel but not to usurpers and false Prophets that run before they be sent supposing gain to be godliness Unto such Priests that so teach for hire and to such Prophets as so divine for money a wo is due which will be accomplished on them Nor Secondly That it is hereby intended that it is unlawful now for Ministers of the Gospel to have more or better