of Scripture mentioning tithes is the 28. Gen. ver the last Jacob going upon his adventure voweth that if God will be with him in his journey and give him meat and cloth and so that he return safe then saith he the Lord shall be my God and this stone which I here set up as a pillar shall be Gods house and of all that thou shalt give me will I give the tenth unto thee Romulus made the like vow for building the Temple to Jupiter Feretrius upon Mount Palatine Tatius and Tarquinius upon Tarpeius William the Conquerour for Battail Abbey But Hemmingius cannot say that Jacob did it by their example for they lived too too long after him I think rather that the law of nature and reason taught all Nations to render honour thanks and service unto God and that the children of God being more illuminate in the true course thereof then the Heathen by the light of reason could be first began the precedent and that then the Heathen dwelling round about them apprehended and dispersed it for the use of paying tithes even in those first ages of the world was generall as hereafter shall appear But Iacob doth not here bargain and condition with God that if God will doe thus and thus that then he shall be his God and that he will build him an house and pay him tithe and otherwise not but he alledgeth it as shewing by this means he shall bee the better enabled to perform those debts and duties that he oweth unto God and will therefore doe it the more readily The actions and answers of the Sages are in all Laws a law to their posterity Iustinian the Emperour doth therefore make them a part of the Civill Law The common Lawyers doe so alledge them and the Law of the holy Church hath always so received allowed them And though Saint Augustine saith that the examples of the righteous are not set forth unto us that thereby we should be justified yet he addeth further that they are set forth to the end that we by imitating them may know our selves to be justified by him that justifieth them Why then should we now call tithes in question since we find them to be paid and confirmed by two such great Sages and Patriarchs Abraham Iacob Yea their payment practised generally by all the Nations of the world for 3000. years at least never abrogated by any Law but confirmed also by all the Fathers and Doctors of the Church and not impugned by a single Author as far as I can find during all the time I speak of Well It will be said that all this is nothing if the Word of God commandeth it not for every thing must be weighed and valued by the shekel of the Sanctuary Lev. 27. 25. They may by the same reason take away our Churches for I finde not in all the Bible any Text wherein it is commanded that we should build us Churches neither did the Christians either in the Apostles time nor 100. yeares after build themselves Churches like these of ours but contented themselves at first to meet in houses which thereupon were called aedes sacrae And to shew that they were commanded by the Leviticall Law will not serve our turn for it will be said the Statute of repeal even the two words spoken by our Saviour upon the Crosse Consummatum est Iohn 19. 30. clearly abrogated that Law but it is to be well examined how far this repeal extendeth for though the letter of it be taken away yet the spirituall sense thereof remaineth for Ierome saith that almost every syllable thereof breatheth forth an heavenly sacrament Saint Augustine saith the Christians doe keep it spiritually so that if tithe be not given in the tenth according to the Leviticall Institution yet the spirituall meaning of providing for the Clergy our Levites remaineth But with the precepts of the Leviticall and Ceremoniall Laws divers rules of the Morall Law are also mingled as the Laws against Witches Userers Oppressors c. the Laws that command us to lend to our brother without interest and to sanctifie the Sabbath for though the Institution of the Sabbath be changed yet the spirituall observation remaineth and that not onely in the manner of sanctifying it but as touching the time also even the seventh day Notwithstanding I find not that the Apostles commanded us to change it but because they did change it we take their practice to be as a Law unto us yet though they changed the time they altered not the number that is the seventh day I will then reason that God hath as good right to our goods of the world as to the days of our life and that a part of them belong unto him as well as the other And the action of Abraham and Jacob may as well be a precedent to us for the one in what proportion we are to render them as that of the Apostles in the other for both of them were out of the Law the one after it the other before it And why may not the limitation of the day appointed to the Lord for his Sabbath be altered and changed as well as the portion appointed to him for the tenth You will say the seventh day was not due to him by the law of nature for then Abraham and the Fathers should have kept it before the Law given but it held the fittest analogy to that naturall duty that we owe to the service of God and therefore when that portion of time was once particularly chosen by God for his service by reason himself had commanded it under the Law the Apostles after the Law was abolished retained it in the Gospel And so since the number of the tenth was both given to God before the Law and required by him in the time of the Law being also most consonant to all other respects great reason it is to hold it in the age of the Gospel Yet with this difference that in the old Law the Sabbath was the last part of the seven days and in the Gospel it is the first because our Saviour rose from the dead the first day of the week and not the seventh God is our Lord and we owe him both rent and service our service is appointed to bee due every seventh day our rent to be the tenth part of our encrease He dealeth not like the hard Landlords that will have their rent though their Tenants bee losers by their Land but he requireth nothing save out of their gain and but the tenth part thereof onely These two retributions of rendring him the seventh day of our life and the tenth part of our goods are a plain demonstration to us of our spirituall and temporall duty towards God Spiritually in keeping the Sabbath and temporally in payment of tithes that is in providing for his Ministry and them in necessity the one being the image of our faith the other of our works for seven
greatest and heaviest service viz. Knights service in Capite But God knowing the heart of man and seeing that man was like those husbandmen in the Gospell which having the possession of the Vineyard forgot their Lord of whom they received it he thought not fit in wisdome to leave the rights and services due unto him in respect of this his seignory and donation unto the mutable construction of Law and Reason but hath expresly declared in his written word in what sort man shall enjoy and hold these his infinite benefits Therefore since our owne reason hath taught us that we owe no lesse unto our earthly benefactors then Homage Fealty some honorary and subsidiary rent for the Lands and tenements we receive of them much more effectually must the same reason teach us that we owe a farre larger proportion of all these unto God of whom besides our essence and creation we have received such innumerable blessings But as â—â—d is a Prince full of all royall munificence and bounty so iâ— he likewise of all abundance riches therefore â—â—â—â—â—ther needeth nor requireth anything of all that we possesse as a subsidiary rent wherewith to enrich his coffâ—rs or support his estate but as an honourary tribute towards the magnifying of his goodnesse and the expressing of our own thankfulnesse This to be short is the sum of all religion Therefore whilst David with admirable strains of divine meditations flieth through the contemplation of all the glorious works of God and of our duty to him in respect thereof he breaketh out in every passage of his Psalmes with variety of acclamations and invitations to stirre us up to glorify God not only inwardly by the spirit but outwardly also in and by and with all worldly things and meanes whatsoever And not knowing how or where to containe himselfe in this his passion of most blessed zeale he runneth at last as he were wild with it and closeth up his Psalter with Psalme upon Psalme six or seven together one upon the neck of another onely to quicken and inforce our sluggish disposition to a worke of so great consequence and necessity It almost carrieth me from my purpose but to returne to my selfe let us see in what way we must glorify God with these externall things that we have thus received from him and that is as before we have shewed in the same steppes that the rules and maximes of his owne law have prescribed viz. First that we shall doe unto him Homage that is true and faithfull service For it is written Him onely shalt thou serve Secondly that we shall be faithfull unto him as becommeth true tenents that is not to adhere to his enemies the world the flesh and the devill as conspiring with them or suffering them to subtract or encroach upon any part of that which belongeth to God our Lord paramount Thirdly that we shall pay duely unto him all rights and duties that belong unto his Seignory for it is written Give unto God that that is Gods And againe Give the Lord the honour due unto his name c. Psal. 29. 1. For all which we must be accomptants at the great Audit and there lies a speciall writ of Praecipe in that case Redde rationem villicationis tuae Give an accompt how thou hast carried thy selfe in this thy businesse that is this his service committed to thee But omitting to handle the first and second of these great Reservations I have undertaken the last viz. de reddendis Dei Deo of ren dring that unto God that is Gods And in this I humbly beseech his blessed hand to be with me and guide me for whose onely sake and honour I have adventured to leave the shore I crept by in my former booke and now as with full sailes to launch forth into the deepe upon so dangerous and uncertaine adventure Amen Of TITHES CAP. I. What things be due unto God THat that is to be rendred unto God for his honour out of temporall things granted by him unto man are by his word declared to be some particular portions of the same things The things granted unto man be of three sorts viz. First the time measured out unto him for this life Secondly the place allotted to him for his habitation Thirdly the benefits and blessings assigned to him for his sustenance Out of every of these God must have his honorary part as by way of reservation and retribution in right of his seignory Let us then see what those parts are and how they grow due unto him Touching the first which is the Time of our life he hath out thereof reserved to himselfe the seaventh part for it is written six dayes shalt thou labour and doe all that thou hast to doe but the seaventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God What other time soever we imploy privately and particularly in his worship this must generally be performed and kept both by our selves and our very cattle for if every creature groane with us Rom. 8. 22. it is also just that they rejoyce with us sometime But though God be much wronged in this kind as well as in other his rights yet since it is confessed of all parts to be due unto him by the expresse Canon of his word I will not medle with it any farther only I desire that the abusing of it were severely punished or at least in such sort as the Lawes have appointed CAP. II. The second kind of tribute that we are to render unto God i. a portion of our Land THe second thing that God hath given unto man is a place for his residence and that is the earth in generall and to every nation and family a part thereof in particular The earth hath he given to the children of men Psal. 115. 16. But as he reserved a portion of the time of our life for the celebration of his honour so hath he also reserved a portion out of the place of our residence For in Ezek. 45. he commandeth the children of Israel and in them all the nations of the world that when they come to inhabite the land he giveth them they must divide it into three parts one for the people another for the King but the first for God himselfe God must have Enetiam partem as the Lawyers terme it the part of the eldest or first borne for the tribe of the Levi that is his Priests and Ministers are called to be the first borne of his people Therefore he saith When ye shall divide the Land for inheritance ye shall offer an oblation to the Lord an holy portion of the Land Ezek. 45. And by and by he declareth how it shall be imployed one part to the building of the house of God and the other part for the Priests and Ministers to dwell on And this is no Leviticall precept but an institution of the Law of nature and in performance of the duty that he was tyed unto by this
to the Medes Persians Hyrcanians and Bactrians Matthew up and down Aethiopia every one of them one way or other to carry the sound of the Gospel through all the world Psal. 19. I ask now what these men should have done with their Tithes where they should have placed their Parsonage or Rectory where their Cellar for their tithe of Wines where the tithe Barn for the Corn or if they had had such places how should they have been defended à fisco how frō the rapine of their persecutors Our Saviour sending his Disciples but to the neighbour Towns of Iudaea would not suffer them to encumber themselves with carrying any thing And therefore the Apostles had great reason to eschew all impediments in these their turbulent and long peregrinations CAP. XII That Ministers must have plenty THose that would have Ministers live of alms and benevolence make their reason that they must follow the example of Christ and the Apostles but by the example of Christ and the Apostles they are taught to abound in all works of charity themselves to feed the hungry to cloath the naked lodge the harbourlesse c. and how shall they perform this living in want 5000. did Christ feed at one time Joh. 6. 10. Mat. 14. 21. above 4000. at another time Mat. 15. 38. and even herein are his Ministers bound to follow him not in the miracle but in shewing like mercy and compassion for he saith not I desire to doe a miracle but I have compassion on this people Mat. 15. 32. and therefore lest his mercifull disposition toward them should be unprofitable wanting then other means he chose rather to perform it by a miracle then to leave it undone yet to shew that all ordinary means must first therein be used as far as it may be he neither called for Manna from heaven nor quailes from the sea Exo. 16. 13. Numb 11. 31. but beginneth the feasts by ordinary means the one with 5. loaves and 2. fishes the other with 7. and a few little fishes In which example of charity and hospitality the Ministers I say are bound to follow him as far as they can for the commandement is Sequere me Follow thou me Mark 10. 21. cap. 5. 27. Ioh. 21. 19. and if the Minister be not able to follow him for worldly wants as the Galatians would have given Paul their eyes so the Congregation must give him their legs that is means and faculty to doe it for the arm of working of miracles is now taken from our mother the Church and therefore her children must now strengthen her hand the more abundantly to work by ordinary means that is they must furnish her with worldly necessaries whereby she may be inabled to perform these great works of charity required of her Paul commandeth that the Bishops should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hospitales good housekeepers and how should they be so if they have not provision and means to maintain it and that in a certain manner for if themselves be fed at the trencher of benevolence what assurance have they of a dish of meat for their poor brethren The heavens themselves are unstable now it raineth and wee have abundance then commeth drought and all is in scarcity The humour of man is as variable the people of Lystra that made a god of Paul on the one day stoned him on the other Acts 14. and in the fiery time it self when zeal was most inflamed our Saviour as it seemeth found even then a cooling blast when for want of ordinary supply he was fain to fetch 20d. by a miracle out of a fishes mouth to serve his need withall Mat. 17. 27. It is meerly therefore unfit that Ministers should live upon benevolence and uncertainty therefore though Christ and the Apostles lived so for the present yet it is not prescribed as a perpetuall law to the succeeding Ministers CAP. XIII Not to give lesse then the Tenth IF those that ministred without the vail of the Temple were worthy of the tenth part how much more deserved they that minister in the Sanctuary the Levites might not come within the vail that is into the first Tabernacle or holy place Heb. 9. 2. nor meddle with the ceremonies but did onely the outward work and drudgery of the Lords house as to bear the burthens prepare the wood the water fire vessels and instruments for the sacrifice and holy rites kill dresse and flea the bullocks and beasts for the burnt sacrifice yet even in this by the rules of equity they deserved a tenth part of the increase of the Land yea the Ministry of the Priests themselves was but in earthly and transitory things as in types and ceremonies to foreshew a better Testament yet because their vocation was more honourable then the rest of the Levites as being called into the Sanctuary and to perform the holy ceremonies therefore they received a more honourable portion for first they had the Tithe of their brethren the Levites part that is the tenth part of the tithe of all the land which because they were but few in respect of the whole Tribe of the Levites as not the 40. part perhaps therefore the allowance of every one of them was much greater then of any other Levite and yet to encrease it they had the first-fruits and their portions and fees out of the sacrifice and other offerings and all these great allowances had they for their service about the earthly Sanctuary or as it is called in the Epistle to the Hebrews 9. 1. the worldly Tabernacle Come then unto the Ministers and Clergy of our Church look upon them with the eye of common equity compare them with the Leviticall Ministery what proportion their deserts hold one to the other surely though it be an axiome of Philosophy yet it holdeth also in Divinity that Eadem 〈◊〉 partium quae est totius there is the same reason of the parts that is of the whole therefore if the Priesthood of our Saviour be much more excellent then that of Aaeron the Ministration of the Gospel then that of the Law then much more excellent must the members be of the Gospel then of the Law And as their calling is more honourable so is their charge as having the care of souls committed to them for which they must give a stract account the Levite and the Leviticall Priest were free thereof and stood onely charged with the performing the ordinary ceremonies and no further Their paines much more laborious then the Levites who neither were burthened with preaching nor served any where but in the Temple at Jerusalem and not above a week at a time and notwithstanding had their corrodary or allowance in the vacation If then the Levite and Priest of the Law had the tenth part for his entertainment how much rather is it to be conferred and enlarged upon the Ministers that invest us with spirituall and heavenly blessings that as I say are called
beleef in my good doings and just proceedings for you without my desire or request have committed to my order and disposition all Chauntries Colledges Hospitals and other places specified in a certain Act firmly trusting that I will order them to the glory of God and the profit of the Common-wealth Surely if I contrary to your expectation should suffer the Ministers of the Church to decay or Learning which is so great a jewell to bee minished or poor and miserable to be unrelieved you might well say that I being put in so speciall a Trust as I am in this case were no trusty friend to you nor charitable to my even Christian neither a lover of the publique wealth nor yet one that feared God to whom account must bee rendred of all our doings Doubt not I pray you but your expectation shall bee served more Godly and Goodly then you will wish or desire as hereafter you shall plainly perceive c. So that the King hereby doth not onely ingenuously confesse the Trust committed to him by the Parliament in the same manner that the Act assigneth it viz. to be for the glory of God and the profit of the Common-wealth but he descendeth also into the particularities of that Trust as namely for the maintenance of the Ministers the advancement of Learning and provision for the poor That the King might not take them In the 45. chap. of Ezekiel God commandeth the Prophet to divide the Land into three parts one for God himself and his servants the Priests the other for the King and the third for the people And then he saith Let this suffice O yee Princes of Israel v. 9. Leave off cruelty and oppression and execute judgement and justice take away your exactions from my people And again chap. 46. 18. The Prince shall not take of the peoples inheritance nor thrust them out of their possessions but he shall cause his sonnes to inherit his owne possession that my people be not scattered every man from his own possession Though the said Texts savour something of the Leviticall Law as to preserve the Tribes from confusion yet they present also unto us rules of Morall justice First that in the division of the Kingdome wee must remember to give him a part for his honour that giveth us all for our necessities therefore he saith in another place 45. 1. When yee shall divide the Land for inheritance yee shall offer an oblation unto the Lord an holy portion of the Land Secondly that the Prince must be contented with the portion assigned him and not to disturbe the people in their possession but not God especially in his for that is priviledged further and defended with another iron barre it is an oblation saith the Text unto the Lord yea it is an holy portion of the land Holy because it is offered unto God and holy again for that being offered unto the Lord it is severed from the injury of man it must not be violated nor plucked back it must not be sold nor redeemed it is an inheritance separate from the common use it is most holy unto the Lord Lev. 27. 28. It being thus manifested what are the chief ends and uses of Parsonages it appears how unjust it is to tolerate Appropriations and how miserable their condition is who hold them Oh how lamentable is the case of a poor Approprietary that dying thinketh of no other account but of that touching his lay vocation and then comming before the Judgement seat of Almighty God must answer also for this spirituall function first why he medled with it not being called unto it then why medling with it he did not the duty that belongeth unto it in seeing the Church carefully served the Minister thereof sufficiently maintained and the poor of the Parish faithfully relieved This I say is the use whereto Parsonages were given and of this use we had notice before we purchased them and therefore not onely by the Laws of God and the Church but by the Law of the Land and the rules of the Chancery at this day observed we ought onely to hold them to this use and no other Look how many of the Parishioners are cast away for want of teaching he is guilty of their bloud at his hand it shall be required because he hath taken upon him the charge He saith he is Parson of that place and of his own mouth will God judge him for idle Parsons are guilty of the bloud of the Parishioners and this S. Paul sheweth when he saith I thank God I am pure from the bloud of all men Act. 20. 26. meaning he taught the counsell of God so faithfully as if any be not saved thereby their bloud is upon their own heads for he on his own part addeth that hee hath kept nothing back but shewed them all the counsell of God v. 27. It is not therefore a work of bounty and benevolence to restore these Appropriations to the Churches but of duty and necessity so to doe It is a work of duty to give that unto God that is Gods Mat. 22. 21. and a work of necessity towards the obtaining remission of these sins for as S. Augustine saith Non remittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum cum restitui potest Augustin Macedon Ep. 54. The sin shall not be forgiven without restoring of that which is taken away if it may be restored Of the Statute of dissolution that took away Impropriations from the Church We must note touching that first Statute the time wherein it was made the persons by whom the circumstances in the carriage and effecting of it and the end why The time while it was yet but dawning of the day or twilight of both Religions The persons then members of the Parliament half of them I fear if not the greater half either absolute Papists or infected with Romish Religion the other half yet in effect but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and candidati restitutae religionis and so could not by and by conceive all dependencies in so great a work and what was fit in every respect to be provided for The circumstances incident to the businesse as the great and strong opposition of the adverse party which happily was so potent in Parliament as if opportunity had not been taken at some advantage for passing of the bill whilest many of them were absent it had not passed so soon and this might well cause haste in the carriage of it and haste imperfection How it fell out in that point I doe not know but I have heard that anno 1. Mariae when the Laws of H. 8. touching the Premunire and of Ed. 6. touching Religion were repealed the matter was so handled as there were but 28. persons in the Parliament House to give their voice with the Bill and yet carried it So in this businesse the great haste and desire to effect it and the great matters aimed at as the transferring of all Monasteries
Livings unto the King made somethings in the Act to passe unconsidered and no doubt amongst other these appropriate Parsonages which in truth are not named in that Act but carried away in the fluent of generall words wherein though Tithes be inserted yet the word may seeme onely to intend such portions of Tithes as belonged to the Monastery it self as many did and not those belonging unto Appropriations since the Appropriations themselves are not there named But I will excuse the matter no farther then equity for after Religion had gotten some strength the following Act of 31 H. 8. c. 13. gives them expresly to the King by the words Parsonages appropried Vicarages Churches c. yet was all this done in the heat and agony of zeal then privily enflamed on all parts against the Romish religion insomuch as other inconveniences and enormities likewise followed thereon as in Ed. 6. the burning of many notable Manuscript Bookes the spoiling and defacing of many goodly Tombes and Monuments in all parts of the kingdome pulling down of Bels Chancels and in many places of the very Churches themselves Moses for haste broke the Tables of the Law and these inconveniences in such notable transmutations cannot be avoided some corn will goe away with the chaffe and some chaffe will remain in the corn mans wit cannot suddainly or easily sever them Therefore our Saviour Christ fore seeing this consequence delayed the weeding out of the tares from the wheat till the Harvest was come that is the full time of ripenesse and opportunity to doe it Besides light and darknesse cannot be severed in puncto the day will have somewhat of the night and the night somewhat of the day the religion professed brought something with it of the religion abolished and the religion abolished hath somewhat still that is wanting in ours and neither will ever be so severed but each will hold somewhat of the other no rent can divide them by a line When the children of Israel came out of Aegypt they brought much of the Aegyptian infection with them as appeareth in the Scripture and they left of their rites and ceremonies among the Aegyptians as appeareth in Herodotus Therefore as Moses renued the Tables that were broken through haste and time reformed the errors of religiō amongst the Israelites So we doubt not but his Mty our Moses wil still proceed in repairing these breaches of the Church and that time by Gods blessing wil mend these evils of ours I will not take upon me like Zedechias to foretell having not the spirit of prophecy but I am verily perswaded that some are already borne that shall see these Appropriate Parsonages restored to the Church let not any man think they are his because Law hath given them him for Tully himself the greatest Lawyer of his time confesseth that Stultissimum est existimare omnia justa esse quae sita sint in populorum institutis aut legibus Nothing to be more foolish then to think all is just that is contained in the Laws or Statutes of any Nation Experience teacheth us that our own Laws are daily accused of imperfection often amended expounded and repealed Look back into times past and we shall find that many of them have been unprofitable for the Common-wealth many dishonourable to the kingdome some contrary to the Word of God and some very impious and intolerable yet all propounded debated and concluded by Parliament Neither is this evill peculiar to our Country where hath it not reigned Esay found it in his time and proclaimeth against it Wo be unto you that make wicked Statutes and write grievous things So Tully and the Roman Historians cry out that their Laws were often per vim contra auspicia impositae reipublicae by force and against all religion imposed upon the Common-wealth God be thanked we live not in those times yet doe our Laws and all Laws still and will ever in one part or other taste of the cask I mean of the frailty of the makers It is not therefore amisse though happily for me to examine them in this point if the◠be contrary to the Word of God for I think no man will defend them they leave them to be a Law God cannot be confined restrained or concluded by any Parliament let no man therefore as I say think that he hath right to these Parsonages because the Law hath given them him the law of man can give him no more then the law of Nature and God will permit The Law hath given him jus ad rem as to demand it or defend it in action against another man it cannot give him jus in re as to claim it in right against God Canonists Civilians and common Lawyers doe all admit this distinction and agree that jus ad rem est jus imperfectum right to the thing is a lame Title they must have right in it that will have perfect Title The Law doth as much as it can it hath made him rei usufructuarium but it cannot make him rei dominum the very owner of the thing The books of the Law themselves confesse that all Prescriptions Statutes and Customes against the law of Nature or of God be void and against Justice That the King may better hold Impropriations then his Lay Subjects No man by the Common law of the Land can have inheritance of Tithes unlesse he be Ecclesiasticall or have Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction Lord Coke part 5. Rep. fol. 15. and Plowd fol. So that he which hath Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction though he be no Ecclesiasticall person yet by the ancient Law of the Land he may enjoy Tithes and this concurreth not onely with the Canon Law but seemeth also to be warranted by the example of the Provinciall Levites who medled not with the Temple and yet received their portion of Tithes and other Oblations as well as those that ministred in the Temple But it plainly excludeth all such as be meerly Lay from being capable of them let us then see by what better Title the King may hold them As the head cannot give life and motion to the divers members of the body unlesse it hold a correspondency with them in their divers natures and compositions So the King the head of the politique body cannot govern the divers members thereof in their severall constitutions unlesse he participate with them in their severall natures which because they are part Lay and part Ecclesiasticall the jurisdiction therefore whereby he governeth them must of necessity have a correspondent mixture and be also partly Lay and partly Ecclesiasticall to the end that from these divers fountains in the person of his Majesty those divers members in the body of the kingdome may according to their peculiar faculties receive their just and competent government My meaning is not that a Prince cannot in morall matters govern his subjects professed in religion unlesse himself doe participate with them in some portion of
want it in the chiefest of all that is in our habitations Againe he commandeth that they should be Hospitales Goodhouskeepers how should they be so if they have no houses to keep John Baptist lived in the wildernesse it is true and he was commended for it Christ did not so though he frequented the fields yet in that he gave no Commandement that his disciples should follow him for he appointed them to remaine in other mens houses What that they should goe sojourne where they listed The Commandement hath nothing to the contrary but the meaning is thereby apparent they must have habitations provided for them or else shake off the dust of your feet against them Mat. 10. 14. as much as to say let them be accursed So then our Saviour hath not repealed the Law of providing for the Levites unto his Ministers He could not give them Cities to possesse for his kingdome was not of this world But he appointed them to such places as themselves should choose among the children of the Gospell Doeth this differ from the Commandement of providing Cities for the Levites Doubtles no for as the Logitians say Conveniunt in eodemtertio They agree in this that the Ministers must have habitations provided for them as well in the Gospell as the Levites had under the Law Oh but they must have no inheritance among their brethren for the Lord is their portion Numb 18. 24. It is true the Lord hath communicated with them his owne portion viz. his tithes and his offerings as he did with the Levites therefore as the Levites had no share in the division of the Land so our Ministers must have no share with us in tilling the Land matters of husbandry for they are called from secular cares to spirituall contemplation but after the Israelites had their shares in the Land they yeelded portions to the Levites for their convenient residence and so must wee for our Ministers And so still the conclusion is they must be provided for Which to shut up the matter is invincibly ratified by our Saviour himselfe who in sending forth his disciples would not suffer them to take the least implements of sustenance with them because he would put them absolutely upon the care and charge of the congregation alledging a Maxime of the morall Law for warranty thereof that the labourer is worthy of his hire Mat. 10. 10. And therefore into whose house soever yow enter stay there Mat. 10. 11. CAP. V. What part in reason and by direction of Nature might seeme fittest for God It being agreed that some part by the Law of Nature is due unto God out of all the time of our life and the goods that we possesse it is now to be examined how far this Law of nature or reason may lead us to the discovery of that part or portion For which purpose we must for a while lay aside Canonicall Divinity I mean the Scriptures and suppose our selves to live in the ages before the Law was given that is in the time of nature And then let us propose this question to the Sages of that world and see what answer we are like to receive from them And first touching this question What portion of our time or goods were sittest for God It is like they would have considered the matter in this manner That God hath not any need either of our time or goods and that therefore he requireth them not in tanto that is to have so much and no lesse But on our parts it is our duty to yeeld unto him as much in quanto as we can conveniently for beare over and besides our necessary maintenance So that as Bracton saith of Hyde that tenants are to yeeld unto their Lords it must be honorarium Domino and not grave tenenti so much as the Lord may be honoured by it and the tenant not oppressed wherein if a second third or fourth part be too much so a twentieth or thirtieth seem also too little As God therefore desireth but an honourary part not a pressory so reason should direct us to give him that part wherein his own nature with the respects aforesaid is most properly expressed for the maxime or axiome which our Saviour alledged Date Deo quae Dei sunt give unto God the things that are Gods is grounded on the Morall law originally and therefore examining among numbers which of them are most proper and resembling the nature of God we shall finde that seven and ten above all other perform this mystery and that therefore they are most especially to be chosen thereunto therefore God in the Creation of the world following the light of nature chused the seventh part of the age thereof as Philo Judaeus in his Book De fabricatione mundi pag. 36. hath with singular and profound observations declared And because it may be demanded hereupon why he should not by the same reason have the seventh part of our goods also I answer that as touching the time of our life he giveth that unto us of his own bounty meerly without any industry on our part so that whether we sleep or wake labour or play the allowance thereof that he maketh unto us runneth on of its own accord and therefore we owe him the greater retribution out thereof as having it without labour or charge But as for the fruits of the earth we have them partly by our own labour though chiefly by his bounty and therefore he therein requireth his part as it were with deduction or allowance of our charges seeking another number be fitting the same The first place in Scripture wherein a Priest is mentioned is Gen. 14. 18. where Melchisedek is said to be the Priest of the most high God there also are tithes spoken of and paid unto him v. 20. Abraham gave him tithes of all The first place also where an House of God or Church is spoken of is Gen. 28. 18 22. there also are tithes mentioned and vowed unto God even by that very name whereby Parish Churches upon their first Institution in the Primitive Church were also styled that is by the name of Tituli Gen. 28. 22. Lapis iste quem posui in titulum erit Domus Dei omne quod dederis mihi decimas prorsus dabo tibi wherein it seemeth the Primitive Church at that time followed the translation then in use for Damasus in the life of Euaristus Bishop of Rome Anno 112. saith Hic titulos in urbe Roma divisit Presbyteris Tom. Concil 1. pag. 106. And speaking after of Dionysius who lived Anno 260. he saith Presbyteris Ecclesias divisit coemeteria Parochiasque Dioeceses constituit Tom. Concil 1. pag. 206. Thus Church and Tithe went together in their first Institution If there be no mention after of Tithes in the Scripture till the time of Moses that is no reason to exclude them for so also is there not of any House of God or Priest yet no man
as Suetonius in his life cap. 7. reporteth sportulas publicas sustulit revocata coenarum rectarum consuetudine which Martial also remembreth in an Epigram to Domitian l. 8. Grandia pollicitus quanto major a dedisti Promissa est nobis sportula Recta data est Sportula nuptialis signified the wedding feast or provision Coelius Rhodiginus Antiq. lect l. 28. c. 24. apud Apuleium sportulas legimus nuptiales quippe inquit ita placuerat insuburbana villa potius ut conjungeremur ne cives denuò ad sportulam convolarent Sportula convivalis is described also by Coelius lib. 27. cap. 24. Eranon inquit est quod pluribus differtum occumbentibus sit sed ita ut ferat sibi unusquisque quod edat quod etiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicebatur id est sportula Sportula opipara I may tearm that which is mentioned by Tully in his Epistles Famil lib. 9. Ep. 20. Dediscendae tibi sunt sportellae artologani where some interpret sportellae for those meats quae secundis mensis numerantur dishes of the second course and greatest dainties So that sportula presbyteria was no base thing but an honourable congiary or portion of victuals distributed to the Clergy whether by the basket as the word signifieth or in vase nitido as Pius appointed it And thus much doth the very place alledged out of Cyprian intreat where he saith sportulis idem cum presbyter is honorentur What this sportula contained I cannot declare but Alexand ab Alexand. Genial dier lib. 5. cap. 24. speaking of the Roman sportula publica saith In qua frequens obsonium panis oleum porcina caro dari solita est absque vino and Domitius in his Comment on the first Satyr of Iuvenal much more fully ex sportula omnia sibi coemebant que ad victum ad cultum pertinerent So that sportula presbyteria seemeth to be then a Cornu copia that ministred unto the Clergy all things they had need of as well for cloathing and other necessaries as for sustenance For no doubt the people of God did at this time not onely according to the precept of the Apostle make the Ministers of the Word partakers of all their goods but as Abraham did also to Melchisedek present unto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very top and chiefest part thereof following Abraham in offering the fat and abhorring to give the carrion things unto God like the sacrifice of Cain And that it may be no disgrace to the honourable Ministers of the Church to live thus ex sportula let me note by the way that the Kings and Princes of the world are likewise said to live ex sportula for their Exchequer or Treasury hath thereupon the name of Fiscus which word as appeareth by Ascanius is all one with sportula Fisci fiscinae fiscellae saith he sportea sunt utensilia ad majoris summae pecunias capiendas unde quia major summa est pecuniae publicae quà m privatae factum est ut fiscus pro pecunia publica inde confiscare dicatur a little before he saith Sportae sportulae sportellae munerum sunt receptacula And let me also remember that in the Easterne Empire the Master of the Store-house and Wardrobe as well Palatine as Ecclesiastical was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Canistro vel Sportula Touching Lands though the Churches at this time had little yet were they not altogether without any as appeareth partly by that which Eusebius reporteth of Paulus Samosatenus that under Aurelian the Emperour i. e. about the yeare 274. he wrongfully invaded an house belonging to the Church of Antioch But more amply by the edict of Licinius and Constantine where it is expresly commanded that all Lands and places which belonged to the Christians as well for their publique use as in their private possession that had been taken from them in the persecution of Dioclesian should be restored to them Platina saith that Vrbane Bishop of Rome anno 227. first instituted that the Church might receive Lands and possessions offered by the faithfull and then sheweth to what end she might enjoy them namely that the Revenues thereof should be distributed by portions to every man and that no man should have them to his particular benefit Vrbane himself in the Decretall Epistle attributed unto him affirmeth this usage to be more ancient saying also that the Bishops within their Diocese and other faithfull persons appointed by them both did and ought to distribute these Revenues in manner before mentioned adding further that they were called the oblations of the faithfull for that they were offered unto God and that they ought not to be otherwise employed then to Ecclesiasticall uses the relief of Christian brethren living together in common and of the poor people for that they are the vows of the faithfull the price of sin the patrimony of the poor and delivered over unto the Lord for the performance of this work Many account this Epistle Apocryphall I will therefore strengthen it with the opinion of Origen a Father of those times who in his 16. Homily upon Genesis disputeth it to be utterly unlawfull for the Ministers of the Gospel to possesse any Lands to their own use for so I understand him confessing himself not to be faultlesse herein and therefore exhorting others to joyn with him in Reformation thereof he saith Festinemus transire à sacerdotibus Pharaonis let us make haste to depart from the Priests of Pharaoh who enjoy earthly possessions to the Priests of the Lord who have no portion in earth for that the Lord is their portion fol. 26. col 3. And to shew to what end the Church enjoyeth her goods and in what manner they ought to be divided amongst her Ministers and poor children in his 31. Homily upon Matthew he saith Opus habemus ut fideles simus pariter prudentes ad dispensandos ecclesiae reditus c. It behoveth us to be faithfull in disposing the rents of the Church Faithfull that we our selves devour not those things which belong unto the widows and that we be mindfull of the poor and because it is written The Lord hath appointed that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel that we therefore take not occasion to seek more for our selves then our simple diet and necessary apparell retaining a greater portion to our selves then that we give to the brethren that are hungry and thirsty and naked and which suffer necessity in secular affairs Discreet as to minister to every man his portion according to his rank and dignity remembring that which is said Blessed is he which considereth the poor and needy Psal. 41. for it is not sufficient for us simply to give away the goods of the Church so to keep our selves clear from devouring or stealing of them but we must wisely consider every mans necessity how he falleth
quae vivit c. because all things whereby he liveth are Gods whether it be the Earth or Rivers or Seas or all the things that are under or above the heavens Abraham and Jacob paid tithes and therein bound all whosoever bee of their posterity to doe it Even Levi himself who after received tithes of his brethren was bound thereby and paid them in the loins of Abraham as it is said in the 7. Heb. 400. years before he was born and we also as Abrahams children For if the Levites themselves that as the mean Lord to use the Lawyers tearm received tithes of their brethren were not freed from paying them over to the Lord Paramount God Almighty how much more are all wee bound of what sort and condition soever to pay them likewise But some happily will ask if the Levites paid tithes yea they did pay the tenth part of their living to God as well as their brethren as before wee have touched it in speaking of the heave-offering and as it is manifest in the 18. of Numbers v. 26. Speak unto the Levites saith God to Moses and say unto them when ye shall take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you of them for your inheritance then shall you take elevationem an heave-offering of the same for the Lord even the tenth part of the tithe which in the next verse save one they are commanded to deliver to Aaron Gods generall Vicar in spirituall function And in the 10. of Nehem. it is further said The Priest the sonne of Aaron shall bee with the Levites when the Levites take tithes and the Levites shall bring up the tenth part of the tithes unto the house of our God unto the chambers of the treasure house So then the Levites themselves paid tithes and by their example the Clergy of our time must doe it likewise but the question will be then to whom First let us see what became of these tithes Paramount thus laid up in the treasury We must understand that the Treasury of the Temple was not particularly for that purpose but for the guests and offerings also whatsoever dedicated and given to God and I find that of this Treasury there were 3. sorts Mesack where the munificent gifts of Kings and Princes were laid up Corban where those of the Priests and Gazophylacium whereinto the people and all passengers brought their offerings and into which the poor widow as it seemeth cast her two mites I find not any particular limitation of these Treasuries but the common end of them all was to be employed upon things necessary for the house and service of God and for relief of the poor and of orphans widows and strangers Josephus expoundeth Corban for the very gift it self offered by them that dedicated themselves to God as the Nazaraei and sheweth that the Priests disposed it to the needy And to these ends must our Clergy give and pay over their owne Tithes unto God first in repairing and maintaining the house and service of God as 2 Kings 12. 4. then in alms and charitable devotion to the poor for the poor are Gods Publicans and by him appointed to gather and collect this rent or custome due to him and to carry it into his Treasury of heaven as the Porters thereof there to be laid up for our use and benefit in the world to come Decimā Deo in pauperibus vel in ecclesiis donet saith S. Augustine Let him give it to God either in bestowing it upon the poor or in the Churches Though Christ be ascended into heaven in his person he is still upon earth by his Proctors and Substitutes the poor and needy and therefore a Father Jerome I take it answereth Mary when she complained that they had taken away the Lord Oh saith he but they have not taken away his servants meaning the poor and needy on whom shee might abundantly expresse her charity As the Law of God enjoyned the Levite to pay tithe to the high Priest so also the old Law of the Land bindeth our Bishops themselves to pay Tithes yea the King himself I command my Sheriffes saith Ethelstane through my Kingdome in the name of the Lord and of all the Saints and upon my love that they presently pay my own Tithes to the uttermost both of living things and of the fruits of the earth and that the Bishops doe the same of their own goods and also my Aldermen and Sheriffes Tom. 1. Concil Britan. pag. 402. And the very glebe Land of the Parson himself if it be letten to another must pay tithe as was adjudged in the Kings Bench this Term Sancti Hillarii Quaere CAP. XVI Out of what things Tithe is to be paid IT is recorded in Genesis that Abraham before his name was changed Gave him tithe of all And Jacob in the 28. ca. saith Of all that thou shalt give me will I give the tenth unto thee In the 27. Lev. All the tithe of the Land of the seed of the ground the fruits of the trees is the Lords it◠is holy unto the Lord and in the 14. Deut. 22. Thou shalt give the tithe of all the encrease of thy seed that cometh forth of thy field year by year that we should bring the tithes of our Land unto the Levites that the Levites might have the tithes in all the Cities of our travell or labour So in the 2 Chro. 31. 5 they brought the tithes of all things abundantly v. 6. they brought the tithes of bullocks and sheep and the holy tithes which were consecrated unto the Lord their God i. by a vow In these general precepts there needeth no particular enumeratiō of what should be paid they run upō the word All without exceptiō all whatsoever the ground yeeldeth either by industry or naturally corn wine oyl the fruits increase of every thing whether living or vegelative And more then so for even those things that are gotten by labour and travell for therein we have our part of his mercy and blessing as well as in his other gifts bounty And the words in Nehe. in all the Cities seem to extend to the handy-crafts-men for Citizens commonly occupy not fields or husbandry which is rather proper unto the Villages Country people So that if Citizens should not yeeld the tithe of their travel most of them should yeeld nothing at al and no man must appear before the Lord empty Exod. 23. 15. for he hath shewed mercy upon all and he will have some acknowledgement from all This upholdeth the custome of many places of England where the very servants pay a tithe out of their wages some deduction being made for apparell and by like reason I think that those that have Annuities and fees as Officers and such like ought to yeeld a tithe thereof for out of those the King hath his Subsidies and tenths and by like yea better reason should God
gifts as were made to the Church against the honour of God but to those onely that were for maintenance of his Word and Ministery which if they were lawfully conferred as no man I think doubteth but they were then let us consider how fearfull a thing it is to pull them from God to rend them from the Church to violate the dedications of our Fathers the Oaths of our Ancestors the Decrees of so many Parliaments and finally to throw our selves into those horrible curses that the whole body of the kingdome hath contracted with God as Nehemiah and the Jews did Nehem. 10. should fall upon them if they transgresse herein For as Levi paid Tithes in the loins of Abraham Heb. 7. so the lawfull vow of the fathers descendeth upon their children And as the posterity of Jonaâ—ab the sonne of Rechab were blessed in keeping it Jer. 35 18 so doubtlesse have we just cause to fear the dint of this curse in breaking this vow Say then that Tithes were not originally due unto God and that there belonged no portion of our Lands unto his Ministers yet are we in the case of Nehemiah and the Jews Nehem. 10. 32. They made Statutes by themselves to give every year the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of God And our fathers made Laws amongst themselves to give a portion of their Land and the tenth part of their substance that is these Parsonages for the service of the house of God If they were not due before they are now due For when thou vowest a vow unto the Lord thy God thou shalt not be slack to be pay it for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee and so it should be sin unto thee Deut. 23. 20. Therefore S. Peter reasoning the matter with Ananias telleth him That whilest his land remained in his hands it appertained unto him and when it was sold the money was his own Act. 5. 4. he might have chosen whether he would give them God or not but when his heart had vowed his hands were tied to perform them he vowed all and all was due not by the Levitical law which now was ended but by the Morall law which lasteth for ever for Job being an Heathen man and not a Jew saith also Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him and he shall hear thee and thou shalt render him thy vows Job 22. 27. If the King give a gift of his inheritance to his son his son shall have it if he give it to his servant his servant shall have it Ezek. 46. 16. If the King then give a gift to his Father that is to God Almighty shall not God have it or the servant to his Master and Maker shall not he enjoy it Who hath power to take that from God which was given unto him according to his Word can the Bishops can the Clergy give this away no they are but Vsufructuarii they have but the use of it the thing it self is Gods for the words of the grant be Concedimus Deo we give it to God not to the Bishops Therefore when Valentinian the Emperor required the Church of Milan of that noble Bishop S. Ambrose O saith he if any thing were required of me that were mine as my land my house my gold or my silver whatsoever were mine I would willingly offer it but saith he I can take nothing from the Church nor deliver that to others which I my self received but to keep and not to deliver CAP. XXVIII Tithe is not meerly Leviticall How it is and how not and wherein Judiciall TIthe is not simply a Leviticall duty but respectively not the naturall childe of Moses Law but the adoptive Consider first the action and then the end the action in payment of them the end in the employment or disposing of them The action of payment of them cannot be said to be properly Leviticall for divers reasons First it is much more ancient then the Leviticall Law as is already declared and cannot therefore bee said to begin by it or to be meerly Leviticall Secondly the manner of establishing of it in the Leviticall Law seemeth rather to be an annexion of a thing formerly in use then the creating or erecting of a new custome for in all the Leviticall Law there is no originall commandement to pay Tithe but in the place where first it is mentioned Lev. 27. 30. it is positively declared to be the Lords without any commandement precedent to yeeld it to him Some happily will affirm the commandement in the 22. Exod. that thou shalt not keep back thy Tithe doth belong to the Leviticall Law though it were given before the Levites were ascribed to the Tabernacle Yet if it were so that is no fundamentall Law whereupon to ground the first erection of paying Tithe but rather as a Law of revive and confirmation as of a thing formerly in esse for detaining and keeping back doe apparently imply a former right and therefore Tithe was still the Lords ex antiquiore jure and not ex novitio praecepto by a precedent right and not by a new commandement Thirdly it containeth no matter of ceremony for if it did then must it be a type and figure of some future thing and by the passion of our Saviour Christ bee converted from a carnall rite into some spirituall observation for so saith Jerome of the legall ceremonies but no such thing appeareth in it and therefore it cannot be said to be a ceremony The whole body of the Fathers doe confirm this who in all their works doe confidently affirm the doctrine that S. Paul so much beateth upon that all legall ceremonies be abolished and yet as many of them as speak of Tithes doe without all controversie both conclude and teach that still they ought to be paid and therefore plainly not to be a ceremony Fourthly the Tithing now used is not after the manner of the Leviticall Law for by the Leviticall Law nothing was tithed but such things as renued and encreased out of the profits of the earth but our manner of tiching is after that of Abrahams who gave tithe of all And this is a thing well to be considered for therein as Abraham tithed to Melchisedek not being of the Tribe of Levi so our Tithing is now to Christ being of Melchisedeks order and not of the Tribe of Levi but of that of Juda whereunto the Tribe of Levi is also to pay their Tithe Fifthly and lastly the end whereunto Tithe was ordained is plainly Morall and that in three main points Piety Justice and Gratitude 1. Piety as for the worship of God 2. Justice as for the wages and remuneration of his Ministers 3. Gratitude as sacrificium laudis an offering of thankfulnesse for his benefits received All which were apparent in the use of Tithes before they were assigned over to the Levites both in the examples of Abraham and Jacob and by the practice
their spirituall vocation for I see that the Apostles themselves were therein subject to the Heathen Princes and gave commandement to all Christians in generall that they likewise should doe the same and thereupon S. Austin saith that in those things that concern this life wee must be subject to them that govern humane things But my meaning is that a temporall Prince cannot properly dispose the matters of the Church if he have not Ecclesiasticall function and ability as well as Temporall for I doubt not but that the government of the Church and of the Common-wealth are not only distinct members in this his Majesties kingdome but distinct bodies also under their peculiar heads united in the person of his Majesty yet without confusion of their faculties or without being subject the one to the other For the King as meerly a temporall Magistrate commandeth nothing in Ecclesiasticall causes neither as the supream Officer of the Church doth he interpose in the temporall government but like the common arch arising from both these pillars he protecteth and combineth them in perpetuall stability governing that of the Church by his Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction and that of the Common-wealth by his temporall For this cause as Moses was counted in sacerdotibus Psal. 99. 6. though he were the temporall Governour of the people of Israel so the Laws of the Land have of old armed the King persona mixta medium or rather commune quiddam inter laicos sacerdotes and have thereupon justly assigned to him a politique body composed as well of Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction as temporall like to that of David Jehosaphat Hezekias and other Kings of Juda who not onely in respect of their Crown led the Armies of the people against their enemies but as anointed with the holy oyle ordered and disposed the very function of the Levites of the Priests and of the Temple as you may read in their severall lives in the books of the Kings and Chronicles But the Kings of England have proceeded yet further in the gradations of Ecclesiasticall profession as thinking it with David more honourable to be a door-keeper in the House of God then to dwell in the tents of the ungodly that is to execute the meanest office in the service of God then those of greatest renowne among the Heathen and Infidels Therefore they have by ancient custome even before the Conquest amongst other the solemnities of their Coronation not only been girt with the regall sword of Justice by the Lay Peers of the Land as the embleme of their temporall authority but anointed also by the Bishops with the oyle of Priesthood as a mark unto us of their Ecclesiasticall profession and jurisdiction And as they have habenam regni put upon them to expresse the one so also have they stolam sacerdotii commonly called vestem dalmaticam as a Leviticall Ephod to expresse the other The reasons of which if we shall seek from the ancient Institutions of the Church it is apparent by the Epistle of Gregory the great unto Aregius Bishop of France that this vestis dalmatica was of that reverence amongst the Clergy of that time that the principall Church-men no not the Bishops themselves might wear it without licence of the Pope And when this Aregius a Bishop of France requested that he and his Archdeacon might use it Gregory took a long advisement upon the matter as a thing of weight and novelty before he granted it unto them But 22. years before the time of Edward the Confessor unto whom those hallowed vestures happily did belong with which his Majesty was at this day consecrated these dalmaticae otherwise called albae stolae were by the Councell Salegunstadiens cap. 2. made common to all Deacons and permitted to them to be worn in great solemnities which the Kings of England also ever since Edward the Confessors time if not before have always been attired with in their Coronations And touching their unction the very books of the Law doe testifie to be done to the end to make them capable of spirituall jurisdiction for it is there said that Reges sacro oleo uncti sunt spiritualis jurisdictionis capaces the Kings being anointed with the holy oyle are now made capable of spirituall jurisdiction This ceremony of unction was not common to all Christian Kings for they being about Hen. 2. time 24. in number onely four of them besides the Emperor were thus anointed namely the Kings of England France Jerusalem and Sicil. The first English King as far as I can find that received this priviledge was Elfred or Alured the glorious son of noble and devout Ethelwolphus King of West-Saxony who about the year of our Lord 860. being sent to Rome was there by Leo 4. anointed and crowned King in the life of his father and happily was the first King of this Land that ever wore a Crown whatsoever our Chroniclers report for of the 24. Kings I speak of it is affirmed in ancient books that only four of them were in those days crowned But after this anointing Alured as if the Spirit of God had therewith come upon him as it did upon David being anointed by Samuel grew so potent and illustrious in all kindes of vertues as well divine as morall that in many ages the world afforded him no equall zealous towards God and his Church devout in prayer profuse in alms always in honourable action prudent in government victorious in wars glorious in peace affecting justice above all things and with a strong hand reducing his barbarous subjects to obedience of Law and to love equity the first learned King of our Saxon Nation the first that planted literature amongst them for himself doth testifie in his Preface to Gregories Pastorall that there were very few on the South-side Humber but he knew not one on the South-side of the Thames that when he began to reign understood the Latine Service or could make an Epistle out of Latine into English c. He fetched learned men from beyond the Seas and compelled the Nobles of his Land to set their sons to school and to apply themselves to learn the Laws and Customes of their Country admitting none to places of Justice without some learning nor sparing any that abused their places for unto such himself looked diligently He divided the Kingdome into Shires Hundreds Wapentakes and them again into Tithings and free Bourghs compelling every person in his Kingdome to be so setled in some of those free Bourghs that if he any way trespassed his fellows of that free Bourgh answered for him The memory of this admirable Prince carrieth me from my purpose but to return to it his successors have ever since been consecrated and thereby made capable of spirituall jurisdiction and have accordingly used the same in all ages and thought by the Pope to be so enabled unto it that Nicholas 2. doubted not to commit the government of all the Churches of England unto
Acts 4. 34 35. 1. Num. 4. 2. 3. Exod. 26. 15. * Praecepit eis â—â— unaquaeque generatio ministraret Deo per dies octo à Sabbatho usque ad Sabbathum Joseph Antiq. l. 7. cap. 15. p. 389. * Eos verò qui erant de germine Mosis eminentiùs honoravit fecit eos auteÌ„ custodes thesaurorum Dei atque vasorum quae reges Deo dicare contigerit Antiq. l. 7. c. 15. pag. 390. Iudices autem populi scribas eorum 6000. Antiq. l. 7. c. 15. p. 389. Note 1 Chron. 26. 14 1 Chron. 27. 5. 1 Chron. 11. 22 Gen. 49. 7. Erant niâ—ilominus ea tempestate sacrdotes nec dum adhuc à lege ordinati sed naturali sâ—pâ—entia hâ—s requirente perficienâ—e l. 11. in Iob p. 2. In Gen. 4. 3. Vâ— non Gentes ex Iudaeis sed Iudaei ex Gentibus sacerdotium acceperint Ep. ad Euagrium Tom. 3. p. 38. Tom. 4. 99. August de Consens Eu. Tom. 4. 100. a. 1. 2. 3. 1. Numb 6. 8. 2. 3. Conc. Laodicen c. 11. When there shall be a place which the Lord God shall chuse to cause his name to dwell there thither shall you bring all that I command you your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices your tithes and the offerings of your hands and all your speciall vows which you vow unto the Lord Deut. 12. 11. these things were not respited till then but appointed that then also they must bee performed for it is also said Exod. 12. 21. When yee shall come into the Land which the Lord shall give you then ye shall keep this service i. e. of the Passeover which was done Ios. 4. 6. but yet I take this to be discharge of it in the mean time Quaerc * Many affirm that he was at Rome Metaphrastes and some other that he was here in Britannia Petri igitur muneris erat ut qui jam complures orientis Provincias praedicando euangelium peragrasset jam quod reliquum esse videbatur lustraret orbem occidentalem usque ad Britannos quod tradunt Metaphrastes alii Christi sidem annuncians penetraret Baron Tom. 1. f. 5 97. l. 13. Metaph. die 29. Junii 3 Tim. 3. 2. Though the Levite be said 2 Chron. 25. 3. to teach all Israel yet it seemeth not that they expounded the Word of God unto the people or had it in charge so to doe but that they iÌ„nstructed them how to carry themselves in their sacrifices ceremonies therefore Jerome translateth this place Levitis quoque ad quorum eruditionem omnis Israel sanctificabatur Domino For which cause the Latines used the word decimare exdecimare to choose and cull out the principall things and our own English word Tithe importeth as much for it commeth of the Saxon Teoð i. e. the tenth which is a verball of Teo that signifieth to take out as if it should admonish us that the tithe or part given to God must bee a choice or principall part In sum de deci §. 1. V. Vocab Vtrius Jur. in verbo decima Raymundus 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. * Multis aliis atque aliis numerorum formis quaedam similitudinum in libris sanctis seponuntur quae propter imperitiam numeroruÌ„ legentibus clausa sunt De doâ—tri Christ. lib. 2. De Abraham Patriarch l. 2. Mat. 22. 21. Mat. 22. 21. Mar. 12. 17. Luke 10. 25. Joh. 13. 7. Decima omnia complectitur Bullinger in â— Heb. Lib. de 10. praecep sol 75 76. seq Quid si numero isto denario universitas reguÌ„ significata est De C. D. lib. 20. 23. Decima hora numerus iste legem significat quia in 10. praeceptis data est lex in cap. 1. Evang. Joh. Tract 7. To. 10. Serm. 15. de verb. Domini in Evang. Mal. Ser. 15. Tom. 10 Numb 18. 27. Tom. 10. fol. 15. 2 Chro. 31. 10. Lib. 4. Lib. 14. Pharsal 5. In Agamem Cic. in Verrem Satis amplum ex se ad librum conficiendum praebet argumentum Phil. de 10. praecep Quia omnia Dei sunt per quae vivit sive terra sive â—lumina sive semina vel omnia quae sub coelo â—unt aut super coelos De reâ—tiâ—ud Cath. convers Traâ—t Tom. 4. Antiq. Iud. l. 4. ca. 3. De rectitud Cath. Convers. Tom. 9. Sustulerunt dominum at non servum Gen. 14. 20. Heb. 7. V. 30. Nehem. 10. 37. Deut. 16. 16. The tenth of bullocks and sheep and all that goeth under the rod commanded Lev. 32. Herodot Clio. lib. 1. f. 36. Livy li. 5. Pliny l. 12. c. 24 Melpont l. 4. f. 267. Thalia l. 3. f. 1â—0 Note In Ranis Decimas nupeius extortas per papas Caal test ter primo impositas in Concil per Pelagium Papam Anno 588. Damas. pâ— patrim adiit An. 367. Hoc confirm Con. Hispalens Tom. 2. Et approbat pâ—r Gualter Hospinian de origin honorum ecclesiae ca. 3. p. 123. De nat Deo l. 2. Quis scribit in cordibus hominum naturalem â—egem nisi Deus Aug. desâ—rm Domini in monte l. 2. Instit. l. 1. c. 3. Calv. Iâ—st l. 1. c. 4. It seemeth this law of nature is tearmed by Moses the Law of God for he saith I declare the Ordinances of God and his Laws Exod. 18. 16. when as yet the Law was not given and before ca. 15. 26. If Israel will hearken to his Commandements and keep his Ordinances c. 19. 5. Exod. 16. 1â— In the Hebrew text it is indefinite which of them gave tiths to other therefore the Iews say Melchisedek gave it to Abraham but the holy Ghost in the 7. to the Hebrews explaineth it that Abraham gave them to Melchisedek Codomannus saith in the year 293. some other count it above 370. Melchised Dei sacerdos Solymorum quam civitatem postea Hierosolymam vocarunt Ios. Antiq. l. 1. c. 18. Hieron in Ep. ad Euagr. et in loc Heb. Lyra in Gen. 33. Joh. 3. 23. So that Melchisedek prefigurated the whole Priesthood of Christian Religion and Abraham the whole Laity therefore Chrysostome saith Considera quanta sit excellentia nostratis sacerdotii quandoquidem Abraham Patriartha Iudaeorum progenitor Levitarum comperitur benedictionem accipere à Melchisedec Orat 4. advers Iud. Sed ita Paulus ipse Superbia vitae Concupiscentia carnis Hypocrisis Avaâ—â—tia vel concupiscentia oculoruÌ„ Hugo Multo post futurum Domini sacramentum anâ—e signavit ac sacrificio panis vini mysterium corporis sanguinis expressit p. To. 4. 14. c. Ministravit iste Melchisedek Abrahamo exercitui xenia multam abundantiam rerum optimarum simul exhibuit super epulaâ— eum collaudare coepit benedicere Deum qui ei subdiderat inimicos Jos. Antiquit. l. 1. c. 18. No fisâ— as though the curse extended not to the sea Liv. â— â— Non ideo nobis proponi exempla justorum ut ab eis justificemur sed ut eos imitantes ab eorum justificatore nos quoque