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 Perkins dem Problem 9. 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 ades sacrae And to shew that they were commanded by the Levitical 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 Singulae paene syllabae c. spirant coelestia sacramenta Tom. 3. Paulino Epist 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 Not to reap every corner of our field nor to gather our fruit clean not to keep the pledge that belongeth to the person of our brother 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 Ministery and them in necessity the one being the image of our faith the other of our works for seven is the number of spirituall sanctification ten the number of legall justification Therefore to pay all the nine parts was nothing if we failed in the tenth for the tenth is the number of perfection and therefore required above all other as the type of legall justification And as our faith is nothing without works so neither is the Sabbath without tithes for they that minister to us the spirituall blessings of the Sabbath must receive from us the temporall gratuities of Tithing CAP. XXVI That they are due by the Law of Nations THe Law of Nations is that which groundeth it self upon such manifest rules of reason as all the Nations of the world perceive them to be just and do therefore admit them as effectually by the instinct of nature as if they had been concluded of by an universall Parliament Therefore in truth this is no other but that which the Philosophers call the law of Nature Oratours the law of Reason Divines the Morall law and Civilians the Law of Nations As far then as Tithe is due by one of these so far likewise it is due by all the rest and consequently the reasons that prove it in the one doe in like manner prove it in all the other I will not therefore insist here upon arguments but remit you to that hath been formerly said touching the law of Nature and demonstrate unto you by the practice of all Nations what the resolution of the world hath been herein through all ages So ancient it is among the Heathens that good Divines are of opinion that Abraham took example thereof from the Heathen but others with more reason conceive it to be practised even by the children of Adam as well as sacrificing and the offering of first-fruits as by the opinion of Hugo Cardinalis I have shewed in another place Besides I find not any mention of Tithe paid by the Gentiles before the time of Dionysius commonly called Bacchus who having conquered the Indians sent a Present of the spoil Magno Jovi as Ovid witnesseth and this was about 600. after that Abraham tithed to Melchisedek Cyrus having collected a great sum of mony amongst his captives caused it to be divided delivered the tithe thereof to the Praetors to be consecrated to Apollo and Diana of Ephesus as he had vowed Xenophon in
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 Law Jacob when he was poore and had not wherewithall to build God an house yet he sanctified a portion of ground when God had blessed him to that purpose by erecting a stone and pouring oyle on the head thereof calling the place Bethel that is the house of God and vowing to build it when God should blesse and make him able to doe it Gen. 28.22 which as Josephus testifieth Antiq. lib. 1. cap. 27. he afterwards performed And as God commanded the whole Nation of the Israelites in generall that in laying out the chiefe City they should first assigne a place unto God for his Temple Priests So likewise he commanded every Tribe thereof in particular that after they had their portion in the division of the Land they should likewise out of the same assigne unto the Levites Cities to dwell in with a circuite or suburbs of a thousand cubits round about to keepe their cattell in Command the children of Israel that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possessions Cities to dwell in yee shall also give unto the Levites the suburbs of the Cities round about so they shall have the Cities to dwell in and the suburbs shall be for their cattell and for their substance and for their beasts And the suburbs of the City which ye shall give unto the Levites from the wall outward shall be a thousand cubits round about Numb 35.2 3 4. In execution of this Commandement every Tribe of Israel allotted certaine Cities to the Levites out of their portion according to the quantity thereof as appeareth Jos 21.41 The whole Land of promise according as St. Hierom layeth it out in his Epistle to Dardanus Tom. 3.68 containeth in length from Dan to Bersabe scarce 160. miles and in breadth from Joppa to Bethlem 46. miles A small portion of ground for a Kingdome so famous and so small indeed as St. Hierom there saith that he is ashamed to tell the breadth of it lest it should give occasion to the heathen to blaspheme or deride it yet out of this small territory not so much as the principality of Wales with the Marches fourty eight walled Cities more then are in all England as I take it were assigned onely for their Clergy to dwell upon their maintenance and revenues being otherwise provided generally through the whole
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 fisce 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 faith 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 1 Tim. 3.2 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 axiom◠of Philosophy yet it holdeth also in Divinity that Eadem est ratio partium qua 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 Aaron the Ministration of the Gospel then that of the Law then much more excellent must them embers 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 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 instructed them how to carry themselves in their sacrifices ceremonies therefore Jerome translateth this place Davitis quoque ad quorum eruditionem omnis Israel sanctificabatur Domino 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
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 § 7 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 favour 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 § 8 Of the Statute of dissolution 27 H. 8. c. 27. 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 〈◊〉 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 This Parliament begunne 5. Octob. 1554 and ended 5. Decemb. Fox p. 1396. Col. 2. l. 1. 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 A Parliament of 28. Bishops c. to undoe 28. generall Councels happily not halfe 28. 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 foreseeing 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 Discipline in genere according to the Primitive Church not in specie as they use it 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 religioÌ„ amongst the Israelites So we doubt not but his M ty 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 Delegibus 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 â—at in M. Anton. per servos per vim per latrociniâ—m 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 they 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 Vi. Na. Br. 14. s 369. Jus perfectum cum possideatur in promiss imperfectum dum non possideatur premiss 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 Doct. Stud. li. 1. c. 2. s 4. a. and Customes against the law of Nature or of God be void and against Justice § 9 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 their spirituall vocation Rom. 13.1 2 Pet. 2.13 for I see that the Apostles themselves were therein subject to the Heathen Princes and gave commandement to all Christians in generall Oportet nos ex 〈◊〉 parte quae ad hanc vitam â—ertinet subdiâ—os esse potestatibus i. homininibus res humanas cum aliquo honore administrantibus in li. ex pos
c Kings ought not to invade the peoples possessions much lesse Gods Sp. 167. See Appropriations Mr. Richard Knightley St. 22. Knowledge Tree of Knowledge Gods part Sp. 98 John Knox his letter to the Generall Assembly Sc. 5. S LAnd some portion thereof to be given to God Sp. 2 c. Origen's opinion of Clergy-mens enjoying Lands Sp. 21 Lawfull See Unlawfull Lawes Humane Lawes ever imperfect often wicked must yield to the Law of Nature and of God Sp. 172 173. They may give a man jus ad rem not jus in re Sp. 173. Law of Nations what Sp. 113. Laws of our English Kings for payment of Tithes Sp. 129 c. Law of Nature What Sp. 94. What we learn thence of Gods Nature and the duties we owe to him Sp. 95. The Law of Nature oft better observed by barbarous people then civil Sp. 124. See Leviticall Learning by whom first planted in England Sp. 177 Levites how small a part of the Jewish Nation St. 14. yet how largely maintained St. 9 c. Of the land assigned them to dwell upon Sp. 2 c. Their service about the Tabernacle Sp. 33. about the Temple Sp. 35. Their divisions and offices Sp. 35 36. Provinciall Levites received Tithes as well as the Templar Sp. 37. See Provinciall Their portion far less then the Priests Sp. 57. They stood not charged with the cure of soules as Ministers now Sp. 58 Leviticall Law how far abrogated Sp. 111 Many Morall Precepts intermingled with it ibid. The frame of Leviticall ceremonies compared to Nebuchadnezzar's image Sp. 144. Leviticall rites of two sorts Naturall Adoptive Sp. 145 The Lords day when first observed Sp. 49 M MAn how furnished for the glorifying of God Sp. Introd What duties he oweth to God for his beneficence ibid. What portion of his time Sp. 1 What of his Land Sp. 2 c. What of his goods Sp. 3 c. Charles Martell the first Christian that offered violence to Tithes Sp. 31 Melchisedech thought to have been Shem Sp. 108. His story mystically expounded Sp. 104 c. Merchants and tradesmen ought to pay Tithes out of their gains Sp. 81. 131 Middest of the garden Gods place Sp. 98 Ministers called Priests by Isaiah Sp. 143. They receive much lesse then the Priests of old St. 9 c. 14. though they deserve much more St. 12 Sp. 58 c. Whether and how they may hold temporalties Sp. 24 c. They ought to have a plentifull and certain maintenance Sp. 55 56. Sc. 3. R. 24 25. A sufficient quantity of land Sp. 4. and a convenient habitation Sp. 6. How they were maintained in the Primitive ages of the Church Sp. 16 c. Their charge and pains how great Sp. 58 59. Their portion is not to be accounted the price of their Doctrine but the reward of their travell Sp. 59. A set Ministery is necessary Ap. 15. To deprive them of their maintenance is sacriledge Ap. 15. wors then putting them to death Sc. 2. They ought to doe their work though defrauded of their hire R. 26. Whether their Livings should be equall R. 10 11. Tithes no necessary cause of distraction and trouble to them R. 14.24 See Clergy Priests and Tithes Monasteries See Statute and Appropriations Money The rate thereof how uncertain St. 18. Sp. 131.153 R. 5. N NAture See Law Ninth part over and above the Tenth paid to the Clergy St. 15. Sp. 30. 91 Numbers Great mysteries attributed to them both by Heathens and Christians Sp. 68 c. O OBlations of Primitive Christians how employed Sp. 14 c. Offerings due to God by the Law of Nature Sp. 96. P PAradise a modell of the Church Sp. 97 c. See God Parish Churches stiled Tituli Sp. 10 Parliamentary power in Theologicall matters what Sp. 156 157. See Clergy Passover and other Feasts seem to have been but rarely observed Sp. 47 St. Paul's travels Sp. â—â— Pentecost why celebrated by Christians Sp. 150 Peoples mind how variable Sp. 56 St. Peter's travels Sp. 53 Polygamy though at first forbidden yet long permitted Sp. 46 Poor how carefully relieved by Christ Sp. 11. his Apostles Sp. 13. and the Primitive Christians Sp. 14 c. What discretion is to be used in considering their necessities Sp. 22. Who of old were wont to distribute Church goods unto them Sp. 23. They are Christs Proctors Substitutes Publicans to gather up his rents Sp. 78. How dear they are to God Sp. 97 Prayer a duty that we learn from nature Sp. 95 96. Price of things See Rate Priests before the Law Sp. 10. 42. 100. 108. The originall of Priesthood Sp. 42. 100. Priests of what dignity in antient times Sp. 100. Of their maintenance before the law Sp. 101 c. Priests maintenance among the Jews far larger then among Christians St. 9 10. Their courses appointed by David Sp. 35. 38. Their part much greater then the Levites Sp. 57. Ministers of the Gospel called Priests Sp. 143. The charge and pains of Leviticall and Evangelicall Priests compared Sp. 57-60 See Ministers Provinciall Levites of what learning dignity and authority in the Jewish Common-wealth Sp. 38 c. Psalme lxxxiii expounded against sacrilegious persons Ap. 13 Q Questions of Diuinity where and by whom to be decided Sp. 156 R RAte of money and commodities how various R. 5. See Money Reformation never perfect at once but accomplished by degrees Sp. 30. 46 c. Witness that hereunder Henry viii and Edward vi Sp. 170 c. Restitution of Impropriations to the Church it an act not of bounty but duty Sp. 169 S SAbbath by whom and why changed Sp. 111. Difference between the Jewish Sabbath and ours Sp. 148. There was more ceremony in the Sabbath then in Tithes Sp. 148 Sacrifices almost wholly neglected in the wilderness Sp. 47. The ground and reason of Sacrifices Sp. 145. why they were burnt Sp. 146. Seeing they were taught by the instinct of Nature Sp. 42. 95 96. Why are they abolished by Christ Sp. 144-147 R. 23. Sacrificing in the high places unlawfull yet for a time accepted Sp. 46 Sacriledge for bidden St. 7. Christ discoverred his zeal more against this sinne then any St. 16. No sinne tendeth more to the overthrow of Religion Sc. 2. Humane Laws against it St. 25. Sp. 155. 161. Wo to them that are guilty of it Sp. 82. 134-139 168. How it cometh to abound so much in Scotland Sc. 1 2 Scotland grievously overrun with Sacriledge Sc. 1. Rollock sharply inveigheth against it Sc. 4. and so doth Knox Sc. 6 Lord Scudamere Viscount Slego St. 26 Sr. James Sempill's Book of Tithes St. 4 Servants in some places pay Tithe out of their wages Sp. 80 Seven a mysticall number Sp. 113. No Simony in Ministers to receive maintenance from the people Sp. 59. Abolishment of Tithes no prevention of Simony R. 13. Souldiers ought to pay Tithes of their spoils Sp. 81. Heathen Souldiers have oft done so Sp. 114-120 Sr. Henry Spelman's worth
Kingdome by Tithes oblations and other devotions of their brethren So that it is apparent both by the Law of God and Nature that God must have one portion of our Lands to build him an house on that is his Churches and another portion thereof for the habitation of his Levites that is his Ministers CAP. III. That the portion of Land assigned to God must be sufficient for the habitation of the Minister THough the portion of Land thus to be rendred to God for his Ministers be not certaine yet is it thus farre determined that it must be answerable to the necessity of the service and to the number of the Levites that is there must be Churches sufficient for the congregations and habitations sufficient for the Ministers and their families to dwell upon with pasture convenient for their domesticall cattell They must not be pulled from God with secular care and therefore their maintenance is appointed to arise by other meanes then by tilling the Earth but their habitation as befitteth students and men of contemplative life must be under their owne command and solitary But what should the portion of the fruites of the earth assigned them for their maintenance be certaine as namely the tenth part and not the portion of Land also allotted for their habitation I answer that as the people encrease so also the fruite of the earth encreaseth with them by their industry and labour and therefore as the Levites encrease in number so doe the rest of the Tribes and by reason thereof there is a greater encrease of Tithe toward the maintenance of the Levite for the labour of ten men yeeldeth more profit then the labour of five But when the Levites were inclosed within walls and confined with immutable bounds this circuite in reason could not alwaies be sufficient for them And therefore being so increased as their Cities might not containe them they must of necessity have new places of habitation provided for them For in such cases God gave a generall rule to the people Deut. 12.19 Beware that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou linest in the Land And the people of the Jewes in this necessity did not forsake the Levites for before the transmigration to Babylon which was about 840. yeares after the Leviticall Cities as appeareth 1 Chron. cap. 6. and cap. 9.1 were growne to be about sixty eight viz. twenty more then were appointed by Josua They might not enlarge the bounds prescribed to their Cities but they might encrease the number of the Cities as the number of the Levites encreased and necessity required The reason is they might not adde house to house and field to field lest growing great in earthly possessions they should forget God who had otherwise provided for them then by manuring the earth but if they wanted habitations they might then seeke for new Cities and the care of the people was to provide them for them One Levite might not have more then sufficient for his habitation but if the Cities appointed were not sufficient to yeeld an habitation for every Levite then might they assigne new Cities to that purpose CAP. IV. That Christ released not the portion due to God out of our Lands THe possession of Lands is ex jure â—â—umino but the earth is the Lords ex jure divine Therefore when he granted the earth to the children of men and reserved a portion thereof for his service and Ministers this part thus reserved is in him and his Ministers ex jure divine In this right Christ calleth the Temple the house of God and saith also My house shall be on house of prayer And St. Paul saith 1 Crr. 11.22 Despise ye the house of God So that doubtlesse God must have houses for his forvice in all places where we inhabite But Christ had not wherein to lay his head Mat. 8.20 Luke 9.18 therefore the Ministers must have no houses provided for them for the disoiple is not above his master Christ indeed had not whereon to lay his head for he came to his owne and his owne received him not But doth this prove that Ministers should neither have nests in the ayre like birds nor holes in the ground like foxes Did not he that made the Vineyard in the Gospell build a tower in it for them that dressed it So like wise must the Ministers that attend upon the Vineyard of the Church have their habitations in it St. Paul appointed it so when he commandeth us to render a portion unto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all the good things Gal. 5.6 How have they a part in all if they 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 eodem tertio 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
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 Strigelius in leg lib. 2. pag. 307. 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Codin p. 5. Suidas 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 Apud Euseb l. 10. ca. 5. 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 1 Cor. 9.14 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 into it what his dignity is how he came by it how much he needeth and for what cause he needeth it We must not therefore deal alike with them which were pincht and hardly brought up in their infancy and with them who being nourished delicately and plentifully are now fallen into necessity Neither must we minister the same things to men and to women nor like quantity to old men and young men nor to sickly young men that are not able to earn their living and those which have somwhat of their own to maintain themselves withall It must also be considered whether they have many children and whether those children be idle or industrious and how far forth they are insufficient to provide for themselves to bee short there is great wisdome required in him that would well dispose the Revenues of the Church and that by being a faithfull and discreet disposer hee may become an happy man Thus far Origen to which purpose Cyprian also in his Epistle to Eucratius lib. 1. Epist 10. sheweth that the Church maintained many poor and that her own diet was frugalioribus innocentibus cibis sparing and plain and all her expence sumptibus parcioribus quidem sed salutaribus full of frugality but sufficient for health The persons by whom this distribution of Church goods was made were chiefly the Bishops as appeareth by the former Epistle of Vrbane and Deacons appointed under them as in the times of the Apostles Acts 6. Therefore Origen in his 16. Homily upon Matthew fol. 31. col 4. taxing the unfaithfull Deacons saith Diaconi autem c. But the Deacons which govern not well the tables of the Ecclesiasticall money that is the goods and Revenues of the Church but doe always purloin them not distributing that which they give according unto judgement and so become rich by that which belongeth unto the poor they are the Exchangers whose Tables Christ will overthrow For the Apostles in their Acts teach us that the Deacons are Governours of the Tables of Ecclesiasticall moneys or Revenues c. and again after unusquisque diaconorum Every one of
not be suddainly done nor compendiously written that belonged to the government of the Church therefore the Apostles left much to the wisedome of the Church under this generall Commission Let all be done in order 1 Cor. 14.40 a few words but of great extent like that of the Dictators at Rome which being but two words providere reipub gave them authority over every thing CAP. XI That upon the reasons alledged and other here ensuing the use of tithing was omitted in Christs and the Apostles time and these reasons are drawn one ab expediente the other à necessitate THe greater matters thus quailing as aforesaid it could not bee chosen but things of lesse importance must also be neglected especially such as were outward and concerned onely the body amongst which the use of Tithing was likewise discontinued both in the Apostles time and in the first age of the Law when the great ceremonies of Circumcision Sacrifice and Oblations the Passeover c. and many other holy rites were suffered to sleep But some will say 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 Quaere God strictly exacted not these things till the place he had chosen was prepared for them that is till the building of the Temple as it is true in part touching the old Law so is it likewise true in the new Law and that therefore Christ and the Apostles exacted not the payment of Tithes in the first pilgrimage and warfare of the Gospel but referred them amongst some other things till the Church were established for as Solomon saith Every thing hath his time and the time was not yet come that the Church should demand her owne lest with Martha shee seemed curious about worldly things rather then as Mary to seek the spirituall When the Kindome was rent from Saul and given to David David by and by sought not the Crown but life and liberty so the Priesthood being rent from Levi and given to the Church the Church by and by required not her earthly duties but as David did life to grow up and liberty to spread abroad for love saith Saint Paul seeketh not her own 1 Cor. 13.5 and should then the mother of all love the Church be curious herein especially when her necessities were otherwise so abundantly supplied Saint Paul maketh it manifest 1 Cor. 9. throughout where he sheweth that very much liberty and great matters were due unto him in respect of his Ministry yet he concludeth I have not used this power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but on the contrary part suffered all things ibid. v. 12. and again v. 15. I have used none of all these things But why did he not use them since they were due unto him his reason is that we as though he spake in the name of all the Apostles should not hinder the Gospel of Christ ibid. v. 12. But why should the taking of that was due unto him hinder the Gospel because the malicious backbiters would thereupon report that he rather preached it for gain then of zeal and so abased his authority in the Gospel ib. 18. wheras by this course of taking nothing for his pains hee made it as he saith free ibid. and stopped their mouths Thus it is evident that the Apostles not onely neglected but absolutely refused even the things that they certainly knew to belong unto them Another reason why the Apostles received no Tithes drawn à necessitate The very condition of the Church in the time of the Apostles could not suffer them to receive Tithes for as the Levites received them not in their travell and ways but when they were setled and the Temple built so the Apostles being altogether in travel through all parts of the world and in continuall warfare with the enemies of the Gospel one while in prison another while in slight always in persecution much lesse could they look after Tithes which also were not to he paid as they needed them but at the times and places onely when and where they grow to be due and one that time came they that were to receive them were in another Countrey many hundred miles off for example the holy Ghost saith that Peter walked through all quarters Acts â— 32. one while at Lyddâ— ib. another while as Joppa ib. 〈◊〉 36. first at Jerusalem after at Antioch in Syria Gal. 2.11 then at Babylon in Aegypt * 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 accidentalem usque ad Britannos quod tradunt Metaphrastes alii Christi sidem annuncians penetraret Baron Tom. 1. f. 5 97. l. 13. Metaph. die 29. Junii 1 Pet. 5.13 Paul and Burnabas being at Antioch aforesaid or sent forth by the holy Ghost first to Seleucia in Syria then to Salamis and Paphus in the Isle of Cyprus after from thence to Berga in Bamphilia so to the other Antioch in Pisidia Acts 13. after to Iconiuâ—â— Lystria Derbe the parts of Lycaonia So again to Antioch in Syria thence to Jerusalem and presently back to the same Antioch where Paul and Barnabas breaking company Barnabas with Mark saileth to Cypras Paul taking Silas travelleth through Syria and Cilitâ—a confirming the Churches Then he commeth to the Countries of Phrygia Galatia Mysia from whence being called by the holy Ghost he leaveth Asia and passeth by Samothracia into Europe preacheth at Philippi a City of Macedonia furthest North-ward of all Greece then back again and up and down Asia to Jerusalem again and from thence at length to Rome Reade Acts 13.14 15 16. cap. I will not speak of that Theodoritus and Sâ—phroniâ—â— the Patriarch of Jerusalem affirm that after his first imprisonment at Rome he preached the Gospel to the Britaine 's our Countrymen for happily he might doe that at Rome But to come to the rest of the Apostles Bartholomew as Jerome witnesseth Catalog script Eccles Tom. 1. goeth to the Indians Thomas to the Medes Persians Hyrcanians and Bastrians Matthew up and down Aethiopia every one of them one way or other to carry one sound of the Gospel through all the world Psal 19. I ask now what these men should have done with their Tithes where
be slack to be pay it Eccles also 5.3 4. 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 Orat. de basilie tradend p. 2.38 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 tithing is after that of Abrahams Heb. 7.2 who gave tithe of all And this is a thing well to be confidered 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 And to encourage them in the service of God 2 Chron. 31.4 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 of all Nations For God was to be worshipped before in and after the Law and though the Law had never been given but his worship could not be without Ministers nor his Ministers without maintenance and therefore the maintenance of his Ministers was the maintenance of his worship and consequently the tithes applied to the one extended to both God himself doth so expound it Mal. 3.8 where he tearmeth the not-payment of Tithes to bee his spoil and wherein his spoil but in his worship and how in his worship but by taking from him the service of his Ministers the Priests and Levites who being deprived thereof could neither perform his holy rites in matter of charge nor give their attendance for want of maintenance So that herein the children of Israel were not onely guilty of that great sinne committed against piety in hindering the worship of God but of the crying sin also committed against equity in withholding the wages of the labourer his Ministers and consequently of that monstrous and foul sin of Ingratitude which Jacob in vowing of his Tithes so carefully avoided To come to the other point before spoken of the disposing or employment of the Tithes after they were paid that is when they were out of the power of them that paid them and at the ordering of the Levites that received them it cannot be denied but therein were many ceremonies as namely in the sanctifying of them in the eating them in the Tabernacle the eating of them by the
ad librum conficiendum praebet argumentum Phil. de 10. praecep that he that should run into the Mathematicall powers and observations thereof hath work enough for a large Volume De ratione decimarum denario numero pluribus git Philo lib. de congress quaer ernd gratia X Exprimit antiquis haec Christum litterae scriptis Exprimit partem quam petit ille sacram Ergo citus Christi quae sunt dato munera Christo Caesaris accipiat Caesar uterque suum This X of old exprest Christs holy name And eke the sacred Tenth which he doth claime Give then to Christ what 's Christs without delay Give Caesar Caesar's due and both their pay CAP. XV. Who shall pay Tithe THe Laws and Commandements of God are commonly given in the second person singular as thou shalt love the Lord thy God thou shalt not steal And so here thou shalt not keep back thine abundance that is thy first-fruits and tithes and thou shalt give the tithe of all thy encrease c. a Pronoun of particularity thou for the Adjectives of universality Nullus omnis as if he should say Quia omnia Dei sunt per quae vivit sive terra sive flumina sive semina vel omnia quae sub calo sunt aut super â—â—los De rectitud Cath. convers Tract Tom. 4. None or no man shall keep back his abundance And all men shall give the tithe of all the encrease For it is an axiome in Logick that Indefinitum aequipollet universali Indefinite propositions are equivalent with universall And so every man must pay tithe Every man saith Saint Augustine Quia omnia Dei sunt per 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 Antiq. Iud. l. 4. ca. 3. 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 De rectitud Cath. Convers Tom. 9. DecimaÌ„ 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 Sustulerunt dominum at non servum 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 Gen. 14.20 Heb. 7. 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 V. 30. 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 Nehem. 10.37 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 Deut. 16.16 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 have his portion Of all that thou shalt give me saith Jacob will I give the tenth unto thee and in the Gospel the Pharisee though braggingly yet according to the use of the righteous of that time saith I give tithe of all that I possesse as it seemeth even of his goods and dead commodities as of the fruits of the earth For I suppose that the Ancients paid tithes in two sorts some ex praecepto others ex arbitrio or placito some by commandement of the Law The tenth of bullocks and sheep and all that goeth under the rod commanded Lev. 32. others out of their free-will and benevolence In the 31. of the 2 Chron. v. 6. it is said They brought the tithes Boum pecudum of oxen and sheep things tithed before whilest they were young as I conceive and not now again to bee tithed when they were grown to their full ages So in the 10. of Nehe. 37. they brought first-fruits of their dough yet no doubt their dough was tithed before in the corn it was made of therefore I take these tithes to be tithes ad placitum in the election of the party whether he will give them or not but if he doe allot them to God he is tyed like Ananias and Sapphira to perform them faithfully for they then become due ex praecepto for he that voweth unto the Lord is commanded not to break his promise Numb 30.3 And these kind of tithes no doubt were often paid by the godly sometime upon generall occasion as that of Hezekiah sometime of particular as that pretended by the Pharisee Military spoil and the prey gotten in war is also tithable for Abraham tithed it to Melchisedek and thereof if we may depart a little out of the circle of holy Scripture into the Histories of the Gentiles who even by instinct of nature found this duty to belong unto God we abound with examples thereof Herodot Clio. lib. 1. f. 36. Livy li. 5. Pliny l. 12. c. 24 as paid by Cyrus at the taking of Sardis by Furius Camillus upon the overthrow of the Veians by Alexander the great upon his conquest of Arabia when he sent a whole ship laden with frankincense for the Altars of his gods But occasion to speak of these shall serve me better afterward and therefore to return to that is more materiall The example of Abraham in this point of tithing the prey teacheth us also that we give God a tithe out of every accession of wealth that he sendeth to us in any course whatsoever so that the gains of buying and selling and the great improvement arising by merchandise is under this title both registred and commanded I know not what the rich City of London doth in this kind Melpom. l. 4. f. 267. but I read in Herodotus that the poor Samians yeelded at one time sixe talents to that purpose and that the Siphnians out of their silver and gold Mines sent so great a tithe to Delphos Thalia l. 3. f. 180. as the richest man of that age was not more worth St Augustine saith Vnusquisque de quali ingenio aut artificio vivit de ipso decimam Deo in pauperibus vel in ecclesiis donet Let every man out of the trade or craft whatsoever heliveth by give God the Tithe De rectitud Cathol conversat Tractat. Tom. 9 f. 250. CAP. XVII That things offered to God be holy I Must first explain what I mean by holy and that is not that they are divine things or like those of the Sanctuary which none might touch save the anointed Priests But like the lands and possessions of the Levites mentioned in Leviticus that were said to be holy and separate from common use and separate from man Levit. 27.28 29. that is from the injury of secular persons and to be onely disposed to and for the service and servants of God defensum munitum ab injuria hominum N. F. de rer divis L. sanctum as the persons of Emperors and Kings are said to be holy and sacred for as the Altar sanctifieth the offering Mat. 23.19 so these things being offered to God are by this very act of oblation made holy and taken so into his own tuition as they may not after be divorced Wo be therfore to the Scribes and Pharisees that devour widows houses Mat. 23.14 how much more wo then unto those that destroy the house of God and by divorcing Christ from his Spouse the Church make him also a widower and his Church a widow and so devour both the widows house and the widow her self But some are of opinion that the Church it selfe is no longer holy then while the service of God is in hand therein as the Mount and the Bush were no longer holy then while God was there and by that reason a Church and an Ale-house are of like sanctity for a man may preach in an Ale-house and minister the Sacraments in an Ale-house and occasion sometimes doth necessarily require it And what is their reason hereof why their reason is that consectation of places and of the implements belonging to the service of God were Leviticall