Selected quad for the lemma: land_n
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A48940
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Tythe no gospel maintenance for gospel ministers In an epistle to all who conscienciously suffer for not paying them. By William Loddington.
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Loddington, William, 1626?-1711.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing L2808; ESTC R220162
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7,345
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30
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hath not commanded it or that refusers to pay are disobedient to his Commands or else that they like not his Law for their Maintenance Luke 10.7 All which are liable to many Absurdities Naked Truth speaks thus of Tythes in the Second Part pag. 30. ' 'T is the idlest of Dreams to say That because the Priesthood under the Law the Levites had the Tythes of the whole Land that therefore by the same Reason Ministers of the Gospel should have the same Proportion and Allowance out of all Mens Estates and that it is Sacriledge to detain them For is the Parish Priest the Twelfth part of the Parish he lives in though you also number with him his Family if he have any Or are the Clergy and their Families the Twelfth part of England as the Tribe of Levi was the Twelfth part of Israel And therefore saith he ' it is an idle Dream and a Bugbear to call detaining of Tythe Sacriledge except it can be proved that God or Christ or the Apostles ever took or commanded to be taken the Tenth to Gospel Ministers as God expresly commanded the Tythes of all Israel to the Levites that bear no proportion in Number to the Tribe of Levi nor are the Tenth part nor scarce the Hundredth part of most Parishes and yet shall lick up the whole Tenth of the Parish He further adds in the same page concerning those great Tythes which by Henry VIII were taken from the Abbots and Nuns ' That they as gotten by a Cheat Escheated to the King by the Law of the Land Now whether all the rest of the Clergies Tythes were not gotten by a Cheat as much as the Abbots and Nuns and may as lawfully Escheat to the King as the other I leave to more able Judgments to determine when it shall be judged expedient by the Government to Debate it But until a Seisure be made by the Government totally taking away the Sacerdotical use thereof as aforesaid I know none have more Right to the Tythe than the Owners of the Land Because I believe all Clergy-mens Claims are of no force and all who Conscienciously refuse to pay them say as much in plain English by their denial of them For they cannot demand Tythe but upon the Account of their Ministry and other Ecclesiastical Offices which if they neglect the Law will not give it them Wherefore by paying Tythe in Obedience to such a Law I practically own and support that Priesthood Offices and Calling And it 's but an Equivocation to say I disown them and yet pay to maintain them Every Eye may see fear to suffer is the Motive to pay whatever is pretended Nor will it excuse to say it 's paid only in Obedience to the Law for by that Argument I may as lawfully go to Mass as to Meetings if a Law should command it which God forbid ' Obj. I have seen an Objection in to spring from the Root viz. That by denying Tythes we teach the Tenants to Popish Landlords to pay them no Rent because they may imploy it to Popish Services Ans Proper Comparisons explain things improper cast a Mist before the Reader 's Eyes Popish Landlords do not let their Lands upon Condition the Rent shall be paid to their Priests by the Tenant for saying Masses if they should I know no Protestant that would be their Tenant They let their Lands as other Men to have the Rent paid to themselves and it 's not a Tenant's Concern to inquire what his Landlord will do with his Rent ' Obj. But further the same Author very plausibly and no doubt very strongly in his own Opinion returns the thing upon us thus as if the Case were our own If you or I saith he should by a Deed for Ever give a Ninth part of our Estates to Teachers of our own Perswasion over and above the Tenth which is none of ours and should after sell the remaining Eight parts and abate the Buyer proportionably in Price would you not count such a Buyer a Thief if he should take that Ninth part and call it his own saying We gave it to a bad Use Ans No I should rather count the Seller a Cheat and the Buyer a Fool. For instance Suppose the Land thus sold contains Ninety Acres is not he a Cheat that gives away Ten of them and yet sells me the whole Ninety for my Deed must mention either Eighty or Ninety If but Eighty Acres is expressed it 's folly to claim any more but if the whole Ninety be in I am no Thief to keep it all ' Obj. But here it will be replied that though the whole Ninety Acres were in the Writing yet I had an implicite Abatement in Consideration of my paying the Ninth part to such Preachers Ans The Reason of this Abatement when the Bargain was made was either mentioned or not if it was and agreed unto by the Buyer the Objection is good but if it was not as generally it is not in the Case of Tythe then this Objection takes for granted that the Buyer must do what the Seller thinks he must do This is childish to suppose that a Seller's Thoughts must be a Rule for the Buyer's Actions 2. But secondly This implicite Abatement begs what I utterly deny viz. That a Man may bind his Heirs to pay what he gives to uphold such Religions â—nd Forms of Worship as he himself believes to be right The very Government of England have denied this for by their taking Tythes as aforesaid from the Roman Clergy to whom they were first given and giving them to their own Clergy they plainly declare That Gifts given to bad Uses are not binding nor ought to be imploy'd to such purposes To confirm this hear what one Brightman a Famous Man in his day saith in his Exposition of Rev. 17.16 ' By what Right doth Rome challenge her Territories What did the Emperors give it them Just so as Constantine gave his Palace to the City of Rome ' But admit saith he that Pepin and Charles gave them all this they gave it when they knew not what they did They thought they did it to advance the Christian Religion but seeing it is now found out by lamentable Experience that there was never any thing hath more redounded to the undoing of the Church and the overthrow of Piety than this Bounty of theirs why should not the Emperors take their own again That the Civil Magistrate hath power to convert Payments from Religious Ceremonies to Civil Uses is indisputably confirmed by our Saviour himself both by paying and commanding that Tribute to be paid which is mentioned Mat. 17.24 and Chap. 22.21 For if Godwin's Records of those Times and the Marginal Notes in our Bibles be true that Tribute had been long paid to the Temple at Jerusalem Exod. 30.13 And this is very probable for if it had been an ordinary Tribute there had not been such Ground to scruple it But Caesar's taking it from the
TYTHE NO Gospel Maintenance FOR Gospel Ministers In an EPISTLE to all who Conscienciously suffer for not Paying them By William Loddington Haec olim meminisse juvabit Posterity shall reap the Fruits Of your hard Sufferings by Tythe-suits LONDON Printed and Sold by T. Sowle near the Meeting-house in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-street 1695. To the Priest that Sues for Tythe DID thy Parish'oners themselves invite Thee to their Pulpit Do they still delight To hear thee Preach 〈◊〉 I shall not gainsay Nulla volenti fit injuria He that is free to hear should freely pay But if within thy Parish any dwell Who see the Way which doth thy Ways excel Here is for Thee and Them a Dram that may God's Power Co-working purge thy wrath away And strengthen them that in a Suffering Season Men may not judge them wilful void of Truth having taught us rightly to divide What things are God's and what 's on Caesar's side Let not Man's Idol Self divert thine Eyes Then this may prove to thee a richer Prize Than Levi's Tythe For if thou wouldst advance Christ's glorious Gospel trust his * 1 Cor. 1.9 14. Maintenance W. L. TYTHE NO Gospel Maintenance FOR Gospel Ministers Dear Friends IN the weighty Sense of God's Honour and the Peoples Welfare both which are eminently concern'd in your Sufferings do I salute you desiring all Grace and Peace Courage and Constancy may be in You. You may probably expect harder Sufferings than many others for many of those you have to deal with neither want Wit to disgrace us nor Malice to pursue us to the utmost of their Chain I doubt not but you are well satisfied in the Goodness of your Cause though some of you may not have so many words in readiness to defend it as others But inward Satisfaction is beyond Words Yet this I knowing by long Experience That it 's a Refreshment and Delight to hear that Cause justified by others for which I suffer I am concern'd to add this Mite for that end partly as also to inform impartial Readers we have Scripture and Reason with us I know many able Friends have abounded in this subject I have only this to say I know none in so few words It 's the more probable Men of Business will sooner read it First We may observe for our Encouragement how the Clergy-men so called of late Years have retreated from pleading for Tythe upon a Gospel Account With their Jure Divino People formerly were very much frighted But now blessed be God there is so much Light broken forth as discovers the Darkness of those kind of Arguments for Tythe which the Priest himself perceiving runs now to the Law of the Land as his best plea for Tythe Take one instance out of a Learned Man's Commentary upon Heb. 7. after a large pleading for Tythe he closeth up his Matter with this Question ' Why are Tythes under the Gospel paid to Ministers Mark his Answer verbatim ' It is for the most part the fittest Proportion and that the very Heathen did observe about their Ministers When God himself set down a distinct and particular Portion for his Ministers he should have said Priests he judged a Tenth part most convenient Hereupon saith he good Governours have in all their Commonwealths thought meet to establish such a Portion and where such a Portion is established by Law the People are bound in Conscience to observe the same Thus we see how so Great and Learned a Man as Dr. Gouge found himself necessitated pag. 129. to clench up his whole Argument for Tythe in his day with the Law of the Land And now it 's become a general plea for it But a little more to this Heb. 7. because I read it as the plainest Text in all the Scripture to prove Tythe abolished The Author in this Chapter principally treats of the Levitical Priesthood and their Maintenance by way of Comparison to Christ and his Ministry as if he had lived in our day and heard our Controversie about Tythes Therefore to end or rather to prevent all such Disputes he first proves Christ to be an High-Priest after the Order of Melchisedeck and not after the Order of Aaron and therefore his Ministers not to be maintained as the Others Priesthood Mark how he grants ver 5. That the Sons of Levi who receive the Office of the Priesthood have a Command to take Tythes of the People according to the Law that is of their Brethren but in ver 12. The Priesthood being changed there is made of Necessity a change also of the Law If any ask Of what Law What Answer can be with Sence or Reason but of the Ceremonial Law and especially of Tythes that Priesthoods Maintenance as a Branch of that Law and in particular mentioned by the Apostle upon this Occasion Nothing can be more plain for if he had believed that Tythes were to be paid to Christ's Ministers here was a very fit Opportunity to confirm it But for as much as the Law of the Land is most pleaded now I turn to that ' Obj. The Law say the Clergy which compels People to pay them Tythe is very just for Tythe is not theirs they did not buy them when they bought their Lands but the purchase was the cheaper because they were Tythable Ans The common Answer to this is not to be omitted viz. That the Writings do not except the Tythes if they had the Objection had been good but the common form of Deeds is to have and to hold every part and parcel of the Premises with the Appurtenances But further It 's but reasonable such Tythe-sick Land should be sold cheaper than other Land for if the Buyer have Faith and Patience to suffer for the Good of Posterity he must expect great Sufferings and Charges before it be Cured of this Evil. For it 's not to be done by any outward Force or Might but by the Spirit of the Lord Zach. 4.6 The Lamb in time will have the Victory Rev. 12.11 It 's well observed in our Common Grammar Daemona non Armis sed Morte subegit Iēsus And we may truly say Dēcima non Armis sed Morte necatur Iesu Legibus aut Armis non revocanda feris Tythe not by Arms but by Christ's Death being slain No Laws or Arms can give it Life again But a little more to this because it 's the most common and thought the strongest Objection I grant as aforesaid I bought Land the cheaper for being Tythable I will freely give Two and Twenty Years Purchase for Tythe-free Land rather than Twenty for Tythable But what is that to the Priest This gives him no Right to it Nor can any Law as a Salary for Preaching for Christ hath established a Maintenance for his Ministers and it 's not in the power of any Government under Heaven to change it Wherefore such as Demand Tythe by vertue of the Law of the Land either confess by so doing that Christ