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law_n	aaron_n	abraham_n	count_v	20	3	8.7700	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77137	A defence and justification of ministers maintence by tythes. And of infant-baptism, humane learning, and the sword of the magistrate; which some Anabaptists falsely call four sandy pillars, and popish foundations of our ministry and churches. In which tythes are proved to be due by divine right to the ministers of the gospel. All common objections answered, and divers cases of conscience humbly proposed: with a light to clear them. / In a reply to a paper sent by some Anabaptists to Immanuel Bourne, late pastor of the church in Asheover in the county of Derby: now preacher to the congregation at Waltham in the county of Leicester. With a short answer to Anthony Peirson's great case of tythes, &c.	Bourne, Immanuel, 1590-1672.	1659 (1659)	Wing B3851; Thomason E1907_1	92,679	184

Saviour in this place also approveth of the payment of Tythes not a word of prohibition or cessation but an approbation of the payment of Tythes as the peoples duty in those days Had he declared that Tythes should no more be paid after his time certainly it would have pleased many a carnal hearer at that time as the hopes of that prohibition or cessation it is to be feared would please too many carnal hearted prophane or spiritually and Antichristianly deluded and seduced souls in these days who would remove both Ministers and their just Maintenance if it did lie within their power But you have not a word from Christ of cessation or taking away of Tythes from the Priests of those times or from the Ministers of the Gospel in succeeding ages 3. The third place in which Tythes are spoken of is that of the same Evangelist Luke 18.11 12. Two men went out into the Temple to pray the one a Pharisee the other a publican the Pharisee gloried in his performances God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this publican I fast twice in the week and give Tythes of all that I possess The Publican humble in his own eyes O God be merciful to me a sinner Our Saviour doth not condemn the Pharisee for his giving of his Tythes of all he did possess but for that he trusted in his own righteousness as you may see evidently manifest in the end why Christ did speak the Parable Luke 18.9 He spake this Parable unto certain that trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others So that you see here is not a word of our Saviour against Tythes or the payment of Tythes in his time nor a word of prohibition that his Ministers in the New Testament should not receive Tythes yea rather Christ approveth the payment of Tythes as part of the Pharisees righteousness which they ought not to leave undone and he tells his Disciples that exccept their righteousnss do exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees they cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven Matth 5.20 Origen in Mat. From which Origen in his time prosseth the payment of Tythes in the Gospel as a duty The fourth and last place in the New Testament where tythes are spoken of is that of the Apostle Heb. 7. in which Chapter tythes are mentioned six or seven several times and in none of these are Tythes condemned by the Spirit of God in the Apostles but rather approved and declared to continue even to the worlds end as Christ's right and special part for maintenance of his service who is a Priest not after the order of Aaron for a time but a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec To give you a clear light to see this truth read the Chapter and you shall finde that the Apostle in the three first verses rehearseth the History recorded in Genesis of Melchisedec and Abraham First Melchisedec described by his Offices 1. A King or King of Salem vers 1. Interpreted first King of Righteousness secondly King of Salem that is King of Peace vers 1 2. 2. A Priest of the most high God yea made like the Son of God abiding a Priest continually vers 2. 3. He describeth Melchisedec by his Actions First he met Abraham as he returned from the slaughter of the Kings Secondly He blessed him 2. Again he describeth Abraham by his owning of Melchisedec as a Priest of the most high God giving him the tenth of all as Gods portion the Tythe due to God To whom Abraham gave the tenth part of all vers 2. 3. He sets forth the greatness of Melchisedec above the Patriark Abraham First Because Abraham gave him the tenth Now consider how great this man was to whom even the Fatriark Abrahm gave the tenth of the Spoils De summitatibus rerum Of the tops of things vers 4. So our Translators render it But the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de praecipuis c. the Greek signifies of the tops of the heaps of the very best things which may be of other things as well as of the spoils Secondly because Melchisedec blessed him for the less is blessed of the greater saith the Apostle vers 7. 4. The Apostle compareth the Priesthood of Melchisedec and Aarons ●iesthood together and proveth the superexcellency of Melchisedec's Priesthood above Aaron's and this by divers arguments taken from Tythes or their divers grounds manner and order of their taking of Tythes as you may read in the fift and sixt verses and the verses following For first vers 5. he affirmes that they that are of the sons of Levi who receive the office of the Priesthood they have a commandment to receive Tythes of the people according to the Law or by vertue of that law yea of their brethren though they came out of the loyns of Abraham But verse the sixth He that is Melchisedec Heb. 7.6 whose descent is not counted from them received Tythes of Abraham great Grandfather of Levi who had the Priestood and blessed him that had the promises Therefore Melchisedec's Priesthood is far more excellent then the Priesthood of Aaron or Levi because he received Tythes not by vertue of the Levitical Law but by a higher and far more antient right even by a right from God himself as Gods High Priest more antient then Levi by far as your may read Gen. 14.20 Abraham Great-Grandfather of Levi paid Tythes to Melchisedec the Priest of the most high God four hundred years before Levi's Priesthood was appointed Secondly Heb. 7.8 Verse the eighth the Apostle proveth this by another Argument Heb. 7.8 Here men that dye saith he receive Tythes that is herein in the Priests of Aaron and Levies order they who are mortal receive Tythes they and their Priesthood are mortal and so their receiving of Tythes it mortal as dying like themselves and their order of Priesthood is dead and gone and their tything dead as Levies Priesthood ended But here Melchisedec that Priest of the most high God and his order receive tythes of whom it is witnessed that he liveth for verse 3. Melchisedec is said to have neither beginning of days nor end of life and so he liveth to receive tythes while the world lasted not in himself but in Christ whom he typified and who is a High Priest after the order of Melchisedec and so to receive Tythes as Melchisedec did not from any right from Levi or the Levitical Law but in his own right from God his Father who made him heir of all Heb. 1.2 Thirdly Melchisedec's Priesthood was more excellent then Aaron's or Levi's because Levi who received tythes paid tythes in Abraham to Melchisedec for he was yet in the loyns of his Father his Grandfather Abraham when Melchisedec met him as the Apostle declareth Heb. 7.9 10. Vers 9 10. But we read not that Melchisedec paid tythes at

all It is Christ's priviledge to receive tythes not to pay tythes therefore Melchisedec's and Christ's Priesthood is far more excellent then Aaron's or Levi's Priesthood or their order Fourthly The Apostle taketh another Argument from the Law of Ordination of each Priesthood Melchisedec's and Aaron's and so of Christ's and Aarons This vers 15 16 17. Because Christ who ariseth another Priest after the order or similtude of Melchisedec he is made not after the Law of a carnal commandment the Levitical Law which is ended Psa 110.4 but after the power of an endless life Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melceisedec Therefore as Melchisedec did so doth and may Christ receive tythes for they are Gods part and Christ's part as Heir to God his Father and so tythes are rightly yea by Divine right due to Christ And thus you see there is nothing in the New Testament in all these places in which tythes are mentioned by which God the Father may be proved to have given away tythes from Christ his Son the Lord of his Church and of his Servants in the Ministery of the Gospel nor in which Christ hath released his right to any or disposed of it to any but to his Ministers for their labor in his service in the Gospel Therefore whatsoever the erring Anabaptists or Quakers speak to the contrary to their seduced Disciples Tythes are the Lords still and will be to the end of the world But some Quakers or Anabaptists it may be will object further Object 4 If we grant that Tythes are the Lord Christs yet what proof is there that they are the Ministers of Christ now in the New Testament Christ doth not name Tythes with any command to give them to his Ministers and Ambassadors where find we any such thing in the New Testament I answer Answer Although Christ doth not name Tythes by a particular command to pay them to his Ministers yet he doth by himself and by his Spirit in the Apostles command as much in substance as if he had named Tythes or challenged his right in them for the maintenance of his servants in the work of the Gospel For first Mat. 10.7.8 Luk. 10.1 2 3.4 c. If we read the manner of Christs Commission or sending those his Disciples to preach the Gospel as it is recorded Mat. 10. and Luk. 10. Christ sends them forth as laborers into his harvest and he giveth them a charge to take no purse nor scrip nor silver nor brass no provisi on for maintenance but to eat and drink what was set before them and he giveth the reason For the laborer is worthy of his meat and worthy of his hire or reward for his labor Now I demand the Question Whose laborers are Christ Ministers are they not Christs and who should pay them their wages or give reward or maintenance for their labor in preaching and publishing the Gospel is it not Christ and out of whose substance or estate should Christ pay his Workmen is it not our of his own If not why then did not Christ give them provision with them when he sent them out to preach the Gospel but sends them to the people of the world many of which would not receive them and wisheth them to receive of the people whither they came for their maintenance Certainly it is not that Christ would take any thing from others that was none of his own to pay his workmen with but to teach us that Christ had a part a portion and inheritance in the peoples hands the Tythes the Lords reserved part and out of this his own part Christ expected his Disciples his Preachers of the Gospel should be maintained and threatens those who should refuse to give his servants entertainment Luk. 10.11 If any receive you not saith Christ shake off the dust of your feet against them And it shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment then for that man or that woman or that city that refuseth Christs servants or denieth them that part which the Lord Christ appoints them for their just and due maintenance Witness our Saviour himself Luke 10.10 11. 2. Again Rom. 15.26 27. the Apostle Paul holdeth forth this as a duty That to those that communicate spiritual things it is the peoples duty to communicate carnal things to them Rom. 15.26 Thus between the Jews and the Gentile and thus between the Ministers of Christ and the people for the reason is the same The Ministers communicate spiritual things in the preaching of the Gospel therefore the people are debrors to them and it is their duty to communicate temporral or carnal things such as are for the comfortable livelihood of Christs Ministers And if it be the peoples duty then it is a debt they owe to Christ and to his servants and if they owe it to God and to Christ then it is Gods none of theirs And what is held forth to be Gods special part or portion for maintenance of his service and servants Mal. 3. Heb. 7. but the tenth part the Tythes which were and are Gods and Christs as noted before 3. The same Apostle A compatatis 1 Cor. 9 proveth by divers arguments from divers comparisons that there is a part due to Gods faithful Ministers laborers for Christ in the Gospel Thus vers 7. 1. From a Soldier 1 Tim. 6.12 2 Tim. 23. Jud. v. 4. And why noticceive their pay due from Christ for the same 1 Cor. 3.6 7. From a Soldier Who goeth a warfare at any time at his own charges Gods Ministers are soldiers for Christ to defend the truth of the Gospel against all enemies to contend for the faith once given to the Saints 2. Again Who planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof Gods Ministers are planters And wherefore should they not eat of the fruit for their labor feed on Gods part which he hath reserved the Tythes for their maintenance 3. Act. 20 28 Who feedeth a flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock Gods Ministers are Shepherds and wherefore should they not eat of the milk of the Flock why should not Gods tenth be for their nourishment 4. The like arguments taken from the husbandman and other laborers and these grounded upon the law the law of God nature or reason vers 8 9. Say I these things of my self saith he saith not the law also the same For it is written in the law of Moses Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the oxe that treadeth out the corn Den. 25.4 1 Cor. 3.9 10. Doth God take care for oxen or saith he it altogether for our sates For our sakes no doubt this is written that he that ploweth should plow in hope and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope Gods Ministers are Gods husbandmen and laborers Gods people are Gods husbandry And good reason Gods laborers should partake of the

for Christ was faithful in all his house as Moses Hebr. 3.2 But Christ no where forbids Tythes nor serteth any maintenance instead of Tythes and therefore Tythes certainly are to coninue still by the mind of Christ even to the end of the world for would Christ here provide no settled maintenance for his Ministers who were sure to finde cold entertainment in the world For the Apostle that he did not require Tythes of the Corinthians or Galatians nor claim them as due to Christ's Ministers by Divine right nor other Apostles Peter John James or the rest there are good and sufficient grounds reasons good enough to answer this Objection 1. In those days in divers places and especially at Jerusalem there was a community of goods the Belivers sold ther Estates and laid the mony down at the Apostles feet Act. 4.32.34 and what need was there then of any claim of Tythes when all was at the dispose of the Ministers and Apostles of Christ or of the Church and Deacons and they lived of the common Treasuries what wisdom had it then been to claim Tythes 2. Euseb Ec. Hist lib. 4. cap. 25. Again then were times of persecution as you may read Act. 11.19 12 1 2. c. and this persecution against the Church continued to after times above a hundred and fifty years after hrist as Eusebius relateth Melito Bishop of Sardis in his A pology to the Emperor writeth that the godly people were grieved by new Edicts published throughout Asia and suffered persecution yea impudent Sycophants and greedy gapers after other mens goods having gotten occasion through those Proclamations openly rob and spoile day and night therefore he desires the ●mperor that he would not despise them who were greived and oppressed with that shamefull spoile Diverse persecutions were both before and after and was it then a time for the Ministers of Christ to press or claime the Tythes of poor persecuted Christians certainly no. 3. These Corinthians and Galatians and others Churches were but new Converts living amongst other Gentiles who were unbelievers and though the Apostle did claim and argue for his right of maintenance yet to avoid offence and hinde rance of the Gospels propagation in those infant days of the Church he did not use that power and right he had to take maintenance of them but charged other Churches to spare them not that he had not a right or that other Ministers had not a right but it was not then a fit time to require this right and therefore much less to claim or preach up Christs his right in Tythes 4. In a word the Apostles then were travellers up and down the world in several Countries to preach the Gospel and had no certain dwelling place as Paul himself witnesseth 1 Cor. 4.11 and what then should they have done with Tythes or to have claimed Tythes when Ministers were not setled nor was there any quiet state of the Church And these are reasons sufficient to quiet the Quakers quarrelling spirit if they were not restless in their malice against the Ministers of Christ or any moderate Anabaptist that their maintenance is due unto them by divine right Thus did the Apostle spare the Gentiles of any demand or nameing of tythes but when he writeth to the Hebrews then he names tythes Heb. 7. and declareth them to belong to Christ and so certain to Christs Ministers not from Aaron or Levi but from Christ himself who was a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec But some Quakers or Anabaptists it may be Object have found out that Objection as they pretend Heb. 7.12 The Levitical Priesthood being changed there must needs be a change of the Law Therefore tythes being under the Levitical Law and that Priesthood of Levi being changed there must needs be a change of the Law of Tythes and so Tythes must cease in the Gospel as being Levitical and Ceremonial I answer Answer It is true That the Levitical Priesthood is changed and that Covenant of Levi by Sacrifices and Ceremonies figuring Christ the Messias to come that is changed and ended all being fulfilled in Christ for that Law of Levies Priesthood in what respect it was Typicall Heb. 10.1 2 that had but a shadow of good things to come for it was not possible that the Blood of Buls and Goats could ever take away sin therefore Christ cometh and offers his own body and by that one offering once for all he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 so that these Levitical Sacrifices they are all ended by that one sacrifice of Christ But there were divers things which Levi did which were not typical or figurative ceremonies to be ended at the coming or ascention of Christ or in the time of the Gospel As first The Levites did ear and drink and wear apparel for their bodily nourishment and preservation of the life of Nature and this was not ceremonial but nature to be done by the Law of Nature and by the positive Law of God for God commanded our first parents to eat freely of the trees of the Garden Of every tree of the garden thou shalt eat freely Gen. 2.16 and this was not Levitical nor Ceremonial nor to end at the coming of Christ for Christ himself commandeth his Disciples when he sent them abroad to preach the Gospel to eat such things as were set before them Luk. 10.8 And if these actions of Levi were ended in Christ then it was unlawful for any man or woman to eat or drink or to wear apparel which is irrational and contrary to the mind of Christ Lu. 10.7 Secondly The Levites did bless the people this was another action of theirs Num. 6.22 c. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying Speak unto Aaron and his sons and say unto them on this wise shall ye bless the children of Israel And the Lord separated the Tribe of Levi to stand before the Lord and to bless in his name Deut. 10.1 And this was not ceremonial neither nor to end at Christs coming for Christ teacheth his Disciples to bless them that curse them Mat. 5.44 And the Apostles and Ministers of Christ do bless the bread and wine in the Sacrament 1 Cor. 10.16 And it was the practice of the Church and Ministers of Christ to bless or pray for a blessing on the corgregation 1 Cor. 4.16 Thirdly The Levites taught the good knowledge of God for which that good King Hezekiah spake comfortably to them 2 Chron. 30.22 And they did read in the Book of the Law Nehem. 8.8 9. and gave the sense and caused to understand the reading Nehem. 8. And these actions were not ceremonial nor to be abolished by Christ for Christ commands his Disciples that they should go and teach all Nations Mat. 28.19 20. And thus Philip did by the direction of the Spirit of God he opened the Prophet Isaiah to the Eu●uch Acts 8.30.35 And the Apostle tells us