nor to them alone but to the Owner also and his Houshold at the time of their Offering and every third year to the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow their appointed Sharers and that they were a Tribe of Priests and Deacons improperly compared to the constitution of our Ministry and the Tithes given by that People to those Deacons only It follows that our Ministers at this day being neither Priests nor Levites are not filthy answering to either of them can have no just Title or pretence to Tithes by any consequence drawn from the Law of Moses But they think they have a better Plea in the Example of Melchisedec who took Tithes of Abram ere the Law was given whence they would infer them to be of moral right But they ought to know or to remember that not Examples but express Commands oblige our Obedince to God or Man Next that whatsoever was done in Religion before the Law written is not presently to be counted moral when as so many things were then done both Ceremonial and Judaically Judicial that we need not doubt to conclude all times before Christ more or less under the Ceremonial Law To what end served else those Altars and Sacrifices that distinction of clean and unclean entring into the Ark Circumcision and the raising up of Seed to the Elder Brother Gen. 38 8 If these things be not moral though before the Law how are Tithes though in the example of Abram and Melchisedec But this Instance is so far from being the just ground of a Law that after all Circumstances duly weighed both from Gen. 14. and Heb. 7. it will not be allowed them so much as an example Melchisedec besides his Priestly Benediction brought with him Bread and Wine sufficient to refresh Abram and his whole Army incited to do so first by the secret Providence of God intending him for a Type of Christ and his Priesthood next by his due thankfulness and honour to Abram who had freed his Borders of Salem from a Potent Enemy Abram on the other side honours him with the tenth of all that is to say for he took not sure his whole Estate with him to that War of the Spoils Heb. 7. 4. Incited also by the same secret Providence to signifie as Grandfather of Levi that the Levitical Priesthood was excelled by the Priesthood of Christ. For the giving of a tenth declared it seems in those Countrys and times him the greater who received it That which next incited him was partly his Gratitude to requiâ—e the Present partly his Reverence to the Person and his Benediction to his Person as a King and Priest also but not a King And who unhir'd will be so hardy as to say that Abram at any other time ever paid him Tithes either before or after or had then but for this accidental Meeting and Obligement or that else Melchisedec had demanded or exacted them or took them otherwise than as the voluntary Gift of Abram But our Ministers though neither Priests nor Kings more than any other Christian greater in their own esteem than Abrams and all his Seed for the Verbal Labour of a Seventh days Preachment not bringing like Melchisedec Bread or Wine at their own cost would not take only at the willing hand of Liberality or Gratitude but require and exact as due the tenth not of Spoils but of our whole Estates and Labours nor once but yearly We then it seems by the example of Abram must pay Tithes to these Melchisedecs but what if the Person of Abram can either no way represent us or will oblige the Minister to pay Tithes no less than other Men Abram had not only a Preist in his Loins but was himself a Priest and gave Tithes to Melchisedeck either as Grandfather of Levi or as Father of the Faithful If as Grandfather though he understood it not of Levi he oblig'd not us but Levi only the Inferiour Priest by that homage as the Apostle to the Hebrews clearly enough explains to acknowledg the greater And they who by Melchisedec claim from Abram as Levi's Grandfather have none to seek their Tithes of but the Levites where they can find them If Abram as Father of the Faithful paid Tithes to Melchisedec then certainly the Ministers also if they be of that number paid in him equally with the rest Which may induce us to believe that as both Abram and Melchisedec so Tithes also in that action Typical and Ceremonial signifi'd nothing else but that subjection which all the Faithful both Ministers and People owe to Christ our High Priest and King In any literal sense from this example they never will be able to extort that the People in those days paid Tithes to Priests but this only that one Priest once in his life of Spoils only and in requiâ—al partly of a liberal Present partly of a Benediction gave voluntary Tithes not to a greater Priest than himself as far as Abram could then understand but rather to a Priest and King joyned in one Person They will reply perhaps that if one Priest paid Tithes to another it must needs be understood that the People did no less to the Priest But I shall easily remove that necessity by remembring them that in those days was no Priest but the Father or the first born of every Family and by consequence no People to pay him Tithes but his own Children and Servants who had not wherewithal to pay him but of his own Yet grant that the People then paid Tithes there will not be the like reason to enjoyn us they being then under Ceremonies a meer Laitie we now under Christ a Royal Priesthood 1 Pet 2. 9. as we are Coheirs Kings and Priests with him a Priest for ever after the Order or manner of Melchisedec As therefore Abram paid Tithes to Melchisedec because Levi was in him so we ought to pay none because the true Melchisedec is in us and we in him who can pay to none greater and hath freed us by our union with himself from all compulsive Tributes and Taxes in his Church Neither doth the collateral place Heb. 7 make other use of this Story than to prove Christ personated by Melchisedec a greater Priest than Aaron ver 4. Now consider how great this man was c. and proves not in the least manner that Tithes be of any right to Ministers but the contrary First the Levites had a commandment to take Tithes of the People according to the Law that is of their Brethren though they come out of the Loins of Abram ver 5. The Commandment then was it seems to take Tithes of the Iews only and according to the Law That Law changing of necessity with the Priesthood no other sort of Ministers as they must needs be no other sort under another Priesthood can receive that tribute of Tithes which sell with that Law unless renew'd by any other express command and according to no other Law no such Law is
impossibility to remove them quite unless every Minister were as St. Paul contented to teach gratis but few such are to be found As therefore we cannot justly take away all Hire in the Church because we cannot otherwise quite remove all Hirelings so are we not for the impossibility of removing them all to use therefore no endeavour that few may come in but rather in regard the evil do what we can will always be incumbent and unavoidable to use our utmost diligence how it may be left dangerous Which will be likeliest effected if we consider first what recompence God hath ordained should be given to Ministers of the Church for that a recompence ought to be given them and may by them justly be received our Saviour himself from the very light of reason and of equity hath declar'd Luke 10. 7. The Labourer is worthy of his Hire next by whom and lastly in what manner What recompence ought to be given to Church Ministers God hath answerably ordained according to that difference which he hath manifestly put between those his two great Dispensations the Law and the Gospel Under the Law he gave them Tithes under the Gospel having left all things in his Church to Charity and Christian freedom he hath given them only what is justly given them That as well under the Gospel as under the Law say our English Divines and they only of all Protestants is Tithes and they say true if any man be so minded to give them of his own tenth or twentieth but that the Law therefore of Tithes is in force under the Gospel all other Protestant Divines though equally concerned yet constantly deny For though Hire to the Labourer be of moral and perpetual right yet that special kind of Hire the tenth can be of no right or necessity but to that special Labour for which God ordained it That special Labour was the Levitical and Ceremonial Service of the Tabernacle Numb 18. 21. 31. wich is now abolished the right therefore of that special Hire must needs be withall abolished as being also ceremonial is plain not being given to the Levites till they had bin first offered a Heave-offering to the Lord ver 24. 28. He then who by that Law brings Tithes into the Gospel of necessity brings in withall a Sacrifice and an Altar without which Tithes by that Law were unsanctifi'd and polluted ver 32. and therefore never thought on in the first Christain times till Ceremonies Altars and Oblations by an ancienter corruption were brought back long before And yet the Iews ever since their Tample was destroyed though they have Rabbies and Teachers of their Law yet pay no Tithes as having no Levites to whom no Temple where to pay them no Altar whereon to hallow them which argues that the Iews themselves never thought Tithes moral but ceremonial only That Christians therefore should take them up when Iews have laid them down must needs be very absurd and preposterous Next it is as clear in the same Chapter that the Priests and Levites had not their Tithes for their Labour only in the Tabernacle but in regard they were to have no other part nor inheritance in the Land ver 20 24. and by that means for a tenth lost a twelfth But our Levites undergoing no such Law of Deprievement can have no right to any such compensation nay if by this Law they will have Tithes can have no Inheritance of Land but forfeit what they have Beside this Tithes were of two sorts those of every year and those of every third year of the former every one that brought his Tithes was to eat his share Deut 14. 23. Thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose to place his name there the Tithe of thy Corn of thy Wine and of thine Oyl c. Nay though he could not bring his Tithe in kind by reason of his distant dwelling from the Tabernacle or Temple but was thereby forc'd to turn it into mony he was to bestow that mony on whatsoever pleased him Oxen Sheep Wine or strong Drink and to eat and drink thereof there before the Lord both he and his Houshould ver 24 25 26. As for the Tithes of every third year they were not only given to the Levite but to the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow ver 28. 29. and Chap. 26 12 13. So that ours if they will have Tithes must admit of these sharers with them Nay these Tithes were not paid in at all to the Levite but the Levite himself was to come with those his fellow-guests and eat his share of them only at his house who provided them and this not in regard of his Ministerial Office but because he had no part nor Inheritance in the Land Lastly the Priests and Levites a Tribe were of a different constitution from this of our Ministers under the Gospel In them were Orders and Degrees both by Family Dignity and Office mainly distinguished the High Priest his Brethren and his Sons to whom the Levites themselves paid Tithes and of the best were eminently superior Num. 18. 28 29. No Protestant I suppose will liken one of our Ministers to a High Priest but rather to a Common Levite Unless then to keep their Tithes they mean to bring back again Bishops Archbishops and the whole Gang of Prelatry to whom will they themselves pay Tithes as by that Law it was sin to them if they did not ver 32 Certainly this must needs put them to a deep demurre while the desire of holding fast their Tithes without sin may tempt them to bring back again Bishops as the likeness of that Hierarchy that should receive Tithes from them and the desire to pay none may advise them to keep out of the Church all Orders above them But if we have to do at present as I suppose we have with True Reformed Protestants not with Papists or Prelates It will not be denied that in the Gospel there be but two Minesterial Degrees Presbyters and Deacons which if they contend to have any Succession Reference or Conformity with those two Degrees under the Law Priests and Levites it must needs be such whereby our Ministers may be answerable to Priests and our Deacons to Levites by which Ruâ—e of Proportion it will follow that we must pay our Tithes to the Deacons only and they only to their Ministers But if it truer yet that the Priesthood of Aaron Typifi'd a better Reality 1 Pet. 2. 5. Signifying the Christian True and Holy Priesthood to offer up Spiritual Sacrifice It follow hence that we are now justly exempt from paying Tithes to any who claim from Aaron since that Preisthood is in us now Real which in him was but a shadow Seeing thâ—â— by all this which hath been shewn that the Law of Tithes is partly Ceremonial as the work was for the which they were given partly judicial not of common but of particular right to the Tribe of Levi
extant Next Melchisedec not as a Minister but as Christ himself in person blessed Abraham who had the Promises ver 6. and in him blessed all both Ministers and People both of the Law and the Gospel that Blessing declar'd him greater and better than whom he blessed ver 7. receiving Tithes of them all not as maintainance which Melchisedec needed not but as a sign of homage to their King and Priest whereas Ministers bear not the Person of Christ in his Priesthood or Kingship bless not as he blesses are not by their Blessing greater than Abraham and all the Faithful with themselves included in him cannot both give and take Tithes in Abram cannot claim to themselves that sign of our Allegiance due only to our Eternal King and Priest cannot therefore derive Tithes from Melchisedec Lastly the eighth verse hath thus Here men that die receive Tithes there he received them of whom it is witness'd that he lived Which words intimate that as he suffered himself once for us so he received once of us in Abraham and in that place the Typical acknowledgment of our Redemption which had it been a perpetual Annuitie to Christ by him claim'd as his due Levi must haue paid it yearly as well as then ver 9. and our Ministers ought still to some Melchisiedec or other as well now as they did in Abraham But that Christ never claim'd any such tenth as his Annual due much less resign'd it to the Ministers his so officious receivers without express commission or assignment will yet be clearer as we proceed Thus much may at length assure us that this example of Abraham and Melchisedec though I see of late they build most upon it can so little be the ground of any Law to us that it will not so much avail them as to the autority of an example Of like Impertinence is that example of Iacob Gen. 28. 22. who of his free choise not enjoyned by any Law vow'd the tenth of all that God should give him which for ought appears to the contrary he vow'd as a thing no less indifferent before his vow than the foregoing part thereof that the Stone which he had set there for a Pillar should be God's House And to whom vowed he his tenth but to God not to any Priest for we read of none to him greater than himself and to God no doubt but he paid what vowed both in building of that Bethel with other Altars elsewhere and the expence of his continual Sacrifices which none but he had right to offer However therefore he paid his tenth it could in no likelihood unless by such an occasion as befel his Grandfather be to any Priest But say they All the Tithe of the Land whether of the Seed of the Land or of the fruit of the Tree is the Lords holy unto the Lord Levit 27. 30. And this before it was given to the Levites therefore since they ceased No Question for the whole earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Psal. 24. 1. and the light of nature shews us no less but that the tenth is his more than the rest how know I but as he so declares it He declares it so here of the Land of Canaan only as by all circumstances appears and passes by deed of Gift this tenth to the Levite yet so as offered to him first a Heave-offering and confecrated on his Altar Numb 18. all which I had as little known but by that Evidence The Levites are ceased the Gift returns to the Giver How then can we know that he hath given it to any other or how can these men presume to take it unoffered first to God unconsecrated without an other cllear and express donation whereof they shew no evidence or writingâ—â— Besides he hath now alienated that Holy Land who can warrantably affirm that he hath since hallowed the tenth of this Land which none but God hath power to do or can warrant Their last Proof they cite out of the Gospel which makes as little for them Matth. 23. 23. where our Saviour denouncing â—â—oe to the Scribes and Pharisees who paid Tithe so exactly and omitted weightier matters tells them that these they ought to have done that is to have paid Tithes For our Saviour spake then to those who observed the Law of Moses which was yet not fully abrogated till the destruction of the Temple And by the way here we may observe out of their own Proof that the Scribes and Pharisees though then chief Teachers of the People such at last as were not Levites did not take Tithes but paid them so so much less were the Scribes and Pharisees in those worst times than ours at this day This is so apparent to the reformed Divines of other Countrys that when any one of ours hath attempted in Latine to maintain this argument of Tithes though a man would think they might suffer him without opposition in a point equally tending to the advantage of all Ministers yet they forbear not to oppose him as in a Doctrine not fit to pass unoppos'd under the Gospel Which shews the modesty the contentedness of those Foreign Pastors with the maintainance given them their sâ—ncerity also in the truth though less gainful and the avarice of ours who through the Love of their old Papistical Tithes consider not the weak arguments or rather conjectures and â—urmises which they bring to defend them On the other side although it be sufficient to have proved in general the abolishing of Tithes as part of the Judaical or Ceremonial Law which is abolished all as well as that before as that after Moses yet I shall further prove them abrogated by an express Ordinance of the Gospel founded not on any Type or that Municipal Law of Moses but on moral and general Equity given us instead 1 Cor. 9. 13 14. Know you not that they who minister about holy things live of the things of the Temple and they which wait at the Altar are partakers with the Altar So also the Lord hath ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel He saith not should live on things which were of the Temple or of the Altar of which were Tithes for that had given them a clear Title but abrogating that former Law of Moses which determined what and how much by a latter Ordinance of Christ which leaves the what and how much indefinite and free so it be sufficient to live on he saith The Lord hath so ordained that they who preath the Gospel should live of the Gospel which hath neither Temple Altar nor Sacrifice Heb. 7. 13. For be of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another Tribe of which no man give attendance at the Altar his Ministers therefore cannot thence have Tithes And where the Lord hath so ordained we may find easily in more than one Evangelist Luke 16 7 8. In the sâ—me House remain eating and drinking such things as they give for the