such express Text of Scripture in the New Testament to prove the Lords assignment of Tithes unto the Ministers of the Gospel as that of Numb 18.21 to prove his assignation thereof unto the Levites yet the consequences and arguments drawn from several Texts of the New Testament doe evidently enough prove Tithes to belong to them for their Ministery as well as to the Levites for their service That the New Testament doth frequently command and call for a maintenance for the Minister and that to be not onely competent but honourable we need not cite the particular Texts of Scripture for it That any other ordinary maintenance is intended the Ministery of the Gospel by the New Testament then Tithes the Scripture is silent in it and we must be ignorant of it Nor doth it appear that the Lord hath otherwise disposed of this his Priestly patrimony therefore we may with safety conclude that the ordinary maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel intended by the New Testament is partly Tithes which if they may not enjoy there is no other can claim or derive a title to And the Maxime of the Law is that In aequali Jure Melior est conditio Possidentis The non-payment of Tithes to the Ministers of the Gospel in the Apostles days and in the Primitive times of Christianity is no argument against their right for till a Nation became Christian Tithes could not be paid nor could the Ministers of the Gospel in those times of persecution receive collect or retain them 1 Cor. 9.12.15 The Apostle prevents this objection of non-usage of their power to be no prejudice to their right It hath been and yet is much controverted amongst the Learned by what right Tithes are due some holding them to be due Jure Divino morali Mr. S. P. 150.158 as the Canonists generally with whom agree many of our English and Learned Divines but some agree the tenth part to bee only due by Law Positive and Ecclesiastick and that there is no more Jus Naturale or Divinum Morale in it then what commands a competence to the Priesthood and what now is is in imitation onely of the Jewish state ordered by the Almighty and not obligatory under the Gospel but that the Church might freely have ordained a ninth eleventh or other part Others there are who hold that Tithes amongst the Jews were onely Judicials and not due by Divine Moral Law or Law of Nature but by the Civil Law of that Nation And of this opinion are the Schoolmen generally who when they speak of their Jus Divinum they are to be understood to speak of the Law Positive of the Church imitating the Divine Judicials which retain their vim exemplarem though not obligativam neither do they make any difference betwixt Tithes praediall and personall in this respect which the Canonists do Others there be who hold them Ceremonial and to determine with the Levitical Law though they be not able to shew what the payment of Tithes did signifie nor what they did typifie nor whereof they were a ceremony which are the only Discoverers of that which is Ceremonial In this variety of opinions the question amongst the Canonists Schoolmen and Divines not being yet determined by what Law Tithes are due though it may be gathered for a truth from the Scriptures the Fathers and other Humane Writers that for so much as concerneth the due maintenance of the Minister that it is due Jure Divino Morali by the Law of Nature that yet the part as it was declared by the Judicial Law of the Jews so is it due by the Civil or Positive Law of the Nation but yet from the time of Grant or Dedication to be the Lords to the worlds end unlesse himself or perhaps the Ministers his Trustees shall renounce or relinquish them It is no small or trivial businesse for those in present power to go about an universal alteration of this sacred patrimony Sacred I say that is set apart towards the service of God in perpetuity under the limitation abovesaid of the Lords or of his Ministers renunciation Before there be a judicious determination of its Original right by an Assembly of Learned and Orthodox Divines Lawyers Canonists and Casuists thereunto called by Supreme Authority For if Tithes be due to the Ministers of the Gospel Jure Divino Morali or by the Law of Nature in kinde or in quantity then will that State which shall alter them or enforce an exchange of them for some other thing be guilty of no lesse sin then Sacriledge which is of so high a nature that it cost Ananias and Sapphira dear a president the highest of that nature we read of in the New Testament intimating unto us that sin to be the greatest which after the death of our Saviour was in all the Apostles times acted or committed Not for breach of the Levitical Law then ended but of the Moral law in withdrawing a thing devoted the taking away what our forefathers devoted as Tithes aggravates the offence and so will do the punishment Nor have those parts or persons wherein or by whom it hath been practised gone unattended with direful Judgements Neither Germany France Holland nor Scotland I will not speak of Englands condition can at this day glory of their prosperity where that sacred patrimony with other of the like nature have been swallowed up totally or converted into Stipends or other things And besides the sin of Sacriledge it must needs be interpreted a transcendent and high presumption for man to take upon him to be wiser then his Creator And whereas God in his wisdome hath appointed Tithes to be the maintenance of his Ministers that man should take upon him to chop and to change to take away or confound what the Lord hath ordained When we pay our Tithes duly we have in that particular discharged our duties both to God and to our Minister either according to the Divine Moral Law or exemplary-wise by imitation of the Divine Judicial Law but when Tithes shall be turned into Stipends or some other thing now or into Hoc aliquid nihil hereafter how can a man be satisfied when he hath paid or performed that that he hath done what hee ought or done his duty without diminution the surest way for God to have his right and the truest way for man to do no wrong is payment in kinde out of the very self-same goods which the Earth by his gracious blessing doth continually produce It was a witty observation of the Hebrews that when a man pays his Tithes he is the Husbandman and receiveth nine parts for one and God who receiveth one of ten is the Priest But when Tithes are not paid then God is the Husbandman and keeps the nine parts and man is the Priest and hath but the tenth for then ten acres of Vine shall yield but one Bathe Esa 5.10 So tender were the consciences of men heretofore in point of Tithing
it is to be hoped that those in Supreme Power will not hold it fit to make such a general alteration in so Sacred a Revenue but rather that such pretended scrupulous persons be brought to conformity to the good old Law of the Land then to make the Lawes of Church and Commonwealth conformable unto them Those whom Providence lately prevented from destroyin both Ministry Church Maintenance and Propriety will yet be glad to see such an universall Alteration as a step leading to their design Let us yet examin this scrupled Conscience a little further and see if any thing there be in sacred Scripture to raise this scruple for it must arise either from the originall institution of them or from the end whereunto they were instituted Their originall institution is either by the Divine Morall Law and Law of Nature or by the Judiciall and Nationall Law of the Jewes Or by the Leviticall Law Or by the Ceremoniall Law For these four if we may make so many of them are all the opinions we read of that have been broached of the Quo Jure of Tithes Now if they be due by the Divine Morrall Law and Divine Law of Nature that bindes all People in all Places and at all times and from thence there can arise no Scruple If in the next place it be granted that they are Judicialls and so obligatory to the Jewes as their Nationall Law Then by that reason it must follow that Tithes ought to be paid in this Nation because they are due to the Ministers by the Nationall Law of this Land which ought to be as binding here in England as it was amongst the Jewes from whom England had its Pattern and example which is the most that can be truly said of a Jewish continuance with us yet not that we are in Love with it because it was Jewish but like it because it was the Lords ordinance Judiciall if not Morall If Leviticall Hence indeed may arise a Scruple because the Leviticall Law is ended in our Saviour But that they are not of Leviticall Institution some give this answer that would prove them due by the Law of Nature that Tithes were paid before the Leviticall Law given by Abraham and Jacob and therefore cannot be Leviticall Others answer that all that is Leviticall in Tithes is only their Assignation to the Levites for their service and that service being ended the Right of Tithes return again to the Lord the Donor by him to be disposed of according to his good will and pleasure If Ceremoniall Then true it is that Tithes are not to be continued amongst Christians forasmuch as it is agreed that Judicialia sunt Mortua and may be imitated and taken up in example again But Ceremonialia sunt mortifera deadly and not to be revived or continued But the double answer last before mentioned to the Leviticall answereth the Ceremoniall pretence also but because a threefold Cord is not easily broken take hereunto this third answer also that they were not Ceremoniall forasmuch as they did neither signifie nor Typifie any thing But the end of Tithes is the Honour and service of God which no conscience may scruple at and maintenance not of the Levites only but of the Ministers of the Gospell of Christ at all times to remain so long as the Ministry shall stand and though not paid in the Apostles time or times of persecution yet were they by the Ancient Fathers succeeding the Apostles challenged to the Church as the Lords Ordinance for maintenance of the Ministry and by universall consent of all Christendome first or last paid For as soon as the state of the Church could permit and admit thereof Christians held it most Naturall and Fit that God should as before the Law and under the Law have his ancient Revenue of Tithes after the Law Wherein I would not be mistaken Mr. S. Epist p. 8.11 and cap. 8. p. 243.244 as if I did affirm that the Tenth part when I speak of the payment of Tithes was so universally paid but that some part more or lesse of the Fruits of the Earth in kind were paid For you may see that Decinia or Decimatio do not alwayes signifie either a reall Tithe or a Tenth part but sometimes money paid in Lieu of Tithe or as it were of the nature of Tithe so called but not so in truth in the statutes of 27. H. 8.21 and 37. H. 8.12 Sir H. Sp. c 14. p. 67 and the Decree made upon them concerning London And sometimes lesse then a Tenth as the four Thraves of Corn of every Plow-Land in the East Riding of York given by King Athelston to the Church of Beverly which came not neer to a Tenth is stiled Decimae in the Bull of the Pope And the gift of two Sheaves in an ancient Chartulary there remembred is called Decimatio And for satisfaction herein you may see the Etymologie of the word Decima or Tithe to signifie the Tenth whether it be the Tenth part or not But this by way of Digression which yet may serve to reconcile many disputes concerning the Quota or part ththed if well and rightly weighed But to return once more to the Scrupulous Conscience for I am loath to leave him unsatisfied or at least unconvinced It is the Generall tenet of all the Learned that Tithes are neither Ceremoniall nor Leviticall otherwise then in their Assignation to the Levites for the Service of the Tabernalce And Saint Paul well knew that the Leviticall and Ceremoniall Law were ended and would never have used an Antiquated Law for Argument or proof of the Right of the Ministers of the Gospell as he doth that of Deut. 25.4 Of Muzling the Ox c. If that Law had not been rather Naturall then Ceremoniall moniall But though that service be ended of the Levites yet the end whereat that maintenance aimed was the service of God which the Ministers of the Gospell yet performing That very maintenance ex Congruo and by Saint Pauls aforesaid Argument if not from the Divine morall Law yet from the Politicall Law of the Jewes not wholly cancelled belongs to the Ministers of the Gospell which none but the most seditious Sect of Anabaptists will deny who denying also the very Ministry it self can do no lesse then deny their maintenance to whom I shall give no other Answer then before as to the Right of Tithes And for their other opinions concerning the Ministry it self they have been abundantly confuted by many of the Learned and it is a proper Subject for the Divine to undertake if any thing De Novo can be allegded by them But here I trust is sufficient matter shewed to prove Tithes to be due either by the Divine Morall or Naturall Law or by the Positive Law of this Nation wherein the Canonists and Divines generally holding the Divine Morall Right the Schoolemen Papists and many others the Positive Lawes of each Nation which question I will not
that few of them could be satisfied that they had so punctually paid them as they ought and therefore usually in their Wills they bequeathed somewhat to the Parson for Tithes omitted in lieu whereof the Mortuary is paid to this day how seared are the consciences of men now that would pay no Tithe at all Now those who write against the Divine Moral Right of the Quota or tenth part yet still agree that a part or portion of the Increase of the fruits of the Earth c. in kinde is the right of the Ministers of the Gospel by the Divine Moral Law and by the Evangelical Texts of Muzling the Ox Planting a Vineyard Feeding a flock and not partaking of the milk and Fruit thereof in kind with many other places of the New Testament which the Apostle urgeth not as an Ordinance de Novo but from the Law which proves most fully that the manner of tithing under the Gospell ought to be as it was under the Law both in kind and quantity How then can it stand with the Consciences of them in Power to alter the way that God hath appointed for maintenance of his Ministers will they still be wiser then he If the Tenth part be looked upon by the Repining people as too great a Portion for Gods Ministers of the Gospell to enjoy wherein thou man doest still take upon thee to be wiser then thy Creator who appointed his Priests that and much more among the Jewes Why then doest not thou only content thy self with an Abridgement of the Quota or part but thou must be altering of the very Nature and kind also of that maintenance that God in his wisdom hath by Divine Morall Law ordained for his Ministers and not without visible and pregnant Reason For this way of maintenance is sutable to all times both of plenty and scarcity agreeable to all prices of Corn Grain Hay and other commodities the Prices whereof though they change daily yet Nature being usually the same keeps the true standard betwixt God and man Again of conveniency to all persons both Parishioners and Ministers the one to go no further to pay nor the other to recive what 's due then to the Land it self within the Parish And of best Equality the Poor not burthened nor the Rich eased for the disproportion betwixt Tithe of Pasture and arrable makes not Tithing unequall comparing Land of the same quality one with another but the inequality thereof proceeds from the owners usage who is at liberty to husband his Land in what kind he pleaseth whether he be rich or Poor The duty more readily performed in paying Tithe in kinde then by paying the value thereof in money which with most Farmors is usually wanting when their commodities are most plentifull and may be better spared And again it is more Naturall that Tithes be paid in kind then otherwise For Tithes procure an increase of the Heap out of which they are taken and by the Jewes were accounted the very Mound Fence and Bulwark of all their substance And if you look upon the quantity See much more of this Number in Sr. H. Sp. c. 14. De Orb concordia Lib. 3. c. 10. Ten is the number of Natures perfection beyond which we cannot go without iteration and Repetition And Postellus telleth us that it stands with Reason that forasmuch as all Creatures do bear the Character of Divine Power Wisdom and Mercy of the Creator That Tithes as well as Tribute should be paid of that to him whose Image and Superscription they bear How else do we give Honour to whom Honour belongeth or to God the things that are Gods our Wealth being Gods as well as the time of our Lives whereof he Reserved a seventh part to himself but of the other only a tenth And again Nature and Reason do plead for the Minister to participate with the People in that kind wherein there may be equallity of fortune and whereby Sympathy and Communion that great Bond of Nature between the Church and Commonwealth is preserved as a late Learned Bishop of this Church hath it as in fair and seasonable weather Bishop Andrews and in times of Plenty the Minister to rejoyce and praise God with the People in want and tempestuous weather to mourn and pray together But where the Priest is a stipendary when the People rejoyce for Plenty or lament for want the Minister doth neither for what is their Sowing Mowing or Reaping unto him when the Bond of Nature is dissolved the like may be said where the Minister walketh waiteth and attendeth for his it may be two narrow stipend that is withheld from him for want whereof he his Wife Children and Family Mourn Lament an Famish what is all this to the People there is no Sympathising one with another either in Mirth or Misery for the greatest Bond of Nature is dissolved Let us now come to consider of the Grounds and Motives held forth for the alteration of Tithes the setled Revenue and undeniable Right and Property of the Ministers of the Church and the converting of them into stipends or some other thing The first Argument I find is that the Payment of Tithes is scrupulous to tender Consciences To which it may be answered that those Consciences should be first examined and then Rectified rather then such an universall alteration should be made of that Sacred and setled Revenue of the Church And again it is contrary to Reason and the Rules of Government to Repeal or to overthrow a Fundamentall Generall and well setled Law because a few either Sickbraind or Dissembling sort of People do quarrell at it First let such men be well examined whether it be Conscience or Covetousness that is most predominant with them And that you may easily discover by this Touchstone viz. whether he be willing to set forth as much Land for the Minister as is equivalent to the value of his Tithes if he will so do then am I so charitable as to think that persons Conscience to be truly tender and great pitty it were to offend it But this particular Case may better be composed by a Temporary or mutuall agreement betwixt the Parson and such Parishioner then by altering of a generall Law for the satisfaction of such particular persons whose number you will find very inconsiderable to the multitude happily his Posterity or he that shal succeed him in his dwelling may be of another mind And then as good cause to alter the Law again And thus by seeking to please the Humors of some particular persons a Fundamentall of the Law must be infringed not only to the Generall prejudice of the Mininsters but also to the Publick incertainty and Confusion of the propriety of all men But if by this Essay you find such tender conscience neither willing to pay Tithe nor any thing else in Lieu thereof to the Minister you may conclude him either Covetous Hypocriticall or Schismatical For whose sake
take upon me to determine forasmuch as Tithes being the Ministers due here in England by either of those wayes it serves the turn for this discourse the Scope and aime thereof only being to satisfie the Reader that whether Tithes are due here by the one Law or the other to the Church that they may not be taken from it nor a stipend or other thing to be exchanged for them without the consent of Parson and Patron at least I must confesse that could that Divine Morall Right to the Tenth part be sufficiently eleered that this would easily resolve the rest and no man could then go about the Alteration herein but he must set God himself at defiance But so much thereof being herein proved as that by the Divine Morall Law an Honourable Portion in kind is due to the Minister of the Gospell and many Ancient and modern writers have held and do maintain the setled maintenance belonging to the Church of England to be the Portion of Divine Right belonging to it That which I shall now say is by way of Caveat to them in Supreame power that it highly concerns them if they intend any alteration herein to be sully satisfied in this Point of Divine Right as well for the kinde as for the quota before they go about it for it is not for men of dubious thoughts but well resolved by sound and solid Arguments to undertake a mutation of this sacred Revenue for if either the kinde or quota be Moral the Alteration is desperate and why should Supreme Power run the hazard of a curse from Heaven upon themselves and the whole Nation by resolving that which at least is questionable not with men only but between them and God to whom the judgement belongs There to be given where he is the only Advocate whose Spouse if the Right be hers is disinherited Religion and Policy both prompt men in matters dubious to resolve of the safest course No danger in confirming the Minister maintenance as it stands established but great hazard in the commuting 2. The second Argument for this Exchange is that the way of Tithing is a contentious way of maintenance of the Minister and for peace sake some other way must be found out for their subsistence lesse subject to contention Those who frame this for a reason of the Alteration scarce look so far as to the Donor of this sacred maintenance for if they did then would they consider that God himself made this a Law among the Jews his own select people to goe no higher having said enough thereof before And unlesse wee will be wiser then he who is Wisdome it self wee may not censure this way of maintenance for contentious nor hold forth any other as more peaceable for Jews or Christians the Christians imitating them who did receive their Law from the mouth of God himself Certainly had there been a more peaceable way to have been found out for maintenance of Gods Ministers the Omniscient and Omnipotent Lord as he must needs have known it so his Goodnesse and Power is such that he would have so appointed it Let us then lay our hands upon our mouthes and be filent or if we will be speaking let us condemn out own foolishnesse and magnifie his wisdome But because it is the corrupt nature of man to be finding out inventions and to be always changing though for the worse before we fall upon this Exchange with us let us enquire whether the Jews did or lawfully might have been such Exchangers that they had cause so to be if contention be a cause is evident for there wanted not amongst them who withheld subtracted and witbdrew their Tithes as now amongst us witnesse the complaint of the Prophet and the vain-glorious boasting of the Pharisee that He paid Tithe of all that he possessed Mal. 3.8 Luke 18.12 implying that others did not that their natural inclinations prompted them to it is apparent for they were and yet are the greatest Brokers and Exchangers that the world affords THat they yet did not put such Exchange in practice it is evident by that of our Saviour in the Gospel Luke 11.42 Yee Tithe Mint and Rue c. and that of the pround Pharisee before so that you see that though the Jewes were the most perverse and stiff-necked people of all others notwithstanding they were the only select Nation yet they were not grown to this height of impiety as to exchange the sacred Patrimony by a Law Let us then examine the second part Whether lawfully they might have been such Exchangers of Tithes Observe here that I do intend the first Tenth paid to the Levites not the second Tenth out of the nine parts which the two first yeares were to be brought to Jerusalem there to be spent in Feasts and the third year upon the poor and Levites within his own gates For if the way were too far from Jerusalem then by Levit. 27.31 they might change those Tithes into money adding a fifth part more to them which few of our Exchangers will be willing to doe But the Inquisition here handled is of the first tenth Whether the Jewes might lawfully have exchanged that which I am perswaded no man of sound judgment will maintain For the allowance of their exchange of the second tenth in case Supra excludes the exchange of the other Now what was it that might hinder this exchange we will spare the Divine Right for wee have spoken enough of that before But admitting that did not impede then certainly it must be the Judicial Law given them that did restrain them from it If so then why should not our Humane Positive Laws withhold us from the like If you will make the difference to rest in this that God more immediatly prescribed that to the Jewes for their National Law then this Positive Law to us this is a difference without a diversity for by that reason the Jewes should have been more strictly bound to the observation of the Decalogue though Moral then Christians And again it was a Law given to them for their Nation not exclusive that no other Nation should use it but rather as a pattern for other Nations to imitate and so it being unto the Jews but a bare Judiciall Law it could be no more binding to them by reason of a more immediate prescription then to us by a mediate imitation having not so much the Jewes for example as God for the Authour of that Law Again whence ariseth the ground of this contention which makes the Ministers maintenance by Tithing so litigious as that some new way for their subsistence must be found out Doth this contention arise from the Parsons part or from the Parishoner If on the Parishioners part then in Justice and Reason ought Supreme Power to provide better Laws to compel the Parishioner to pay his due and not to enforce the Parson to depart with his indisputable Right because his Parishioner doth him
destruction of all May we not now rather bewaile the mean poor despicable and contemptible condition of the Church of England whereunto she is at this day Reduced Then to seek to take from her that one Onely and Single Right of Tithes that is left her Her Rights Liberties and Priviledges were so Numerous heretofore that no former Age held it safe to begin their enumeration or to sum them up lest any should be omitted Nor did any Act of Parliament hitherto enumerate them though the great Charter of this Nation did particularise and specifie the Rights and Liberties of the Lay People 2. Part Inst p. 3.4 and no other are confirmed unto them but what were therein mentioned yet the Rights Priviledges and Liberties of Holy Church not being held safe to be then numbred are by that Magna Charta in favour of the Church confirmed in termes of Generality and that Form only of Confirmation used by all Succeeding Parliaments Of all the Ornaments that did set forth her Beauty heretofore whereof she is now deflowred shall we not leave her one Jewell or Ensigne wherby she may be known you that are now her Enemies and solicite Supreme Power still against her be now charitable at last afflict not her that mourneth neither adde sorrow to her affliction Think upon the Curses of them who persecute such as the Lord hath smitten Psal 69. and Esay the 47. throughout and talk how they may vex them whom the Lord hath wounded Those who bear the Sword have been highly successeful against men in their Millitary imployment and let them not take this Caveat in evill part to be way of contending with God for they that shall alter this Sacral Revenue of the Chucrh must take upon them to resolve the Point of Divinity which all the Learned of former Ages throughout all Christendome have left undermined and yet most of them both Ancient and Modern have held with the Divine Right which if it should now be Resolved amiss how can you afterwards expect that the Heavens should favour you And again what an Earthquake may we imagine will arise amongst Proprieties if this lead the Dance And if such a Judgement begin at the House of God and in the Sacred Revenue what may we think will be the issue of Common and Lay-Proprieties Lastly if Divine Right will not support this Church-Patrimony yet me thinkes Humane Right may be sufficient to preserve it For the Lawes for Ecclesiasticall Rights are as Positive and ought to be as powerfull as for Temporall Rights therefore is said 2. Part Inst p. 3. Quod Jura Ecclesiae publicis aequiparantur and that it which is Granted to the Church for the Honour of God and maintenance of his Religion and service as men must acknowledge tithes were is Granted for and to God And if so not in the Power of man to take away from his Ministers against their wills wherein I would not be mistaken as if I did limit Supreme Power or derogate from it But my meaning is to ascribe that Honour to it which the Law requires that all men should have of it that is that they cannot because they will not do an unjust thing wherein the Gods on Earth do resemble the God of Heaven For if when it is said that Supreme power may do what they will this shal be extended that whatsoever they will do be it just or unjust is lawfull that is an apparent error For never was any such Power given unto men as that their wils should be a Law For this is the Peculiar Prerogative of the great God For what he wils is alwayes just because he wills it But what man wills is never good unlesse it be just We read but of one amongst the Heathen that could say Sic volo sic Jubeo stet pro Ratione voluntas And but of one other in sacred story of whom it was said thus it must be and thus it must not be for Hophni will not have it thus but so it is God only who is essentially just Man is just but accidentally as he is well or ill affected and therefore a Subject improper to whom such an absolute power should be allowed as that his will should be a Law Nor do we read that ever any setled Government or Governors claimed a Power de Jure to deprive an Innocent man or a Profession or Society of Innocent men of their Rights which by the Lawes of that Land are and stand vested and setled in them For what were this but a meer Arbitrary Government to say no worse of it we treat not of Conquered Nations because we think we are a setled Government And yet William the Conqueror lost nothing by confirming the Rights of the Church in the first place Anno. 4to in his Survey of All the Ancient Lawes of the Land and Tithes thereunto in particular for though not his Line yet his Regiment continued till these dayes And it seldome goes well long with the Commonwealth when it goes ill with the Church Thus have I endeavoured in this discourse though with too much weakness for so Pious a Patrimony yet with ardent zeal to preser the Church from suffering and disswade others from transgressing in altering this Sacred Revenue into a stipend or other thing By shewing the Primary owner to be Lord in a Peculiar manner The Lord to be the first Donor to his first Priest before the Law To the Levites pro Tempore under the Law And afterwards to the Evangelicall Ministry in perpetuity Who may neither per Factum nec per Feoffamentum nec pro Excambium alienate or alter them to the Churches prejudice Nor to be either Agents or willingly Patients in this permutation Forasmuch as this Revenue in its kinde is most Naturall most convenient most equall The Institution thereof in the thing if not in the Quota also by the Divine Morall or Naturall Law The Donation or Assignation both of the Thing and of the Quota or Part Judiciall to the Jewes Not Ceremoniall nor the Thing Leviticall otherwise then in the assignation pro Tempore Since the Law the Thing it self at least in kinde if not in the Quota also Evangelicall The Thing and Quota by the Judiciall Nationall Positive Lawes of England established vested and setled in the Church as her Propriety Not in the Legislative Power for so much as concerneth the Divine Morall or Naturall Right thereof to be altered Nor without offence be it spoken for what thereof concerneth the Judiciall or Positive Lawes of this Nation without the consent of Parson and Patron to be changed Neither upon pretence of Scruple Contention Incertainty or Inequality nor any other pretence whatsoever For Justitia est Suum Cuique tribuere Suum non Alienum that is to say Justice gives to every man his own Not to one man that which is anothers So that no Respect whatsoever ought to incline a Judge to give Judgement against the Law or Right In all or any of which particulars wherein I have fallen short For it was not my purpose to be tedious nor to Muster up the Objections or Answers for or against the Rise the Author the Right or the Quota of Tithes which are enough to be the Subjects of a voluminous Book but only to shew the Dogmaticall truths and the Concessions if not of all yet of the Generality of Writers in this Summary discourse I trust some others more able will afford their helping hand for the support of this Sacred Revenue which is the last of the flowers of the Churches Temporall Garland now left her that is considerable And it is to be hoped if it be well defended now by able Pens that it will be the last Conflict and Contest she shall find against this Judiciall at Least Divine Patrimony which hath this only Adversary to confute or satisfie now remaining especially if the Eyes of the people were but once open and their understanding enlightned and their hopes of Gain their great Diana abated by looking upon Holland our Sister Commonwealth France and other Places where Tithes have been translated only from the Ministers to the State Commissioners where they and I will both end in this Alteration For Quod Non capit Christus capit Fiscus what is not paid to the Church must be paid to the Checquer Vnde Nulla Redemptio from whence there is No Return FINIS