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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	moral_a	nature_n	positive_a	4,914	5	10.3383	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45328	An apologie for the ministry and its maintenance wherein is set forth the necessity, dignity and efficacy of a gospel-ministry against the Socinians, Swenckfieldians, Weigelians, Anabaptists, Enthusiasts, Familists, Seekers, Quakers, Levellers, Libertines and the rest of that rout ... / by Tho. Hall.	Hall, Thomas, 1610-1665.; Shaw, Samuel, 1635-1696.	1660 (1660)	Wing H425A; ESTC R28055	88,780	120

For. 1. They were given by our Ancestors to God and his service and therefore cannot be taken away without sacriledge but the Estates of Noblemen may be taken from them without sacriledge 2. God hath commanded that a sufficient honourable and fixed maintenance be given to his Ministers as hath been already proved But such a special command hath he not given concerning any other men Therefore tythes and things which are so God's are twice God's 1. By a divine right primarily 2. By a humane right secundarily as being dedicated to him and his worship Obj. 2. But the people cry out and rayl saying Tythe● are burdensome they are Antichristian Iewish c. Answ. 1. So do the people cry out of taxes excize customs c. that they are burdens therefore shall we say Away with taxes customs excise All things are common amongst friends 2. It little matters what the many headed multitude say Seneca could say argumentum pe●simum esse turbam that the common people were the worst argument in the world Neither matters it how many they are but how rational how good The multitude of sinners doth not patronize a sinne 3. This is not the cry of the wisest soundest and best of the people they do not declame against Tythes 4. Neither are Tythes Jewish For first before the Law given by Moses Abraham gave Tythes to Melchisedech of all that he had Gen. 14. 20. Heb. 7. 2. Iacob also vowed to God the Tythe of all that he had Gen 28. 22. And secondly they are not payed to the Ministers of Christ by a ceremonial right but a moral right and by a positive Law of the Nation as was proved before See Repper de lege Mosis l. 〈◊〉 c. 10. 5. Neither are they Antichristian as many vain men object who whilst they are hearers decry Tythes to save their money but turning preachers take Tythes dispute for them and contend for additions to be made to them Tythes are not Antichristian that are by the Law of nature by the moral Law by the positive Law of the nation and not by any canonical or pontifical Law How can they be popish which were paid thousands of years before any such beast as a Pope did spring up 6. If Tythes be unjust burdensome wicked things then is God the authour of injustice oppression wickedness which were blasphemy to conceive for he gave the Tythes to his Levites under the Law by a special command for their subsistence Neither doth the Gospel as I said before abrogate or abolish Tythes in general but rather establish and confirm them specifically as may appear Mat. 23. 23. Luk 11. 42. Gal. 6. 6. 1 Cor. 9. 13 14. Heb. 7. 1. 5 6 8. And if the wise God thought this way the best to maintain his Ministers who shall reprove him 7. They are not burthensome impositions because they were freely given to the Church by pious and well affected Princes They are not the peoples burden for they are none of theirs Neither they nor their pro parents ever purchased them and why should they repine to part with that which is none of theirs 8. Let there be found out a more sufficient and certain and honourable maintenance and who will contend for Tythes But since it appear● to all wise men that a more just and stated maintenance cannot be found out why should the impor●unity of wild and unreasonable men prevail that this epidemicall disease may be cured there seems to remain this and this only remedy Let Tythes be got out of the hands of those that have eng●ost them to private uses I mean those Tythes which the Lawyers call impropriate more truly improper and indeed to many unprosperous as the holy coal to the Engls nest Of such Harpyes Luther sadly complains In these and many other Countryes there are a company of Harpyes ●o wit Prefects and Questors who have devoured the liberalities of Princes given for the maintenance of the Ministers of the Church and such is their envy and malignity that it can hardly ●e wrung out of their clutches And indeed this is a hard taske but it is a Princely a Parliamentary undertaking And I doubt not but all godly men will do all they can to bring to pass so gracious an enterprize It commended the excellent and worthy spirits of some Londoners that bought impropriate Tythes and restored them to the Churches Many know by whose fault this good work was hindered and what became of them that hindered it Obj. 3. They argue from Mic 3. 11. the Priests teach for hire and the Prophets divine for money Ans It is one thing to receive hire and another to be an hireling one thing to be hired to teach another to teach for hire The true Prophets received a reward of their pains and that by Christs allowance Mat. 10. 10. but the false Prophets whom God here reproves prophesied false things and that for hire onely and preached pleasing things onely that they might have a more liberall reward The Ministers of the Gospel do receive Salaries not as a reward of their Ministry but that they may provide the necessaries of life and may persist in their sacred function 4. Obj. Their great argument is fathered upon for I cannot say gathered from Mat. 10. 8 9 10. Freely ye have received freely give Provide neither Gold nor Silver nor brasse in in your purses c Ans. The Anabaptists are deceived in this late figment of theirs For Christ himself unties the knot v. 10. The workman is worthy of his meat and appr●ved it by his owny example taking something of the substance of his rich followers Luke 8. 3. Iohn 12. 6. and 13. 29. Neither did the Apostles ordinarily refuse Salaries from the Churches 1. Cor. 9 4 5 6. Phil. 4. 18. 2. Christ here speaketh concerning working of miracles as appears v. 8. and he forbids his Apostles to sel their miraculous cures for mony because that gift was freely given them by God they ought therefore to use it freely As Elisha refused the reward offered him by Naaman the Syrians 2 King 5. 15. 16. These words ye have freely received doth not so much respect the work of preaching as the working of miracles which is not so laborious as the other 3. This command of Christ to his Apostles was onely temp●rary a precept for the present time not a moral commandment neither can it or ought to be made a perpetual Law It onely related to that first Embassy of theirs to the Iews which was to be dispatched with all speed and they were to avoid whatever would retard them in their journey This is plain from our Saviours owne words Luke 22. 35. where speaking of this first mission of theirs and the charge he gave them then He says Before I sent you without purse c. but now he that hath a purse let him take it c. As much as to say the former precept that I gave you is valid Now

48. 5. 9 10. 35. 2. Exod. 29. 26. 22. 29. Iosh. 13. 14. 21. 2. 2 Chron. 31. 4. Neh. 10. 32 to the end 12. 44. 13. 5. c. Ezek. 44. 30. 45. 4. Heb. 7. 5 9. By all which places it evidently appears that God did appoint not a loose and uncertain and arbitrary but a settled standing full and honourable maintenance for his Ministers out of Tythes Scrifices Oblations First-fruits oyl wine honey fleeces of sheep and such like G●d also commanded to give unto the Levites 48 Cities with their Suburbs for them and their cattel Therefore God is called their Inheritance because he gave them his part to wit the Tithes First-fruits c. Numb 18. 24. In a word a special care was to be had of them For God commanded that they should not forsake a Levite all his dayes Deut. 12. 19. and 14. 27. They must not be forsaken as to maintenance protection or encouragement because they were the Lords servants and Embassadours All these things were assigned and established by God to the Priests and Levites Wo then to those wretched ●ellowes who envy the least conveniencies or accommodations to faithfull Ministers that would not give them a farthing did not the Law constrain them but rather defraud them of what is given them The Consequent appears by the Apostles own words Even so hath the Lord ordained that they that preach the Gospell should live of the Gospell This then is his Argument That which Christ hath ordained is to be observed But Christ hath ordained that the Churches should give a full and honourable maintenance to their Ministers Therefore ought the Churches c. Lest any should object that these are Mosaical rites and nothing to the purpose the Apostle brings Christs own Authori●y for this That they that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel Luke 10. 7. The labourer is worthy of his hire In which words our Saviour doth both authorize his Ministers to take and oblige the Church to give Salaries This thing is an universal right belonging not to the Apostles onely but to all the Ministers of the Gospel in all places at all times They who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel They that wait at the Altar are partakers with the Altar The Proposition is indefinite and that is as large as an universal one should live but how 1. As men not wanting any thing that is for necessity or honest delight 2. As Believers having a care of their Wives children and Families for h● that provideth not for his own hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel 1. Tim. 5. 8. ● Cor. 12. 14. And 3. Let them live as the Embassadours of Christ that they may by works of piety and charity adorne their calling Objection Then they must have the First-fruits Oblations c. Answ. 1. That does not follow For although those Ceremonies be taken away by Christ yet a way of maintaining the Worship of God in generall is not taken away the way of maintaining it being one and the same generically though not specifically and both in quantity proportion sufficiency and certainty Otherwise the Apostles Argument could not hold water who saies with an Emphasis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even so since the Ministers of the Gospell do succeed the Levtical Priests and Ministers let them be maintained by some such like way let them that preach the Gospell live of the Gospell even so that is so liberally so plentifully so certainly as the Leviticall Clergy lived under the Law For so hath God not man nay God-man ordained Even so hath the Lord ordained The due maintenance then of the Ministry is not man's device but Gods Decree not a h●mane order but a Divine Ordination which whosoever denies resisteth the Ordinance of God and procureth condemnation to himself 2. Those Lawes concerning First-fruits Tithes and Offerings may be considered either as to their substance or as to their circumstances as to their Substance they belong also unto us for the end of those Lawes was that the people by those Offerings should testifie their thankfulness to God to the advantage of the Church the Ministry the poor to which things even the Law of nature doth bind And if our Magistrates shall at this day enact Lawes for the maintenance of Ministers we ought to obey them carefully and cheerfully especially in those things which neither contradict the Moral Law nor the Law of Nature It followes therefore that as the Israelites were to communicate of their goods to the Levites as unto them that administred their holy things so ought Christians at this day freely to communicate of their substance to their Ministers And the rather because the Ministry of the Gospell is more glorious laborious costly than the Ministry of the Law was To say nothing saies Bellarmine of the dignity of the Gospell-Ministry which is farre greater than that of Aaron ' s Ministry the Christian Clergie is exposed to greater pains and cost than the Tribe of Levi was It concerns now that Ministers be learned and consequently that they spend much of their estates upon their studies who therefore ought according to their condition to be maintained honestly and ●reely by the goods of the Church 5. We argue ab 〈◊〉 from the Profit of it That which will certainly bring a blessing upon the doers of i● is to be done But an honest and lib●ral maintaining of Ministers brings with it a Blessing as you may read Deut. 14. 22 23 28 29. 26. 12 13 14 15. 2. Ch●on 31 10. Prov. ● 9 10. Mal. 3. 10 11 12. Temporall good things bestowed upon Gods Ministers are not cast away but are as ●eed cast into the ground which bringeth forth a plentifull c●op Ti●hes say the R●bbines are the wall of riches because the payment of the Tenth part defended the other nine Hence it was their familiar Prove●b Pay Tythes and be rich Austine observes that our Ancestours were rich and abounded with temporal blessings because they gave tenth so faithfully to God Be liberall to God and his Ministers and you shall finde God more liberall to you for he will not suffer his creatures to out-doe him in liberality Again That which takes away many occasions of sin is very profitable and necessary But a convenient settled and and ratified Salary cuts off many occasions of sin Therefore a certain and settled Salary is necessary The Major is an undeniable truth The Minor may be proved in many particulars 1. A certain and set●led Salary takes away temptations to flattery were a stated maintenance taken away from Ministers a sad temptation to make marchandize of souls would follow upon it Men will be inclinable to comply with those that they hope to get any thing by The Itinerary Levite in Iudg. 17. who was fain to accept of what Mi●ah would give him which was but 25 s. a year complyed with him in his Idolatry as you may read vers 11. And

Gods use Prov. 20. 25. then what notorious impiety shall they be guilty of who having not given any thing themselves shall yet go about to diminish and de●raud us of the gifts of others when as a mans last will or Testament is not changed or disposed of otherwise than as the Testator did ordaine Gal. 3. 15. Let the Governours of the Common-wealth then take special heed that they do not engross any Church-revenues to themselves convert those things or any of those things unto private uses which are dedicated to sacred uses and so devolve upon their heads the heavy doome of sacrilegious persons robbers of God For who can think that God will let such scape That do on sacred things commit a rape The Eagle burning her nest and her young ones by a coal fetched with a piece of flesh from the Altar doth well prophesie and prefigure the ruine of those Harpyes and Vultures and their posterity who make so bold with the Churches revenues Or if such a doom be not prefigured by the Eagle I am sure it is prayed for by the Psalmist Ps. 83 11 12. make their Nobles like Oreb and like Zeb yea all their Princes as Zebah and Zalmunna who said Let us take to our selves the houses of God in possession c. Nay and certainly the time will come when they shall not onely disgorge like dogs what they have drunk downe like Oxen but when it shall repent them that they have so much as touched the inheritance of the Lord. Such Levellers that sow Sacriledge shall reap a snare Prov. 20. 25. They take away that which is devoted to God and God himself will devote them to destruction Such revenues will certainly prove as unhappy to their unjust detainers as Cn. Seius his horse proved to him afterwards to Dolabella to Cassius to Antonius and to as many as had him and will create sooner or later as many vexations as the gold which Q Caepio found in Tholossane a towne in France in the Churches thereof did create to all that did lay but a thievish hand upon it Witnesse Belshazzar Antiochus Po●●peius Iulianus Claudius Fulvius Pyrrb●● c. whose doom any one may read in Lactant. lib. 2. cap. 4. 7 And no wonder for Sacriledge is worse than Idolatry for it argueth a contempt of all Deity Rom. 2. 22. Thou that abhorrest Idols committest thou Sacriledge Thou that abhorrest false Gods doest thou rob the true one which is worse In a word such must needs pay dearly for their injustice who detain that which is anothers to which iniustice there is yet added a sacrilegious king of malignity because Tythes are due to God not openly as an expression of thankfullness but as a means to preserve and to maintaine his sacred worship CHAP. IX The Anabaptists Objections are answered and their Arguments refelled Obj. THey object and say true Tythes were commanded often in the old Testament but his doth not bind us under the new because there is no expresse command Ans. The same Argument will hold against the Lords day against the Baptisme of Infants against all Taxes and dues because they are not expresly and by name commanded in the new Testament 2 Those Tythes which were commanded under the old Testament are continued still under the new as to their spirituall and moral use and that upon a threefold account 1. Vpon the the account of piety because they are given to God and his Service 2. Vpon the account of thankfullness For Tythes are a Sacrifice of praise to God for his mercies towards us and for the good things which he bestows on us Gen. 28. 22. 3. Vpon the account of commutative justice for if we have sowed unto them our spirituall things it is no great matter if we reap their carnal things Now then although Tithes be not expresly and explicitly enjoyned in the new Testament yet we are as expresly engaged to piety thankfullnesse and justice now as ever 3. Neither doth Christ in the new Testament expresly abolish the payment of Tythes when the Pha●isees boasted of their care in paying even their smallest Tythes he is so farre from reproving them for it that he commends and doth countenance it Luk. 11. 42. Mat. 23. 25. These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone He gives no commission to neglect the payment of Tythes Ye ought not to leave that undone Tythes therefore or fixed stipends are due to the Ministers of the Gospel by a trebble right First by a divine morall right not ceremoniall or judicial For it is ●it and just that a Minister who feeds the peoples souls should be fed by the people that he that preaches the Gospel should live of the Gospell The old Law concerning the Sabboth and concerning Tythes at least shews thus much saith Grotius de jure belli lib. 1. cap. 1. that Christians are bound to set apart no less than the seventh part of time and to give no less than the tenth part of their encrease to Gods Ministers It shews at least thus much that however they be maintained whether out of Lands Houses Moneys Tythes c. yet that they ought to be maintained honestly and liberally not sordidly and sparingly Estius speaks clearly and learnedly That which the Law of God and Nature command in the generall that doth the ecclesiasticall Law determine specifically whilst it app●inteth some certain stipend to be given by the people to their Ministers as Tythes or the like Tythes therefore are not precisely commanded in or absolutely necessary under the new Testament neither are they unjust where they are established by the Magistracy whose duty it is to take the most convenient way for maintaining the Ministry as may best consist with the edification of the Church and dignity of the sacred function Secondly They are due by a naturall right Even the very Heathens gave the tenth part to their Gods as the Grecians the Carthaginians the Romans c. who gave the Tythe of the spoyl to Iupiter And if the Tythe of such things how much rather the Tythes of more certain revenues Thirdly By the Law of nations and by the positive Law of our nation Tythes were given by Off● the Saxon king in the year 793. afterwards encreased and confirmed by Ethelwolf in the year 855. who gave the tenth part of his owne revenues and of the kingdome to God binding them with this prayer VVhoever shall adde to this our gift let allmighty God adde to his life many prosperous days and if any one shall presume to change or diminish them let him know that he must give an account before the tribunal of Christ. After him King Athelstone confirmed them in the year 930. In a word they have been confirmed together with magna charta thirty times by Parliament By all which it is plain that the Preachers of the Gospel have a better title to their tythes than any Nobleman Knight or Gentleman to their proper Inheritances