Levites onely and their family and as they were otherwise applied to the ceremoniall habit of Gods service for that time but yet notwithstanding even then they still served in the main point to the Morall end of their originall Institution that is the worship of God in genere the maintenance of his Ministers in genere and for a token of thankfulnesse in genere Against which the particular applying them to the particular form of worship and ceremonies of the Leviticall Law for that time abolished had no repugnancy And therefore though that manner of disposing them were Ceremoniall and did vanish away with the ceremonies themselves yet did it nothing diminish the Morall use and validity of the Institution in genere which notwithstanding still remained to be accepted and imitated by all posterity and yet to be altered and changed accidentally in the particular ordering and disposing of them as the present estate of Gods worship and the necessity of the time should require viz. before the Law at the pleasure of them before the Law under the Law by the rules of the Law and now in the time of the Gospel as the Church of God either hath or shall appoint them keeping always as I say the Morall considerations of their Institution for they may not be diverted from the Minister though the course of Gods service be altered from that of the Levites but both they and the Levites are labourers in the Lords Vineyard and therefore what kind of work soever either the one or the other be for the time there employed upon the wages appointed Denarius in diem Mat. 20.2 is due unto each of them Therefore to take away the antithesis or opposition that some make between the Ministers of the Gospel and the Levites and Priests of the Law God himself in the last of Esay v. 21. Esay 66 20. calleth the Ministers of the Gospel Priests and Levites as though he had onely changed the course of their service and not the main or end of their Institution I will take of them viz. of the Gentiles for Priests and Levites that is the generation of Levi shall no longer be appropriate to my service but I will communicate their function to the Gentiles and out of them will I take Priests and Levites to perform the service of my charge God therefore brought no new thing into the Leviticall Law neither changed he the nature of the former Institution thereof nor the course of the payment nor the quantity of the portion assigned nor the end whereto it was but looking generally into the equity of them all and approving them all in the generall yea though they were used by the Heathen he descended into further particularities for order and government whereof he prescribed divers rules and observances some Morall some Judiciall and some Ceremoniall according to the fashion of his Church at that time which like old garments being wholly worn out with the old Law the body whereupon they were put remaineth still in the first shape and vigour And whereas before the Law it seemeth to be somewhat at randome and uncertain God by his owne mouth in the Books of Moses hath established and confirmed So that these things considered it cannot be said to be Leviticall in substance but respectively onely and by way of accident § 1. An Objection touching sacrifice and first-fruits and circumcision It may be objected that sacrifice and first-fruits were also in use under the law of Nature and from thence as Tithe was translated into the Leviticall Law yet they ceased with the Leviticall Law and why should not Tithe cease likewise Though sacrifice and first-fruits were in use under the law of Nature and from thence as Tithe was translated unto the Leviticall Law yet the mark they shot at and the end whereto they were employed being once accomplished there was in reason no further use of them for they were like the cloudy and fiery pillars that directed the children of Israel to the land of promise who being arrived there needed those helps no longer and so they vanished away as then not necessary But Tithe in it self and before the Institution of the Leviticall Law was onely an act of justice and piety and therefore though the Leviticall Law employed it partly unto ceremonies yet the nature thereof was not thereby changed and therefore it still lived when the Leviticall Law died Touching the whole frame of Leviticall ceremonies it is like that of Daniels image the body is decayed and gone but the legs being partly iron as well as clay by which it was supported though the clay that is the ceremony be abolished yet the iron that is the Morall Institution thereof endureth for ever The rites of the Leviticall Law were of two sorts some the naturall children thereof others the adoptive I call them naturall that sprang out of the bowels of it as those touching the Ark and Institution of the Levites Adoptive those that being in use before were afterward annexed to it And of these I observe two sorts one arising from some positive Constitutions as that of Circumcision whereof I will speak anon and the other deduced from the law of Nature as those concerning the worship of God whereof some were generall and necessarily incident to every form of his worship in all ages as Ministers to perform his service which they called Priests and means to maintain it which they ordained to be by Tithes The other appropriate to the naturall condition of those times as sacrifice and first-fruits which though they rose out of the law of Nature as touching the common end of being offered by way of thanksgiving unto God yet in that they were also types and figures full of ceremony they became temporall and thereby transitory For the children of Adam finding themselves in the wrath of God and their flesh bloud body and life to be altogether corrupted and accursed by the transgression of their father they sought by all invention possible to help it as far as nature could and therefore both to expresse the present estate of their miserable condition and the mark also they aimed at for redemption in time to come they held it as a necessary correspondency that flesh should be redeemed with flesh bloud with bloud life with life the guilty body with a guiltlesse body and to be short the trespasse and corruption of man by the innocency of some sanctified creature offered unto God for remission of sin And because nothing under the sun could be offered up but it also was full of corruption and that nothing could be acceptable unto God that was impure therefore though they chose the cleanest and perfectest beasts and things for these offerings and sacrifices and purged and sanctified them by all manner of means they could yet they devised further to sever the purer and aeriall part thereof from the grosse and earthly consuming the one that is to say the flesh and the bones
as the body of sin and corruption with the deserved torment of fire and sending the other that is the fume and vapour as the purer part to carry their prayers and invocations up into heaven before the Throne of God First how corruptible they were that is even like the great body of a bullock suddainly consumed Secondly the punishment in justice due unto them even the torment of fire Thirdly the place and person from whence they hoped for redemption Heaven and Almighty God And lastly the means whereby they were to attain it taken from two of the proprieties of fire light and heat that is first the light of faith whereby they long foresaw the promised seed and secondly the heat of zeal and hearty prayer breathed and sent forth from the altar of a fervent heart whereby they hoped to obtain remission of their sins After all this they yet considering further that the corruption and wrath fallen upon them was perpetuall and that these oblations and sacrifices were but temporall and momentary they thought in reason being onely under the law of Reason that the one could not countervail the other and that therefore it was necessary by continuall reiteration and multiplying of sacrifices to sollicite and importune God from day to day untill the time came that a perpetuall sacrifice might be offered up to make sinalem concordiam in the high Court of heaven a full atonement betweene God and man which being once accomplished by our Saviour Christ both the institution and the end of sacrificing were wholly accomplished and so no cause for ever after to use that ceremony any more For with one offering saith the Apostle to the Hebrews hath he consecrated for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 Touching Circumcision though it were before the Leviticall Law yet it rise not out of the Law of Nature or Morall Law but was instituted by a positive constitution made by God himself and not as a part of his worship but as a seal of his Covenant with Abraham which by this ceremony of cutting away the impurer part of the flesh did put the children of Israel ever in mind to cast away carnall affections and to hope for the promised Messias that should cleanse them from the impurity of sin and restore them again to the favour of God which being performed by our Saviour the Covenant was fulfilled and the seal of Circumcision presently thereby defaced § 2. Of the Sabbath day Easter and Pentecost The Institution of the Sabbath day had in it much more Levitical ceremony then the matter of tithing for no man ought to kindle a fire on that day nor dresse the meat he should eat Exod. 35.3.16.24 Jer. 17.11 nor carry any burden take a journey or stir out of the place he was in Tarry every man in his place let no man goe out of his place the seventh day Exod. 16.29 It was besides a day appointed for divers particular ceremonies sacrifices and offerings as yee may read Num. 28.9 10. and amongst other significations to be a memoriall of the great deliverance out of Aegypt a thing peculiar to the Jews Neither have we any commandement but only a precedent for the keeping of it from the Apostles Acts 20.9 1 Cor. 16.2 Rev. 1.10 Yet durst never any man say that the Sabbath was therefore to be abolished but the temporall and ceremoniall parts thereof being taken away the morall use of the commandement which is that the seventh part of our time must be dedicate to the generall service of God remaineth for ever to the worlds end for otherwise our Sabbath is so remote from the Sabbath commanded in the Decalogue that the one holdeth almost no affinity with the other as appeareth in the points aforesaid and for that their Sabbath was the last day of the week ours is the first their 's was in celebration of the end of his workes ours in celebration of the beginning thereof for in the first day were the Elements the Angels c. made August Tom. 10. fol. 250. Theirs in memory of the Creation of the world ours of the Redemption that Christ rise from the dead the first day of the week And though the Apostles taught us by example to exchange the Jewish Sabbath for this of ours as touching the publique meeting on the first day of the week for setting forth the glory of God yet they gave us no commandement to abstain from work on that day but the Church decreed saith S. Augustine that all the honour of the Jewish Sabbath should be transferred to the Christian loco dicto and is done upon the Morall reason of the commandement not the Leviticall So likewise in tithing cut off those parts that were temporall and ceremoniall which as I have shewed were neither in the payment nor in the receiving of them but in the manner of sanctifying and employment of part of them after the Levites were possessed of them and then that which remaineth namely the payment and receiving of them for maintenance of the service of God remaineth for ever as a part of the Morall Law and common equity So touching Easter Christ our Passeover was sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5.7 and thereby the end of Institution accomplished how come we then to continue it especially having neither commandement nor precedent thereof from the Apostles The Ceremoniall part of the Paschall feast viz. the Leviticall Lamb the Purification precedent c. are abolished with the Law yet in that Christ came in the room of that Leviticall Lamb and was sacrificed at the same time and gave his body to be broken and eaten by all as the Paschall Lamb was for a satisfaction for our sins as S. John Baptist saith Ecce Agnus Dei therefore is that Feast continued as it was formerly used without changing either the number of the days or season of the year or the solemn estimation that was anciently had thereof yet note that Easter is kept according to the Leviticall manner for the time after the full Moon and is therefore moveable whereas the day that Christ suffered is otherwise fixed as that of the Nativity So likewise Pentecost being the 50. day from the first Passeover eaten by the children of Israel and the day also whereon the Law was given in Mount Sinai and therefore hallowed as one of the three greatest feasts the Law then being ended the celebration of the birth-day thereof must in all reason also be ended yet because the fulnesse of grace that holdeth always an Antithesis with the Law that is the holy Ghost in shape of cloven tongues was at the end of 50. days after Christs first Passeover sent down upon the Apostles therefore is that Feast also continued at the same time and number of days that the Jews used it although in all the New Testament we have neither commandement nor example for keeping either of these Feasts for though it be said Acts 2.1 that when Pentecost was
and same St. 1. An account of his larger work of Tithes St. 2 3. 23. His two Tomes of English Lawes and Councels St. 3. His practice according to his writing St. 20. A brief account of his life studies and employments Bp. 5. His Book De non temerandis Ecclesils vindicated Ap. 1. Why printed in Scotland Sc. 1. Divers Gentlemen moved by the reading of his Books some to part with Impropriations St. 21. Others not to buy them St. 24 Sportulae among the Romans what and their severall sorts Sp. 18. Sportula Presbyteria in the primitive Church what Sp. 19. Sportula menstrua Sp. 89 Statute of the Dissolution of Monasteries Sp. 169 c. How it was made to book in Parsonages Ep. 4 Stipends and Pensions for Ministers bow inconvenient St. 18 c. Sp. 55 56. R. 5.12 Synagoga put both for the persons and the place Ap. 9 T TEmplars See Hospitalers Ten The mysteries and excellencies of this number Sp. 69 113 c. How it representeth the nature of God Sp. 69 and beareth his inscription Sp. 71. It signifieth Gods Law Sp. 73. 113 Tenth part of fruits due unto God as well as the Seventh of time St. 15. Sp. 111. Why the Tenth Sp. 67-76 Tenths paid by the Clergy St. 12. See Tithes Teoda Sp. 67 Time what part thereof due unto God Sp. 1â—9 Tithes The etymology of the word Sp. 67. The definition of the thing ibid. Payment of Tithes how antient Sp. 114. R. 6 They are more antient then the Law of Moses Sp. 139. R. 2â— They were paid to the Levites after the atteration of their service as well as before Sp. 37. Their antiquity in the Christian Church Sp. 31.86.88 c. R. 22. Tithes paid by all without question for three thousand years together Sp. 110. Tithes frequently paid by Heathens Sp. 114-127 To To give Tithes a generall custome among the Grecians Sp. 123. in use also among barbarous Nations Sp. 124. Both learned it from Gods people Sp. 126 Both oftentimes outgo Gods people in practice of it ibid. Some beasts seem to pay Tithe Sp. 127. How doe these examples shame and condemn such Christians as neglect this duty Sp. 128. Abraham's and Jaeob's precedent as strong for Tithes as the Apostles for the Lords day Sp. 111. The Sabbath was more ceremoniall then Tithes Sp. 148. Why no setled Lawes for them in the Primitive times St. 8. Sp. 29. They were not paid to the Levites while in travel and unsetled Sp. 52. Neither was it expedient or possible the Apostle should have received them Sp. 52 c. How they were anciently disposed Sp. 89-92 151. Christian Tithes far short of the Leviticall St. 9 c. By what right Tithes are due to God St. 93. Tithes of two sorts Morall Leviticall Sp. 93. They are due by the law of Nature Sp. 94-103 of Scripture Sp. c. R. 2.17 of Nations Sp. 113. by a precedent right Sp. 140. They are due here by Laws of severall Kings of England Sp. 129-135 and by donation and vows of our Ancestors Sp. 135 136. Decrees of Councels for the payment of them Sp. 89. They are not a whit left lawfull to us because used in the Church of Rome Sp. 84. That Tithes are not merely Leviticall proved by five arguments Sp. 139. They have nothing ceremoniall or typicall in them Sp. 140. R. 23. Our manner of Tithing differeth from that of the Leviticall Law Sp. 140. The end of Tithes is morall namely Piety Justice Gratitude against all which the with-holders of Tithes grievously offend Sp. 141. In what respect Tithes are Leviticall and Judiciall Sp. 142 c. The employment of Tithes was in part ceremoniall and temporall but the payment and receiving of them is morall and unalterable Sp. 149. The Tithe which our Ministers receive is neither Jewish nor Popish R. 15 16. but that which they pay to the King or State is R. 16 17. Foure severall opinions about the tenure of Tithes R. 23. Reasons why they should be paid Sp. 92. R. 2 c. God accepteth the Tithe as if it were the whole Sp. 73. Paying of Tithes rewarded with plenty Sp. 114.117 118. detaining of them with vengeance Sp. 120.123 c. Fearfull curses denounced against the detainers of them Sp. 91 134 c. They are incomparably the best and fittest provision for Ministers Sc. 17 c. R. 4 c. They are to be paid to the Minister whether good or bad Sp. 32. 60. The enemies of Tithes are enemies to the Ministery it self R. 3. Take away Tithes and look for nothing but ignorance and baseness Sc. 2.3 R. 3.26 Tithes paid by the Levites Sp. 73.77 to what end Sp. 78. The Clergy now Bishops King all ought to pay Tithes Sp. 78 79. Tithes are to be paid out of every thing Sp. 123 130 131. not onely out of the fruits of the ground Sp. 79. but out of the wages of servants Sp. 80. and the spoils of Souldiers and the gains of Merchants and Tradesmen Sp. 81. How Tithes became appropriate See Appropriations The perverse humour of many against Tithes St. 2.8.25 notwithstanding they be due both by Divine Laws and humane St. 4 c. The boundless liberty of the Anabaptists in Germany began at Tithes R. 3. Kentish Petitioners exceptions against Tithes answered R. 7. c. What answer the Parliament gave them R. 15. What made the Anabaptists in London contest so boldly against Tithes R. 19 20. How the dispute about Tithes between B.C. I. R. was disappointed R. 19-21 Animadversions on The Countrey 's plea against Tithes R. 21 c. Not Tithes but Covetousness the cause of Simony R. 13. Arguments shewing that it is unlikely the Parliament will take away Tithes R. 2 c. The plea of Divine right can be no waies preiudicial to Tithes R. 18. whether they be of divine right or no the State may lawfully impose them and the people pay them R. 27 Tituli Sp. 10 St. Roger Townsend St. 21 Traditions of antient Fathers much to be regarded Sp. 86 Treasury of the Temple its parts Sp. 36.78 Turks pay Tithes Sp. 127. U V VIcarages Sp. 152. well augmented by some Colledges in Oxford St. 23.26 by Bishop Morton and Bishop Wright St. 24. by Dr. Fell St. 26. by St. Henry Spelman St. 20. by Viscount Slego St. 26 by the present Parliament St. 24 Vnlawfull things admitted and lawfull omitted Sp. 46 c. Vows lawfully made by Parents descend upon their children Sp. 135. Though arbitrary to make yet are they necessary to keep Sp. 136. Bp. 3 4. W WEstminster-Church subject to none but the King Sp. 179 180 Whitsuntide See Pentecost X XEnophon's example of paying Tithes and endowing a Temple Sp. 121 X signifieth both the name of Christ and the number of Ten Sp. 71 76 A Catalogue of the Authors cited in these Treatises A Chilles Statius Aelianus Agobardus Alexander ab Alexandre Ambrosius Antonius de Dominis Aristophanes Aristoteles Arnobius
labourer is worthy of his hire Mat. 10.10 And therefore into whose house soever yow enter stay there Mat. 10.11 CAP. V. What part in reason and by direction of Nature might seeme fittest for God It being agreed that some part by the Law of Nature is due unto God out of all the time of our life and the goods that we possesse it is now to be examined how far this Law of nature or reason may lead us to the discovery of that part or portion For which purpose we must for a while lay aside Canonicall Divinity I mean the Scriptures and suppose our selves to live in the ages before the Law was given that is in the time of nature And then let us propose this question to the Sages of that world and see what answer we are like to receive from them And first touching this question What portion of our time or goods were fittest for God It is like they would have considered the matter in this manner That God hath not any need either of our time or goods and that therefore he requireth them not in tanto that is to have so much and no lesse But on our parts it is our duty to yeeld unto him as much in quanto as we can conveniently forbeare over and besides our necessary maintenance So that as Bracton saith of Hyde that tenants are to yeeld unto their Lords it must be honorarium Domine and not grave tenenti so much as the Lord may be honoured by it and the tenant not oppressed wherein if a second third or fourth part be too much so a twentieth or thirtieth seem also too little As God therefore desireth but an honourary part not a pressory so reason should direct us to give him that part wherein his own nature with the respects aforesaid is most properly expressed for the maxime or axiome which our Saviour alledged Date Deo quae Dei sunt give unto God the things that are Gods is grounded on the Morall law originally and therefore examining among numbers which of them are most proper and resembling the nature of God we shall finde that seven and ten above all other perform this mystery and that therefore they are most especially to be chosen thereunto therefore God in the Creation of the world following the light of nature chused the seventh part of the age thereof as Philo Judaeus in his Book De fabricatione mundi pag. 36. hath with singular and profound observations declared And because it may be demanded hereupon why he should not by the same reason have the seventh part of our goods also I answer that as touching the time of our life he giveth that unto us of his own bounty meerly without any industry on our part so that whether we sleep or wake labour or play the allowance thereof that he maketh unto us runneth on of its own accord and therefore we owe him the greater retribution out thereof as having it without labour or charge But as for the fruits of the earth we have them partly by our own labour though chiefly by his bounty and therefore he therein requireth his part as it were with deduction or allowance of our charges seeking another number befitting the same The first place in Scripture wherein a Priest is mentioned is Gen. 14.18 where Melchisedek is said to be the Priest of the most high God there also are tithes spoken of and paid unto him v. 20. Abraham gave him tithes of all The first place also where an House of God or Church is spoken of is Gen. 28.18 22. there also are tithes mentioned and vowed unto God even by that very name whereby Parish Churches upon their first Institution in the Primitive Church were also styled that is by the name of Tituli Gen. 28.22 Lapis iste quem pofui in titulum erit Domus Dei omne quod dederis mihi decimas prorsus dabo tibi wherein it seemeth the Primitive Church at that time followed the translation then in use for Damasus in the life of Euaristus Bishop of Rome Anno 112. saith Hic titulos in urbe Roma divisit Presbyteris Edit 1606. Tom. Concil 1. pag. 106. And speaking after of Dionysius who lived Anno 260. he saith Presbyteris Ecclesias divisit coemeteria Parochiasque Diaeceses constituit Tom. Concil 1. pag. 206. Thus Church and Tithe went together in their first Institution If there be no mention after of Tithes in the Scripture till the time of Moses that is no reason to exclude them for so also is there not of any House of God or Priest yet no man will deny but both are necessary and therefore let them also say whether they be ex Jure divino I mean Churches and Priests before the Law and Gospel CAP. VI. Concerning the Revenue and maintenance of the Church in her infancy first in Christs time then in the Apostles by a communion of all things and submitting all to the Apostles as in the Churches of Jerusalem Alexandria Rome and Africa How the Clergy had their allowance given them weekly or monethly per sportulas in baskets De jure sportularum concerning those baskets and the manner of them When Lands were first given The Church goods distributed by the Bishops and Officers under them The liberality of Constantine and other Emperors The piety and charity of the Clergy in spending their goods and means VVHilest the Church was in her foundation shee had no other maintenance then the poor private purse of our Saviour supported onely by the almes and contribution of his poor Disciples and followers for as himself had no house to live in Joh. 12.6 so had he no rents to live on being therefore often in want he was constrained sometimes to use the power of his Godhead to supply the necessities of his Manhood and to call the fish of the sea to aid him with money miraculously Mat. 17.27 while the beasts of the Land withheld their devotion from him unnaturally but whatsoever it was that his Godhead blessed his Manhood withall he divided it as appeareth in the Gospel of Saint John 13. â—9 into two parts one for the sustenance of his family the other for relief of the poor Touching the part assigned to his family it was nor curious nor superfluous no not at the great feast of Baster when others were so sumptuous and profuse his rule was then to buy the things they had need of And touching the provision of his house at other times we have twice an Inventory taken of it once in Matth. 14.17 where it was found to be but five loaves and two fishes yea Mar. 6.38 Luk. 9.13 Joh. 6.9 barly loaves another time Mat. 15.34 but seven loaves and a few little fishes for himself and his whole houshold twelve Apostles in ordinary besides some servants and a multitude of Disciples hanging upon him extraordinarily All the beasts of the forest were his and so were the cattell upon
ceremonies and therefore ended with the Leviticall Law These men reason as if before the Leviticall Law there had been no rules of Gods honour and as though the Morall Law and the Law of nature taught us nothing therein Doth not God himself leave the precepts of the Leviticall Law and reason with the Israelites out of the Law of nature Mal. 3. when he saith will any man spoil his goddesse as if he should say that the Law of nature hath sanctified those things that are offered unto God and therefore will any man violate the Law of nature Doth not Saint Paul reason also in the same sort when he saith Despise ye the Church of God 1 Cor. 11.22 If I should apply the places of Scripture that are spoken of the great reverence of the Temple it would be said that that were Leviticall but the office of the Temple was Morall as well as Leviticall and therefore though these be ended yet the other the Morall remaineth When Christ had cast the oxen doves that were for the Leviticall service out of the Temple yet he said that it was an house of Prayer as figurating that after the ceremonies were ended and gone yet the Morall office of the Temple to be an house of Prayer still remained Saint Paul 1 Cor. 11.22 when he saith Despise yee the Church of God speaking it as if he wondred that any should be so irreligious or rather sacrilegious to despise the Church and no man I think doubteth but that this was spoken of the materiall Church for he blameth them that did use unseemly drinking in the Church See the first Treatise Note of the rights and respect due § 10. Of the three severall places and three functions of the Temple and how the last continueth holy for Prayer Doctrine and instruction of the people which therefore had in it no Ceremoniall implement at all CAP. XVIII Tithes must not be contemned because they were used by the Church of Rome IF we should reject Tithes because they were used by the Church of Rome by the same reason we must also reject our Churches but the Apostles used both the Synagogues and the Temple it self after Christs Ascension though they were polluted with the doctrine and ceremonies of the Jews and therefore we are not to reject Tithes and other things profitable to Gods service because the Papists used or misused them The Censors ordained for Gods honour were impiously abused by Corah Dathan and Abiram yet God rejected them not but commanded them to be still employed in some better course of his service namely in making plates for the Altar Numb 16.38 And by this Scripture doth Hugo and Origen reprove them that judge the works of an heretique to be burned without preserving the good things in them and the Altar to be pulled down wherear a Schismatique hath ministred Hugo in Genes 16. fol. 136. a. and Origen in Homil. 9. sup Num. fol. 104. God refused not the burnt-offering of Gedeon though he made it with the idolatrous wood of Baals grove yea himself commanded it so Judg. 6.26 and in the Gospel the offerings of the proud Pharisees were as well received into the Treasury of the Temple as the mite of the poor widow When Jericho was destroyed and accursed yet God required the gold and silver for his holy utensils Jos 6.19 For though filthy gains are forbidden to be offered unto God yet good things because they have been abused are not forbidden to be offered unto him When the pottage provided for sustenance of the children of the Prophets was infected by him that threw in the wilde gourdes or colloquintida Elisha the Prophet commanded them not to be cast away but cleansing them from their infectious venome used them still for food of the children 2 Kings 4.38 So if the pottage of the Ministers have been abused with Roman Colloquintida purge the infection but take not their pottage I mean their Tithes from them Aristophanes bringeth in Heroules laughing to see effeminate Baccbus clad in the Lions skin In Ranis but we may well lament to see a spruce Castilio and his masking mistresse trickt and trimmed up with those Church-livings that godly and grave men in times past gave for maintenance of Gods service and the Ministers thereof I can but wonder what should move Flacius Illyricus a man so conversant in the history of the Church to affirm Decimas nupeius extortas per papas Catal test ter primo impositas in Concil per Pelagium Papam Anno 588. that Tithes were lately extorted by the Popes and that they were first imposed by Pope Pelagius in the Councell Anno 588. unlesse his meaning be that in elder times they were paid at pleasure and now first commanded to be paid of duty which construction though contrary to the understanding of a common Reader if we doe allow him yet is it untrue also for that Councell reciteth that they had been paid before of long time and that by the whole multitude of Christians and as due by the Word of God and consequently not at pleasure Concil Matisconense 2. c. 5. Anno 588. Tom. 2. So that this Councell did but revive and quicken the cold devotion of that time and not inferre new matters unheard of before CAP. XIX That the Tradition of ancient Fathers and Councels is not lightly to be regarded IT appeareth by divers ancient Fathers and Councels that Tithes were paid long before their times in the Primitive Church and were unto the age of the Apostles though little memory thereof remaineth in the Authors of those times And shall we not beleeve the Fathers received such instruction from their elders Doth not God bid us ask after the days of old and the years of so many generations saying Ask thy father and he will shew thee thine elders and they will tell thee Deut. 32.7 If we shall not beleeve them why should we ask them and why did the children of Israel complain that their Fathers heard not the words of the book of the Law 2 Kings 22.13 but because they therefore could not report it to them their children Shall we think nothing to be done but what is written doth not the Evangelist tell us that if all were written that Christ did he supposed the world could not contain the books Joh. 21.25 are not many actions of elder time alledged in latter Scriptures and yet no testimony of them in the former it is said 1 Chro. 26.18 that Samuel Abner and Joab dedicated many things unto God yet their story reporteth no such matter Solomon is noted 1 Chron. 10. to have kept a famous Passeover yet is there not a word of it in the history of his time Fasting was brought into the Church before Christ and the use also of building of Synagogues but it appeareth not when or how Paul alledgeth that our Saviour said It is better to give then to take Act. 20.35 yet no Evangelist doth mention it
them to Churches out of their possessions and families where they baptized and received Burch lib. 3. ca. 132. And Concil Cavallon c. 1. decreeth that all Churches with their whole livings and tithes should bee wholly in the power of the Bishops and to be ordered and disposed by him Burchard lib. 3. ca. 146. Concil Moguntin 1. ca. 8. recited by Burchard who lived about 6â—0 years since saith that Abraham by his action and Jacob by his promise declared unto us that tithe was to be given to God The Law hath since confirmed it and all the holy Doctor are mindfull of it c. Hereof the venerable Doctor Saint Augustine saith Tithes are required as a debt What if God should say quoth he thy self a man art mine and so forth as followeth in that Sermon of his that hereafter we exhibit The Councell proceedeth further shewing reasons why Tithes should be paid That if the Jews were so carefull inexecuting this commandement as they would not omit it in the least things mint and rue c. as our Saviour testifieth how much more ought the people of the Gospel to perform it that hath a greater number of Priests and a more sincere manner of Sacraments They are therefore to be given unto God that being better pleased with this devotion he may give more liberally the things we have need of That this kind of maintenance is fittest for the Clergy that they otherwise be not troubled with worldly businesse but may attend their calling That the daily offerings of the people and that Tithes are to be divided into four parts according to the Canons The first to the Bishop another to the Minister or Priest Clericorum the third to the poor the fourth to repairing of Churches Burchard li. 3. c. 133. Concil Moguntin 1. cap. 10. tempore Appae 4. 4. Lothar Imp. Anno 847. sub Rabano Archiepiscopo qui scribit Ludovice This Councell admonisheth men to pay their Tithe carefully because God himself appointed it to be paid to himself And that it is to be feared that if any man take Gods right from him God for his sins will take things necessary from him also Tom. 3. Conc. Roman Concil 5. Anno 1078. Tom. 3. saith that Lay-men upon pain of sacriledge excommunication and damnation might not possesse Tithes and Church livings though granted by Kings and Bishops but must restore them CAP. XXI In what right tithes are due and first of the law of nature WE have said in our definition that they be due unto God now we are to shew by what right and to prove it First therefore I divide Tithes into two sorts Morall and Leviticall Morall are those which were due to God before the Law given in the time of nature Leviticall are those nine parts assigned by God himself upon giving the Law unto the Levites for their maintenance the tenth part being still reserved to himself and retained in his own hands Morall tithes were paid by man unto God absque praecepto without any commandement Leviticall tithes were paid by the Israelites unto the Levites as transacted and set over by God unto them pro tempore for the time being and that by an expresse Canon of the Ceremoniall law To speak in the phrase of Lawyers and to make a case of it God is originally seised of tithes to his own use in dominico suo ut de feodo in his own demesne as of fee-simple or as I may say Jure Coronae and being so seised by his Charter dated _____ year after the Flood he granted them over to the Levites and the issue male of their body lawfully begotten to hold of himself in Frank-Almoigne by the service of his Altar and Tabernacle rendring yearly unto him the tenth part thereof So that the Levites are meerly Tenants in tail the reversion expectant to the Donor and consequently their issue failing and the consideration and services being extinct and determined the thing granted is to revert to the Donor and then is God seised again as in his first estate of all the ten parts in fee. But we must prove the parts of the case and first the title namely that he was seised in fee of originall Tithes that is that originall Tithes doe for ever belong unto him Hear the evidence which I will divide into three parts as grounding it first upon the law of Nature secondly upon the Law of God and thirdly upon the Law of Nations CAP. XXII How far forth they be due by the Law of Nature VVHen I said by the Law of Nature my meaning is not to tie my self to that same jus naturale defined by Justinian which is common to beasts as well as to men But to nature taken in the sense that Tully after the opinion of others delivers it to be Vim rationis atque ordinis participem Denat Deo l. 2. tanquam via progredientem declarantemque quid cujusque causa res efficiat quid sequatur c. the vertue and power of reason and order that goeth before us as a guide in the way and sheweth us what it is that worketh all things the end why and what thereupon ensueth or dependeth This by some is called the Law of Nature secondary or speciall because it belongeth onely to reasonable creatures and not generally to all living things in respect whereof it is also called the law of reason and it is written in the heart of every man by the instinct of nature Quis scribit in cordibus hominum naturalem legem nisi Deus Aug. de serm Domini in monte l. 2. as Isidor faith not by any legall constitution teaching and instructing all Nations through the whole world to discern between good and evill and to affect the one as leading to the perfection of worldly felicity and to eschew the other as the opposite thereof This is that law written in the hearts of the Heathen made them to be a law unto themselves as it is said Rom. 2.14 and by the instinct of nature to doe the very works of the Law of God with admirable integrity and resolution This is that Law that led them to the knowledge of God that they had whereby they confesse him to be the Creator supporter and preserver of all things seeing all things knowing all things and doing whatsoever pleaseth himself to be omnipotent eternall infinite incomprehensible without beginning or end good perfect just hating evill and ever doing good a blessed Spirit and as Plato calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest Spirit that giveth all good things unto man that guideth his actions and blesseth his labours All this and much more did the very Heathen by this Law of Nature conceive and pronounce of God and therewithall confessed that by reason thereof they were justly tyed to yeeld him all service honour obedience praise and thanksgiving but wanting grace to direct them above nature in the right ways thereof they first swarved on one hand
time I speak of Well It will be said that all this is nothing if the Word of God commandeth it not for every thing must be weighed and valued by the shekel of the Sanctuary Lev. 27.25 They may by the same reason take away our Churches for I finde not in all the Bible any Text wherein it is commanded that we should build us Churches Perkins dem Problem 9. neither did the Christians either in the Apostles time nor 100. yeares after build themselves Churches like these of ours but contented themselves at first to meet in houses which thereupon were called ades sacrae And to shew that they were commanded by the Levitical Law will not serve our turn for it will be said the Statute of repeal even the two words spoken by our Saviour upon the Crosse Consummatum est Iohn 19.30 clearly abrogated that Law but it is to be well examined how far this repeal extendeth for though the letter of it be taken away yet the spirituall sense thereof remaineth for Ierome saith Singulae paene syllabae c. spirant coelestia sacramenta Tom. 3. Paulino Epist that almost every syllable thereof breatheth forth an heavenly sacrament Saint Augustine saith the Christians doe keep it spiritually so that if tithe be not given in the tenth according to the Leviticall Institution yet the spirituall meaning of providing for the Clergy our Levites remaineth But with the precepts of the Leviticall and Ceremoniall Laws divers rules of the Morall Law are also mingled as the Laws against Witches Not to reap every corner of our field nor to gather our fruit clean not to keep the pledge that belongeth to the person of our brother Userers Oppressors c. the Laws that command us to lend to our brother without interest and to sanctifie the Sabbath for though the Institution of the Sabbath be changed yet the spirituall observation remaineth and that not onely in the manner of sanctifying it but as touching the time also even the seventh day Notwithstanding I find not that the Apostles commanded us to change it but because they did change it we take their practice to be as a Law unto us yet though they changed the time they altered not the number that is the seventh day I will then reason that God hath as good right to our goods of the world as to the days of our life and that a part of them belong unto him as well as the other And the action of Abraham and Jacob may as well be a precedent to us for the one in what proportion we are to render them as that of the Apostles in the other for both of them were out of the Law the one after it the other before it And why may not the limitation of the day appointed to the Lord for his Sabbath be altered and changed as well as the portion appointed to him for the tenth You will say the seventh day was not due to him by the law of nature for then Abraham and the Fathers should have kept it before the Law given but it held the fittest analogy to that naturall duty that we owe to the service of God and therefore when that portion of time was once particularly chosen by God for his service by reason himself had commanded it under the Law the Apostles after the Law was abolished retained it in the Gospel And so since the number of the tenth was both given to God before the Law and required by him in the time of the Law being also most consonant to all other respects great reason it is to hold it in the age of the Gospel Yet with this difference that in the old Law the Sabbath was the last part of the seven days and in the Gospel it is the first because our Saviour rose from the dead the first day of the week and not the seventh God is our Lord and we owe him both rent and service our service is appointed to bee due every seventh day our rent to be the tenth part of our encrease He dealeth not like the hard Landlords that will have their rent though their Tenants bee losers by their Land but he requireth nothing save out of their gain and but the tenth part thereof onely These two retributions of rendring him the seventh day of our life and the tenth part of our goods are a plain demonstration to us of our spirituall and temporall duty towards God Spiritually in keeping the Sabbath and temporally in payment of tithes that is in providing for his Ministery and them in necessity the one being the image of our faith the other of our works for seven is the number of spirituall sanctification ten the number of legall justification Therefore to pay all the nine parts was nothing if we failed in the tenth for the tenth is the number of perfection and therefore required above all other as the type of legall justification And as our faith is nothing without works so neither is the Sabbath without tithes for they that minister to us the spirituall blessings of the Sabbath must receive from us the temporall gratuities of Tithing CAP. XXVI That they are due by the Law of Nations THe Law of Nations is that which groundeth it self upon such manifest rules of reason as all the Nations of the world perceive them to be just and do therefore admit them as effectually by the instinct of nature as if they had been concluded of by an universall Parliament Therefore in truth this is no other but that which the Philosophers call the law of Nature Oratours the law of Reason Divines the Morall law and Civilians the Law of Nations As far then as Tithe is due by one of these so far likewise it is due by all the rest and consequently the reasons that prove it in the one doe in like manner prove it in all the other I will not therefore insist here upon arguments but remit you to that hath been formerly said touching the law of Nature and demonstrate unto you by the practice of all Nations what the resolution of the world hath been herein through all ages So ancient it is among the Heathens that good Divines are of opinion that Abraham took example thereof from the Heathen but others with more reason conceive it to be practised even by the children of Adam as well as sacrificing and the offering of first-fruits as by the opinion of Hugo Cardinalis I have shewed in another place Besides I find not any mention of Tithe paid by the Gentiles before the time of Dionysius commonly called Bacchus who having conquered the Indians sent a Present of the spoil Magno Jovi as Ovid witnesseth and this was about 600. after that Abraham tithed to Melchisedek Cyrus having collected a great sum of mony amongst his captives caused it to be divided delivered the tithe thereof to the Praetors to be consecrated to Apollo and Diana of Ephesus as he had vowed Xenophon in
to the husband-man out of which he paid two tithes 590 Bushels were the first Tithe paid to the Levites 59 Bushels the Levites paid the Priests which was called the Tithe of the Tithes 5310 Bushels remained to the husband-man out of which he paid his second Tithe 531 Bushels were the second Tithe 4779 Bushels remained to the husband-man as his own all being paid 1121 Bushels are the sum of both Tithes joyned together which is above a sixt part of the whole namely nineteen out of an hundred So that of sixe thousand bushels the Levites had in all 1063. whole to themselves the Priests 159 and the husband-man onely 4779. He yearly thus paid more then a sixt part of his increase besides first-fruits almost a fifth many of no small name grossely skip in reckoning these kindes of their Tithes saith Mr Selden Observe how much saith Chrysostome In Epist ad Philip. Tom. 4. Edit Savil. speaking of the great maintenance of the Levites the Jews gave to their Priests and Levites as tenths first-fruits then tenths again then other tenths and again other thirtieths and the sicle and yet no man said they eat or had too much The Rabbins also reckon 24. gifts to the Priesthood according as they are set down both by Rabbi Bechai and R. Chaskoni on Numb 18. and so Jarchi on Gen. 29.34 and in Talmud in the Massech Cholin 133. f. 2. pag. in this order i. The twenty four gifts of the Priesthood were given to the Priests twelve at Jerusalem and twelve in the borders the twelve that were given in Jerusalem are these the sin-offering the trespasse-offering the peace-offerings of the Congregation the skins of the holy things the shew-bread the two loaves the omer or sheaf the remainder of the meat-offerings the residue of the log or pinte of oyle for the Leper the oblation of the thanksgiving the oblation of the peace-offering the oblation of the Ramme of the Nazarite And these following are the twelve that were given in the borders the great heave-offering the heave-offering or oblation of the tithe the cake the first-fruits the first of the fleece the shoulder the two cheeks and the maw the first-born of man the first-born of the clean beast the firstling of the Asse the dedications or vows the field of possession the robbery of the stranger Lev. 6.5 Numb 5.7 8. These are the 24. gifts that belonged to the Priesthood But among these there is no mention of the first-born of any unclean beast but onely the Asse and no mention at all of the tithe of cattell M. Nettles pag. 120. Thus a learned Author observeth out of the Rabbins All these severall tithes oblations and duties were paid not deducting nor accounting their charges and labour of the husbandman and yet they among their aphorismes both divine and morall doe tell us that as the Masoreth is the defence of the Law so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maighsheroth seag Laighsher that is tithes paid are the defence of riches so God promised Mal. 3. Bring ye all the tithes into the Store-house that there may be meat in my house and prove me herewith saith the Lord of hosts if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it And one notes that at this day when they have no Temple nor Priesthood Qui religiosiores sunt inter Judaeos loco decimarum eleemosynam pendunt de omnibus lucris decem aureos de centum centum de mille as Mr Selden observeth in his Review cap. 2. Yea they paid not onely their tithes but their first-fruits also wherein they were so liberall in some ages that even from the abundance of first-fruits paid by the owners to the Priests there was not a Priest in the 24. courses of them but might be accounted a very rich or largely furnished man as Mr Selden observeth out of Philo and that they prevented the officers in demanding of them paid them before they were due by Law as if they had rather taken a benefit then given any both sexes of their own most foreward readinesse in every first-fruit season brought them in with such courtesie and thanksgiving as is beyond all expression whereas in these times under the Gospel the Priesthood is far more excellent then that of the Law and the Clergy deserves infinitely more then the old Priests and Levites whose employment is not to light candles snuffe lamps set bread upon the table kindle fire put incense at the Altar to kill slay and hew beasts in pieces but have incumbent onus even Angelis formidabile if men would rightly understand what they undergoe or others value what these sustain They have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the souls of men which is an office no temporall satisfaction can countervail accountable to God for themselves and others Their study labors after long and chargeable education in reading watching preaching praying visiting the sick are fully expressed by this learned Author cap. 14. Yet the husband-man payeth now but one tenth to the Clergy and no particular tithe for feasts or to the poor or other uses as the Israelites did Decimae Philippo Regi Francorum in oppugnatiotem Saladani Mahometani principis concessae erant Nujusmodi etiam obtinuit Rex Angliae Richardus 1 â—testatur Matth. Paris in Anno 1189. ab templis istis posteri saepe Reges Annatas sive primitias Bonifacius Papa benefitis Ecclesiasticis primus imposuit circa annum 400. sunt tamen qui hoc inventum Iohanni 22. scribant hanc autem consuetudinem omnes â—misere praeter Anglos qui id de solis Episcopatibus â—ncessere in caeteris beneficiis non adeo Platina Iodie fisco penduntur non tantùm ex Episcopatius verùm etiam ex beneficiis quibuslibet Ecclesiticis annui valeris 10. marcarum Vicariisque 10 â—b nec minores sane quà m unius anni fructus â—tegri juxta tabulas Regias aestimandos Glossariâ—m Spelin in Annatis But the Clergy now besides out of their smal receits bear the burden of tenths and first-fruits to the value of thirty thousand pounds yearly imposed on them lately whereas tenths were not annually paid before the 26 H. 8. which Statute was repealed by Q. Mary but at some times but they were a Popish invention at the first and onely of late years though now continued yearly and further charges imposed in taxes to the poor and subsidies to the publique in a greater proportion then by the Laity provision of arms also though their tithes and dues are abated and cut short more then anciently not onely by fraud and false payment but also by unconscionable small rate-tithes and customes almost most in every Parish And also many great estates wholly discharged of tithes as Cistercian lands and those of the Templars and Hospitalers who had thirty thousand manours in Christendome whereof a great part were in England by the Popes
Kingdome by Tithes oblations and other devotions of their brethren So that it is apparent both by the Law of God and Nature that God must have one portion of our Lands to build him an house on that is his Churches and another portion thereof for the habitation of his Levites that is his Ministers CAP. III. That the portion of Land assigned to God must be sufficient for the habitation of the Minister THough the portion of Land thus to be rendred to God for his Ministers be not certaine yet is it thus farre determined that it must be answerable to the necessity of the service and to the number of the Levites that is there must be Churches sufficient for the congregations and habitations sufficient for the Ministers and their families to dwell upon with pasture convenient for their domesticall cattell They must not be pulled from God with secular care and therefore their maintenance is appointed to arise by other meanes then by tilling the Earth but their habitation as befitteth students and men of contemplative life must be under their owne command and solitary But what should the portion of the fruites of the earth assigned them for their maintenance be certaine as namely the tenth part and not the portion of Land also allotted for their habitation I answer that as the people encrease so also the fruite of the earth encreaseth with them by their industry and labour and therefore as the Levites encrease in number so doe the rest of the Tribes and by reason thereof there is a greater encrease of Tithe toward the maintenance of the Levite for the labour of ten men yeeldeth more profit then the labour of five But when the Levites were inclosed within walls and confined with immutable bounds this circuite in reason could not alwaies be sufficient for them And therefore being so increased as their Cities might not containe them they must of necessity have new places of habitation provided for them For in such cases God gave a generall rule to the people Deut. 12.19 Beware that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou linest in the Land And the people of the Jewes in this necessity did not forsake the Levites for before the transmigration to Babylon which was about 840. yeares after the Leviticall Cities as appeareth 1 Chron. cap. 6. and cap. 9.1 were growne to be about sixty eight viz. twenty more then were appointed by Josua They might not enlarge the bounds prescribed to their Cities but they might encrease the number of the Cities as the number of the Levites encreased and necessity required The reason is they might not adde house to house and field to field lest growing great in earthly possessions they should forget God who had otherwise provided for them then by manuring the earth but if they wanted habitations they might then seeke for new Cities and the care of the people was to provide them for them One Levite might not have more then sufficient for his habitation but if the Cities appointed were not sufficient to yeeld an habitation for every Levite then might they assigne new Cities to that purpose CAP. IV. That Christ released not the portion due to God out of our Lands THe possession of Lands is ex jure â—â—umino but the earth is the Lords ex jure divine Therefore when he granted the earth to the children of men and reserved a portion thereof for his service and Ministers this part thus reserved is in him and his Ministers ex jure divine In this right Christ calleth the Temple the house of God and saith also My house shall be on house of prayer And St. Paul saith 1 Crr. 11.22 Despise ye the house of God So that doubtlesse God must have houses for his forvice in all places where we inhabite But Christ had not wherein to lay his head Mat. 8.20 Luke 9.18 therefore the Ministers must have no houses provided for them for the disoiple is not above his master Christ indeed had not whereon to lay his head for he came to his owne and his owne received him not But doth this prove that Ministers should neither have nests in the ayre like birds nor holes in the ground like foxes Did not he that made the Vineyard in the Gospell build a tower in it for them that dressed it So like wise must the Ministers that attend upon the Vineyard of the Church have their habitations in it St. Paul appointed it so when he commandeth us to render a portion unto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all the good things Gal. 5.6 How have they a part in all if they want it in the chiefest of all that is in our habitations Againe he commandeth that they should be Hospitales Goodhouskeepers how should they be so if they have no houses to keep John Baptist lived in the wildernesse it is true and he was commended for it Christ did not so though he frequented the fields yet in that he gave no Commandement that his disciples should follow him for he appointed them to remaine in other mens houses What that they should goe sojourne where they listed The Commandement hath nothing to the contrary but the meaning is thereby apparent they must have habitations provided for them or else shake off the dust of your feet against them Mat. 10.14 as much as to say let them be accursed So then our Saviour hath not repealed the Law of providing for the Levites unto his Ministers He could not give them Cities to possesse for his kingdome was not of this world But he appointed them to such places as themselves should choose among the children of the Gospell Doeth this differ from the Commandement of providing Cities for the Levites Doubtles no for as the Logitians say Conveniunt in eodem tertio They agree in this that the Ministers must have habitations provided for them as well in the Gospell as the Levites had under the Law Oh but they must have no inheritance among their brethren for the Lord is their portion Numb 18.24 It is true the Lord hath communicated with them his owne portion viz. his tithes and his offerings as he did with the Levites therefore as the Levites had no share in the division of the Land so our Ministers must have no share with us in tilling the Land matters of husbandry for they are called from secular cares to spirituall contemplation but after the Israelites had their shares in the Land they yeelded portions to the Levites for their convenient residence and so must wee for our Ministers And so still the conclusion is they must be provided for Which to shut up the matter is invincibly ratified by our Saviour himselfe who in sending forth his disciples would not suffer them to take the least implements of sustenance with them because he would put them absolutely upon the care and charge of the congregation alledging a Maxime of the morall Law for warranty thereof that the
formerly due very reason telleth us and the use of it in other parts of Scripture doth confirm it for the very same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in the same sense Deut. 23.21 When thou vowest a vow unto the Lord thy God non tardabis thou shalt not be slack to pay it or shalt not keep it back this is not a commandement to pay or give a new thing but to pay that is already due the thing vowed In the same sense it is said 2 Pet. 3.9 non tardat Dominus promissa the Lord is not slack in performing his promise that is not slacke or holding that back which in his honour and justice he hath tied himself to pay or perform the blessing he promised which by his promise is made a debt CAP. XXV That they are due by the Law of God IT is said in Genesis in the end of the 13. ca. and so on in the 14. and in the 7. to the Hebrews That whilst Abraham dwelt at Hebron in the Plain of Mamre his brother Lot was carried away prisoner by the foure Assyrian or Babylonian Kings with all that he had and that Abraham confederate with Mamre the Amorite and his brethren Escol and Aner armed his houshold even the bond-men as well as free 318. in all and pursued them unto Dan where hee smote them in the night and recovered Lot and the prey And that as he returned Melchisedek King of Salem Priest of the most high God met him and gave him bread and wine and blessed him In the Hebrew text it is indefinite which of them gave tithe â—o other therefore the Iews say Melchisedek gave it to Abraham but the holy Ghost in the 7. to the Hebrews explaineth it that Abraham gave them to Melchisedek and prayed and praised God for him and that Abraham did thereupon give him the tithe of all This place of Scripture is very materiall for our purpose as portraiting unto us the whole modell or plat-form of the Church now under the Gospel even as if the one were measured out by the other with a line or rod as Moses measured the Tabernacle and as if God had said as he did unto Moses See that thou make it in all things like the pattern I have shewed thee Exod. 25.40 the last We will therefore stay a while upon it and consider the action the time the place the persons and some other circumstances The action as having nothing in it belonging to the Leviticall Law Codomannus saith in the year 293. some other count it above 370. and therefore a plain direction unto us how to demean our selves under the Gospel The time as performed before the Law was given namely about 300. years after the flood both according to the rites 〈…〉 that time and to be president for the time to come after the Law abolished The places where this action was performed Hebron Dan and Salem Hebron a place in Judah where Abraham dwelt afterward one of the Leviticall Cities from whence Abraham departed when he went into this expedition Dan the uttermost limit of the holy land whither Abraham pursued his enemies and there slew and chased them Salem the place where Melchisedek was King which by reason of Josephus his mistaking it Melchised Dei sacerdos Solymorum quam civitatem postâ—a Hierosolymam vocarunt Ios Antiq. l. 1. c. 18. Hieron in Ep. ad Euagr. et â—n loc Heb. Lyra in Gen. 33. is commonly taken to be Jerusalem but erroneously as Jerome and Lyra explain it for Saint Hierome out of the ancient Rabbins sheweth it to be a Town neer _____ so called in his time and men then shewing the ruines of Melchisedeks Palace in great magnificence S. John also doth witnesse it to be Enon a known Town in Jeromes time neer Jordan where the spring was that John Baptist baptized in John also saith he baptized at Elim besides Salem Joh. 3.23 because there was much water there So that the first door that was opened into the Kingdome of heaven by the preaching of the Gospel the first administration of the Sacrament of Baptisme as S. John here reporteth it was within the territories of the Kingdome of Salem that is by interpretation the Kingdome of peace and righteousnesse which Baptisme bringeth by washing away originall sin The persons are Melchisedek Abraham and his confederates and family Melchisedek is the image of Christ King of righteousnesse and peace the Priest of the high God and a Priest for ever for the Scripture neither sheweth his beginning nor his ending A Priest not anointed with materiall oyle after the ceremony of the Leviticall Law not ordained for a time as Aaron but established with an oath by God himself to be for ever and sanctified with the spirituall oyle of gladnesse above all the ranks and orders of Leviticall Priesthood Abraham an Hebrew and representing the rest of the Hebrews Gods chosen people Father of the Jews by Circumcision and by faith the Father of the Gentiles So that Melchisedek prefigurated the whole Priesthood of Christian Religion and Abraham the whole Laity therefore Chrysostome saith Considera quanta sit excellentia nostratis sacerdotii quandoquidem Abraham Patriarcha Iudaeorum progenitor Levitarum comperitur benedictionem accipere à Melchisedec Orat. 4. advers Iud. Sedita Paulus ipse His confederates Mamre Escol Aner Amorites and Gentiles representing the whole body of the Gentiles The family of Abraham as well bond-men as free-men all mingled together and all here marching as under one ensign not of the Leviticall Law which onely belonged to the Jew but of the New Testament embracing both Jew and Gentile bondmen and free-men the children of Hagar as well as Sarah Their enemies are the idolatrous Assyrians or Babylonians who spoil the people of God and these Abraham pursueth killeth and chaseth beyond Dan that is out of the Church To apply and morall this to the Church under the Gospel They that are the true children and consorts of Abraham whether Hebrews or Gentiles free or bond who now are all alike they must depart out of the Leviticall Cities that is the Ordinances and Ceremonies of the Law they must fight against the foure great Kings the enemies of Lot and of the children of God Sin Flesh the World and the Devill So Hugo expoundeth them Superbia vitae Concupiscentia carnis Hypocrisis Avaritia vel concupiscentia aculoruÌ„ Hugo they must chase and cast them not onely out of the temple of their heart but out of the compasse and bounds of the Church of Christ and so kill and subdue them by faith and repentance even when they are asleep and thereby seem to have surest possession of them Having thus conquered Melchisedek our Saviour Christ will meet them in their return but where not till they come within the territories of Salem into the bounds of the Church by the sacrament of Baptisme And then he will not stay till he be
be slack to be pay it Eccles also 5.3 4. for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee and so it should be sin unto thee Deut. 23.20 Therefore S. Peter reasoning the matter with Ananias telleth him That whilest his land remained in his hands it appertained unto him and when it was sold the money was his own Act. 5.4 he might have chosen whether he would give them God or not but when his heart had vowed his hands were tied to perform them he vowed all and all was due not by the Levitical law which now was ended but by the Morall law which lasteth for ever for Job being an Heathen man and not a Jew saith also Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him and he shall hear thee and thou shalt render him thy vows Job 22.27 If the King give a gift of his inheritance to his son his son shall have it if he give it to his servant his servant shall have it Ezek. 46.16 If the King then give a gift to his Father that is to God Almighty shall not God have it or the servant to his Master and Maker shall not he enjoy it Who hath power to take that from God which was given unto him according to his Word can the Bishops can the Clergy give this away no they are but Vsufructuarii they have but the use of it the thing it self is Gods for the words of the grant be Concedimus Deo we give it to God not to the Bishops Therefore when Valentinian the Emperor required the Church of Milan of that noble Bishop S. Ambrose O saith he if any thing were required of me that were mine as my land my house Orat. de basilie tradend p. 2.38 my gold or my silver whatsoever were mine I would willingly offer it but saith he I can take nothing from the Church nor deliver that to others which I my self received but to keep and not to deliver CAP. XXVIII Tithe is not meerly Leviticall How it is and how not and wherein Judiciall TIthe is not simply a Leviticall duty but respectively not the naturall childe of Moses Law but the adoptive Consider first the action and then the end the action in payment of them the end in the employment or disposing of them The action of payment of them cannot be said to be properly Leviticall for divers reasons First it is much more ancient then the Leviticall Law as is already declared and cannot therefore bee said to begin by it or to be meerly Leviticall Secondly the manner of establishing of it in the Leviticall Law seemeth rather to be an annexion of a thing formerly in use then the creating or erecting of a new custome for in all the Leviticall Law there is no originall commandement to pay Tithe but in the place where first it is mentioned Lev. 27.30 it is positively declared to be the Lords without any commandement precedent to yeeld it to him Some happily will affirm the commandement in the 22. Exod. that thou shalt not keep back thy Tithe doth belong to the Leviticall Law though it were given before the Levites were ascribed to the Tabernacle Yet if it were so that is no fundamentall Law whereupon to ground the first erection of paying Tithe but rather as a Law of revive and confirmation as of a thing formerly in esse for detaining and keeping back doe apparently imply a former right and therefore Tithe was still the Lords ex antiquiore jure and not ex novitio praecepto by a precedent right and not by a new commandement Thirdly it containeth no matter of ceremony for if it did then must it be a type and figure of some future thing and by the passion of our Saviour Christ bee converted from a carnall rite into some spirituall observation for so saith Jerome of the legall ceremonies but no such thing appeareth in it and therefore it cannot be said to be a ceremony The whole body of the Fathers doe confirm this who in all their works doe confidently affirm the doctrine that S. Paul so much beateth upon that all legall ceremonies be abolished and yet as many of them as speak of Tithes doe without all controversie both conclude and teach that still they ought to be paid and therefore plainly not to be a ceremony Fourthly the Tithing now used is not after the manner of the Leviticall Law for by the Leviticall Law nothing was tithed but such things as renued and encreased out of the profits of the earth but our manner of tithing is after that of Abrahams Heb. 7.2 who gave tithe of all And this is a thing well to be confidered for therein as Abraham tithed to Melchisedek not being of the Tribe of Levi so our Tithing is now to Christ being of Melchisedeks order and not of the Tribe of Levi but of that of Juda whereunto the Tribe of Levi is also to pay their Tithe Fifthly and lastly the end whereunto Tithe was ordained is plainly Morall and that in three main points Piety Justice and Gratitude 1. Piety as for the worship of God 2. Justice as for the wages and remuneration of his Ministers 3. Gratitude And to encourage them in the service of God 2 Chron. 31.4 as sacrificium laudis an offering of thankfulnesse for his benefits received All which were apparent in the use of Tithes before they were assigned over to the Levites both in the examples of Abraham and Jacob and by the practice of all Nations For God was to be worshipped before in and after the Law and though the Law had never been given but his worship could not be without Ministers nor his Ministers without maintenance and therefore the maintenance of his Ministers was the maintenance of his worship and consequently the tithes applied to the one extended to both God himself doth so expound it Mal. 3.8 where he tearmeth the not-payment of Tithes to bee his spoil and wherein his spoil but in his worship and how in his worship but by taking from him the service of his Ministers the Priests and Levites who being deprived thereof could neither perform his holy rites in matter of charge nor give their attendance for want of maintenance So that herein the children of Israel were not onely guilty of that great sinne committed against piety in hindering the worship of God but of the crying sin also committed against equity in withholding the wages of the labourer his Ministers and consequently of that monstrous and foul sin of Ingratitude which Jacob in vowing of his Tithes so carefully avoided To come to the other point before spoken of the disposing or employment of the Tithes after they were paid that is when they were out of the power of them that paid them and at the ordering of the Levites that received them it cannot be denied but therein were many ceremonies as namely in the sanctifying of them in the eating them in the Tabernacle the eating of them by the
that Nicholas 2. doubted not to commit the government of all the Churches of England unto Edward the Confessor as by and by we shall more largely declare And the Kings of France being so likewise consecrated ever since the time of Clodoveus aliàs Ludovicus whom Saint Remigius Bishop of Rheimes both baptized and anointed about the year of our Lord 500. have from time to time in all ancient ages exercised the like Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction insomuch that Clodoveus himself being but newly entred into is doubted not to appoint a Councell at Orleans and to call thither the Bishops and Clergy of France but out of the motion of Priestly minde to use the very words of the Councell cōmanded the Priests meaning the Bishops to assemble there for debating necessary matters which in his own consideration he had advised upon and delivered to them in heads and titles and they having answered thereunto and framed the Canons of that Councell accordingly did submit them to his judgement and desiring if it approved them himself for greater authority would confirm them Tom. 2. Concil pag. 309. in rescripto Synodi The Kings of Jerusalem and Sicil were also anointed and endowed with Ecclesiasticall authority whereof we shall speak more anon for the right of both these Kingdomes resideth at this present upon the Kings of Spain who till the same came unto them were neither anointed nor crowned and though since that time they have been dignified with both these Prerogatives yet are they not so illustrious in them as in the Kings of England and France for that these are ancient Kingdomes raised by their own power and prowesse and those other of lesse continuance erected by the Pope and not absolute but Feodaries of his Sea And touching that of France also the meer right thereof resteth upon his Majesty of England though de facto another for the time possesseth it So that in this point of unction our Soveraign the King of England is amongst the rest of the Kings of Christendome at this day Peerlesse and transcendent and well therefore might William Rufus say that himself had all the liberties in his Kingdome which the Emperour challenged in his Empire Mat. Paris But I wonder why the Papists should so considently deny the Kings of England to be capable of spirituall jurisdiction when Pope Nicholas 2. of whom wee spake before in an Epistle to King Edward the Confessor hath upon the matter agreed that it may be so for amongst other priviledges that he there bestoweth upon the Church of Saint Peter of Westminster then newly founded by that vertuous King He granteth and absolutely confirmeth that it shall for ever be a place of Regall Constitution and Consecration and a perpetuall habitation of Monkes that shall be subject to no living creature but the King himself free from Episcopall service and authority and where no Bishop shall enter to give any orders c. Tom. Concil part 3. pa. 1129. a. In which words I note first that the Kings of England in those ancient days being before their Coronation meerly Lay persons were by their consecration made candidati Ecclesiasticae potestatis and admitted to the administration thereof for to what other purpose was Consecration ordained but to make secular things to belong unto the Temple and Lay persons to become sacred and Ecclesiasticall like Jacobs stone in the time of the Morall Law which presently upon the anointing thereof became appropriate to the House of God Secondly he plainly maketh the King head of this Monastery that is of the place it self and of all the persons and members therof which then by consequence he might likewise be of all other Ecclesiasticall persons and places through the whole Kingdome And even that also he granteth in a sort in the end of his Epistle Vobis posteris vestris regibus committimus advocationem tuitionem ejusdem loci omnium totius Angliae Ecclesiarum ut vice nostra cum concilio Episcoporum Abbatum constituatis ubique quae justa sunt So that if the Kings of England be pleased to execute this Ecclesiasticall authority as the Popes Vicar then by this his Charter they are invested therewith and peradventure the Clergy of Rome can never revoke it being granted posteris regibus and the Epistles of the Popes being as Barclayus saith of Nich. 1. to Michael the Emperour as an Ecclesiasticall Law Lib. de potest Papae ca. 2. pag. 13. But in the mean time it is hereby evident which I endeavour to prove that the Kings of England are justly capable of spirituall jurisdiction by the Popes own confession for which purpose onely I here alledge it And to give more life to the matter it appeareth by Baronius that Pope Vrbane the granted not onely as much in the Kingdome of Sicil to the King of Spain being the anointed King thereof but added also to that his Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction divers branches of spirituall power belonging meerly to the keys and not to the sword that is to the very function of a Bishop as namely that of Excommunication All which though Baronius impugneth mainly to be of no validity because that all things are void he saith that the Church doth against her self yet the King of Spain both holdeth and exerciseth this function and jurisdiction onely by the connivency of the Pope but defended therein by Cardinall Ascanius Colonna against Baronius But to leave forain examples and to goe on with our domesticall precedents It is manifest by other ancient Authorities Charters and Manuscripts that the Pope thereby granted no more to King Edward and his successors then the same King and his Predecessors before assumed to themselves For this Epistle could not be written to S. Edward before the end of his reign Nicholas not being Pope till then and in the Laws of the same King before that time published himself doth plainly declare himself to be Vicarius summi Regis not summi pontificis yea and that in the government of the Church For the words of his own Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 17. be these The King because he is the Vicar of the highest King is appointed to this purpose that he should rule his earthly Kingdome and the Lords people and should above all things worship his holy Church and govern it and defend it against them that would wrong it and to pull the evill doers out of it c. So that write the Pope what he will S. Edward here taketh upon him to have the rule and government of the Church of England committed to him from God and not from the Pope and to be Gods Vicar not the Popes wherein he imitated his predecessors for King Edgar speaking of the government of the Church saith in plain tearms that it belonged to himself ad nos saith he spectat And because Casaubon in citing this place out of the Manuscript is charged by Parsons to falsifie it and that it is or should be on the