to God which God himselfe hath appointed them to pay (x) Admonemus atque praecipimus ne decimas omnine dare Deo negligant quas ipse Deus dare constituit caus 16 qu. 2. And the authority of the Scripture sheweth that Tithes were granted for the furtherance of piety (y) Decimas in usum pietatis concessas esse Canonica autoritas demonstrat caus 16. qu. 7. The Schole-men on the other side striving that they are but judicialls and so laying them open to the Popes power to be alienated transferred and disposed of by him at his pleasure But the schismaticall and upstart generation of the Brownists cry out and herein the whole world will as easily wonder after these beasts as after the beasts mentioned Rev. 13.3 that Tithes are ceremonies an opinion of yesterday scarclely devised an hundred years since and therefore to be throwne headlong out of the Church of Christ aswell as all other ceremonies which Christ hath taken away and nailed to his crosse Col. ◠14 Assuredly if their assertion be justified the conclusion cannot be denied I pronounce with a free voice saith S. Hierom (z) Libera voce pronuntio ceremonias Judaorum perniciosas esse mortiferas Christianis Hieron Aug. epist 11. that the ceremonies of the Jewes are both pernicious and deadly to Christians That which they cannot prove let me in a word or two disprove Ceremonies were shadowes of things to come carrying with them an analogicall resemblance of the things signified as the shadow carryeth with it a resemblance of the body Col. 2.15 They were carnall rites of holy of heavenly things Heb. 9.10 23. of some Evangelicall truth Let them shew then the body whereof they were shadowes the holy things the Evangelicall truth whereof they were types or else we must tell them that Tithes are no ceremonies For if the definition doth not agree to any thing the thing defined cannot agree to it (a) Cui non convenit definitio eidem non convenit definitum Regula Dialect And since all these carnall rites were but to indure till the time of reformation Heb. 9.10 it is more then marveilous that the Church of Christ ever retaining Tithes in use since the Apostles time could not see them to be dead elements yea deadly ceremonies till this generation arose Oh but they were given to the Levites for the service of the Tabernacle Num. 18.21 therefore ceremonies But I shall make it appeare by and by that Tithes were not then first instituted but long before even from the beginning they were then only assigned to the Levites Againe the argument holds not to prove them ceremonies because given to the sons of Levi for the service of the Tabernacle For what manner of reasoning is this their work was ceremoniall therefore their wages ceremonies May not I better reason they were given to the Levites for their service in the Tabernacle which was not only ceremoniall but also yea and more principally morall reading of the Scriptures causing the people to understand the reading Neh. 8.38 blessing and praising the GOD of Israel 1 Chr. 16.4 and teaching of the people the Law of the LORD of Hosts Mat. 2.7 Therefore they were morall duties But as when our Saviours disciples had rehearsed to him the diverse opinions of men concerning him some saying that he was John Baptist some Elias some Jeremiah or one of the Prophets He asked them Whom say yee that I am Mat. 16.15 So happily having proposed to you the diversity of opinions herein some saying that they are judiciall some ceremoniall some tolerable some abominable some one thing some another most of them shooting at one marke to wrest them out of the hands of GODS Ministers you are ready to demand But what sai'st thou that they are whether moral ceremoniall or judiciall I am not beloved fearfull to answer you concerning this point but doe resolutely professe unto you that they are neither ceremonies necessary to be rejected nor judicialls indifferent either to be retained or refused but morall being holy to the LORD by an eternall right as well before and after the Law as under it and being by him ordained to be the portion of his Priests and Ministers as well before and after as under the Law so that that assertion all Tithes are holy to the Lord Levit. 27.30 is no way Leviticall but containeth in it a perpetuall truth and that the Ministers of the Gospell may as lawfully claime the tenth of their peoples increase as before and under the Law the Priests of the high GOD received them For the making good whereof two points are to bee proposed First that Tithes were ever due and paid before the law of Moses Secondly that they are now due in the time of the Gospel for from thence it must follow evidently that howsoever in the Law they were specially assigned to the sonnes of Levi yet they had not then their beginning but were ever the Lords and his Ministers by a morall and perpetuall right For the first Tithes were ever due and paid before the Law As soone as ever we finde any mention of a Priest of GOD we find paiment of Tithes to him and that eo nomine because he was the Priest of GOD Melchisedek was Priest of the most high GOD and Abraham gave him Tithes of all Gen. 14.19 20. And this he did not by voluntary contribution but rather by necessary injunction for such a gift would rather have argued the superiority and excellency to have beene in Abraham the giver than in Melchisedek the receiver whereas the Apostle would have us to consider Melchisedeks greatnesse by Abrahams giving of Tithes to him Heb. 7.4 Againe the Originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 6. Melchisedek tithed Abraham importing that he tooke it by lawfull authoritie not as a free will offering In this way of Abraham walketh his grandchilde Iacob who no doubt was taught by Abrahams pious direction to keepe the way of the LORD herein Gen. 18.19 and voweth payment of Tithes unto GOD Gen. 28.20 as acknowledging that they were his right before the Law was given But here Cardinall Bellarmine and his side would faine wring this testimonie out of our hands and conclude hence that tithes are no morall duties because they were vowed he himselfe saith it had beene an ungodly thing to vow Tithes if he had beene absolutely bound to pay them (b) Impium fuisset vovere decimas si absolutè fuisset obligatus eas solveue Bellar contr 5. l. cap. 25. tom 1. and as great a Rabbi amongst them as he that a man may not vow a morall duty conditionally as Jacob here doth (c) Alphons Tostat in Matt. 23. if GOD would be with him and keep him in his way and give him bread to eate and raiment to put on But it seemeth they are readie with their answer before ever they looked on the Text. For Jacob voweth and that conditionally that if GOD will bee
spiritualibus possit vacare Ministeriis quas leges Christianorum congeries longis temporibus custodivit intemeratas Vnde statuimus c. The Lawes of God providing for Priests and Ministers of the Churches for their hereditary portion have commanded all people to pay the Tithes of their fruits to the holy places that being no wayes hindred by unlawfull things they might attend their spirituall offices Which lawes the Christian Church hath a long time kept undefiled Whereupon we ordaine that all people shall pay their Ecclesiasticall Tithes And so I conclude with that of Junius that Tithes have beene holy to God by all right since the memory of man (b) Decimae iure 〈◊〉 post hominum memoriaÌ„ Deo fuerunt sacrae And that it was sacrilege in the Pope at first to appropriate them to Monks and Friers from the labouring Oxen no better in secular persons at the dissolution of the Abbies to invade them in Patrons to set them to sale to detaine any glebe or Tithes consecrated to God In Parishioners either by secret practise or pretended customes to defraud the Minister of them And that God is much robbed in our Church partly by prescriptions and customes which snatch away somewhat from every Church in our Realme partly by impropriations which of nine thousand two hundred eighty and foure Parish Churches for that is the just number in England and Wales (c) Cambd. Brit. pag. 262. have devoured three thousand eight hundred ninety five almost the halfe in number but farre above the halfe in value and goodnesse God put it into the hearts of our Reverend Bishops Deanes and Chapiters and Colledges who hold many of them still in the right of the Church to provide so conscionably for those that labour in them that whilst they serve at the Altar they may not starve at it But to dreame of any restitution of them from the Lay possessors unlesse it bee here and there one like a berry or two in the top of a bough whose heart God hath touched were as the Poet saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a dreame of a shadow When we have said and reasoned all that we can they have against us one argument for themselves abutili which we shall never solve nor dissolve In this case let me say to you as Jeremy said to the Prophets that prophesied Behold the vessels of the Lords house shall now shortly be brought againe from Babylon If we be Prophets let us now make intercession to the LORD of Hosts that the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD goe not to Babylon Jer 27.15 16. For as the Israelites of old cryed so may we The sword of the LORD and of Gideon Judg. 7.20 It is the goodnesse of our God and the Piety of our gracious King that yet preserveth to us from those Evening wolves these Relliquias Danaum atque immitis Achillis (d) Virg. Aene. id 1. That I have so long dwelt upon this point and petition The blessing of the Levites substance I may say to these evil times whereinto wee have falne as Paul to the Corinthians in another case Ye have compelled me In the next petition which is another request for an acceptation of the worke of his hands I will briefly touch the first branch which is an intimation of a worke to be performed by him as being most pertinent to this time and persons here present Accept the worke of his hands There lay a necessity upon man even in his innocency to labour in an honest calling The LORD GOD tooke Adam after he had made him and put him into the garden of Eden to dresse it Gen. 2.15 But when man had sinned against his Maker and forfeited his state in that Paradise of pleasure When his labour should have been with pleasure without defatigation hee was turned out into the wide world into the earth cursed for his sake Gen. 3.17 in which with the sweat of his browes even with difficult labour paine and sorrow hee must eat his bread and get his living For now all his dayes are sorrow and his travell grief Eccles 2.23 And now labour lieth on him not only as a duty testifying his obedience wherein hee must imitate the holy Angels who are created of GOD to be ministring spirits Heb. 1.14 Yea his heavenly Father who laboured in the beginning of time in the creating of all things and at this time and to the end of times worketh in the preservation of all his creation John 5.17 but also as punishment of his disobedience Man is borne unto labour as the sparks flie upward Job 5.7 And this working with his hands is the discharging of the duties of that calling wherein GOD hath set him as the LORD hath called every man so let him worke 1 Cor. 7.17 Now this worke of Levies hand was that I may distinguish the things that differ either ceremoniall or morall The ceremoniall was to minister in the Priests office Ex. 28.1 to offer gifts and sacrifices Heb. 8.3 to be over the Tabernacle of the Testimonie over all the vessels thereof and all things that belong unto it Numb 1.50 The morall was to thanke and praise the GOD of Israel 1 Chro. 16.4 and 23.31 to blesse the children of Israel in GODS name Numb 6.23 Deut. 10.8 to read in the book of the Law distinctly give the sense and cause the people to understand the reading Neh. 8.8 to shew the people the sentence of judgement in hard matters Deut. 17.8 2 Chro. 19.8 Ezek 44.23 24. to exhort them in warre Deut. 20.23 to teach them at all times the Law of the LORD of Hosts and to walk before the Lord in uprightnesse that so they might turne many from then iniquities Mal. 2.6 7. Now the first of these the ceremoniall worke was to indure but till the time of reformation Heb. 9.10 the fastning of that hand writing of ordinances to the crosse of Christ Col. 4. that law being changed and abolished this work of the Priesthood is abolished also The other worke the morall is to continue though not in the tribe of Levi yet in those Prophets Pastors and teachers that Christ gave for the perfecting of the Saints the worke of the ministry and the edifying of his body Eph. 4.11 till the end of the world the appearing of JESUS CHRIST Mat. 28.20 1 Tim. 6.14 This worke in regard of the authority by which or master for whom it is don is called the Lords work 1 Cor. 16.10 in regard of the dignity of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good or godly worke 1 Tim. 3.1 and the workemen thereof laboures together with God 1 Cor. 3.9 in regard of the greatnes of it a worke hardly to be fitted with a workman who is sufficient for these things 2 Cor. 2.16 it is onâ—â— vel ipsis angelis formindandum (e) Bernard a burthen to be feared of the very Angels Ars est artium regimen animarum (f) Gregor in
miles Secondly besides this glebe wherewith they were indowed they had all the tenth in Israel Num. 18.21 even all the Tithes of Corne Wine Oyle Fruits Herds and Flocks Levit. 27.30 32. Thirdly they had every thing which opened the matrice in all flesh whether of men or beasts the firstlings of Kine Sheepe and Goats not to bee redeemed the firstborne of Men to bee redeemed at five shekels and the firstlings of the other beasts to be redeemed at the Priests estimation with a fist part put to it Exod. 34.19 20. Num. 18.15 16. Levit. 27.27 Nehem. 10.36 Fourthly they had the first fruits even whatsoever was ripe in the Land Num. 18.13 the firh fruits of their Corne Wine Oyle the first fruits of the fleeces of their Sheepe Deut. 18.4 the first fruits of all manner of Trees and of their very dough for a blessing upon the rest Ezek. 44.30 Nehem 10.35 37. Fiftly they had all Oblations and Vowes even every devoted thing in Israel Num. 18.18 14 19. Ezek. 44.29 30. Sixtly they had every meat offering every sinne offering every trespasse offering every heave offering every shake offering and the shew bread Num. 18.9 10. Ezek. 44.29 Levit. 24.9 Seventhly of Sacrifices eucharisticall the breast and the shoulder Num. 18.18 Levit. 7.31 32. of other Sacrifices the shoulder the two cheekes and the maw Deut. 18.3 and of whole burnt Sacrifices the skinne Levit 7.8 And last of all all the males among them must three times a yeare appeare before the LORD in the place which he should choose and not come empty handed but every one was to give as he was able according to the blessing of the LORD which he had given him Deut. 16.16 This was the matter of their maintenance being in respect of the quantity very large and liberall and for the manner of it also it was very honourable for all these duties were to bee brought yeare by yeare unto the house of God Neh. 10.35 37. that as (n) Lib. de prim sacerd Philo Judaeus observeth from thence the Priests and Levites might receive them as from the hands of GOD and not bee upbraided by the people as though they lived by them and were their almesmen which is now rife in the mouthes of rude and ignorant men But GOD stoppeth the mouthes of such miscreants when hee saith I have given the children of Levi all the tenth Num. 18.20 I whose the earth is and the fulnesse thereof Psal 24.1 and not the children of men to whom I have given the earth Psal 115.16 And if any for their owne ease were desirous to redeeme any duty and not to carry it to the LORDS house which to some that dwelt afarre off would have beene very cumbersome they were to pay according to the Priests estimation at all times Levit. 27.27 with the addition of a fist part and not by any injurious and Church-robbing prescription or custome a feather for a goose as the change of the times hath made it amongst us And if any but through ignorance for wilfull theft in civill matter was punished with a fourefold restitution Ex. 22.1 much more in the things of GOD detained any thing either in whole or part which was holy to GOD he was to bring a ramme for an offering to make good that which he withheld and to adda fifth part Levit. 5.15 16. This both for the matter and the manner was the substance of Levi given granted assigned and confirmed to him haeredibus successoribus in perpetuum for their executing the Priests office for their service in the Tabernacle for their teaching of Iacob Gods judgements and Israel his law and that not by man by whom notwithstanding any thing devoted to the LORD is most holy Levit. 27.28 but by this JEHOVAH who is implored here to blesse his substance unto whom by an eternall right before the Law under the Law and after the Law all Tithes are holy Levit. 27.30 and so not onely his as the whole earth is his by right of creation and preservation for he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods Psal 24.2 but by a propriety and immediate right that he hath in them as having separated them from mans use to himselfe and allowed man none interest in them at all no not of use and possession Now to come home with this to our times men brethren and fathers Was this Levies substance Was the LORD so bountifull to the Priests and Levites under the Law And will he not be as liberall to those whom he hath put apart to preach the Gospel and to serve him in the Gospel of his Son If the ministration of death of condemnation 2 Cor. 3.7 9. received so plentifull and large a maintenance from the hand of God no man that hath any understanding in the mystery of Christ can deny but he would be as open handed to the ministration of life and of the spirit And why shall not the Apostles reasoning à pari that as they which minister about the holy things live of the things of the Temple and as they which wait at the Altar are partakers of the things of the Altar even so GOD hath ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.13 14. hold as well for the proportion and quantity of the maintenance as for the just right and authority to claime and receive it so that from that very Scripture we may not onely shew that as GOD and not any man gave the Tithes to Levi so GOD and not man hath ordained that the Preacher of the Gospel should live of the Gospel not of the Disciples goods but of the Gospel as Theophylact (o) Non ex discipulorum facultatibus sed ex Evangelio Theophylact in 1 Cor. 9 glosseth the words not of the Disciples goods by way of voluntary contribution or beggerly almes but upon their owne goods gotten by preaching of the Gospel for neither as Theophylact saith there doest thou yeeld them maintenance but their owne industry maintaineth them (p) Neque enim tuteiis alimonium subministras sed propria quaedam industriaipsos alit but also that as great a portion and proportion is due to him that preacheth the Gospel as to him that ministred in the Tabernacle and served at the Altar And if as great why not the selfe same in kinde for Tithes Oblations and vowed things setting aside the Sacrifices and the like which were meerly ceremoniall and shadowes of things to come and are now abrogated by Christ the body and substance of them Col. 2. Since they were due to GOD long before the Law as wee see in Abrahams giving Tithe of all to Melchisedech Priest of the high God Gen. 14. in Iacobs vowing of Tithes unto GOD Gen. 28. since there can be no better course for fulfilling that Canon of the Apostle Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teacheth in all his goods or
with him c. the LORD shall bee his GOD which I thinke they will not denie to bee a morall dutie even here then is evidence enough that morall duties may be vowed that they may be vowed conditionally And if morall duties may not be vowed why doe the people of the Jewes enter into a covenant and sweare unto the LORD GOD of their fathers to seeke him with all their heart and with all their soule 2 Chron. 15.12 13 14. Why doth David bind himselfe by an oath to keep Gods righteous judgements I have sworne and will performe it that I will keepe thy righteous judgements Psal 119.106 Thus out of the mouth and deeds of two witnesses beyond all exception Abraham and Jacob may this truth bee established that Tithes were held Gods right and his Priests in the law of Nature before ever the law written The perswasion whereof was by the law of Nature so ingraven in mens hearts the practice of it in all possibilitie so dispersed from Noah amongst all people that as Festus faith (d) Decima quaque veteres diis suis offereâ—â—nt the old people offered all kinde of Tithes to their gods as Cyrus overcomming the Lydians offered all to Jupiter (e) Herodot Clie and Bacchus overcomming the Scythians offered to him also (f) Te memorant Gange totoque oriente subacto Primitias magno seposuisse Iovt. Ovid. l. 3. Fastcrum They say when thou hadst Ganges and the East o'rethrowne Thou set'st apart for Jove the first fruits as his owne And the ancient Romanes did vow Tithes to Hercules (g) Macrob. Sat. lib. 3. ca. 24. yea the very barbarous Sabeans and Ethiopians sold not their spices to the Merchants before their Priests had laid out their tenth for their gods (h) Decimas deâ— sacerdotes capiunt nec antè mercarilicet Plin. nat hist li. 12. ca. 14. Thus have I examined and cleered the first point I come now to the second which is that they are now due to GOD and those that serve him in the Gospell of his Sonne since the abolishing of the Law of Ordinances And here the great Cardinall and the Popish Champions who when the doore must bee set open to unwritten traditions can denie the Scripture to be full enough without traditions to containe expressely the whole doctrine either concerning faith or manners and that therefore traditions are requisite (i) Scriptura non continet expressè totam doctrinam sive de fide sive de moribus c. Bellarm. li. 4. de verb. dei c. 3. nay can with the like affection of pietie and reverence receive and honour unwritten traditions as all the bookes of the (k) Traditiones non scriptas pari pietatis affectu reverentia suscipere venerari ac omnes libros tam veteris quam novi Testamenti Concil Trid. Sess 4. Old and New Testament doe now call for an expresse precept in the new Law specifying Tithes to bee the Ministers maintenance an expresse precept it is not enough to have it in sense but we must have it in words to have it by sound consequence and collection but wee must have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word for word and yet Gregory Nazianzen saith that those things which are gathered out of the Scriptures are alike to those things which are written expressely (l) Perinde sunt ea qua ex Scripturis colliguntur atque ea qua sorthuntur If I can then deduce it by good consequence out of the New Testament it shall be enough though it be not written in totidem verbis syllabis When the Apostle then mentioneth living of the Gospel and that ever so as they which wait at the Altar are partakers of the Altar 1 Cor. 9.13 13. when he urgeth communicating to our teachers in all our goods Gal. 6.6 wee may not here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 collatis testimoniis demonstrare as Beza interpreteth it Act 9.22 by comparing testimonies of Scripture by laying one place to another shew that this living of the Gospell this communicating in all our goods should bee now by the tenth as being a course held before the Law and under the Law unlesse man will be wiser than his Maker and devise a new way of living for them of communicating to them leaving the old which GOD had settled from the beginning of the world And what shall become of that double honour double maintenance which the Elders that rule well are worthie of 1 Tim. 5.17 if the portion of the Presbyters under the Gospell come short of the portion of the Priesthood under the Law for so to understand honour the next verse there giveth us light for the Scripture saith The labourer is worthy of his reward and accordingly Saint Hierome expoundeth honour to be maintenance and understandeth by maintenance Tithes adding also What we have said concerning Tithes which heretofore were given by the people to the Priests and Levites understand it also concerning the people of the Church (m) Quod de decimis diximus quaolim dabantur à populo Sacerdetibus Le vitis in Ecclesiae quoque papulis intelligito May we not finde here as good evidence in these testimonies for Tithes as any where in the New Testament for the perpetuall and unchangeable observation of the seventh day cried up with more than a Jewish rigour by many not zealous according to discretion (n) See their absurd positions in Rogers preface to Articles of Relig. for the baptizing of infants and many other truths which are not expressed in the very letter and so many words but foundly and justly gathered out of the sense and purpose of the holy Scripture And what thinke wee of the Apostles reasoning Heb. 7 6 7 8 9. when he proveth Melchisedechs Priesthood and so Christs which is all one greater than the Leviticall first because in Abraham Levi paid Tithes to Melchisedeck and so to Christ Secondly because Melchisedeck is a Tith taker that liveth still and Levi is a Tith-taker that dieth Doe not these consectaries follow and flow from it First that if Levi paid Tithes in Abraham then they are originally no Leviticall ceremonies howsoever under the Law they were specially assigned to him for that is a crossing of the Leviticall ordinances which injoyne that Tithes should bee paid to Levi. Secondly if before the Law Tithes were paid unto Christ in Melchisedeck then hee receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that hee liveth vers 8. why should they not likewise be paid unto Christ in his Presbyters after that law is abolished now they must live of the Gospel and being in his stead 1 Cor. 5.20 are fittest to bee his receivers Thirdly if other things wherein Melchisedeck the type and Christ the antitype agree and are brought to prove his eternall Priesthood are ever true of him as that he is King of righteousnes King of peace that he is without father or mother without descent having
good things Gal. 6.6 If in all his good things why not by way of a tenth since there can be no more equall course any quantity above that being too little for the teacher to receive and under it being too much for him that is taught to give That Tithes are to bee given to GOD and his Ministers Abraham signifieth by his deeds Iacob by his promises afterwards the Law ordaineth it and all the holy Doctors mention it (q) Decimas Deo sacerdotibus eius dandas Abraham factis Iaacob promissis insinuat deinde lex statuit omnes Doctores sancti commemorant Walfr Strabo de rebus Ecclesiasticis But here The scorching East the South winde loud doe bluster The Southwest winde up all his storme doe muster (r) Vnâ Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellis Africus c. Virg. id 1. The Tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagarins Gebal Ammon and Amalek the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre Assur also is joyned with them Psal 83.6 7 8. Polititians and Papists Schismatikes and Atheists are confederate together against GOD and his Church for the spoiling of him and it in Tithes and Offerings Mal. 3.8 The Polititians plea is that Levi was in estimation as the tenth part of Israel and therefore having none inheritance amongst them had the tenth for their inheritance whereas our Clergy are not the tenth part nay scarcely the fiftieth part of the Realme so that they need lesse maintenance and it is enough to provide them of a competent stipend These men are wife to doe evill can reason plausibly so long as they speake Babylons Logicke Downe with it downe with it to the ground Psal 137. But all their reasonings herein are but perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gaine is godlinesse 1 Tim. 6.5 And their mouthes may be easily stopped by answering them that howsoever the Levites were the thirteenth Tribe yet they were not the tenth nor thirteenth part in Israel but at that time that GOD gave them the Tithes for the service of the Tabernacle the sixtieth part For when the other Tribes were numbred from twenty yeares old and upward such as were able to beare armes were in number six hundred thousand three thousand five hundred and fifty besides those which were either but twenty yeares old or unfit for service who would have doubled the number at least but the Levites being reckoned from a month old and above their number was twenty two thousand Num. 1. per totum which was not much above the sixtieth part At this day then the Clergy of England and their families being not lesse than the sixtieth part of the Reame as large a portion even in their owne reasoning out of their owne mouth will I judge them is requisite for them as for the Levites But that fancied Chimaera that individuum vagum of a competency how shall it answer the Apostles rule of communicating in all their goods Gal. 6.6 How shall it supply their want at all times How shall there be any certainty in it since by reason of the ebbing and flowing rising and falling of the prices of things it is as impossible to set downe a competent stipend as it is to make a coat for the Moone Was not tenne pounds by the yeare as competent about an hundred yeares since as an hundred pounds are now and who knoweth not whether future ages may not see as great alterations Certainly these competencies have already brought our Livings to an impotency and the yoke of prescription and custome in receiving our dues after the old rate lieth so heavy on our neckes that the more other men prosper we pine the more they flourish wee fade the more their estate increaseth the more ours diminisheth Now againe the Papists and some of our owne side that have not looked so narrowly into this truth as they might have done hold Tithes not to be required by the Morall Law consonant to the law of Nature but by the Judiciall Law and therefore now to stand or fall in the Church as it shall please Saint Peters heire the Pope saith the one or the supreme Magistrate faith the other But here both antecedent and consequent both assertion and inference halt downe right and finde no rest for the soale of their foot in any place of Scripture The antecedent that Tithes are judicialls for all Tithes are holy to the Lord Levit. 27.30 separated by himselfe from common use but all judicialls are things in common use not separated from man Tithes therefore are not cannot bee judicialls The consequence againe is lame Tithes are judicialls therefore now they may be retained or removed ad placitum For is it not a received tenent amongst many of our Divines (Å¿) Pisc praefat in Levit. Perk. cases consc c. that those judicialls which serve for the backing of the Morall Law for punishing the breaches of it namely idolatry witchcraft blasphemy murther adultery theft disobedience to parents are still alive stand in force or at least have a surviving equity in them If the rest why not this of Tithes which is as a bulwarke to the first Table which prescribeth the worship of GOD the manner and maintenance thereof But this position of our latter Papists is not so old as their Canon Law It was first invented by the Schoolemen Alexander of Hales the Master and Thomas Aquinas the Scholar and the rest of that ranke When dominus deus Papa had taken the Tithes from the Oxen that either did or should plough Job 1. the Rectors of the Churches to whom they were properly due and had improperly given them to the Asses that fed by the Covents of Monks and Friers Those locusts that had made the face of the Church more desolate than ever the locusts of Egypt did the face of the country by devouring every greene thing throughout their land Exod. 10.15 That so his sacriledge in exempting some of their orders from paying Tithes of their grounds where they were due as Alexander the third exempted the Cistercians Hospitalars and Templars from payment of Tithes (t) Alexander 3. Cistercienses Hospitalarios Templarios decimarum solutione exemit Catal. test verit Tim. 2. lib. 15. John the fifteenth gave the like privilege to the Benedictine Monkes at Cusinum (u) Leo Marsicanus Hostiens Episc lib. 2. hist ca. 1. And in appropriating Church livings to all their Covents might the better bee salved Therefore as in many other points so in this there is warre betweene the Canonists and the Scholemen the Canonists contending that payment of Tithes is necessary by Gods commandement against the opinion of the Schole Divines (*) Quod dâ—â—imarum solutio ex divino praecepto sit necessaria contra Theologorum sententiam Iaens Concord cap. 83. for so the old Canon runnes We admonish and command that by no meanes they neglect to pay Tithes
neither beginning of dayes nor end of life vers 2.3 Why not this hee ever taketh Tithes since he receiveth Tithes of whom it is witnessed that hee liveth and since this paying of Tithes is produced with the rest to prove Christs eternall priesthood Againe is not sacrilege accursed and accursed for sin not only in the old Testament it is a snare to to the man who devoureth that which is holy Prov. 20.25 but also in the New Thou that abhorrest idols dost thou commit sacrilege Rom. 2.22 Is it not punished as a capitall sinne not only in the one Testament in Balshazzar Dan 5. but also in the other In Ananias and Sapphira Act. 5. For the sinne is so much the more grievous by how much it cannot be committed but against God (o) Tantè gravius est peccatum quantè committinon potest nisi in Deum And so speaketh Beza of Ananias sin To this sacrilege there was added diffidence and hypocrisie (p) Beza inlecum And so St. Ambrose whilst he taketh away part of that which he promised he is condemned both of sacrilege and fraud of sacrilege because he deceived God of his promise (q) Dum exeo quod promiserat partem subtrahit sacrilegii simuleondemnatur fraudis sacrilegii quod Deum in pollicitatione fefellerat Ambr. ser 9. Now if sacrilege which is the taking away of things deputed and consecrated to GOD and his worship being either such things as God by expresse reseruation hath consecrated to himselfe or else such as man hath consecrated and set apart to him be still a sinne under the Gospel still make men guilty before God How then should not the payment of Tithes be a morall duty stand still in force under the Gospel since as for mine owne part I take it God hath consecrated them to himself by an eternall right which right he chalengeth Levit. 27.30 All Tith is holy unto the Lord. At least as no man can deny they are by the Lawes not only of this Land but almost of all Christendome consecrated unto God for the maintenance of his worship and ministery And as the Scriptures are pregnant enough on our side to prove Tithes a morall duty and now to be continued under the Gospel So in the primitive best times of the Church the best of the Fathers and Councels understood interpreted and pressed them so required them as a morall and Christian duty and for almost a thousand yeares it was never held in the Church that they were either judiciall or ceremoniall Origen who was neere to the Apostles times there being but eighty foure yeares between John the Evangelists death and his birth urgeth the paiment of Tithes as a doctrine then received in the Church and binding Christians How doth (r) Quomodo abundat iustitia nostraplusquam Scribarum Pharisaeorum si illi de fructibus terrae suae gustare non audent priusquam primitâ—as sacerdotibus offerant Le vitis decimae separentur ego nihil horum faciens 〈◊〉 terrae ita abutar ut Sacerdos nesciat Levita ignoret divinum altare non sentiat Grig homil 11. in Num our righteousnesse abound more than the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees if they dare not taste of the fruits of the earth before they offer the first fruits to the Priests and the Tithes be separated for the Levites and I doing none of these shall so abuse the fruits of the earth that the Priests shall not know it the Levit shall bee ignorant of it GODS Altar shall not perceive it And further there he delivereth his judgement for that point I thinke it necessary that this Law should be observed according to the letter (Å¿) Hane egolegem observari etiam seounduÌ„ literam necessarium puto and expoundeth our Saviours words Mat. 23 These things you ought to have done and not to have left the other undone to bee a precept no lesse binding Christians than Jewes Thus did he hold them to be morall found them in novalege St. Cyprian whose Martyredome fell about two hundred fifty nine yeares after Christ giveth us to understand that Ministers then lived of Tithes then distributed to them by the Bishops who were the generall Stewards of Church goods (t) In honore sportulantium fratrum tanquam decimaâ— ex fructibâ—â— accipientes Ep. 66. Sportula was the stipend allowed by the Bishop to the Presbyter living saith hee of that honourable stipend with their brethren as they who received Tithes of the fruits of the earth St. Ambrose also presseth this payment and a reformation when fault had been committed afore Whosoever shall call to minde in himselfe that he hath not faithfully payed his Tithes let him now amend that which he hath failed in (u) Quicunque recognoverit in se quod fideliteâ— non dederit dermas quomodo emendet quod minus fecit Ambr. serm 34. infer quadrag St. Augustine also can finde footing in the new Testament for Tithes when he expoundeth Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods Mat. 22.21 Tribute to Casar Tithes to GOD (x) Casari census decimae deo Hom. 48. tom 10. When he faith againe Set apart the Tithes although that bee a small matter for it is said that the Pharisees gave Tithes And what saith the LORD Vnlesse your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees you cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven (y) Decim 〈◊〉 exime quanquaÌ„ parum sit dictuÌ„ est enim quia Pharisas decimas dabant quid aâ—t dominus nisi abundaverit c. Idem in Psal 146. And it seemeth that this was no new thing done under the Sun in his time by that which he saith againe Our Ancestors did therefore abound with all store because they gave Tithes to GOD and paid their Tribute to Caesar But now because devotion hath decreased exactions have increased were will not give the tenth part to GOD and now all is taken away that which Christ cannot have Caesar will (z) Maiores nostri ideo coptis omnibus abundabant quia deo decimas dabant Casars censum reddebuÌ„t modo autem quia decessit devotio accessit indictio fisci nolumus partus cum deo decimas modò auteÌ„ tollitur totuÌ„ hee tollit fiscus quod non accipit Christus Id. hom 48. inter 50 ser The time would faile me if I should produce other testimonies out of Fathers Councels Oecumenicall and provinciall lawes Ecclesiasticall and Imperiall all of them acknowledging paiment of Tithes to bee a morall duty commanding them now to be paid to the Church The one of the second Councell held at Matiscon anno 586. shall serve for all (a) Leges divina consulentes Sacerdotibus Ministris Ecclesiarum pro hareditariaportione omni populo praeceperunt decimas fructuum suorum locis sacris praestare ut nullo labore impediti per res illegitimas