Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	pay_v	priest_n	tithe_n	4,836	5	10.3389	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30531	A just and righteous plea presented unto the King of England, and his council, &c. being the true state of the present case of the people, called Quakers, truly demonstrated, and justly pleaded, on their behalf : and this is laid down in six particulars ... / by ... Edw. Burroughs.	Burrough, Edward, 1634-1662.	1661 (1661)	Wing B6011; ESTC R14916	30,489	41

Testimonies with divers others that might be given it is manifest that the Saints of God in former Ages did meet together to worship God and to wait upon Him in Prayer Preaching as the Spirit of the Father taught them that dwelt in them And sometime they met publickly and sometime more private and sometime on the day-time and sometime in the night-season and they met separate from the Synagogues and wayes of publick Worship of the Iews according to the Will of God and as it was ordered among them And thus it is manifest that our Meetings for the Worship of God at this day though they are separate from the way of publick Worship of the Kingdom and are in more private houses are justifiable being after the Example of the Saints and according to the Scriptures of Truth and therefore out Meetings are according to the Law of God just and lawful III. And forasmuch as by reason of the late Insurrection of some few persons in London our lawful Assembling of our selves together in the Worship of God is under present restraint and prohibition and by Proclamation forbidden under the denomination of Seditious and Unlawful Meetings and our Friends Imprisoned and Persecuted for that cause of Assembling themselves to wait upon God Now in this Case this I plead unto the King That we are no manner of way guilty of that Insurrection upon which the Proclamatian of forbidding our Meetings was grounded and therefore ought not to suffer with the guilty being innocent from the very occasion of that Proclamation and for the King to prohibit our Meetings for and because of the ill use that others made of theirs this seems a Condemning of the Innocent with the Guilty which is no way just in the sight of God nor Men but altogether unequal that we should suffer for other ments faults though such did abuse their Liberty and pervert the end of their Meetings into rising up with Carnal Weapons against the King so did not we neither in intent nor action and therefore our Meetings ought not to be prohibited for the cause of other mens faults and miscarriages in that case And also we have the King's Promise divers times That we should not suffer for our Religion while we aded nothing against the Peace of the Kingdom and Government which yet we never have done nor made any ill use of our Meetings nor of the King's Promises nor forfeited them and therefore according to his own Promises we ought to have our Meetings and enjoy them without restraint because we have not farfeited the benefit of his former Promises in that behalf nor ever made use of our Meetings to plot or conspire against the Government to its harm or detriment and because of our innocency herein the benefit of his former Promises are yet in force unto us to protect our lawful Meetings and not to prohibit them and though upon suspition only out Meetings have been Restrained and our Friends Imprisoned by the late Proclamation yet we being proved innocent and without guilt of that which occasioned it the King and Council may and ought in Justice and good Reason to Reverse and Revoke that part of the Proclamation related to us as being innocent that we may enjoy our lawful Meetings according to the Scriptures and Example of Saints and according to the King 's own former Promises IV. All these things considered and rightly understood by the King and his Council it will appear unto them in good reason 1. That our Meetings are just and lawful in themselves because they are for the Worship of the Lord God and to wait upon Him 2. They are according to the Example of the Apostles because the Scriptures prove the like Meetings 3. And they are not contrary to his own Promises and Toleration that he gave for six Months after his coming in Because he said VVe should not suffer for our Religion if we lived peaceably and we were not disturbed by Authority from him that we know of in our Meetings till this occasion 4. It will appear That we ought in Iustice and Equity to have our lawful Meetings protected and preserved by the King's Authority and not prohibited because we are not guilty of that which occasioned this present Restraint but what we have suffered in this case it hath been upon suspition and without any just cause on our part And for these Ends and Causes I plead on the behalf of the Innocent that we may enjoy peaceably our Meetings for the exercise of God's Worship and not be prohibited in the King's Dominions under his Authority V. But and if we are persecuted and imprisoned and made to suffer for this Cause of Meeting together to worship God and wait upon Him in Conscience and Duty towards Him and for following the Scriptures Example as the Saints of old as afore-mentioned we must only commit our Cause to the God of Heaven and in patience suffer under whatsoever is unequally inflicted upon us for this matter if men shew the height of Oppression towards us and we must put on the spirit of Long-suffering and Forbearance and leave Vengeance to the Lord who will in his season redress our Cause if that we are persecuted for meeting together and for worshipping of the Lord according as his Spirit perswades our Consciences and such our Sufferings are not for evil-doing not as Transgressors against God nor the King but as Servants of God we suffer and for holding the Testimony of JESUS and a good Conscience And thus I have brought the state of our Case as concerning our Meetings unto the Kings knowledge and must leave it to his serious view and happy will he be if he hath regard to the Afflicted but if he stop his Ear from the Cry of the Poor and suffer them to be destroyed who shall plead for him or excuse him in the Day of the Lord when He comes to Judgement to reward every man according to his deeds CHAP. III. The Case stated and pleaded concerning Tythes as paid among the Jews and also among the Christians and the Cause why we refuse to pay them at this day I. VVE do acknowledge that Tythes as instituted given and received in the Law of Moses amongst the Iews and according to the Commandment of God were of Heavenly Ordination and were for that Holy Use and End of maintaining the Levitical Priesthood and the Poor the Widows and the Strangers in Israel and we know that whilest that Livitical Priesthood of Signs and Types and Figures was yet unfinished and unfulfilled by Christ Jesus the Everlasting Priest That Law that gave and received Tythes was in force and it was sinful against God and contrary to his Law in any of Israel to withhold their Tythes and not to pay them and such as did robbed God and the Poor and the Prophet complained against them for then the Ordination of Tythes was of God and the Practise and End of them was good and

blessed But that Law and Priesthood that gave and received them is finished and ended with all the Types and Shadows of the first Covenant Heb. 7. 12. and Christ Iesus the everlasting Priest of God is come in whom is ended the first Priesthood that took Tythes and that Law that gave them and he hath put an end to Tythes Temple Priests-Office under the Law among the Iews and all outward Types and Figures and first Covenant and is an High Priest for ever and the everlasting Substance of all Shadows pertaining to the first Covenant and hath finished them and ended them even that Law and Ordinance that gave and received Tythes and that Priesthood to whom Tythes pertained so that though it was unlawful in the first Covenant to withhold the payment of Tythes yet that Covenant being ended and that Law and Priesthood and another Covenant and Priesthood established to whom the Law of God allows not the Tythes of mens estates it seems now to be unlawful to pay receive or demand Tythes and for good Conscience sake we cannot do it II. We cannot now pay Tythes according to the first Covenant nor uphold any part of the first Priesthood that stood in Types and Shadows nor submit to that Law by any obedience to it which one gave and received Tythes Seeing Iesus Christ is come in the flesh who hath ended all that Covenant with every thing that pertained thereunto and we believe in Iesus Christ as the everlasting substance and receive the Law by which we walk in all things from him and not from Abraham nor Moses For he is with us who is greater then they whose Law and Example we must follow in the Administration of the Gospel and not the Law and Example of Abraham and Moses in the first Covenant who did but prophesie of Christ and did not witness him fully come but died in the Faith Now if we should pay Tythes according to the first Covenant and so uphold any part of that Priesthood which took Tythes which was but a Type of Christ the everlasting Priest then we should deny Iesus Christ to be come in the flesh and turn back again to the Law and to the Iewes Ordinances and prove our selves Unbelievers and Antichristian for he that denies Christ to be come in the Flesh is of Antichrist 1 Iohn 4. 3. and we may as well turn back to Circumcision Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings as to pay Tythes being all pertaining to the first Covenant and Priesthood which whomsoever doth uphold denieth Iesus Christ to be come in the Flesh and so are of Antichrist but we believe Christ is come and we have received him as the end and finishing of the first Priesthood and we believe in him as the everlasting Sustance who hath put an end to Tythes Temples Burnt-offerings c. And we confess unto him as our Iudge and Law-giver and have renounced all shadowes pertaining to the first Covenant whereof one was Tythes and for Conscience sake and that we may continue in the Faith of Christ the Substance and not deny him therefore it is that we refuse and cannot pay Tythes for we are Christians and Believers and not Iewes nor Children of the first Covenant III. And there is no Example by any of the Apostles or Saints in all the new Testament that ever any of the Christians that believed in Iesus Christ gave paid or received Tythes I say there is no Example at all by either Precept or Practice left us on record that any of the Ministers of the Gospel in the Apostles days did pay or receive Tythes for any Ministerial Office nor otherwise But we do believe that none of the Christians in the first nor second Age after Christ since his Resurrection did Institute Pay or Receive Tythes as Maintenance of Gospel Ministry but we believe that the Ministers of Christ whom he sent forth to preach the Gospel after his Ascention did bear witness to the new Covenant and to Iesus Christ the Substance and against Temple Sacrifices Tythes and first Priesthood and the worship of the first Covenant and said that Covenant was found faulty and none could attain perfection as pertaining to the Conscience in it and therefore God took that Covenant away that he might establish a better Heb. 8. 6 7. Heb. 6. 19. And also divers of the Holy Martyrs since the Apostles days as William Thorpe and others did Preach down Tythes and denied the Payment of them and for Conscience sake to God could neither give nor receive Tythes but fully witnessed against them though they suffered for it in their days So that 1. We have no Example from the Apostles nor Christians in their dayes to pay Tithes but rather the Contrary for we have Testimony from them that the first Covenant and Priesthood with all Shadowes and Ordinances thereunto belonging whereof Tythes was one were disanulled finished and ended by the coming of Christ and a new Covenant established in which nothing is signified of paying Tythes From whence it may appear to all that Tythes are ended and not to be payed in the new Covenant 2. We have clear Example from the Martyrs since the Apostles days not to pay Tythes for divers of the Protestant Martyrs called the Fathers of their Church did witness against Tythes and refused to pay any 3. We believe in our own Consciences That Tythes as received and payed in these dayes are not of any Institution of God nor exercised to any good use and end but that they are of Antichrist and Oppression and unjust Exactions and Impositions upon the poor People of these Kingdoms and therefore we do refuse to pay Tythes and we cannot for good Conscience sake and the exercise of our Consciences herein in denying to pay Tythes is well and lawfully grounded upon the Coming of Christ and upon the Example of the Apostles and Martyrs And thus in brief I have shewed concerning Tythes and why we refuse to pay them and the matter of our Consciences in that Case IV. As for Tythes as now demanded paid and received in these Kingdoms we know they are not of heavenly Institution nor for a good use and end ordained and practised but as they are now paid both in these Kingdoms and through Christendom they are of Popish Institution and were first ordained paid and received by the Authority of the Church of Rome and were unequally imposed upon the Nations through her Authority for the use and end to maintain her Priests and Clergy and Church and the Instituiion and payment of Tythes among Christians was not till near 400 Years after Christ as Historians say and for divers Ages after that there were no Lawes enjoyning and forcing the payment of them not till about the Year 786. that Pope Adrian the first sent two Legates into England to make a Decree that the People of two Kingdoms to wit Merc-land and Northumberland should pay Tythes By these and other Testimonies it is manifest that the

Payment of Tythes amongst Christians had their first Original from the Church of Rome and by Succession from thence and not from the Apostles are Tythes paid given and received at this day in these Kingdoms and the Institution payment and use and end of them is not according to the Law of Moses at all for Tythes as then amongst the Iewes ordained and payd were for the happy use to feed the Poor the Widows and the Fatherless in Israel that there should not be a Beggar amongst them But the use and end of the payment of them now in these dayes is for the maintaining a company of Priests in their pride and fulness and the poor and the strangers may starve and lie begging up and down at the corners of the streets So that we cannot for conscience sake at this day pay Tythes 1. Because the first Institution of them among Christians was not from Heaven nor from Christ Iesus nor his Apostles but from the Pope and Church of Rome 2. Because the use and end of Tythes is not according to God nor Righteousness but for the maintaining the Priests in pride and fulness and their Families and in the mean time the Poor want 3. Because the continued payment of them is exaction and imposition contrary to the Gospel of liberty and peace upon the persons estates and consciences of many good People in these Kingdomes V. All these things rightly and justly considered it is manifest and plainly apparent to all good men that this matter of denying to pay Tythes is a clear case of Conscience with us and that we have sufficient ground to make conscience hereof and for good conscience sake we may justly refuse and deny to pay Tythes and the exercise of our Consciences herein is bottomed upon a right foundation as I have made appear and it is not for Covetousness to our selves nor in contempt of Authority nor in willfulness to wrong any man of his Iust right nor for any other evil end that we do refuse to pay Tythes but it is for Conscience sake only alone for that end that we may keep our Consciences clear in the sight of God by our Faithfulness in denying of what we are convinced of to be evil and not of God as I have shewed we are in this case of Tythes and we dare not sin against God by disobedience to him nor uphold the payment of Tythes in these Kingdoms which are so evil both in their Ordination and in their Use and End as paid in these dayes as I have shewed for if we should we might offend his Spirit and our own Consciences and bring anguish upon our Souls and be guilty of denying of Christ and his Coming and of making void the New Covenant and of walking contrary to the Examples of the Apostles and holy Martyrs and of upholding Antichrist and his Kingdom These with many other Evils we run our selves into if we should pay Tythes in these dayes and after the Romish Institution and therefore it is for Conscience sake that we do refuse to pay Tythes And whatsoever we do suffer because thereof it is Persecution and for and because we cannot sin against our God and it is not for Evil doing for Rebellion nor for Transgression against the Law of God nor the Iust Laws of Men but it is for holding the Testimony of Iesus and a Good Conscience and in such our Sufferings we commit our Cause to the God of Heaven patiently bearing what is unequally inflicted upon us for this matter and our Cause is Iust and Innocent for which we suffer and we have more respect to keep our Faith and Conscience towards God than to save our Estates or Liberties for could we transgress against God and pay Tythes we might preserve our Liberties and Estates which we have endangered and lost often because we could not which may shew that it is not for Covetousness nor self-ends that we refuse to do it And this our Case about Tythes and the reason why we cannot pay them is in brief stated and pleaded before the King and his Council and I leave it to their Considerations in the sight of God only to warm them that they persecute not any for the Cases of Conscience neither in this nor in any other thing lest the effect of it be sad upon them in a day when God visits them with Judgments CHAP. IV. The Case stated and pleaded concerning giving Security by Bond to live peaceably or to answer Cases then and there c. as is often required of us I. FOrasmuch as we are often demanded to give Bond of One or two hundred Pounds or the like for Security so called That we will live peaceably or that we will appear and answer such Cases objected against us or supposed of us Now we cannot give such kind of formal Engagements out of the Counsel of God to be or do or to appear or answer this or the other Case when as we are no Transgressors in the things objected against us and supposed of us and when we are suspected by prejudiced minds of such and such matters of which we are no wayes guilty in the sight of God nor men and then it is demanded of us to bind our selves to find Sureties and to answer this and the other Objection and Supposition only falsly supposed and suspected against us by men that seek occasion against us This Demand we cannot fulfill for Conscience-sake because we are clear and not guilty of such Suspitions nor can we bind our selves out of the Counsel of God upon Penalties and Forfeitures to appear and answer such and such groundless Objections for if we should in that manner bind and engage our selves not to do so or answer this and the other Objection against us when we know our selves innocent of that Accusation to which we are to answer and that it is not in our hearts to do the thing whereof we are doubted but contrary to our Faith and Principles then this were a betraying of our own Innocency in that behalf and a rendring of us guilty to all men when as we are clear and by binding our selves as afore-mentioned we should be reputed Transgressors for Bonds and Engagements by Forfeitures and Sums of Money are for the Guilty and not for the Innocent and we may not betray our guiltless Cause and bring it under false reputation amongst men by giving such binding Engagements And again when as we are clear of any such Suspitions as are made against us if we should bind our selves as aforesaid it many times doth appear that occasion is more taken against us in answering or appearing and we made to be greater Offenders than before and there again our Innocency is betrayed when as innocent of the fact supposed against us yet made Offenders in answering through formalities and tricks in the course of Law practised at the time of Answering and therefore we do in good Reason and Equity deny to