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
A41067	A touch-stone, or, A perfect tryal by the Scriptures, of all the priests, bishops, and ministers, who have called themselves, the ministers of the Gospel whose time and day hath been in the last ages past, or rather in the night of apostacy : they are tried and weighed by the Scriptures of truth, and are found out of the life and power of the scriptures, and out of the spirit and doctrine of them that gave them forth, and quite contrary to their principle and practice, both Papists and Protestants : unto which is annexed, Womens speaking justified, &c.	Fox, Margaret Askew Fell, 1614-1702.	1667 (1667)	Wing F639; ESTC R7178	82,431	96

his bait and it is much if they cast not themselves down for it is contrary to the Doctrine of Christ for his Exhortation was That they should take the low●st Seat that it might be said unto them Friend Go up higher but they have not taken that way But they have several Objections or Colours for what they do with which they do a little blind some ignorant people which is an easie matter to do While the Blind lead the Blind saith Christ they both go into the Ditch One thing they alledge for Tythes is That Melchisedec took Tythes when Abraham paid them Gen. 14. when Abraham returned from the slaughter of the Kings and this the Apostle cleareth himself in Heb. 7. and taketh away the objection of all that can be said for Tythes For first of all as for Melchisedec King of Salem Priest of the Most High God who met Abraham in his return from the slaughter of the Kings and blessed him to whom also Abraham gave the tenth part of all c. Here the Apostle describes Melchisedec being without descent having neither beginning of dayes nor end of life So that our Tythe-Takers in these last days cannot claim them by this Order for they are not without descent for the furthest they can claim was Levi and hundreds of them have ended their dayes and their dayes are come to an end Besides the Apostle saith that this Melchisedec was greater then Abraham and Abraham had the Promise of God and the Oath of God passed unto him and unto his Seed which the Apostle saith is Christ Gal. 3. But the Apostle saith He was made like unto the Son of God and remaineth a Priest continually Now consider saith he how great this man was unto whom even the Patriarch Abraham gave the Tythe of the Spoils and verily they who are of the Sons of Levi who receive the Office of the Priesthood have a Commandment to take Tythes of the People that are of their Brethren though they came out of the Loins of Abraham but he whose descent is not counted from them received Tythes of Abraham and blessed him that had the Promises and without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better So if our Tythe-Takers can say they are better then Abraham then they may claim Tythes from Melchisedec but if they say nay but they will claim them from the Tribe of Levi then they must own themselves to be of the Levitical Priesthood and they must take Tythes of none but their Brethren the Jews For so the Apostle saith That the Priesthood had a Commandment to take Tythes according to the Law that is of their Brethren Hebr. 7. 5. And he saith further If therefore perfection were by the Levitical Priesthood for ●●der it the people received the Law what further need was there that another Priest should arise after the order of Melchisedec and not after the order of Aaron But the Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the Law For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another Tribe of which no man gave attendance at the Altar For it is evident our Lord sprang of Judah of which Tribe Moses spake nothing coucerning the Priesthood And it is more evident that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another Priest who is not made after the Law of a carnal Commandment but after the power of an Endless Life For he testifieth Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec For there is verily a disanulling of the Commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof For the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better Hope did by which we draw nigh unto God Hebr. 7. Here the Apostle testifieth clearly of the overturning and changing of the Priesthood of Levi and the disanulling of the Law by which they took Tythes because that made nothing perfect And for this other Priest that remaineth for ever Who purgeth and purifieth the Conscience from dead Works to serve the Living God for the witnessing of this Everlasting High-Priest being come hath many suffered and do suffer by this Generation of Tythe-taking Priests who are neither according to Law nor Gospel and though they take the Apostles words here and it may be may read them to the people yet do they act quite contrary to the Apostles Testimony here and to all his practices that he practised while he was upon Earth And so we that have a Testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ our Everlasting High-Priest that he is come we cannot deny his Testimony in paying Priests Tythes which was paid under the Levitical Priesthood before he came now we have another Priest that remaineth continually who is not made by a Law of a Carnal Commandment as they all are but by another Law Even the Law of the Spirit of Life which maketh us free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8. But they set up Laws against us and make us suffer by their Laws and by their Courts and when we cannot Swear cast us into Prison But the Apostle taught his Son Timothy otherwise when He besought him to abide still at Ephesus that he might charge some of them that they preach no other Doctrine neither give head to Fables and endless Genealogies which minister Questions rather then Godly Edifying which is in Faith Now the end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure Heart and of a good Conscience and Faith unfained from which some having swerved have turned again aside into Jangling desiring to be Teachers of the Law understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm But we know that the Law is good if a man use it lawfully Knowing this that the Law is not made for a Righteous man but for the Lawless and Disobedient for the Ungodly and for Sinners for Unholy and Prophane for Murtherers of Fathers and Murtherers of Mothers for Man-slayers for Whoremongers for them that defile themselves with mankind for Men-stealers for Lyars for Perjured Persons and if there be any thing further that is contrary to Sound Doctrine 1 Tim. 1. Surely these late Bishops have learned another Lesson then this Bishop Timothy did for they execute their Law against the Harmless and the Innocent and such as abide in Sound Doctrine and those that bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit which is Love Peace Long suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance against such the Apostle saith there is no Law Gal. 5. And yet these are they that are made the object of their Laws and are kept under the Scourge of the Laws in these dayes and this disorder is because our Leaders and Teachers have caused the people to err from the Faith and from the Truth But to come to the particular which is concerning Ministers Maintenance where they object and say The Apostle alloweth them a maintenance by what he holds forth 1 Cor. 9. where he saith Have not we

we are all partakers of that one Bread 1 Cor. 10. Here is no speaking of Remembrance but the real partaking of the one Bread this is the living Bread that is come down from Heaven Christ saith I am the living Bread that came down from Heaven if any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread that I give you is my Flesh that I will give for the Life of the World The Jews wondered at this and said Will this man give us his Flesh to eat Jesus said As the Living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father So he that eateth me shall live by me and except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you But this is not except you eat Bread and drink Wine ye have no Life in you for Christ saith My Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed John 6. These things said Jesus in the Synagogue as he Taught And many of his Disciples when they heard this said It was a hard saying who can hear it But Christ saith unto them It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh profitteth nothing The Words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life And so it is the Spirit that is the Living Bread and those that live in the Spirit and feed in the Spirit and meet in the Spirit they eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood and this Spiritual Bread was that which the Apostles broke and they that continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship in breaking of Bread and in Prayers it is said They continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread from house to house Acts 2. And this Bread was that living Bread that Christ said came down from Heaven And when the Disciples met together on the First day of the week to break Bread Paul preached unto them until midnight surely this was Living Bread else it could not have been the Communion of the Body of Christ 1 Cor. 10. And this was a Mystery which Swearers and Drunkards know not and therefore they set up that which is outward and temporal as the Apostle saith because they are blind of the Spiritual Eye and so as the Apostle saith That which can be seen is Temporal but that which cannot be seen is Eternal 1 Cor. 14. 18. But this is hid from their eyes and thus much for this Particular which they call the Sacrament of the Lords Supper They have also several other vain Practices which they have no Example in Scripture for as praying over the Dead and for the Dead which the Apostle exhorted from when he writ to the Thessalonians he saith But I would not have you ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have not Hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again so they also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thes 4. Here is nothing of praying for them nor over them after they are dead but they manifest by their prayers that they have not a true Hope nor Belief in Christ Jesus who is risen from the dead And become the First-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15. The like may be said also of their Churching women and Marrying people with Rings but it appeareth that the main end of these Practices are to get money of people for they have no Example in the Scriptures that the people were married with a Priest neither in the Old-Testament nor New ye do not read that Abraham and Sarah were married with a Priest and Isaac took Rebecca to wife and Laban gave Jacob Leah and Rachel but not by a Priest The Apostle saith Marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled but he doth not say that they should be married by a Priest or with a Ring But it is manifested that this Generation of Priests that have set up such Imaginations and Inventions as these are the same that the Apostle prophesied of unto his Son Timothy that good and true Bishop where he saith Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some should depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking Lyes in hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with a hot Iron forbidding to Marry and commanding to abstain from Meats 1 Tim. 4. Now let the Reader but seriously read this Chapter and consider whether these be not they both Papists and Protestants who marry people as before mentioned and yet forbid to marry all that will not marry according to their way and will though the Apostle saith They may marry whom they will only in the Lord 1 Cor. 7. 39. Yet if they be not married with a Priest and according to their way they account it no Marriage And thus they run themselves quite off from the Scriptures as bad as they that never heard of them for though they profess them in words they are utterly and quite out of them in their Practices And that they abstain from Meats and cause people so to do this is well known to be their common practice all which the Apostle saith Are the Doctrines of Devils and so here I have found them in their practice and I will leave them These with many more frivolous things which might be mentioned as their keeping of Idle dayes and causing people to do so but what hath been said before may give people a sight of their practices that they are quite contrary and opposite to the Rule of the Scriptures And thus much for the Fifth Head which is their Practice The Sixth is their Maintenance and this is as contrary to the Scriptures of Truth as any of the rest They profess themselves to be Christians and Gospel-Ministers and yet will not be content with Gospel-Maintenance but their Gospel is dead and so cold that they preach to People that it will not quicken them out of their dead and natural estate and therefore they dare not trust themselves upon their maintenance nor cast themselves upon the freedom or liberality of the people And so when the Power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus was lost and the Revelation of Jesus by which the Apostles preached then when the Apostacy came in those that got up into the Popes Chair took upon them to find out a way whereby they might compel people to maintain them however they maintained themselves and so they started back from Christs Rule and his Apostles and stept into the Imitation of some part of the Levitical Priesthood under the Law which best suited their own ends And that being made ready to their hands they soon go● it set up and established by a Law and then those that were Christians and stood to the Principles and Faith of Christianity who knew that the Priesthood was changed and the Law also and could not pay them Tythes then they were ready prepared for

them with Laws and Penalties to clap upon them and so force them by compulsion And thus they have laid a weight of Oppression upon poor people ever since the dark Night of Apostacy came on and have taken from them the tenth part of their Lands and a tenth part of their Flocks and Herds and the tenth part of their Labours and thus poor people been made a prey unto their wolvish mouths And in this they have not done justly neither according to the Priesthood under the Law nor under the Gospel For the Children of Israel when they were to come into the Land of Canaan they were utterly to destroy all the Places where they worshipped their Gods and they were to overthrow their Altars and break down their Pillars and burn their Groves with Fire and hew down their Graven-Images and these Priests we are now speaking of set Images up and they were to come unto the Place which the Lord their God was to chuse out of all the Tribes to put his Name there and saith the Lord Thither shall you bring your Burnt-Offerings and you Sacrifices and your Tythes and your Heave-Offerings of your hand Deut. 12. And at the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the Tythes of their encrease the same year and to lay it up within thy Gates and the Levite because he hath no inheritance with thee and the Stranger and the Fatherless and Widow which are within thy Gates shall come and shall eat and be satisfied that the Lord thy God may bless thee Deut. 14. 28 29. and chap. 26. 12. But these Tythe-Mongers of the Gospel Times have neither fed Widows nor Fatherless but what they could get of them they have taken from them and many poor Widows have been cast into Prison because they could not for Conscience sake pay Tythes and many poor fatherless children have had their goods taken away for the same but this is none of Christ's nor his Apostles Example And as they have taken up ways that have been neither according to Law nor Gospel so let them stand Usurpers as they are and Lorders over Gods Heritage But let them know for all this that they must come to Judgement and the Lord will plead with them in his day and time For when Christ Jesus sent forth his Disciples their great business was not to look after their Bellies for they were not to provide neither Gold nor Silver nor Brass in their Purses for they had received freely and they were freely to give Matth. 10. 8 9. Also when he sent out the Seventy they were neither to have Bread nor Money Luke 9. And the Apostle Paul when he took leave of the Churches he told them He knew that after his departure would come among them grievous Wolves not sparing the Flock he saith I have coveted no mans Silver or Gold or Apparel Ye your selves know that these hands have ministred unto my necessity and to them that were with me I likewise shewed you all things how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he said It is more Blessed to give then to Receive Acts 20. 33 34 35. But the Ministers in these dayes think it more blessed to receive then give for they accustom the one more then the other And again the Apostle saith Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and the Stewards of the Mysteries of God Moreover It s required of a Steward that he be found faithfull For I think God hath set forth us the Apostles as it were appointed to death for we are made a Spectacle unto the World to Angels and to Men We are Fools for Christs sake but ye are Wise we are Weak but ye are Strong ye are Honorable but we are despised Even unto this very hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place and labour working with our own hands being reviled we bless being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we entreat we are made as the filth of the world and as the off-scouring of all things unto this day 1 Cor. 4. This is far different from those that have called themselves Gospel Ministers they will be sure of certain abiding places and instead of working with their hands they make all people work for them So this Scripture tries them and thir Practice Moreover when the Apostle writeth to the Thessalonians he saith Your selves Brethren know our Exhortation was not of deceit nor of uncleanness nor in guile but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel even so we spake not as pleasing men but God which trieth our hearts For neither at any time used we flattering words as ye know nor a cloak of covetousness God is witness nor of men sought we glory neither of you nor yet of others when we might have been burthensom as the Apostles of Christ but we were gentle among you even as a Nurse cherisheth her children So being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted unto you not the Gospel of Christ onely but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us For ye remember Brethren our labour and travel labouring night and day because we would not be chargeable to any of you we preached unto you the Gospel of God Ye are Witnesses and God also how holily and justy and unblameable we behaved our selves among you that believe As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father doth his children 1 Thes 2. Here was a dear and faithfull Minister of God that abhorred to be burthensom or chargeable even to them that believed as he manifesteth in his next Epistle where he saith For ye your selves know how ye ought to follow us for we behaved not our selves disorderly among you neither did we eat any mans bread for nought but wrought with labour and travel night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you Not because we have no power but to make our selves an Example for you to follow us For even when we were with you we commanded you that if any would not work neither should be eat 2 Thes 3. This is hard Doctrine for our Lords Deans and Deacons who are got so high that many of them are almost the greatest men in our Land so that it will be no easie matter to bring them down into the Apostles Steps and Paths that they were in But however it may let them see that they are gotten up to the highest Pinacle of the Temple whither the Devil carried our Saviour and would have had him to have cast himself down but Jesus was too strong for his Temptations and said It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Matth. 4. But it is to be feared that those who have climed so high have been taken with