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
A81046	Tythes no property to, nor lawful maintenance for a powerful Gospel-preaching ministry. Or A compulsory maintenance for Christs ministers is contrary to Christs doctrine and example of his apostles and the example of the faithful ministers of Christ, and famous reformers in all ages, as VVickliffe, Hus, and divers others, with an old prophecy written by Iohn Hus, as it is recorded by Fox in his Acts and monuments, commonly called the Book of martyrs. With a discovery of the marks of the false prophets and ministers in all ages (as they are found recorded in the ecclesiastical history) since the apostles days to this very time agreeing with the Scriptures of truth both of the Old and New Testament. Written by a lover of the souls of all men, Iohn Crook.	Crook, John, 1617-1699.; Hus, Jan, 1369?-1415.	1659 (1659)	Wing C7214bA; ESTC R29665	16,933	16

purchase or gift for no man hath power legally to sell or give that which he hath no just interest in neither may any man buy it except in his own wrong no more then a man may sell my goods which he hath gotten wrongfully from me nor no more then another hath any just power to dispose or give away that which is none of his or he hath no right or property in himself to dispose of the law counts such a gift or sale to be theist and robbery And to say that it is an incumbrance which every man knows of when he buys his land and therefore no wrong is a meer device to deceive the simple withall for a man buys his land free from all incumbrances whatsoever with this general warranty and covenant not onely free from all Statutes Morgages Judgements c. but also with these general words Free from all other incumbrances whatsoever which words are a deceit if so be a man knows a tenth part to be due to another and yet he sells the whole so discharged as aforesaid and if it be a real incumbrance in the law upon the estate or that another hath a right and property in that which I bought absolute and free as aforesaid will not an Action in that Case lie against him that sold it free and covenanted to make it good as aforesaid if so what work would this make in the Nation for the Lawyers but in truth is it not in tended by the Law that every man should have and enjoy his land free as he bought it and then he may give freely what he will and to whom he will and then volenti non sit injuria to him that is willing it is no wrong and thus the famous reformers and Martyes looked upon them as John Wickliff in the 17. Article charged against him in these words viz. That tenths are pure Almes and that the Parishoners may for offence of their Curates detain and keep them back and bestow them upon others at their own wills and pleasures William Swindersby saith in these words Simonie a Simone Mago quumquis Ecclesiasticos functiones quae mera dei dona sunt nundinatur Whosoever purchaseth Offices with money which are Gods free gifts commits Simony and is like Simon Magus That no Priest ows to sell by bargain and covenant his Ghostly travel ne his prayers ne Gods word c nor any worldly mens reward to ask or take for these or for any of these or for any Ghostly thing he errs and doth Symony Walter Brute in these words That Tythes are meer Alms and in case that Curates shall be ill that they may be lawfully bestowed upon others by the temporal owners c. Walt. Brute Further saith That a Priest receiving by bargain any thing of yearly annuity is in so doing a Schismatick and excommunicate c. William Thorpe saith as followeth in these words viz. After Christs ascension and when the Apostles had received the holy Ghost they travelled with their hands to get their livelihood when that they might thus do for busie preaching therefore by the example of himself Saint Paul teacheth all the Priests of Christ to travel with their hands when for busie teaching of the people they might thus do whose Priesthood God accepteth now or will accept or did in the Apostles time and after their decease and will do to the worlds end but as Cisterciensis in the thousand year of our Lord Jesus Christ Pope gregory the 10th first appointed tithes under the Gospel in in the year about 1211. 211. yeer one Pope Gregory the tenth ordained new Tythes first to be given to Priests now in the new law but Saint Paul in his time whose trace or example all Priests of God inforce them to follow seeing the covetousness that was among the people desiring to destroy that foul sin by the grace of God and true vertuous living and example of himself wrought and taught all Priests to follow him as he followed Christ willingly and patiently in high poverty wherefore Paul saith thus the Lord hath ordained that they which preach the Gospel shall live of the Gospel but we saith Paul that covet and busie us to be faithful followers of Christ use not this power for lo as Paul witnesseth when he was full poor and needy preaching among the people he was not chargeous unto them but with his hands he travelled not onely to get his own living but also the living of other poor and needy creatures and since the people was never so coveteous nor so avaritious I ghess as they are now it were good councel if all Priests took good heed to this heavenly learning of Paul following him here in wilful poverty nothing charging the people for their bodily livelihood but because that many Priests do contrary to Paul in the aforesaid doctrine Paul biddeth the people take heed of these Priests that follow not him as he had given them example as if saith he Paul would say thus to the people Accept ye no other Priests then they that live after the form that I have taught you for certain in whatsoever dignity or order that any Priest is in if he conform him not to follow Christ and his Apostles in wilful poverty and in other heavenly vertues and specially in true preaching of Gods word though such a one be named a Priest yet he is no more but a Priest in name for the work of a very Priest in such a one wanteth this sentence approveth Augustine Gregory Chrysostome and Lincolne plainly And he saith further in these words It is no wonder though people grudge to give the Priests the livelihood that they ask mickill people know now how Priests should live and how that they live contrary to Christ and to his Apostles and therefore the people are full heavy to pay as they do their temporal goods to Parsons and to other Vicars and Priests which should be faithful dispensators of the Parish goods and taking to themselves no more but a scarce living of Tythes nor of offerings by the Ordinance of the common Law for whatsoever Priests take of the people be it Tythes or offering or any other duty or service the Priests ought to have thereof no more but a bare living and to depart the residue to the poor men and women especially of the Parish of whom they take this temporal living but the most deal of Priests now wasteth their Parish goods and spendeth them at their own will after the world in their vain lusts so that in few places poor men have duely as they should have their own sustenence neither of Tithes nor of offerings nor of other large wages and foundations the Priests take of the people in divers manners above that they need for needful sustenance of meat and cloathing but the poor needy people are left and forsaken of Priests to be sustained of the Parishioners as if the Priests took nothing of the

Parishioners to help the people with and thus sir saith Thorp to the Biship into over great charges of the Parishioners they pay their temporal goods thrice where once might suffice if priests were true dispensators The Parishioners that pay their temporal goods be they Tithes or offerings to Priests that do not their offfce among them justly are partners of every sin of those priests because that they sustain those priests folly in their sin with their temporal goods if these things be well considered what wonder is it then if the parishioners grudge against these dispensators And he further saith that Paul saith that Tithes were given in the old Law to Levites and to priests that came of the lineage of Levi but our Priests came not of the lineage of Levi but of the lineage of Judah to which Judah no Tithes were promised to be given and therefore Paul saith since the priesthood is changed from the generation of Levi to the generation of Judah it is necessary that changing also be made of the Law so that priests live now without Tithes and other duties that they claim following Christ and his Apostles in wilful poverty as they have given them example for since Christ lived all the time of his preaching by pure alms of the people and by example of him his Apostles lived in the same wise or else by the travel of their hands as it is said above Every priest whose priesthood Christ approveth knoweth well and confeseth in word and in work that a disciple ought not to be above his master but it sufficeth so a disciple to be simple and pure patient and meek and by his example specially of his Master Christ every priest should rule him in all his living and so after his cunning and power a priest should busie him to reform and rule whomsoever he might charitably And he further saith thus There is a Dr. I think it is St. Hierom that saith thus the priests that challenge now in the new Law Tithes say in effect that Christ is not become man nor that he hath yet suffered death for mans love Wherefore this Dr. saith this sentence Since Tithes were the hires and wages limited to Levites and to priests of the old Law for bearing about of the Tabernacle and for slaying and fleaing of beasts burning of sacrifices and for keeping of the Temple c. and other things that pertained to their office those priests that will challenge or take Tithes deny that Christ is come in the flesh and do the priests office in the old law for whom Tithes were granted for else this Dr. saith Priests take Tithes now wrongfully and saith further That Tithes and other duties which priests challenge now are wrongfully called freedom of holy Church since neither Christ nor his Apostles challenged nor took such duties therefore those takings of priests now are not justly called the freedom of holy Church but all such giving and taking ought to be called and holden the slandrous covetousnesse of men of holy Church And further saith in these words viz. Since by the viciousnesse of priests both Lords and Commons are most sinfully infected and led into the worst and because of the Covetousuesse of priests and pride and the boast that they have and make of their dignity and power destroyeth not onely the vertues of the priesthood in priests themselves but also over this it stireth God to take great vengeance both upon the Lords and upon the Commons which suffer these priests charitably And he further saith in answer to the Bishop in these words viz. That a proud priest may be known when he denieth to follow Christ and his Apostles in wilful poverty and other vertues and coveteth wordly worstip and taketh it gladly and gathereth together with pleading menacing or with flattering or with Simony any worldly goods and most if a priest busie him not chiefly in himself and after in all other men and women after his cunning and power to withstand sin And further I find by the Ecclesiastical Histories written by Eusebius mentioning Apolonius against Montanus saith thus mat 10. Luke 9. mark 7. Euseb Lib. 5. cap. 16. That Montanus sed the maintainers of his doctrine with sums of money and great hire to preach which was forbidden in the holy Scripture that prophets should take hire Christ commanded his disciples to take no mans gold or silver or apparel or two coats and saith by their fruits you shall know them and further saith That if hire be taken by a prophet he is then no longer a prophet let all that be false be tried conditional These are the faithful sayings of these men of famous memory who in their time bore a faithful Testimony against the priests in their dayes and other abominations and innovations brought in by those who were in the apostacie since the dayes of Christ and his Apostles which I have faithfully set down that so those who say what is become of our fore fathers who suffered in the flames for witnessing against the superstition and Idolatry of those times in which they lived may see themselves where they are and what they are doing while they ask what is become of their forefathers and yet they themselves found walking in the steps of those men who persecuted and martyred those who they call their forefathers but are indeed monstruous children or rather the children of those who put the martyrs to death as by their practices they make it appear in their maintaining like priests though now called Ministers and their unrighteous wages which their forefathers witnessed against with the losse of their lives Oh! blush for shame to behold thy practices lest thou partaking of their sins do partake of their plagues also and came out from those wayes lest thou fall together with them as thou hast holpen to uphold the enemies of the Lord for as it is truly recorded in the same book of Martyrs in these words viz. Whosoever do receive the holy Order by giving of mony is not a priest secundum rem nomen but to say the truth he desireth to be cal'd a priest that is to be a priest secundum nomen tantum and such a priest wch is a priest in name onely is no priest no more then St. Mary painted is St. Mary nor a false Dr a Dr. but no Doctor and a man painted is not a man but no man and thus such a priest in name onely is not a priest because that all faithful men do firmly believe with St. Gregory that no man buying the holy Orders may then be called a priest as he saith they who buy or sell holy Orders can be no priests whereupon it is written ana thema dandi anathema accipiendi that is he is accursed that gives and he no lesse that takes and those who are now found with the marks of the false Prophets and Priests upon them are as was said then uni voce natura but yet

TYTHES No Property to nor lawful maintenance for a Powerful Gospel-preaching Ministry OR A Compulsory Maintenance for Christs Ministers is contrary to Christs Doctrine and example of his Apostles and the example of the faithful Ministers of Christ and famous Reformers in all ages as VVickliffe Hus and divers others with an old Prophecy written by Iohn Hus as it is recorded by Fox in his Acts and Monuments commonly called the Book of Martyrs With a DISCOVERY Of the marks of the False Prophets and Ministers In all Ages as they are found recorded in the Ecclesiastical History since the Apostles days to this very time agreeing with the Scriptures of truth both of the Old and New Testament Written by a lover of the souls of all men Iohn Crook 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quinon habet vitam Christi Christum non habet They are the children of Abraham that does the works of Abraham So they are the children of the Martyrs that follow their steps and not they who are crying them up with their tongues and maintaining and taking of Tythes and other abominations with their practices which the Martyres and holy men witnessed against and some have lost their lives for London Printed for Thomas Simmons at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate 1659. THE PREFACE BVY the truth and sell it not was the saying of the wisest of men and is the voice and endeavour of all the children of Wisdom who know the price thereof to be beyond Rubies and the enjoyment thereof to be more precious then fine gold and the purchasing thereof to be worth the selling of all that it may be possessed for in it is riches and honour and by it comes the pearl of great price to be known And who makes all truly rich truly wise and truly free that comes to the knowledge of it but this is the Mystery of it It is not purchased without the selling of all nor cannot be enjoyed but by those who are poor in Spirit and yet nothing more free gift then that nor nothing more truly bought without money and without price then it and the knowledge of this Mystery is as free in its revealing as this truth is in its appearing in and to the sons and daughters of men many have taken pains to find it but it hath been hid from the eyes of all living and concealed from the wise and prudent who have talked of the fame thereof but because of the dearness of the rate have been offended at it so have never come to the enjoyment of the thing it self but have satisfied themselves with dead Pictures and likenesses framed in the Chambers of their Imagery which Idolatry is more dangerous then theirs who fall down to an Image made of wood and stone and when the beauty of truth it self so appears that it out-shines their Image then they either oppose it with open opposition or else will not receive it because it appears with its visage marred more then any of the likenesses that hath yet shewed themselves and exp seth the livers of it to the worlds scornes to professors rage and to great mens and Rulers disdain and hatred and because it appears to the staining of their glory and pride they do now not much un-like the Senate of Rome of old when Tyberius made Relation to them of Christ and his Miracles who are said to reject them for no other cause but because they did not first approve the same And further Tertullian a man well experienced in the Roman Laws in his Apologie for the Christians in his 5. Chapt. saith by interpretation thus That it was an antient decree that no god should be consecrated by the Emperour unless it were first agreed unto by the Senate who saith on the behalf of the Christians That the Deity is weighed amongst you after mans will and judgement unless that God please man he is not made God so that by this decree man must be gracious and favourable to God Not much unlike to this constitution of mind have many grave Senators appeared in these dayes who could willingly have contributed to the putting down Tithes if the great men could bear it the Priests be pleased to have it so and the Parliament account it no disgrace to move against them nor the Lawyers be angry for impairing their trade but such it is to be feared loves the praise of men more then the praise of God and while they please men are not the servants of Christ but where is these mens faith and what is become of their experiences cannot be that hath delivered from the oppressive Court of Wards and from the arbitrary Star-Chamber Court from the hands of the late King from the power of the Bishops and from others also who have said as Absalom once did to palliate his design Oh that all men would come to me and I will do them Justice and take away oppressions deliver out of the hands of this Philistiue the Tithes also yea verily the Lord will deliver his people from this intolerable yoke of bondage and if those in present power do not do it deliverance shall come another way for the Lord God is appearing in power and great glory to deliver his oppressed seed and to take away the abominations from the midst of the Nations the longer any have continued the more need there is to hasten the removing of them and whereas there is a cry among people that to take away Tithes is to destroy property c. Therefore have I written this following discourse that all sober-minded people may understand how that both by the Law of God the Common and Statute Law of this Nation also together with several Presidents of the Martyrs and others who in the darkest times of Popery Witnessed against Tithes and all kind of computsory maintenance what soever for preaching alwayes esteeming Tithes to be but a meer Almes as by their own words at large may appear which I have set down as I find them recorded in the Book of Martyrs for the satisfaction of those who desire to know the truth and to be made free by it Tythes no property to nor lawful maintenance for a Gospel powerful preaching Ministry c. PRoperty is that which a man hath a just right to and interest in without injury to another and is derived to him either by descent purchase or gift and not by custom onely for that gives no man a title or property that had it not rightly confirmed upon him as aforesaid for although oustome to places and some things are accounted as law yet always with this limitation such customes as are good and reasonable for saith Cook Custome ought to be reasonable Cook 6. book of Reports excerta causa rationabili usitata c. neither doth the law of England create or make any man a title or property that had none before but only conserves and maintains every mans just property and equal right

for the just laws of a Nation are their walls to their Cities and bars to their gates and by them the land of every man is inclosed from other though it lie in open field and if a man do trespass therein the Writ shall be quare clausum fregit as saith the law and every law of the Nation must be consonant to the law of God and therefore saith the law book The laws of Princes the commandements of Prelates the Statutes of Commonalties ne yet the Ordinance of the Church Dr. Stud. cap. 4º p. 7. 8. is not righteous nor obligatory except it be consonant to the law of God and by such a law of man as is consonant to the law of God it appeareth who hath right to lands and goods and who not for whatsoever a man hath by such laws of the Nation he hath righteously and whatsoever a man hath against such laws is unrighteously had these be the very words of the law and also by the Statute law of this Nation it appears That no man of what estate degree or condition soever he be Stat made by King Lords and Commons hath power to dispence with Gods laws as all the Clergy of this Realm and most part of all the Vniversities of Christendom and we also do affirm and think these be the very words of the Statute of 28 Hen 8. 7. ch Therefore seeing that every law of man must be consonant to the law of God or else it is no law and that every custome that is accounted as a law must be reasonable and every law of man must be equal and just according to the law of God as the law it self saith as before is mentioned and no man can have a property but by defcent purchase or gift the law it self not creating a property but onely conserving to every man his just right and interest as above said and those laws for Tything made in the time both of Hen. 8. Edw. the 6. there being no law before made by Parliaments onely the Statute of Ric. 2.15 6. confirmed by Hen. the 4. by which it appears that Tythes were but a free gift or alms and therefore special care is taken that a convenient portion of the Tythes be set out for a maintenance for the poor of the Parish as by that Statute appears though made in the midnight of Popery not wholly forgetting the end for which they were given under the law that there might be no begger in Israel And were it not righteous and just that those who have robbed the poor of that which was their due by law should themselves be made poor and have that taken from them which they have so long robbed others of contrary to Law I say the Statute made in Hen. 8. and Edw. the 6. time did not create aright but onely confirm what was then in that night of Popery presumed and supposed to be aright upon grounds which now appears to be false viz as belonging to God and holy Church and were then called in the Stat. of Hen. 8. spiritual gifts and Impropriate Tythes that were sold after the dissolution are said now to be made temporal and not before and neither these nor any other laws ever gave any man a right or property in or to Tythes but onely through the blindness and superstition of those Popish times supposed a right upon a spiritual ground as aforesaid and so gave power to Ecclesiastical Courts to sue for them which before they could not do but onely excommunicate for non payment but by those Statutes they might sue in Ecclesiastical Courts but not else where as the Statute of Edw. the 6. saith upon which Statute they bring their Action for treble damages which Statute it self restrains the trial of Tythes to Ecclesiastical Courts and not elsewhere and for Judges to make laws or to interpret the laws contrary to the words of the law is a presumption not much unlike that which Israel of old in difficult cases was to beware of and not to be hasty in Deut. 17.12 but to do according to the sentence of the law from which they were not to decline either to the right hand or the left upon pain of death for if the law that is just be declined and left to mans will is not the maxim of the law made good Misera servitus est ubi jus est vagum aut incognitum that is a miserable bondage where the law is left to the will of the Judge and in this case where the Statute restrains it what Judge may go further and to say where a penalty is appointed and no way mentioned for the recovering of it that then it shall be taken for granted that the Courts at Westminster are intended is in this case to make the law intend against it self for the law is called approved reason and to suppose that the treble damages are recoverable at common law when the principle it self for the non payment of which the treble damages are due is not yet proved a debt nor is not recoverable but in the spiritual Courts is as much as if a man should say that I promised to pay him ten pounds upon the first of May last and if it were not paid I would give him thirty pounds and he should be admitted to sue for the thirty pounds penalty for the non payment of the ten pounds and yet may not sue for the said ten pounds to prove that promised and not paid accordingly or to try the accessary before the principal when as if no fact was committed no man for being accessary could be punished and therefore before Tythes be proved in the Ecclesiastical Courts to be substracted or withheld or not set out no damages for not setting out can justly and legally be recovered and for any man to take away my corn and hay c. without my consent or recovered in manner aforesaid differs nothing from him that pretends a debt and without any further proceedings comes and takes away my goods by force and against my will but some do say Justices of Peace have power to make a judgement in the case many doth that by power which they cannot do by law but Justices are onely authorized by an Ordinance of Parliament and if the preamble of this Ordinance may be called clavis legis as preambles to laws are called then their power is at an end because they were but intrusted by reason of the exegencies of war Courts of justice being obstructed and if the Justices of Peace or their Clerks or kindred were not some way gainers by it they need not now act upon that Ordinance the reason of that temporary law being taken away viz. obstructions of Courts of Justice the law it self ceaseth if this maxim in the law be true viz. That the reason of the law is the law it self and especially if Cook say true viz. That an Ordinance bindeth not in succession besides that

matters of Title should be determined in an Alehouse or private chamber is a shame to a free State and no honor to Justices of Peace to intermedle with that which indeed they have not legally to do withal they acting onely by an Ordinance and that Ordinance never yet confirmed by Act. What are not all the Courts at Westminster sufficient Take heed for To over do is to undo but however the Justices Ordinance hath no better bottom then a supposed right as aforesaid which is no right but a common wrong and they that act upon that Ordinance now are no friends to true freedom to say no more And that Tythes are an oppression and unrighteous thing many have born their testimony both Martyrs and others as may appear more at large hereafter and for any to say that another hath as good a property in and right to the tenth of my increase as I have to nine parts or as I have to the coat of my back or to the nine parts of my land is ignorance to be pitied rather then to be disputed against but as custome in sinning begets hardness so doth superstition and ignorance by tradition begat faith in a lye which makes truth so hard to be received by aged wise men after the flesh because they have seen read the records of their fore fathers some through their blindness being setled on their Lees are resolved to go no further then their fathers went nor to believe otherwise then the Church believes and others dare not see beyond their profit nor believe further then may stand with their gain that being their godliness Court-greatness having blinded their eyes and made them to despise the oppression of the afflicted and to be regardless of the consciences of the upright their greatness having taken away their feeling and many old men like those in Nehemiahs days who wept when they saw the foundation of the second Temple laid and considered of the former Temple how beautiful that had been so do many now begin to bewail their loss and cry out what will become of their Gospel if Tythes be taken away and others say what will you destroy propriety and take away mens rights the taking away of Tythes will quite destroy our Ministers and impaire the Lawyers trade c. and so the downfal of Babylon must beget the bewailing of many Merchants not onely of those who have inriched themselves by the laws but also those who have made Merchandize of the souls of men for this is as horrable a thing in our dayes as it was in old in the days of the Prophet viz. For the Priests to preach for hire and for the Judges to judge for reward and may it not be said of such now as Micha said then The best of them is as a brier Mich. 7.4 and the most upright is sharper then a thorn hedge the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh now shall be thy perplexity But to return to the Objection That they have as good a right to the tenth part as I have to nine c. To which it is said by law they have no right as before is said for the law onely preserves my right that another man may not take it from me but gives right to no man that had it not derived to him either by descent purchase or gift as aforesaid now if it cannot be made appear by him who challengeth property in Tythes that it came to him one of these wayes aforesaid then he hath no right to nor legal property in them now by descent he cannot have them for that cannot descend to another which is not in rerum natura as the increase and renewing of my land by my labor is not and therefore cannot discend from another who never was owner of it nor never had it in his possession as no man can of my increase procured by my labor and if I plough not no corn will grow and if I mow not no hay is made and so it is in my power whether any thing how much or nothing the Priest shall have And again If I by my own act do not set out my Tythes he hath no property untill by my voluntary act I give him it for it cometh not by the land nor doth he challenge the tenth of the rent nor tenth acre but the tenth of the increase renewing or growing in and upon the premises c And whereas it is said the law implies a property in that it hath provided a punishment of treble damages for not setting it out and what a Parliament doth is supposed to be done by the people whom they represent c. To which I answer That it is true the Law-makers supposed a due to God and holy Church and upon this supposition and foundation Enacted a penalty upon him that did not set out his Tythes but some of our late Judges have since adjudged that Tythes are not so due viz. by Gods law as Chief Justice Rolls in the Upper Bench at Westminster And if that supposed common right be generally seen and be confessed to be a real common wrong may not a man make use of his eye to avoid the pit which he and others in the time of their darkness fell into and if a man will wink when he may see if he fall then into the pit is he not guilty of his own death And for the Stat. made in Ed. the 6. time if the supposed right upon which that law is built be found to be oppression and wrong and that God and holy Church hath disclaimed their right to Tythes under the Gospel and that by their writings upon record that there being a change of the Priesthood there is made also a necessity of the change of the law then what is that law worth that is contrary to God and that commandement which is opposit to his Again as before is proved not onely by the law of God but also by the Common and Statute Law of this Nation all Laws made contrary or not consonant to the law of God are voide of themselves and that law which is built upon a false rotten foundation must needs fall as that is which supposeth Tythes to be due by common right or due to God and holy Church under the Gospel which they are not as before is proved and then the reason of the law failing the law it self falls for saith Cook Lex non est infoliis verborum sed in radice rationis and if that which is said to be due by common right prove to be a common wrong and general grievance then that other maxim of the law takes it away also salus populi suprema lex the peoples weal is the chiefest law and that it is the peoples intollerable burden I need not prove And as no right nor property to Tythes comes to any by descent or reason of any just law so neither can any property be derived to any by