of the Heptarchy there was a great Council holden in Mercia by two Legats sent from Pope Hadrian the first wherein as it 's reported Tythes were first established So that the first Law for payment of Tythes came from the Pope and decreed onely by his Agents in the Kingdom of Mercia being but a seventh part of England and afterwards as Popery increased so Tythes also were established in other parts of England by the several Kings thereof who out of an ignorant superstitious zeal being thereunto perswaded by the Pope and his Agents did many things contrary to the Law of God And this leads me to my third particular viz. to whom and to what end and purpose Tythes were formerly given and yet are paid in England It is reported that the foresaid Offa King of Mercia 3. To what end was a man of a high stomack and stoutness endeavouring by wars and bloodshed to enlarge his own Kingdom and after many conquests making Egfryd his Son a King with him in great devotion went to Rome where with the like zeal and example of Inas the West-Saxon King he made his kingdom subject to a Tribute then called Peter-pence afterwards Rome-scot besides other rich gifts that he gave to Pope Hadrian for canonizing Albane a Saint And returning home again about the year of our Lord 795. in honour of the Saint and pretending repentance for his sins built a Magnifick Monastery over against Verolanium indowing it with Lands and rich Revenues for maintenance of one hundred Monks Also in testimony of his repentance for the blood he had spilt and the sins he had committed he gave the tenth part of all his own goods to the Churchmen and to the poor hoping thereby to expiate his sins and to merit Salvation The next in order was Ethelwolph the nineteenth King of the Ethelwolph West-Saxons who in his youth was committed to the care of Helmestan Bishop of Winchester and by him to Swithun a famous learned Monk of that time took such a liking to the quiet and solitary life onely enjoyed by men of Religion that he undertook the Monkish vow and profession and was made Deacon and afterwards elected Bishop of Winchester But the death of his father King Egbert immediately following by great intreaty of the Nobles and partly by constraint of the Clergy he was made King and was by the authority of Pope Gregory the fourth whose Creature he was in both Professions absolved and discharged of his vows In the nineteenth year of his Reign remembring his former Ecclesiastical Profession ordained That Tythes and Lands due to holy Church should be free from all Tributes or Regal Services And in great devotion went himself to Rome where he was honourably received and entertained the space of a whole year new built the English-School that Offa the Mercian King before had there founded confirming also his grant of Peter-pence and further covenanting to pay yearly Three hundred marks to Rome to be thus imployed One hundred to St. Peter's Church another hundred to St. Paul's Light and the third to the Pope It is also said that Athelstan King of the West-Saxons Ethelstan about the year of our Lord 924. to pacifie the Ghost of his murthered brother Edwin to whose death he is said to have consenced did not onely undergo seven years Penance but also built certain Monasteries and decreed that Tythes should be paid by himself his Bishops and Officers but not by all his Subjects hoping thereby to expiate his sins Such was the blindness and ignorance of men in those times being seduced and led away from the truth by the Pope and his ungodly Agents being perswaded in their hearts that the Pope had power to pardon all their sins were they never so great and hainous Edgar about the year of our Lord 959 is said to Edgar have confirmed the payment of Tythes upon as bad a ground as Athelstan did This Edgar was a man of a vicious life favourable to the Monks he displaced the married Priests and brought in Monks of single life to possesse their places He built Forty seven some say and repaired divers Monasteries and Nunneries he was cruel to Citizens and a deflowrer of Maidens The first act was committed against the Virgin Wolfhild a sacred Nun the second offence was against the virgin Ethelfleda another of his lascivious acts was joyned with the blood of Earl Ethelwold that he might enjoy Elfrida his wife And as one saith For the most part such seed-plots were ever sown in the furrows of blood as plainly appears in these and divers other examples Canutus also the first Danish King who being guilty of Canutus the blood of Edward and Edmund sons of Ironside and Heirs to the Crown about the year 1016. confirmed Tythes built the Abby of St Bennet in Norfolk and in Suffolk he with great devotion built and endowed the Monastery of St Edmund which Saint he most dreadfully feared for the seeming Ghost of him often affrighted him for which cause as also to expiate the sins of his Father he confirmed Tythes c. Unto such strange illusions were the Princes then led by the blinde Guides that ever made gain of their devotions Many other such like examples I might produce but the few before mentioned may suffice to shew First When 1. The time when Tythes were first given in England Secondly By whom and whose authority the first Law for payment of Tythes in 1. By whom England was made And thirdly To whom and to what end and purpose Tythes were first paid in England not to Ministers 3. To what end of Christ to preach the Gospel but to Antichristian Idolaters and to a wicked idolatrous superstitious end viz. for satisfaction of the sins of the Donor to maintain a popish idle sottish Clergy to say and sing mass to pray for the souls of the Donors their wives and children living and dead And as at the first Tythes were given to Mass-Priests to read and sing the Latine-Mass So they have for many years been since continued for reading the English-Mass the book of Common-Prayer as may plainly be made to appear by the Statutes of the second year of Edward 6. and the Statute of the first of Eliz. and no Law extant for payment of Tythes to Ministers for preaching the Gospel For although heretofore in the time of the Bishops a Minister preached never so often yet if he refused to read the Book of the Common-Prayer he was by the Law to be deprived of his spiritual promotions Seeing then that Tythes were first established and since continued upon so evil and sandy foundation and to wicked ends Therefore they ought utterly to be abolished and rooted out of this and all other Christian Common-wealths as popish idolatrous superstitious and derogatory to the worship and service of God because God never commanded that Tythes should be paid to any man but to the Priests and Levites
Nature gave Tythes long before the ceremonial-Ceremonial-Law was instituted and that God did afterwards confirm the payment of Tythes by the ceremonial-Ceremonial-Law for the maintenance of the Priests and Levites and that they ought still to be continued for the maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel Whereunto I answer That true it is that Abraham Answer gave Tythes to Melchisedeck of the spoiles of his Enemies but not of all his own proper goods and but at that one time onely and no more And that Jacob vowed to give to God the tenth of all that he should give him is true also but Non ex debito sed ex gratia neither Abraham nor Jacob had a command from God so to do So that it was in them a free offering onely and not of constraint Again If Abraham and Jacob being guided by Nature without any command from God gave Tythes and that God as some say approving the same afterwards gave a Law to the Jews commanding them thereby to pay Tythes to the Priests and Levites and after abrogated that Law Then it is very clear that by the taking away of that Law Tythes are utterly abolished and taken away and men ought not to set them up again until they have a command from God so to do lest they come under the reproof that our Saviour gives to the Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 15. 6. Thus have ye made the Commandments of God of none effect by your own Tradition And I desire all men to consider that as Abraham gave Tythes to Melchisedeck and Jacob vowed to give the tenth of his goods to God long before the Levitical Law So also Abraham and Jacob offered Sacrifice long before the Law was given and so did Cain and Abel also long before them Must we therefore now according to their examples offer Sacrifice because they did so God commanded the Jews onely to pay Tythes in the Land of Canaan which Law ceased with the Levitical Priesthood but God never commanded the Gentiles to pay Tythes in any place Therefore the Levitical Law or the examples of Abraham and Jacob are not binding to us now in the time of the Gospel nor do they make any thing at all for payment of Tythes now but rather strongly against them And how dangerous it is to do any thing in the worship or service of God which he hath not commanded appeareth plainly in the examples of Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire Levit. 10. 1. So also in Moses Numb 20. 8 9 10. God commanded Moses to speak to the Rock c. But because he without a command from God did strike the Rock therefore he was not suffered to enter enter into the Land of Canaan Saul also for not destroying the Amalekites according to the command of God 1 Sam. 15. 22 23. was deprived of his Kingdom for this was counted to him for disobedience and rebellion Oh that these examples might work upon the hearts of all men not to set up again by a Law that which God hath cast down and we by a solemn League and Covenant have sworn to extirpate as a Relique of Popery and Superstition even that bitter root of Tythes so destructive to the true worship service of God to the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ and so prevalent in promoting of Antichrist and his power and worship it being one of the strong holds and props of Antichrist whereby his Kingdom is upheld Their second Scripture is in the 1 Cor. 9. 13 14. Do 2. Scripture ye not know that they which minister c. And they which wait at the Altar are partakers with the Altar So also for so the ancient translation reads it and the Greek renders it hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel But Doctor Gauden doth not approve of this Translation but he will have it even so according to the last Translation and thereupon he raiseth such a dust to blinde the eyes of ignorant men as that he would make them believe that Tythes are See what Christ hath appointed his Ministers to take for their wages Matth. 10. 8 9 Luk. 10. 8. Especially not in Tythes due by a divine right and that this Even so hath the Lord or dained c. is a Gospel-Ordinance commanding Tythes to be paid to the Ministers of the Gospel for he saith That they do import an Ordinance of God an Evangelical Institution and yet presently after confesseth that his Even so extendeth not to all particulars properly Levitical which are ceased Then say I if his Even so must not hold parallel in all that the Levitical Priests enjoyed then it must hold in nothing for either all or no part of the ceremonial-Ceremonial-Law which typed out Christ is abrogated But the Levitical Priesthood typed out Christ and the Priests and Levites were maintained by Tythes and that Priesthood being abrogated by Christ and that legal service ended the wages also by Tythes must of necessity end therewith For it is said Heb. 7. 12. The Priesthood being changed there must then of necessity be made a change also of the Law The Apostle in that of 1 Cor. 9. doth not say that the Lord hath declared of old and doth now by him renew it as an Ordinance of God but it is the Doctors pleasure to say so they are but his own words and thereby he perverteth the Apostles words and meaning for I do not finde in the New-Testament any such Ordinance for payment of Tythes and therefore non-payment of Tythes is now no violation of Gods Law For where no Low is there is no Rom. 4. 15. transgression And I hope that all true Christians will ingenuously acknowledge that it is not safe for men to make a Law contrary to Gods Law or to renew or establish that Law which our Saviour hath abrogated And here the Doctor having taken a great deal of pains to shew according to his promise a Gospel-Ordinance for payment of Tythes to Gospel-Ministers but finding none he confesseth that the Lord in the Gospel hath not given any direct Precept for payment of Tythes Therefore say I Tythes ought not now to be paid for certainly if the Lord Jesus would have had his Ministers in the time of the Gospel to be maintained by Tythes as the Priests and Levites were under the Law he would no doubt in abrogating the old have established a new Gospel-Ordinance for payment of Tythes But there is not the same reason right or equity that the Ministers of England should be maintained by Tythes as the Priests and Levites were who served constantly at the Altar and were daily imployed in the service of God in slaying beasts and offering Sacrifice to the Lord. For first they were one whole Tribe and if not a full Reason 1. tenth yet near a tenth part of the People Secondly they had none inheritance amongst their brethren in the Land of Canaan for
appointment to be paid by the Jews for the maintenance of the Priests and Levites and the poor and Tythes were part of the Ceremonial Law which was then in force and not abrogated for Christ was not then come in the Flesh Thirdly I cannot finde one express place in the New Testament commanding or confirming payment of Tythes to Gospel-Ministers for their maintenance For the true Ministers of Christ preach not for hire The Prophet Micah in chapter 3. sets down that as a character of a false Prophet saying The heads thereof judge for rewards and the Priests thereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof prophesie for money c. Another Argument hath been brought for Tythes from Matth. 22. 21. which proves as little to that purpose 6 Argum. as the rest of his Arguments do there being not one word of Tythes in that verse For the question there is about giving tribute to Caesar but that Tythes are there or in any other place of Answer the New Testament appointed by Christ for the maintenance of his Service and Officers in the time of the Gospel or that they are to be paid to him for that purpose I finde no Scripture produced to prove it but instead of Scripture the testimony of Hierome Pareus and the Annotations on the Bible are alledged but those give me no satisfaction I must have a word from Christ or his Apostles And further I say that the speech of the Prophet Malachi and that of our Saviour in Matth. 22. 21. Mal. 3. were uttered when the Ceremonial Law was in force and before Christ had by his death put an end to the Levitical Priesthood so that this proves nothing for Ministers maintenance by Tythes A seventh Argument is from Matth. 23. 23. and Luke 7 Argum. 11. 42. where saith he Tythes are named To which I answer that those Scriptures do not prove a command from Christ for payment of Tythes to Gospel-Ministers Answer though Tythes be there named for the Levitical Priesthood was not then abolished nor the Ceremonial Law abrogated from which two Scriptures whosoever will derive a right to Tythes for Gospel-Ministers must of necessity maintain the Ceremonial Law to be still in force For Christ did not then give a new Law for payment of Tythes nor confirmed the old for payment of Tythes to Gospel-Ministers after his death but onely confirmed the old Law until the appointed time that he by his death should put an end to the Levitical Priesthood and Ceremonial Law For he saith That he came not to break the Law but to fulfil the Law and therefore he paid Tribute to Caesar And if any man will be pleased to view the Annotations on the Bible whereof my Antagonist sometimes maketh use he shall finde in the Annotation upon Luke 11. 42. these words That Christ would not break the very least Commandment before all things were accomplished but taught them to stick to the chiefest and not prefer the inferiour Ceremonies which must quickly be abolished So that whosoever will not acknowledge that Tythes were part of the Ceremonial Law and appointed of God for maintenance of the Levitical Priesthood onely during the continuance thereof and no longer and that Christ by his death put an end to that Priesthood and so to that maintenance by Tythes also Such a man I say may be said to deny that Christ is come in the Flesh and then such a man hath not the Spirit of God For the Apostle John saith 1 John 4. 2 3. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is of God and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is not of God and this is the Spirit of Antichrist Another Argument for confirmation of Tythes is 8 Argum. grounded upon Heb. 7. 8. where saith the Opponent the everlasting God owns Tythes and professeth himself to be the Receiver of them though not in person but by his Ministers For Answer hereunto I say when any Minister of the Answer Gospel can shew me an Ordinance of Christ in the New Testament whereby he own Tythes and hath substituted his Ministers to receive Tythes in his name and to his use I shall believe it But in the mean time I cannot be otherwise perswaded but that Tythes were meerly ceremonial appointed of God for the maintenance of the Priests ahd Levites during the continuance of that Priesthood onely and no longer And therefore that Priesthood which was typical and ceremonial being abolished Tythes must of necessity cease also For the Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the Law Heb. 7. 12. So that it appeareth plainly that Tythes were part of the Ceremonial Law and abolished by Christ at his death and not translated to Gospel-Ministers for their maintenance as some would have it to be And to prove this more fully I will now also produce several other Scriptures and Testimonies to prove the utter abolition of the Levitical Priesthood and Ceremonial Law whereof Tythes were a part The Apostle Paul tells the Galatians That they were under the Law till Christ came But now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God how turn ye again to the weak and beggerly Elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage Gal. 4. 9. and Ephes 2. 15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances c. Again Col. 2. 14. Blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross And what were these weak and beggerly Elements Law of Commandments and hand-writing of Ordinances but the Levitical Ceremonies and duties enjoyned by that Law And the Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the Law Heb. 7. 12. I will cite onely one witness more a modern learned Writer to prove the repeal of the Law of Tythes Doctor Hall in his Passion-Sermon upon the last words of our Saviour at his death upon the Cross Consummatum est It is finished saith thus What is finished First all the prophesies that were of him in the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New Secondly all legal observations that prefigured him For Christ is the end of the Law Rom. 10. 4. What Law Ceremonial and Moral Of the Moral it was kept perfectly by himself satisfied fully for us Of the Ceremonial it referred to him was observed of him fulfilled in him abolished by him All the Jewish Ceremonies lookt at Christ and had their vertue from Christ relation to him and their end in him Thus far he And hereunto I might add also the testimony of those two faithfull Martyrs Walter Brute and William Thorp who deny Tythes to be due by the Gospel and also the example of that pious Worthy the Lord Cromwel
by whose counsel King Henry the eighth dissolved the Abbies Monasteries Nunneries and all those habitations of an idle luxurious and adulterous people and took away all their Lands Tythes and great Revenues and converted them to temporal and civil uses to the benefit of his Subjects as may be seen at large in Fox his History of the Martyrs whereunto I refer the Reader because I intend brevity and not to trouble you with a tedious Discourse Therefore having briefly shewed how that threefold cord so much boasted of by the National Ministers of England is utterly broken in pieces Tythes having no good foundation either by donation or by the Law of God or of men I shall now cease to proceed any further in the prosecution of this point at this time but shall leave it to the judgement of all understanding men who are not byassed by prejudice nor blinded by covetousness And if I have herein declared any thing contrary to the truth of the Scriptures I desire to be better informed and my error to be manifested unto me that I may repent of it and not persist in it For humanum est errare belluinum perseverare It is incident to humane nature to erre but it is a beastly property pertinaciously to go on and to persevere in an Error But if I have done nothing herein but what I am warranted to do by the Holy Scripture Then I desire all men as they desire the glory of God and their own good to refrain from giving or taking of Tythes and from encouraging any man to take Tythes as wages for preaching the Gospel A Postscript THere being some room left I thought good to fill it up with an Argument taken from the Authors Major and Doctor Burges's Minor And being put together shall leave it to the judicious and impartial Reader to judge whether from both he may not rationally conclude That Tythes are unlawful The Authour of this Treatise hath proved as cleer as the sun at noon day That Tythes as they are now required were first dedicated upon false grounds and for superstitious and base ends most derogatory to God and Christ and meerly to maintain and countenance a cursed Brood of Vipers in their lyes and beastly vanities So He. Doctor Burgess comes in with the other part and with great confidence assarts it That Things not appointed by God from the beginning but His Case concering the buying of Bishops Lands c. pag. 30 31. dedicated to him without his order and allowance is a laying aside and a rejecting the Commandment of God and making the Word of God of none effect Mark 7. 8 9 13. Yea he saith further and let all Tythe-taking Priests note his words If things are dedicated upon a false ground SUCH A DEDICATION IS NO WHIT BETTER THEN THE HIRE OF A WHORE OR THE PRICE OF A DOG that is then Money gotten by whoredom and the sale of a dog brought into the house of the Lord and dedicated to him both which he abhorreth and he looks no otherwise upon them then as the offering of swines blood the cutting off of a dogs neck or the blessing of an Idol And when it can be proved saith he that God accepted of such offering in the time of the Law then also it may be granted that he will own such MONGREL DED'CATIONS in the dayes of the Gospel Again It is apparent saith he that those gifts to Bishops were no longer to be continued then the Function of those to whom they were given remained Datur Beneficium propter Officium Office and Benefice are Relatives like twins they live and die together Judge Reader whether the Doctor be not entangled in his own words according to that in the Poet Non est Lex justior ulla Quam necis artifices arte perire sua For if this be true which he saith then none but Mass-mongers ought to receive Tythes For no man I think hath the face to deny it but Tythes came first up in England for Masses to be sung or said for quick and dead It was not given as maintenance to a Gospel-Minister And therefore by the Doctors own confession Tythes were no longer to be continued then the Function of those to whom they were given did remain So that if the Doctor deny the Function of a Mass Priest he must if true to his own principle deny taking of Tythes for like twins they live and die together A little more out of the Doctor Things once given to God by his command warrant or approbation may not be alâ—â—ned to other uses whilest the use of Gods appointment doth continue but not all that men pretend or say they give to God As in persons so in things such onely as the Lord chuseth or accepteth and none else are holy Num. 16. 7. let men say or thinke what they will to the contrary Here I agree with the Doctor in both points 1. That things dedicated to God by his own order and allowance ought to stand whilst the use of Gods appointment doth continue So likewise things not appointed by God at first but dedicated to him upon false grounds and superstitious ends ought to be aliened neither is it any sin or sacriledge to buy or sell them But such are Tythes as hath been proved But the Doctor possibly will say He wrote in the defence of the lawfulness of buying Bishops Lands not intending Tythes It is true he did so and tells us That Tythes are still due by divine right to Christ But the man is again snared in his own words and may well cry out Heu patior telis vulnera facta meis The Argument which he brings to prove it lawful that Bishops Lands may be aliened diverted or purchased to common use notwithstanding their first dedication is Because there is no warrant in Scripture for the giving of Lands to Bishops nor arguments to prove Christs acceptance of them as holy to the Lord There is no word saith he in the new testament that requireth or countenanceth such endowments Ergo. There are six particulars which he hath for Tythes to prove them Jure divino and are still due as he saith by divine right unto Christ But I desire all men in all places to take notice that there is not one word in any of his six particulars which proves Tythes to be Gods Ordinance for the maintenance of Evangelical Ministers I say again and will stand by it He shews us not one Scripture in the New Testament that ever the Lord required Tythes under the Gospel So that it is apparent enough he hath as little to say for Tythes from the Scripture as for the Bishops Lands and I am perswaded should these Tythes be aliened diverted or purchased for common use he and others who are now great Champions for them would face about and undertake that there is no more sacriledge or sin to buy and sell the Tythes of the nation then Bishops Lands And I have good ground for what I say for 1. what he waites against the Bishops for the alienation of their Lands and Revenues is as full and direct against the Tythes of the Clergy that they should be taken away Neither 2. can he justifie by Scripture his bold Assertion viz. That Tythes are the proper maintenance set apart for the Ministers of the Gospel and cannot be alienated without sacriledge I say he can no more make this good by the word of God then the Bishops could prove the buying or selling of their Lands to be sacrilege I have onely one thing to add and it is Humbly to advise all such as shall read the present Controversie concerning Tythes to take heed they are not abused For those who commonly plead for them will deceive the Reader unlesshe do observe their craft by their extravagant and impertinent discourses using many words but nothing to the Question But no man is more wild and rangeth from the Case rightly stated then Will. Prynne We read of one Doria the Admiral of Genoa being to fight at sea against the Saracens he fetcht his course so far about to gain the winde that he could never come to strike a blow before the battle was ended Their manner is and here lies Will. Prynn's proper gift unless rayling to blot much paper with proving what was never questioned we have sometimes a hundred Scriptures quoted to prove Tythes lawful under the Law another while as many old Statutes made by popish Princes and Parliaments commanding Tythes Then the practice of Heathens and Pagans are cited paying Tythes to their Priests But what is all this to the matter for what purpose and end are these things mentioned if not to beguile an ignorant Reader Ego de Alliis loquor tu responderes de Cepis They know well enough or ate very ignorant about the question of Tithes what they spend most of their breath for is not denyed by their Opposites But the Case stated is principally thus And I shall conclude with the Argument Things not appointed by God but dedicated to him without his order and allowance and upon a false ground and for idolatrous and superstitious ends as unlawful and sinful are to be removed So Doctor Burgess But Tythes under the New Testament were never appointed of God but dedicated to him without his order and allowance upon false grounds and for Idolatrous and superstitious ends So the Author Therefore Tythes as unlawful and sinful are to be taken away FINIS
is to be feared under the sprinkling of a Vial. He hath had something of the mark of the Beast so long upon him as no wonder if a noysome and Grievous Sore be upon him for it Neither do I expect under the pain and torment he is but he will more and more blaspheme the name of God his Tabernacle them that dwell in heaven 4. And to observe here the wise mans counsel Pro. 26. 4 5. thus far I take notice of the man seeing he will be doing and by the ten idle Queries which he put forth the other day it is apparent his wit lies not that way I will put this Question to him Suppose a man hath a fair pool of water in his ground the which in time becomes corrupted Weeds grow Mud increaseth and Frogs creep into it Now to help this the Owner cuts a new channel and draws the Water out to another place and leaves the filth and corruption behinde The Question is and the Case is put to Will. Prynne in the behalf of the Frogs Whether the water be the Frogs because the pit is theirs in which the waters formerly stood and whether the Frogs have cause to croak foam as if they had wrong done them or condemn those Fishes for Hereticks Sectaries and Schismaticks which refuse the stinking Mud for the other Christal Stream This pit we will take to be the old Form of Government by King Lords and House of Commons the Weeds and Mud Tyranny and Idolatry of all sorts and sizes the Frogs Archbishops Bishops and the whole Hierarchie down to the Parish-Clerk not excluding the Lawyers the Waters the just Rights and Liberties of the People in things Civil and Ecclesiastical the Owner the People in their Representatives Now something is already done in cutting a new channel and drawing the Waters to another place to wit a free Commonwealth and to leave the Weeds and Mud behinde And here is some work for William Prynne if he can leave his peevish passion and be sober a while to shew us what wrong the owner doth to these Frogs and why they must be Sectaries Anabaptists Jesuites c. that prefer the sweet and wholesome waters of Truth and Righteousness before the Weeds and Mud of Tyranny and Idolatry We will allow William Prynne the Pit and the Weeds and Mud But the water is the Owners of the ground And therefore if the Peoples Representatives shall go forward in bringing away all the good Water to this other place I mean a Commonwealth and leave the Weeds and Mud to the Frogs in the Pit there are not a few will justifie their doing against all that William Prynne can say for the Pit the Weeds Mud and Frogs For conclusion Great is the difference among us about the Good Old Cause one saith it is thus and another takes it otherwise Now the way to be patient quiet contented it is to take notice that the Lord is coming forth to decide the controversie And it will not be long I am strongly perswaded but he will make it clear and certain that he may run that readeth whether the Case which William Prynne hath stated be the Good Old Cause or what others otherwise have asserted It was the Lord who by a wonderful appearing decided the Controversie between Moses and the Magicians so afterwards between Elias and the Priests of Baal I am apt to think the present difference about the Good Old Cause will not be decided but by some visible and eminent hand of God There have been many Appeals especially of late put up to God about it and I am waiting and many more by faith and prayer for an answer from Heaven that is shortly to see shame and final confusion upon whatsoever is not the Good Old Cause but cried up by corrupt men for self-interest and what is the Good Cause indeed to be glorious and alone exalted Be silent O all flesh before the Lord for he is raised out of his holy habitation Zech. 2. 13. From my house without Bishopsgate at the three Stills the 13th of the 5th month 1659. John Canne AN INDICTMENT Against TYTHES THe consideration of the great oppression that is now exercised in this land by imposing upon men that intolerable burthen of Tythes wich lieth heavy upon and is grievous to the people of this Nation in general and more particularly to the Husbandmen and Farmers of Lands who after great labor and charges in plowing and ordering their Land and sowing their Seed and maintaining their Family and Cattel and payment of Rents and other Charges and Taxes imposed upon them wait patiently for a plentifull Harvest to countervail their pains and charges but then cometh a Tythe taker with his Cart and sweepeth away in the name of a Tenth a fourth if not a third part of the Husbandmans profit But most especially this unlawfull payment of Tythes is most burthensome to the conscientious and faithfull Servants of Jesus Christ who desire to obey him and his Commandments These I say and such like considerations have incited me to inquire seriously and to search out diligently First the time 1. The time when 2. By whom 3. To whom and to what end when Tythes were first given in England Secondly by whom and by whose Authority a Law for payment of Tythes was first established and after confirmed And thirdly to whom and for what end and purpose Tythes have been formerly and yet are paid in England And of these I shall speak briefly in order as I have laid them down And first to the time when Tythes were first given 1. The time in England I finde it affirmed by several Authors that in the first Three hundred years after Christ no Tythes were paid in England but the Priests in those times were maintained by the free benevolence and contribution of the people as Tertullian Origen and Cyprian do testifie And in the next Three hundred years in the time of the Danes and Saxons Heathenism and Paganism did totally overspread this Land until about the year of our Lord Six hundred when Gegory the great sent over Augustine the Monk into England assisted with forty Preachers to convert the Saxons from Paganism to Popery which was effected in the time of Ethelbert the first Christian King of Kent who being converted was afterward an instrument for the conversion of his Nation the Saxons This Ethelbert is reported to have been very bountifull to the said Austine the Monk and gave him the Lordship and Royalty of his chief City Canterbury but that he gave him any Tythes or ever commanded Tythes to be paid to him or to any other or made any Law for payment of Tythes it doth not appear to me by any History Nor can it be proved that any Law was made for payment of Tythes in England until the year of our Lord 786. And then in the time of Off a King of Mercia which was in 2. By whom the time
onely in the time of the Levitical Law in the Land of Canaan and not elsewhere and by the Jews onely but never by the Gentiles But it is objected by the pleaders for Tythes in these Objection our dayes That Tythes are due to the Receivers thereof by a threefold Right First by ancient donation thereof to the Church for maintenance of Christianity Four hundred years 1. Right before the Donation in times of Popery but they prove it not Secondly by the Law of the Land And thirdly by the Law 2. Right of God all which I shall by Gods assistance seriously examine and according to my best understanding give a brief 3. Right and satisfactory Answer thereunto in order as they are propounded To the first viz. Donation I shall not need to make Answer any long answer because I have formerly proved first the time when and by whom Tythes were first given in England Secondly By whom and by whose authority they were by a Law first established And thirdly To whom and to what end and purpose Tythes were first given in England and since continued If they were first given to the Church for maintenance of Christianity as is by some pretended Four hundred years before the time of Popery Then I desire to know who were the first Donors of them and to what Church they were dedicated whether to the Church of Christ or to some Idol-Temple For I finde it reported by Sir Henry Spelman that the Heathens and Pagans before the conversion of the Saxons in England to Christianity gave In his larger work of Tythes Tythes to their Idol-Gods and Goddesses as the Arabians to their God Sabin the Siphnians to their God at Delphos the Romans to Hercules the Ephesians to Diana and others to Jupiter and Apollo c. So that if any man will boast of the Antiquity of Tythes to have been Four hundred years before the time of Offa then he must claim them by an Heathenish Donation for I am confident that there was no such donation in England until the year of our Lord 786. For in the Primitive times for Three hundred years after Christ no Tythes were paid in England as I have already proved although there were many Christians then in England and many Churches gathered in Asia and elsewhere And whereas it is alledged that Constantine the great who was the first Christian Emperour upon whose Donation some do much rely I cannot finde that he did ever command Tythes to be paid in any place or to any persons But I do read in the History of his life that he bestowed Houses Lands large favours and Possessions upon Bishops and Priests and large gifts and favours upon Christian people but no Tythes mentioned amongst all those gifts and favours And Sabellicus who was himself a Roman questioneth the truth of those large Donations Yet doubtless his bounty was so great to the Bishops and Priests of those times that thereby they became proud covetous and contentious the seeds whereof were so deep sown that they are not yet totally eradicated To the second right as some call it which say Answer to the second Right they is by the Laws of the Land I answer That I endeavour not to destroy but to maintain the Laws of the Land which are consonant to and grounded upon the Laws of God and desire that they may be rightly expounded and righteous judgement given upon them yea even those which are thought to make most for payment of Tythes I begin with the Statute of the 27 year of H. 8. whereby 1. Law for Tythes Ministers are enabled to sue for Tythes but where In the Ecclesiastical Court onely and not elsewhere For before that time I find no Law extant to compel men to pay Tythes or to be sued at Law for non-payment of them But onely a decretal Epistle of Pope Innocent the third which saith Sir Edward Cook was no binding Law Also Instit part 2. in the Two and thirtieth year of Hen. 8. another Act of Parliament was made especially for the benefit of Impropriators 2. Law for Tythes who before that time had no power given them to recover Tythes but in that Act is a special Proviso That no person Ecclesiastical or temporal shall sue for any Tythes in any temporal Court but onely in the Ecclesiastical Court Thirdly in the second year of Edward 6. another 2. Law for Tythes Act of Parliament was made whereby the two former Acts of the twenty seven and thirty two of Hen. 8. and every Article and Branch therein contained are ratified and confirmed but upon serious consideration of the several parts of this Act it will appear that it giveth no power to sue for Tythes at the common-Common-Law nor in any Court of Equity For in the first branch thereof which is a very imperfect one it is said that every Subject of the King 1. Imperfect shall set out and pay his predial Tythes and that no person shall carry away any such Tythes before he hath set out for the Tythes thereof the Tenth part of the same or agreed with the Proprietor c. upon pain of forfeiture of the treble value c. So that it appeareth to me that the forfeiture given by this Act is not the treble value of the Tenth part of all a mans Corn and Hay but a treble value of a Tenth part of the Tenth of Corn and Hay Secondly it is not therein declared who shall have 2. Imperfect sue for and recover that forfeiture of treble value And no private person can claim a forfeiture given by any penal Law except it be given him in express terms by the same Law Therefore I do conceive that the forfeiture if there be any such given by the first branch of this Act ought to be recovered and imployed to the use of the chief Magistrate or of the Common-wealth and not of any private or particular person whosoever Thirdly it is not thereby appointed how or where the said penalty shall be recovered as in all other penal 2. Imperfect Acts it is declared That the forfeture shall be either to the King solely or to the King and Informer or to the Party grieved to be recovered in some Court of Record by Action of debt bill plaint or information But there is no such limitation in that Branch of that Statute Therefore I do call it an imperfect branch because in two other branches of the same Statute of 2 Edw. 6. it is enacted and declared That no person shall be convented or sued for any Tythes before any other judge then Ecclesiastical And further in a latter branch of the same Act power is given to sue at the Common-Law for the penalty forfeited for not delivering in a Copy of the Libel and suggestion whereupon a Prohibition is granted And for these considerations and some other Reasons following I am perswaded that the makers of that
Law never intended that any penalty given by the first branch of that Statute should be recovered in any temporal Court but if any place then in the Ecclesiastical Court onely And I am induced so to judge for these five reasons following First because if they had intended to have given Reason 1. power to sue at the Common-Law for any forfeiture given by that first branch they would therein as fully have declared their meaning as they did in the latter branch of that Act. Secondly Because this Act is called an additional Act Reason 2. added to the two former Acts of the 27 and 32 of Hen. 8. and herein onely some penalties added whereof that of treble value is one but nothing taken away by this Act from the said two former Acts and therefore the Proviso contained in the said Act of the 32 of Hen. 8. whereby all men are restrained to sue for Tythes in any temporal Court standeth still firm in full force and unrepealed And it is and hath been the opinion of some men that this penalty of treble value expressed in the said Act of 2. Edw. 6. was rather in terrorem to cause men for fear of a greater danger to pay their Tythes willingly then that the said forfeiture should be exacted Thirdly because the Bishops were at that time powerful Reason 3. in this land and then sitting in Parliament and can it be conceived that had they understood that the Parliament intended to give liberty thereby to sue for that forfeiture 〈◊〉 the Common-Law in temporal Courts and thereby to deprive the Bishops Courts of their Priviledges and their Officers of their profits that ever they would have consented to the passing of that Act for it is well known that they did alwayes endeavour to uphold their Ecclesiastical Courts and to continue and enlarge their own profits pomp and lordly dignity and were more willing to hold Plea in Causes that belonged not to their Cognizance then to abate any of their Priviledges as appeareth by a Prohibition directed to the Prelates Archdeacons c. of the Diocess of Norwich which is to be seen in Rastals Abridgement Fourthly because all the Judges in their Answers to Reason 4. the Bishops Objections in the fourth year of the late King James acknowledge that if the question be upon payment or setting out of Tythes they send it to the Ecclesiastical Court there to be determined Fifthly because it is most fit that where the principal Reason 5. viz. Tythes are to be recovered there the accessary viz. the forfeiture should be demanded for Tythes are the principal the forfeiture of treble value is but accessary Therefore they that say that they sue not for Tythes but for the forfeiture of treble value do but delude men as if they would teach them to build an House without a Foundation Tythes are the Foundation for if a man pay his Tythes there can be no forfeiture nor cause of action So that it is a meer juggle and a forged cavil of those men who so object Sir Edward Cook in the first part of his Instit saith That it is the most natural and genuine exposition of a Statute to construe one part of the Statute by another part of the same Statute for that best expresseth the meaning of the makers And again every penal Law is to be taken according to the letter of the Law without wresting or adding and not according to mens various conceits and interpretations And so King James very well told his Judges in the Star-chamber in the year of our Lord 1616. charging them to do Justice uprightly and indifferently without delay or partiality and yet not to utter their own conceits but the true meaning of the Law not making laws but declaring the Laws and that according to the true sence thereof remembring that their Office is jus dicere and not jus dare to declare the Law not to give a Law And the same King James in a Speech to the Parliament in the year of our Lord 1607. telleth them That as every Law would be clear and full so the obscurity in some points of our written Law and want of fulness in others the variation of Cases and mens curiosity breeding every day new questions hath inforced the Judges to judge in many Cases here by Cases and Presidents wherein I hope Lawyers themselves will not deny but that there must be a great uncertainty And where there is variety and uncertainty although a just Judge may do rightly yet an ill Judge may take advantage to do wrong and then are all honest men that succeed him tyed in a manner to his unjust and partial conclusions Wherefore leave not the Law to the pleasure of the Judge but let your Laws be looked into for I desire not the abolishing of the Laws but onely the clearing and sweeping off the rust of them and that by Parliament our Laws be cleared and made known to all the Subjects So far King James And I desire with all mine heart that you our Worthies the Representatives now assembled in Parliament and all others that may succeed you would seriously consider and set upon the regulating of the Laws of this Commonwealth and repeal such as are unnecessary reform such as are faulty explain such as are dark and mystical and make such new ones as may be to the glory of God and comfort of all his faithfull and peaceable Servants But it may be some will here object and say that Objection Tythes are paid in England by an ancient custom and our Law is grounded much upon custom Then I demand who first brought in that custom was it Answer not the Pope and why is not that custom one and the same in all places of this Land and why are there several and divers customs and manner of tythings in several Parishes And why are not all reduced to one kinde and manner of tything in all the Parishes of England For in some Parishes the tenth of all the Corn Grain and Hay is paid in kinde and in some Parishes onely a small sum of money and in others a piece of Meadow is allowed for the Tythe of all the Hay arising yearly within that Parish Also in some Parishes tythe-milk is paid in kinde every tenth day during the greatest part of the year and in other places but two pence or it may be less for a Cows milk for the whole year If any one of these Customs be good and warrantable why are not all the rest made conformable thereunto But if all be evil as certainly they are why are they not all abolished For it is a Maxime in the Law Malus usus abolendus est An evil Custom is to be abolished Doctor Ridley in his view of the civil-Civil-Law Pag. 147. saith That the Customs we pay our Tythes by at this day were setled upon this Kingdom by the Popes Legats in Provincial and Synodal constitutions And Mr
Selden in his Chap. 11. History of Tythes saith As Tythes are popish so are they likewise a Relique of Superstition Because given at the first out of a superstitious opinion of satisfaction for the sins of the Donor yea and as superstitiously paid at this day by many ignorant people who think Tythes to be due by the Law of God and so deceive themselves Let not any man think saith Sir Henry Spelman that he hath right to Tythes too hot c. Tythes because the Law of man hath given them to him for Tully himself the greatest Lawyer of his time confesseth That nothing is more foolish then to think all is just that is contained in the Laws or Statutes of any Nation Experience teacheth us that our own Laws are daily accused of imperfection often amended expounded and repealed Look back into times past and we shall finde that many of them have been unprofitable for the Commonwealth many dishonorable to the Kingdom some contrary to the word of God and some very impious and intolerable yet all propounded debated and concluded by Parliaments So Tully and the Roman Historians cry out That their Laws were often by force and against all Religion imposed upon the Common-wealth And forasmuch as it appeareth plainly as I have formerly shewed That Tythes were by Parliaments established for Massing-Triests to say and sing Mass and such other superstitious services and after confirmed for reading the Book of Common-Prayer Therefore an Idolatrous gift and establishment unlawfull in the Givers unlawfull in the Actors and Receivers and therefore ought to revert to the right Heirs of the Donors and all ought to repent of such an ungodly action The Prophet Isaiah proclaimeth against such Laws and Law-makers Wo be Isa 10. 1 2 unto them that make wicked Statutes and write grievous things So also in Micah 6. 16. God threatneth to punish such Law-makers and Law-observers The Statutes of Omri are kept and all the manner of the House of Ahab c. Therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people Statutes of Princes are no excuse to transgress Gods Law God cannot be confined restrained or concluded by any Parliament Let no man therefore think that he hath right to Tythes because the Law of man hath given them to him for the Law of man can give him no more then the Law of God will permit The Law of man may Spel. 173. give a man jus ad rem right to a thing as to demand it or to defend it against another man but it cannot give him jus in re right in the thing to claim it in right against or without the Law of God Right to the thing is a lame title they must have Right in it that will have a perfect title The Law may make a man the possessâ—r or enjoyer of a thing but it cannot make him the very owner of the thing The Books of the Law themselves confess That all Prescriptions Statutes and Customs against the Law of Nature or of God be void and against justice Now I might here proceed to their third right but before I pass from this their second right as they call it I desire to answer one Objection which I have heard from the mouth of a Judge in this Nation made in defence of the Statute for Tythes of 2 Edw. 6. But saith he although some are of opinion that the Objection Act of 2 Edw. 6. doth not give power to sue for Tythes at the common-Common-Law Yet it hath been the constant practise and determination of the Judges for many years to maintain Actions at the common-Common-Law upon that Statute for the treble value of Tythes not set out and that a hundred Judgments have been given in that Case To which I answer If ten thousand Judgments have Answer been given in that Case upon a false ground must all succeeding Judges of necessity follow their example without a rule to guide them by Sir Edw. Coke saith That the Laws are the Judges Guides or Leaders their safest Teacher and Fortress and we know that Judges opinions are not alwayes to be taken for sound and good Law neither are we so to be bound up by them that we may not receive a better opinion when it is offered For saith Sir Edw. Coke No mans authority ought to be so prevalent with us that we should not approve a better opinion if any man offer it unto us And I have already shewed how inconvenient Instit part 1. and dangerous it is for Judges to judge by Cases and Presidents where there is no Law to guide them nor a just Rule to direct them For Judges are but men they are not infallible they are subject to failings And some of the chief Justices of both Benches and others very learned in the Laws of this Land have erred grosly Hub. de Buâ—go Thorp Triscilian Belknap Lockâ—on c. and been punished severely â—ome by banishment and confiscation of goods and others by death as may appear by ancient Records in Henry the third's time in Edward the third's time and in Richard the second 's time But what need I look so far back for examples of this nature seeing that there is one to be found amongst us of late years yet fresh in our memories in the case of Ship-money wherein all the Judges that then were except two gave Judgement against Mr Hampden contrary to the known Laws of this Land And of what evil consequence that might have been and how destructive to this Common-wealth and to our Liberties I leave to the judgements of all understanding men For if that Judgement had continued upon Record and in force and not been reversed by the Parliament it might have been a President for all succeeding Judges to judge by in future times and so might we and future generations have been made meer Vassals and Slaves to the arbitrary will of our Governours And for the further manifestation of the invalidity of the first Branch of that Act of 2 Edward 6. I am able to make it appear that it lay dead and no action of debt brought upon it at the Common-Law for the penalty of the treble value for almost fifty years after the making of it and no Judgement given upon it until the fortieth year of Queen Elizabeth since which time the succeeding Judges being guided by the opinions of those former Judges without any other ground or warrant for their so doing make it a standing Law To the third Right as some do call it which say 3. Right answered they is by the Law of God I answer that some Pleaders for Tythes do cite several Texts of Scripture to prove what they would have but having seriously examined and considered those Scriptures I do not finde one that will stand by them to prove their assertion Their first Scripture is in Gen. 14. 2. and 21. 22. to 1. Scrip. prove that Abraham and Jacob by the Law of
the Lord was their portion Thirdly the poor the widow and the fatherless were to Reason 3. partake of the Tythes with them But first the Ministers of England are not the hundredth 1. part of the people of England Secondly They or most of them have besides their 2. Tythes Glebe-lands and some of them a competent estate in temporal fee-simple-Lands and some of them have a good portion of goods and moneys and some other profitable wayes to gain by Thirdly Few of them feed the hungry cloath the naked 3. relieve the poor widows and Orphans as they ought to do And therefore how dare they pretend Scripture Equity or Reason for payment of Tythes to them when God hath left no such Rule upon Record in any part of the New-Testament Nor did the Lord ever challenge Tythes of the Gentles as he did of the Jews and God is now so far from being honoured by payment of Tythes as that he is highly dishonoured thereby and Jesus Christ denied to be come in the flesh and the Levitical Priesthood seemingly upholden and maintained But it is further asserted by the same Doctor that Objection Christ chalengeth Tythes as a Right and Due belonging to himself and that he hath given them to the Ministers of the Gospel for their maintenance and therefore are to be paid to the Ministers of England at this day To this I answer That when he or any other man shall Answer prove this assertion by a positive text of Scripture in the New Testament then shall I be silent and oppose him no more But I fear that this will not content him because he still strongly endeavoureth to prove his Scriptural right as he calleth it 1 Cor. 9. 14. by multiplying a great sound of words but not according to the forme of sound words ten times repeating that pregnant place as he calleth it 1 Cor. 9. 14. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel And this he would have to be an Ordinance of God for Ministers maintenance by Tythes at this day Even so as the Levitical Priests were maintained by Tythes in the time of the Law I deny not that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel but it must be in such a way and by such means as Christ hath appointed them that is as the Ministers of the Gospel lived in the Primitive times by the benevolence and free gift of People and not by Tythes For Christ and his Apostles never had any Tythes or great Parsonages as the Ministers of England have although they preached the Gospel diligently from house to house and from Country to Country Our Saviour saith Luk. 9. 58. Foxes have holes and the Birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head He had not a great house to dwell in nor worldly rich Revenues to maintain him though he was Lord of all he had not so much money as would pay custom for himself and Peter until it was taken out of the fishes mouth Matth. 16. 27. And he saith That the Disciple is not above his Master nor the servant above his Lord. Yet many of the Ministers Matth. 10. 24. of England who stile themselves the servants of Christ strive for great livings fair houses dainty fare and the pomp and pleasure of this world rather then to be rich in good works But to answer directly to his Even so First I say that the Apostles meaning in that place 1 Cor 9. 14. is either wholly mistaken or unjustly wrested by the Doctor to make good his assertion for there is not one word of Tythes for Ministers maintenance in all that Chapter True it is that the Apostle pleads there for a competent maintenance for the Ministers of the Gospel but not by Tythes as the Doctor would have it God himself appointed that the Ministers that served at the Altar should partake with the Altar and that they should receive Tythes and such part of the Sacrifices as was not consumed by fire But the Office of the Priests and Levites being abolished and the Law for Tythes abrogated and no new donation of the like maintenance made by Christ to the Ministers of the Gospel by what right can the Ministers of England now claim Tythes And further to his Even so which he urgeth so often I answer that I conceive he buildeth but upon a sandy foundation for if he well considereth the Greek he shall finde it to be there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in our English Translations is rendred And so or So also and the word Even is found onely in the last translation of the Bible But secondly suppose that the Original may bear that Translation Even so yet that will not prove that it is a Divine Ordinance enjoyning men to pay Tythes to the Ministers of England For I do not finde in any part of the New Testament that God complaineth against Christians for robbing him of his honor Christ of his homage Ministers of their maintenance and the People of the means of Salvation because they pay not Tythes But sure I am that many Ministers of England rob God of his honour by their licentious conversation Christ of his homage See Heb. 2. 9. by not acknowledging him to have died for all men and men of their goods by unjustly exacting Tythes to 1 John 2. 2. spend upon their own lusts So that it may be justly said that the taking of Tythes and not the with-holding of Tythes ariseth from loose principles and argueth that such as take Tythes for preaching without any Law of God to warrant them are not the true Ministers of Jesus Christ For there is no such agreement between the Old and New Testament in point of Tythes as the Doctor would have men to believe Therefore I leave it to the judgement of wise conscientious men to judge whether I or the Doctor do erre in this point from the truth of the Scripture Some other Arguments have been also drawn from the Scriptures by others defenders of Tythes but I shall wave them at present and follow the Doctor a little further who in the next place goeth about to maintain the lawfulness of Tythes for Ministers maintenance by a Catholick Custom confirmed by Antiquity and Universality two strong props or pillars whereupon the Popish Religion Idolatry and will-worship is upholden but I finde no such custom in the Church of Christ in the first Six hundred years after Christ as it is affirmed by some Historians By others Eight hundred fifty five years by others Nine hundred and by others not until the Council of Lateran Anno 1215. or as some others do affirm that in or about the year of our Lord One thousand two hundred a decretal Epistle by Pope Innocent the third dated at Lateran was directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury that Tythes should be paid to
the Parish Churches For before that time any man might have given his Tythes to what spiritual person he would But saith Sir Edward Coke this Epistle decretal bound not the Subjects of this Realm but they allowed the same and so it became Lex terrae a Law of the Land And so by the Popes Law Tythes were paid in England without any other Law until the Twenty seventh year of Hen. 8. And I do not read that Tythes are at this day paid for the Ministers maintenance in any Christian reformed Church except onely in the Church of England And if no custom can commend what is in its nature evil or change it into good as the Doctor confesseth then a Popish custom of paying Tythes in England although most men approve it cannot be good nor ought to be followed For we must not follow a multitude to do evil For although Tythes be not precisely in plain terms forbidden yet they being no where commanded in the New Testament we ought not to pay them we are not to do more or less in the worship of God then God in his Word hath commanded Therefore what Custom hath been brought up and practised in England by Authority of men without any precept or rule in the Word of God is an evil Custom and ought to be abolished But the Custom of paying Tythes in England was brought up and practised by authority of men without any precept or rule in the Word of God Therefore the Custom of paying Tythes in England is an evil Custom and ought to be abolished That cannot rightly be called a free gift to God or to this Ministers which is by a strong hand and compulsion taken from men But Tythes are by a strong hand and compulsion taken from men therefore Tythes cannot be called a free gift to God or to his Ministers But I intend brevity and not to trouble the Reader with tautologies or vain repetitions and therefore do refer him to the former part of this my Discourse wherein I have shewed First The time when Tythes were first appointed to 1. be paid in England Secondly By whom and by whose Authority Tythes 2. were first settled by a Law in England And thirdly to whom and to what end and purpose 3. Tythes were at the first given and afterwards continued in England And so I shall leave the Doctor and proceed to answer another mans Arguments who in one of his Arguments Argument 3. drawn from Gal. 6. 6. saith That people are bound to communicate to their Pastors in all good things or in all his goods and then asketh the question What good things or goods are these if not Tythes the Apostle refers to And for proof of his Argument he refers me to Beza and St. Jerom. Wereunto I answer that what he hath said proves nothing Answer to the point in hand For the Apostle Paul speaketh not one word of Tythes in all that chapter And can it be by any man conceived that the Apostle there intended to command payment of Tythes to Gospel-Ministers for their maintenance and to bring the Galatians back to the Ceremonial Law whereunto he did know them to be too much addicted and therefore in the third and fifth chapters of that Epistle he laboureth strongly to take them off from the Ceremonial Law and can it be thought that he would then in the sixth chapter refer them again to the Ceremonial Law for Ministers maintenance under the Gospel If the Apostle had said that by those good things you are to understand Tythes to be communicated and given to the Ministers of the Gospel for their maintenance I would have believed him but because he saith no such thing therefore this man refers me to Jerom and Beza as if their testimony were sufficient to satisfie me where the Scripture is silent The Apostle in that place saith onely Let him that is taught in the Word communicate unto him that teacheth him in all good things not naming Tythes or any particulars But the same Apostle saith in 1 Tim. 6. 8. Having food and raiment let us be therewith content And herewith agree Tertullian Origen Cyprian and others who say that the Clergy were then maintained by the benevolence of the People and not by taxation And Cyprian further saith That about the year 240. the Priests had every man his allowance delivered monthly per Sportulas And Origen in his sixteenth Homily upon Genesis saith Let us make haste to depart from the Priests of Pharaoh who enjoy earthly Possessions to the Priests of the Lord who have no portion in Earth for that the Lord is their Portion And in his 31 Homily upon Matthew he saith Because it is written The Lord hath appointed that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel That we therefore take not occasion to seek more for our selves then our simple diet and necessary apparel I have heard also a fourth Argument drawn from 1 Cor. 9. 11. If we have sowen unto you spiritual things is it a Argument 4. answered great thing if we reap your carnal things From whence they conclude that those carnal things there mentioned by the Apostle must of necessity be Tythes and so by wresting the Scripture for their own ends wrong both the Apostle and the Spirit of God and would make men believe that the Apostle there pleadeth for Ministers maintenance by Tythes where the Apostle not so much as once nameth Tythes in that chapter as I have formerly shewed but some men endeavour to draw in Tythes there by references of the New Testament to the Old making Law and Gospel all one without putting any difference between them and so by putting them together would have them to hold forth so much and yet they cannot finde a command for payment of Tythes to Gospel-Ministers in any part of the Old or new Testament A fifth Argument hath been brought by one drawn 5 Argum. from 1 Tim. 5. 17. which saith he proves a maintenance for Gospel-Ministers with an express reference to the Old Testament for it in ver 18. And that the Evangelical Prophets in the Old Testament are for Tythes as Mal. c. and that express places in the New Testament confirm them without all revocation Whereunto I answer first I do acknowledge such a Answer maintenance for Gospel-Ministers as Jesus Christ hath appointed them to take they may lawfully receive But Christ hath no where appointed them to take Tythes nor doth the Apostle in that place 1 Tim. 5. 17. nor in any other place say that Gospel-Ministers ought to be maintained by Tythes Therefore Gospel-Ministers ought not to receive Tythes and so this Scripture proveth nothing for him but altogether against him Secondly That God by the Prophet Mal. 3. 8. complaineth that the people had spoiled him in Tythes and Offerings But what maketh this for Ministers maintenance by Tythes in the time of the Gospel for Tythes were of Gods own
AN INDICTMENT Against TYTHES OR Tythes no Wages for Gospel-Ministers Wherein is declared I. The time when Tythes were first given in England II. By whom and by whose Authority and power Tythes were first by a Law established in England III. To whom and to what end and purpose Tythes were first given and after continued in England IV. Ministers pretending a threefold Right to Tythes 1. By Donation 2. By the Laws of the Nation And 3. By the Law of God examined and confuted By John Osborne a Lover of the Truth as it is in Jesus To which are added Certain Reasons taken out of Doctor Burgess his CASE concerning The buying of BISHOPS LANDS Which are as full and directly against Tythes as to what he applied them Likewise a QUERY to William Prynne By JOHN CANNE Micah 3. 5. Thus saith the Lord concerning the Prophets that deceive my people and bite them with their teeth and cry Peace but if a man put not into their mouths they prepare war against him Isa 57. 14. And he shall say Cast ye up prepare the way take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people London Printed for Livewel Chapman at the Crown in Popes-Head-Alley 1659 To the Supreme Authority the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England now sitting at Westminster FOrasmuch as it hath pleased the great Jehovah who is the onely wise Disposer of all things to re-call You to Your Places from whence You were unjustly deposed by an Usurped Power Therefore I beseech You consider that great things are now expected from You And I do humbly intreat and beseech You that You will be pleased to act prudently and vigorously for the Glory of GOD the Peace and Tranquillity of this Nation and the Comfort Liberty and Freedome of all the faithful Servants of the Lord Jesus Christ within this Commonwealth And forasmuch as some grievances and pressures rest upon the hearts and Spirits of many Godly Conscientious People of this Land and one especially upon mine own Spirit and Conscience in particular as well as upon divers others I mean that unsupportable burden of Tythes so dishonorable to God and destructive to his true Worship and so much tending to the abasement of the Kingdom of Christ and the advancement of the power and dominion of Satan and Antichrist This I say is a grievance necessary to be considered and speedily reformed Because I do not finde any Warrant in in the Word of God to uphold Minister Maintenance by Tythes And therefore I as a Lover of the Truth as it is in Jesus and as an obedient Servant and Subject to the Lord Jesus Christ do exhort and beseech You that You will have a tender care and compassion upon all fad oppressed Souls And to stir You up thereunto am bold to offer to Your view the short ensuing Treatise humbly desiring that You will be pleased to read it deliberately and consider it seriously and to make it a chief part of Your work according to the counsel of the Lord by the Prophet Isa 58. 6. To loose the bands of wickedness to take off the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free and that You break every yoke And then in so doing God will bless You in all Your consultations and actions But I beseech You mistake not my good intent and meaning herein For I purpose not to take upon me to teach You Your Duties in Your places and callings but to inform You of such a growing evil in this Commonwealth as if it be not timely suppressed may speedily draw down the wrath and judgements of God upon this Nation Wherefore I desire to stir up your mindes that by your godly actings and proceedings God may be glorified your own souls comforted and poor oppressed Consciences relieved Which shall ever be the Prayer of Your most humble Servant in the Lord Jesus Christ John Osborne TO THE READER A Few months before the sitting of this present Parliament * In a Book Intituled A two-fold Shaking of the Earth I declared my opinion concerning the late Government by a Single Person or the Second State-Apostacy that is how it should be plucket up root and branch by the Representatives of the People This Representative of the People whoever they should be for I positively pitched upon none I took to be the Earth-quake in Rev. 11. 13. Now so it is and blessed be the Lord for it we see the same is come to pass to the great joy and comfort of all upright ones every where This blessed of the Lord which is marvelous in our eyes not onely strengthens me in my former opinion viz. That the Earth-quake is begun but likewise what I have there spoken concerning the effects of that Earthquake as to Tythes the carnal Church Ministry Worship and Government with all the corrupt Laws of the Nation will in some short time by this Earth-quake be utterly razed down The Sun may shine and yet not be seen because it is under a cloud I am perswaded the great works of the last day are upon us and the Spirit is moving upon the face of the waters howbeit darkness covereth the earth But to the end I may not be mistaken when I speak of the Earth-quake I would not be understood as fixing either Persons or Time For howsoever as I said before the Earth-quake I think is begun among us yet for the Instruments whom the Lord will make use of to carry on his work 't is known onely to himself So likewise for the Time though I humbly conceive it shall gradually go foreward and have no more such a death upon it as it had before Notwithstanding like the Hand of a Watch the motion may be such as men looking upon it may not perceive that it turns about But seeing at this time the great Controver sie is about Tythes awd that there is so much writing Pro and Con I shall therefore lay down some few Reasons why I think they will not long stand but be taken away as the first effect of the Earthquake That the Lord intends to have something done against 1 Reason Tithes I have cause to think so in that there hath been discovered of late such horrid Oppression and Cruelty in Tythe-Takers as I think the like was never heard of in any former Generation In truth it is almost incredible what inhumane and most unchristian cruelty hath been lotely exercised upon many poor people for refusing of conscience to pay Tythes Now doubtless this is for some good end I say there is something in it that the Lord should just now bring such things to light for if we observe his wayes of old Such wickedness as he brought to light by wonderful Providence he soon after punished most severely There seems to be by the godly on all sides a great desire to have all ignorant and scandalous Ministers rejected 2 Reason Now I think by this time it doth appear to every one that