Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	aaron_n	according_a	church_n	56	3	3.3866	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91565	The great case of tythes truly stated, clearly opened, and fully resolved. By a countrey-man, A.P.	Pearson, Anthony, 1628-1670?	1657 (1657)	Wing P989; Thomason E931_2; ESTC R207656	39,708	44

THE GREAT CASE OF TYTHES Truly stated clearly opened and fully resolved By a Countrey-man A. P. LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert at the Black-spread-Eagle neer the West end of Pauls MDCLVII To the Countrey-men Farmers and Husbandmen of England IT is for your sakes that this small Treatise is sent abroad that in a matter wherein you are so much concern'd you might be truly informed And because there are many differing opinions and of late yeers have been great disputes concerning the right of Tythes which makes the case seem difficult to be resolved I have given you the substance of all that ever I could finde written or hear discoursed touching that point and for more then two yeers last past I have made much enquiry into it and if there be any who have something to say for them which is not herein touched or in some generall head comprehended it shall be acceptable to me to receive it The Method of the Discourse First I have begun with tything amongst the Jewes which either in precept or example is the foundation for all others Secondly I have given you a short view of the Doctrines Opinions Decrees and Practises of the Primitive Church concerning them and from thence-downward untill this day which is enough to clear the whole point Thirdly Out of which having made some short Observations I state the case as it concerns us in England Fourthly And then hearing what every one hath to say for them and giving them particular Answers Fifthly I proceed to satisfie some great Objections and so conclude the whole in as much brevity as the variety of the subject would permit A. P. OF TYTHING Amongst the IEWES GOD having chosen Aaron and his sons for the Office of the Priesthood and the rest of the Tribe of Levi for the service of the Tabernacle he gave unto the Levites all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance for their service and they were to have no inheritance among the children of Israel And the Levites out of their Tythe were to offer up an Heave-offering of it for the Lord even the tenth part of the tythe and give it unto Aaron the Priest for himself and his sons and no other portion had the Priests out of the tythes but they were for the Levites that did the common services of the Tabernacle for the strangers for the fatherless and the widowes Besides the tenth of the tythe the Priests had the first ripe fruits of the ground of Wheat of Barley of Figs of Grapes of Olives of Pomgranates and Dates at what quantity the owner pleased Deut. 18.4 Ezek. 45.13 a Heave-offering also of corn wine oyl fleece and the like were given to the Priests at the 60. part sometimes at the 50. or more at the devotion of the owner Of Cattel also the first-born were the Lords paid to the Priests of clean beasts in kinde of unclean in money with a fifth part added Also divers parts of the sacrifices were appointed for the Priests Exod. 13.2 But no tythes did the Priests receive of the people for those belonged to the Levites that were appointed over the tabernacle and the instruments thereof to bear it to take it down and set it up to serve Aaron and his sons and to do the Services of the tabernacle and keep the instruments thereof and their service chiefly was upon removing of the Host for better ordering whereof and every ones service they were divided into three parts the Koathites the Gerthonites and the Mararites and these received tythes of the people and out of them a tenth part they delivered to the Priests Afterwards when Solomon had builded a temple and placed the Ark therein other offices were appointed for the Levites one part of them were to be singers another to be porters and take the charge of the gates of the Temple another to be keepers of the treasury others of them also were placed abroad in the country 2 Chron. 26.30 32. on the West side of Iordan 1700. and on the East side 2700. By this time also the posterity of Aaron being much increased the Priests were divided into 24 ranks or courses according to the names of their Families and every ones attendance was required by turns and hereupon Zacharias is said to be of the course of Abiah and to execute the Priests office and burn incense as his turn came Luk. 1. and the first of the first rank had the pre-eminence and was the High Priest and so every one according to their precedency were preferred The Levites that were singers were divided as the Priests into 24. ranks or courses the porters into five parts one part to every of the four gates of the temple and the five to Asuppim i.e. the Councell-house The treasury was generally committed to one as the chief but under him to two sorts of other officers one to keep the treasures of the House of the Lord and those things that were offered to the Lord and the other to keep the dedicate things In these treasuries were put the second tythes the offerings of all sorts of people which were for the uses and services of the temple for the fatherless the stranger and the widow After the captivity and new dedication of the temple it appears that in many particulars their Laws Ordinances and Customs were very much changed especially in this of tything But not being much pertinent to this discourse I shall pass them over onely from these short hints let the Reader understand that though the Priests and Levites were both of the tribe of Levi yet was the priesthood setled in the sons of Aaron and the offices of the priests were quite different from the Levites and so was their maintenance distinct as before is herein plainly shewed These Priests and Levites being separated for the work of the Lord in the tabernacle and in the temple they ministred according to the Ordinances of the first Covenant which were figures for the time then present and shadows of good things to come A view of the Doctrines Decrees and Practises of TYTHING from the Infancy of the Christian Church untill this day BVt in the fulness of time God raised up another Priest Christ Jesus who was not of the Tribe of Levi nor consecrated after the order of Aaron for he pertained to another tribe of which no man gave attendance at the Altar who having obtained a more excellent Ministery of a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not of the former building being the sum and substance of all the patterns of things under the first Covenant put an end to the first priesthood with all its shadowes sigures and carnall ordinances and changing the priesthood which had a command to take tythes of their brethren there was made of necessity also a change of the Law and a disannulling of the commandement going before which was but imposed untill the time of reformation And the Apostles and Ministers of Christ Iesus when he

had finished his Office upon earth by offering up himself through the eternal Spirit a sacrifice without spot unto God did not look back to the Ordinances of the former Priesthood but testified an end was put unto them and witnessed against the temple wherein the priests ministred for which Stephen was stoned to death against circumcision saying It was not that of the flesh against the Passeover priests c. and preached up Christ Jesus and his Doctrine the new and living way which was not made manifest while as the first tabernacle was standing Nor did they go about to establish the Law by which tythes were given in the former Priesthood but freely they preached the Gospel which they had received and did not require any setled maintenance but lived of the free offerings and contributions of the Saints who by their Ministry were turned to Christ Iesus At Jerusalem and thereabouts such was the unity of heart amongst the Saints in the Apostles time that all things were in common Acts 4.3 4. and none wanted and as many as were possessors of Lands or Houses sold them and brought the price and laid it down at the Apostles feet and it was distributed unto every man according as he hast need So the Church gathered by Mark at Alexandria in Aegypt followed the same rule as the Saints did at Ierusalem Hieron in vita Marc. having all things in common And Philo Iudeus a famous Author of that time reporteth that not onely there but in many other provinces the Christians lived together in societies In the Churches at Antioch the Saints possessed every man his own estate so likewise in Galatia and Corinth where the Apostle ordained that weekly offerings for the Saints should be made by every one as God had blessed him Acts 11.29 and by these offerings which were put into the hands of the Deacons of the Churches were all the services and needs of the Church supplied 1 Cor. 16.2 By example of these the course of monethly offerings succeeded in the next Ages Vide Synod Gangr Can. 60. not exacted but freely given at the bounty of every man as appears plainly by Tertullian in Apologet. ch 39. where upbraiding the Gentiles with the pietie and devotion of Christians he saith Whatsoever we have in the treasury of our Churches is not raised by taxation as though we put men to ransome their Religion but every man once a moneth or when it pleaseth himself bestoweth what he thinks good and not without he listeth for no man is compelled but left free to his own discretion and that which is given is not bestowed in vanity but in relieving the poor and upon children destitute of parents and maintenance of aged and feeble persons men wracked by Sea and such as are condemned to the Mettal-mines banished into Islands or cast into prison professing the true God and the Christian Faith And this way of contribution continued in the Church till the great persecution under Maximinian and Dioclesian about the yeer 304. as Eusebius testifieth Euseb lib. 4. ch 22. which also appears by the writings of Tertullian Origen Cyprian and others About this time also some lands began to be given to the Church and the revenue of them were brought into the treasury of the Church and belonged to the Church in common and was distributed as other offerings by the Deacons and Elders but the Bishops or Ministers medled not therewith for Origen saith It is not lawful for any Minister of the Church to possess lands given to the Church to his own use And called to the Ministers Let us depart from the Priests of PHAROAH who injoy earthly possessions to the Priests of the Lord who have no portion in the earth 16 Homily upon Genesis fol. 26. ch 3. And in another place he saith It behoveth us to be faithfull in disposing the rents of the Church that we our selves devour not those things which belong to the widows and the poor and let us be content with simple dyet and necessary apparel And Vrban Bishop of Rome Anno 227. did declare That the Church might receive Lands and Possessions offred by the faithfull Vrban 1. in Epist c. 12. q. 1. e. 161. but not to any particular mans benefit but that the Revenues thereof should be distributed as other offerings as need required Cyprian Cyprian Epist 27.34.36 Bishop of Carthage about the year 250. also testifieth the same and sheweth that the Church maintained many poore and that her own Dyet was sparing and plain and all her expences full of frugality Prosper also saith Lib. 21. de vita contemplativa That a Minister able to live of himself ought not to participate of the goods of the Church for saith he They that have of their own and yet desire to have somewhat given them do not receive it without great sin The Council at Antioch Con. Ant. cap. 25. Anno 340. finding that much fault had been amongst the Deacons to whom it properly belonged did ordain hat the Bishops might distribute the Goods of the Church but required that they took not any part to themselves or to the use of the Priests and brethren that lived with them unlesse that necessity did justly require it using the words of the Apostle Having Food and Rayment be therewith content In these times Hom. 11. in Acta Tom. 6. edit Saviliana pag. 897. in many places the Christian Converts joyned themselves in Societies and chose a separated life selling what they had and living together in common after the example of the former Saints about Jerusalem as Chrysostome notes who lived about the yeer 400. by whose writings it also appears that there was not the least use or practise of the payment of tythes in these former Ages The Church now living altogether by free offerings of Lands money and goods the people were much pressed to bountiful Contributions for holy uses as may be seen by the Writings of Hierome Homil. 43. ad Epist 1. ad Corinth in cap. 16. Chrysostome who brought the Jewish liberality in their payments of tenths for an example beneath which they would not have Christians determine their charity where Chrysostome sayes he speaks these things not as commanding or forbidding that they should give more yet as thinking it sit that they should not give lesse then the tenth part Hierome also doth earnestly admonish them to give bountifully to the poore Ad cap. 3 Malachia and double honor to him that labors in the Lords work not binding at all to offer this or that part leaving them to their own liberty but pressing they might not be more short then the Jews were Ambrose who was Bishop of Milan about the year 400. preached up tenths to be offered up for holy uses Tom. 5. Serm. fer 2. post dom 1. quadragesima vide Serm. in Ascens Danivi as the phrase then was as may be

pro terrenis Commutant Dei amore cōpunctus pro salute animae meae patris mei Matrisque meae omniū parentū meorum antecess● rū c. And so he goes on cōfirms divers things that divers had grāted to the Ch. as tythes other things The Normans afterwards entring this Kingdom and subduing it to themselves William the Conqueror confirmed the Liberties of the Church so did H. the first H. 2. K. Stephen and it may be others of the succeeding Kings did the like Some Episcopal Constitutions also have been made to the same effect by Robert Winchelsey Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and others That the Reader may understand the Princiciples upon which these men acted and the Doctrine then preached amongst them and received and believed I have inferted in the Margin the Preamble of a Grant of King Stephens Porvenie ad audientiam nostram quod Mults in Diocessitua decimas suas integrasvel duaspartes ipsarum non 〈◊〉 Ecclesiis in quarum par●chiis haebitant vel ubi predia habent à quibus Ecclesiastica praecipiunt Sacramenta p●rs●lvunt sed eas aliis pro sua distribuunt voluntate Cum igitur inconveniens esse videatur à ratione dissimile ut Ecclefiae quae spiritualia seminant metere non debeant a suis parochianis temporalia habere fraternitatituae Authoritate praesentium indulgemus ut liceat tibi super hoc non obstante contradictione vel appell atiene cujuslibet seu consuetudo hactenus observata quod Canonicum fuerit ordinare facere quod Statueris per censuram Ecclesiasticam firmiter obligare Nullt ergo c. Confirmationis c. Datum Lateran 11. Nonas Iulii But notwithstanding the many Laws Canons Decrees of Kings Popes Councils Bishops that every man ought to pay the tenth part of his encrease yet was it left to the owner to confer it where he pleased which made so many rich Abbies and Monasteries and till the year 1200. or thereabouts every one gave their tythes at their own pleasure which made Pope Innocent the third send his Decretal Epistle to the Bishop of Canterbury commanding him to enjoyn every man to pay his temporal Goods to those that ministred spiritual things to them which was enforced by Ecclesiastical censures and this was the first beginning of general Parochial payment of tythes in England I have inserted the Popes own words in the Margin as they are recorded by Cook in the second part of his Institutes who saith That because the Popes Decree seemed reasonable it was admitted and enjoyned by the Law of the Nation King and people being then papists This Decree of the Pope receiving all possible assistance from the Bishops and the Priests in whose behalf it was made did not onely in a short time take away the people 's then desired Right to give their tythes to those that best deserved them but did also so much corrupt the Clergy that in the time of R. the second Wick liffe our famous Reformer did make a heavy complaint to the Parliament which in his own words I have inserted for the Readers better satisfaction Ah Lord God! where this be reason to constrain the poor people to finde a worldly Priest sometime unable both of life and ounning in pomp and pride covetise and envy gluttoness drunkennesse and letchery in simony and heresie with fat horse and jolly and gay Saddles and Bridles ringing by the way and himself in costly clothes and pelure and to suffer their Wives and Children and their poor Neighbors perish for hunger thirst and cold and other mischiefs of the world Ah Lord Iesu Christ sith within few years men paid their tythes and offerings at their own will free to good men and able to great Worship of God to profit and fairness of holy Church fighting in earth why it were lawful and needful that a worldly Priest should destroy this holy and approved custom constraining men to leave this freedom turning Tythes and Offerings unto wicked uses That the meaning of these and the practice of this Nation in this matter may the better be understood it is needful to inform the Reader that when the Popes Doctrine was received in a Nation that Nation was divided into so many Bishopricks as were needful and every Bishoprick into so many parishes as were thought convenient and parishes are but of late erection and till then most Preachers were sent out of tho Monasteries and religious so called Houses and the people did at their own free will give their tythes and offerings where they pleased which liberty they enjoyed till about the year 1200. And though it was generally believed that tythes ought to be paid yet did no man claim any property therein but every owner of the nine parts was required to give the tenth part to the Priest or poor as due unto God But now the Pope having set up Parishes did enjoyne that a Secular priest canonically instituted should attend the service of each parish and that where tythes were not already setled they should be paid to the Parish-Priest notwithstanding any custom to the contrary the people then generally being Papists did yeild obedience as they durst not do otherwise and it may easily be supposed that having perswaded the people to pay tythes it was no hard matter to appoint the person to whom they should be given Parishes being set up Priests appointed and tythes paid to them after fourty years possession what before was owned as the gift was now claimed as a debt and prescription was pleaded by the priests as their just title the people then seeing themselves in a snare began to contend but the imperious Pope now in a great height of pride and insolence to uphold his Creature-Clergy thundred out his Interdict against this Nation excommunicaeted the King frighted the Subjects with his Bulls stuft with Commination and that against the very point of Arbitrary disposal of tythes And Rome now grown formidable did highly insult over Kings and Princes winesse Frederick Barbarossa Hen. the 6th and other Princes of the Empire and the Stories of our H. 2. and K. Iohn are obvious And our Rich. the first to gratifie the Clergy for their exceeding liberality in contributing to his ransom from captivity with great favour gave them an indulgent Charter of their Liberties and in this advantage of time the Canon-Laws gained such force that Parochial-payment came generally to be setled Yet notwithstanding our English Parliaments not willing wholly to forget the poor for whose sake tythes were chiefly given did make divers Laws that a convenient portion of the tythes should be set apart for the maintenance of the poor of the parish for ever R. 2.15.6 4 H. 4. as the Statutes at large do witnesse The Pope having by these means brought in tythes and made a pretended title by prescription set up Courts to recover them which were called Ecclesiastical Courts where his own creatures were Judges