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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	aaron_n	according_a	law_n	154	3	4.0030	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86306	The undeceiving of the people in the point of tithes: wherein is shewed, I. That never any clergy in the Church of God hath been, or is maintained with lesse charge to the subject, then the established clergy of the Church of England. II. That there is no subject in the realme of England, who giveth any thing of his own, towards the maintenance of his parish-minister, but his Easter-offering. III. That the change of tithes into stipends, will bring greater trouble to the clergy, then is yet considered; and far lesse profit to the countrey, then is now pretended. / By Ph. Treleinie Gent.	Heylyn, Peter, 1600-1662.	1647 (1647)	Wing H1741; Thomason E418_1; ESTC R204596	25,471	32

adde all those which were under 20 years and unfit for service the number would at least be doubled But the Levites being all reckoned from a month old and above their number was but 22000 in all of which see Num. 1. 46. 3. 39. which came not to so many by 273 as the onely first-born of the other Tribes and therefore when the Lord took the Levites for the first-born of Israel the odde 273 were redeemed according to the Law at five shekels a man and the money which amounted to 1365 shekels was given to Aaron and his sons Num. 7. 47 48. Which ground so laid according to the holy Scriptures let us next take a view of the English Clergy and allowing but one for every parish there must bee 9725 according to the number of the parish Churches or say ten thousand in the totall the residue being made up of Curates officiating in the Chappels of Ease throughout the Kingdome and reckoning in all their male children from a month old and upwards the number must be more then trebled For although many of the dignified and beneficed Clergy doe lead single lives yet that defect is liberally supplied by such married Curates as do officiate under them in their severall Churches And then as to the disproportion which is said to be between the Clergy and the rest of the people one to five hundred at the least the computation is ill grounded the collection worse For first the computation ought not to be made between the Minister and all the rest of the parish men women and children Masters and Dames men-servants maid-servants and the stranger which is within the gates but between him and such whose estates are Titheable and they in most parishes are the smallest number For setting by all children which live under their parents servants apprentices artificers day-labourers and poor indigent people none of all which have any interest in the Titheable lands the number of the residue will be found so small that probably the Minister may make one of the ten and so possesse no more then his own share comes to And then how miserably weak is the Collection wch is made from thence that this one man should have as much as any sixscore of the rest of the parish supposing that the parish did contain 500 persons or that his having of so much were a cheat and robbery And as for that objection which I find much stood on that the Levites had no other inheritance but the Tithes and offerings Numb. 18. 23. whereas the English Clergy are permitted to purchase lands and to inherit such as descend unto them the answer is so easie it will make it selfe For let the Tithes enjoyed by the English Clergy descend from them to their posterity from one generation to another as did the Tithes and Offerings on the Tribe of Levi and I perswade my self that none of them will be busied about purchasing lands or be an eye-sore to the people in having more to live on then their Tithes and Offerings Til that be done excuse them if they doe provide for their wives and children according to the Lawes both of God and Nature And so much for the parallel in point of maintenance between the Clergy of this Church and the Tribe of Levi Proceed we next unto the Ministers of the Gospel at the first plantation during the lives of the Apostles and the times next following and we shall finde that though they did not actually receive Tithes of the people yet they still kept on foot their right and in the mean time till they could enjoy them in a peaceable way were so provided for of all kind of necessaries that there was nothing wanting to their contentation First that they kept on foot their Right and thought that Tithes belonged as properly to the Evangelicall Priesthood as unto the Legall seems evident unto me by S. Pauls discourse who proves Melchisedeks Priesthood by these two arguments first that he blessed Abraham and secondly that he tithed him or received Tithes of him For though in our English translation it be onely said that he received Tithes of Abraham which might imply that Abraham gave them as a gift or a free-will-offering and that Melchisedek received them in no other sense yet in the Greek it is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which in plain English is that he tithed Abraham and took them of him as his due Heb. 7. 6. If then our Saviour be a Priest after the order of Melchisedek as no doubt he is hee must have power to tithe the people as well as to blesse them or else he comes not home to the type or figure which power of Tithing of the people or receiving Tithes of them since he exerciseth not in person it seems to me to follow upon very good consequence that hee hath devolved this part of his power on those whom he hath called and authorised for to blesse the people Certain I am the Fathers of the Primitive times though they enjoyed not Tithes in specie by reason that the Church was then unsettled and as it were in motion to the land of rest in which condition those of Israel paid no Tithes to Levi yet they still kept their claim unto them as appears clearly out of Origen and some other Ancients And of this truth I think no question need be made amongst knowing men The only question will be this Whether the maintenance which they had till the Tithes were paid were not as chargeable to the people as the Tithes now are supposing that the Tithes were the subjects own For my part I conceive it was the people of those plous times not thinking any thing too much to bestow on God for the encouragement of his Ministers and the reward of his Prophets They had not else sold off their lands and houses and brought the prices of the things which were sold and laid them at the Apostles feet as we know they did Acts 4. 34 35. but that they meant that the Apostles should supply their own wants out of those oblations as well as the necessities of their poorer brethren I trow the selling of all and trusting it to the dispensing of their Teachers was matter of more charge to such as had lands and houses then paying the tenth part of their house-rent or the Tithe of their lands And when this custome was laid by as possibly it might end with the Apostles themselves the offerings which succeeded in the place thereof and are required or enjoyned by the Apostolicall Canons were so great and manifold that there was nothing necessary to the life of man as honey milke fowl flesh grapes corn oyl frankincense fruits of the season yea strong drink and sweet mears which was not liberally offered on the Altars or oblation-Tables insomuch as the Authour of the Book called the Holy Table name and thing c. according to his scornfull manner saith of them that

THE VNDECEIVING OF THE PEOPLE In the point of TITHES Wherein is shewed I. That never any Clergy in the Church of God hath been or is maintained with lesse charge to the Subject then the established Clergy of the Church of England II. That there is no Subject in the Realme of England who giveth any thing of his own towards the maintenance of his Parish-Minister but his Easter-Offering III. That the change of Tithes into Stipends will bring greater trouble to the Clergy then is yet considered and far lesse profit to the Countrey then is now pretended By P. H. TRELEINIE Gent. 1 COR. 9. 7. Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges Who planteth a Vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof Or who feedeth a flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock LONDON Printed by M. F. for John Clark and are to be sold at his shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill 1648. THE UNDECEIVING OF THE PEOPLE In the point of TITHES AMongst those popular deceits which have been set abroad of late to abuse the people there is not any one which hath been cherished with more endeerments then a perswasion put into them of not paying Tithes partly because it carrieth no small shew of profit with it but principally as it seemes a conducible means to make the Clergy more obnoxious to them and to stand more at their devotion then they have done formerly Upon these hopes it hath been the endeavours of some leading men to represent it to the rest as a publick grievance that the Clergy being but an handfull of men in comparison of all the rest of the kingdome should goe away with the tenth or as some say the sixth part of the fruits of the earth and that the Minister sitting still in his contemplations should live upon the sweat of other mens brows and taking pains amongst the people but one day in seven should have the tenth part of their estates allotted to them for their maintenance And 't is no marvel if some few on these mis-perswasions have importuned the high Court of Parliament from time to time with troublesome and clamorous Petitions to redresse this wrong and put them up also in the name of whole Counties although the generality of those Counties had no hand therein to adde the greater credit and authority to them In which designe although they have prevailed no further on the two houses of Parliament then to be sent away with this generall promise that in due time their Petitions should be taken into consideration a and that it was the pleasure of the several and respective Houses that in the mean season they should take care that Tithes be duly paid according to Law yet they which have espoused the quarrell will not so be satisfied For when it pleased the Lords and Commons to set out an Ordinance bearing date Novemb. 8. 1644. for the true payment of Tithes and other duties according to the Laws and Customes of this Realm there came out presently a pamphlet entituled The Dismounting of the Ordinance for Tithes followed backed by many a scandalous paper of the self-same strain And when it seemed good to the said Lords and Commons on the precipitancy of some of the Clergy under sequestration to set out their additionall Ordinance of the 9th of August anno 1647. it was encountred presently with a scurrilous pamphlet entituled A Preparation for a day of thanksgiving to the Parliament for their late Ordinance for Tithes newly mounted and well charged with treble damages for the peoples not giving the tenth part of their estates to the Clergy or Impropriators And this according to the style of those Petitions is said to bee the result of the Parliaments friends in Hartfordshire though I am verily perswaded that few if any of the Gentry and men of quality in the County were acquainted with it But be it the result of few or many of the Parliaments friends though I conceive they are but back-friends to the Parliament who set so sleight a value on their Constitutions the Title doth afford two things worthy consideration First that the maintenance of the Clergy here by Law established is said to bee by giving to them the tenth part of every mans estate and secondly that the blow goes higher then before it did and aims not onely at the devesting of the Church of her ancient Patrimony but at the depriving of the Gentry of their Impropriations which many of them hold by lease many by inheritance all by as good a title as the Law can make them I know there hath been great pains taken by some learned men to state the Institution and Right of Tithes and severall judicious Tractates have been writ about it which notwithstanding have not found such entertainment as they did deserve partly because being written in an Argumentative way they were above the reach of the vulgar Reader but principally because written by men ingaged in the cause and such as might be byassed with their own interesse in it For my part I am free from all those ingagements which may incline mee to write any thing for my private ends being one that payeth Tithes and such other duties as the Lawes and Ordinances doe injoyn And though I sit far off from the fountain of businesse and cannot possibly see at so great a distance what might best satisfie the doubts and clamours of unquiet men yet I shall venture to say somewhat in a modest way towards the Vndeceiving of the People in this point of Tithes whose judgements have been captivated by those mis-perswasions which cunningly have been communicated and infused into them And I shall doe it in a way if I guesse aright which hath not yet been travelled in this present point such as I hope will satisfie all them of the adverse party but those who are resolved before-hand that they will not be satisfied For whereas the whole controversie turneth on these three hinges first that the maintenance allowed the Clergy is too great for their calling especially considering the small number of them secondly that it is made up out of the tenth part of each mans estate and thirdly that the changing of this way by the payment of Tithes into that of Stipends would be more gratefull to the Countrey and more ease to the Clergy I shall accordingly reduce this small discourse unto these three heads First I will shew that never any Clergy in the Church of God hath been or is maintained with lesse charge to the Subject then the established Clergy of the Church of England Secondly that there is no man in the Realm of England who payeth any thing of his own towards the maintenance of his Parish-Minister but his Easter Offering And thirdly that the changing of Tithes into Stipends would bring greater trouble to the Clergy then is yet considered and far lesse profit to the Countrey then is now pretended These Propositions being proved which I

doubt not of I hope I shall receive no check for my undertaking considering that I doe it of a good intent to free the Parliament from the trouble of the like Petitions and that the common people being disabused may quietly and chearfully discharge their duties according to the Laws established and live together with that unity and godly love which ought to be between a Minister and his Congregation This is the sum of my designe which if I can effect it is all I aim at And with this Declaration of my minde and meaning I trust this short discourse of mine will be if not applauded yet at least excused First then I am to prove this point I. That never any Clergy in the Church of God hath been or is maintained with lesse charge to the Subject then the established Clergy of the Church of England For proof of this we must behold the Church of God as it stood under the Law in the Land of Canaan and as it now stands under the Gospel in the most flourishing parts of Christendom Under the Law the Tribe of Levi was possessed of 48 Cities and the Territories round about them extending every way for the space of 2000 cubits which in so small a Country was a greater proportion then the rents received by the Clergy for all the Bishoprick and Chapter lands in the Realm of England Then had they besides Tithes whereof more anon the first-born of mankinde and all unclean beasts which were redeemed at the rate of five shekels apeece amounting in one month to 12 s. 6 d. and of the firstlings of clean beasts their bloud being sprinkled on the Altar and the fat offered for a burnt-offering the flesh remained unto the Priests Of which see Num. 18. v. 15 16 17 18. They had also the first-fruits of Wine Oyl and Wool Deut. 18. v. 4. yea and of all things else which the earth brought forth for the use of man the first-fruits of the dough Numb. 15. v. 20 21. the meat-offerings the sin-offerings the trespasse-offerings b the shake-offerings the heave-offerings and the shew-bread as also of all Eucharisticall sacrifices the breast and the shoulder of others the shoulder and the two cheeks and the maw c and of the whole burnt-offering they received the skin d Then adde that all the males of the Tribes of Israel were to appear thrice yearly before the Lord and none of them came empty-handed and that if any had detained any thing in part or in whole which was due by law he was to bring a Ramme for an offering to make good that which was detained and to adde a fift part to it in the way of recompense Besides these duties were brought in to the Priests and Levites without charge or trouble And if any for their own ease desired not to pay in kinde but to redeem the same for a summe of money the estimation of the due was to be made by the Priest e and a fifth part added as before for full satisfaction In a word such and so many allowances had the Priests and Levites that setting by the Tithes of their corn and cattell and of all manner of increase their maintenance had far exceeded that of the English Clergy and adding unto these the Tithes of all creatures tithable it doth more then double it For in the payment of their Tithes by the Lords appointment there was not only a full tenth of all kinds of increase but such an imposition laid on all kinds of grain as came to more then a sixt part of the crop it self insomuch that of 6000 bushels 1121 accrued unto the Priests and Levites 4779. remaining only to the Husbandman For first out of 6000 bushels and so accordingly in all after that proportion a sixtieth part at least and that they tearmed the Therumah of the evill eye or the niggards first-fruits was to bee set apart for the first-fruits of the threshing floor which was one hundred in the totall Out of the residue being 5900 bushels the first Tithe payable to the Levites which lived dispersed and intermingled in the rest of the Tribes came to 590 bushels and of the residue being 5310 bushels 531 were paid for the second Tithe unto the Priests which ministred before the Lord in his holy Temple yet so that such as would decline the trouble of carrying it in kinde unto Hierusalem might pay the price thereof in money according to the estimate which the Priests made of it To which a fift part being added as in other cases did so improve this Tithe to the Priests advantage as that which being paid in kind was but tenne in the hundred being thus altered into money made no lesse then threescore Now lay these severall sums together and of 6000 bushels as before was said there will accrew 1121 to the Priest and Levite and but 4779 to the Lord or Tenant By which accompt the Priests and Levites in the tithing of 6000 bushels received twice as much within a little as is possessed or claimed by the English Clergy even where the Tithes are best paid without any exemptions which are so frequent in this Kingdome But then perhaps it will be said that the Levites made up one of the twelve Tribes of Israel and having no inheritance amongst the rest but the Tithes and Offerings besides the 48 Cities before mentioned were to bee settled in way of maintenance correspondent unto that proportion But so it is not in the case of the English Clergy who are so far from being one in twelve or thirteen at most that they are hardly one for an hundred or as a late pamphlet doth infer not one for five hundred f who on this supposition that there are 500 men and women in a Countrey parish the lands whereof are worth 2000 l. per annum and that the Minister goeth away with 400 l. a year of the said two thousand concludeth that hee hath as much for his own particular as any sixscore of the parish supposing them to be all poor or all rich alike and then cries out against it as the greatest cheat and robberie that was ever practised But the answer unto this is easie I would there were no greater difficulties to perplexe the Church First for the Tribe of Levi it is plain and evident that though it passe commonly by the name of a Tribe yet was it none of the twelve Tribes of Israel the house of Joseph being sub-divided into two whole Tribes those namely of Ephraim and Manasses which made up the twelve And secondly it is as evident that it fell so short of the proportion of the other tribes as not to make a sixtieth part of the house of Jacob For in the general muster which was made of the other tribes of men of 20 years and upwards such onely as were fit for arms and such publick services the number of them came unto 63550 fighting men to which if we should

hath his Stipend from the publick Treasurer the Doctor being maintained wholly as I am credibly informed at the charge of the people and that not onely by the bounty or benevolence of landed men but in the way of Contribution from which no sort of people of what rank soever but such as live on alms or the poore mans box is to be exempted But this is onely in the churches of Calvins platform those of the Lutheran party in Denmark Swethland and high Germany having their Tithes and Glebe they had before and so much more in offerings then with us in England by how much they come neerer to the church of Rome both in their practise and opinions especially in the point of the holy Sacrament then the English doe And as for our dear brethren of the Kirk of Scotland who cannot be so soon forgotten by a true born English man the Tithes being settled for the most part on Religious houses came in their fall unto the Crown and out of them a third was granted to maintain their Minister but so ill paid while the Tithes remained in the Crown and worse when alienated to the use of private Gentlemen that the greatest part of the burden for support of the Ministery lay in the way of contribution on the backs of the people And as one ill example doth beget another such Lords and Gentlemen as had right to present to churches following the steps of those who held the Tithes from the Crown soon made lay-fees of all the Tithes of their own demesnes and left the presentee such a sorry pittance as made him burthensome to his neighbours for his better maintenance How it stands with them now since these late alterations those who have took the Nationall covenant and I presume are well acquainted with the Discipline and estate of the Scottish Kirk which they have bound themselves to defend and keep are better able to resolve us And so much for the proof of the first proposition namely That never any Clergy in the church of God hath been or is maintained with lesse charge of the Subject then the established Clergy of the church of England And yet the proof hereof will be more convincing if we can bring good evidence for the second also which is II. That there is no man in the Kingdome of England who payeth any thing of his own towards the maintenance and support of his Parish-Minister but his Easter-offering And that is a Paradox indeed will the Reader say Is it not visible to the eye that the Clergy have the tenth part of our corn and cattell and of others the increase and fruits of the earth Doe not the people give them the tenth part of their estates saith one of my pamphlets have they not all their livelihoods out of our purses saith another of them Assuredly neither so nor so All that the Clergy doth receive from the purse of the Subject for all the pains he takes amongst them is two pence at Easter He claims no more then this as due unlesse the custome of the place as I think in some parts it is bring it up to sixe pence If any thing be given him over this by some bountifull hand he takes it for a favour and is thankfull for it Such profits as come in by marriages churchings and funerall Sermons as they are generally small and but accidentall so hee is bound unto some speciall service and attendance for it His constant standing fee which properly may be said to come out of the Subjects purse for the administration of the Word and Sacraments is nothing but the Easter-offering The Tithes are legally his own not given unto him by the Subject as is now pretended but paid unto him as a rent-charge laid upon the land and that before the Subject either Lord or Tenant had any thing to do in the land at all For as I am informed by Sir Edw Coke in his Comment upon Littletons Tenures li. 1. cap. 9. Sect. 73. fo. 58. It appeareth by the Laws and Ordinances of ancient Kings and specially of King Alfred that the first King of this Realm had all the lands of England in Demesne and les grands manours royalties they reserved to themselves and with the remnant they for the defence of the Realm enfeoffed the Barons of the Realm with such jurisdiction as the court Baron now hath So he the professed Champion of the Common laws And at this time it was when all the lands in England were the Kings Demesne that Ethelwolph the second Monarch of the Saxon race his father Egbert being the first which brought the former Heptarchie under one sole Prince conferred the Tithes of all the kingdome upon the Church by his royall Charter Of which thus Ingulph Abbot of Crowland an old Saxon writer i An. 855. which was the 18 of his reign King Ethelwulph with the consent of his Prelates Princes which ruled in England under him in their severall Provinces did first enrich the church of England with the tithes of all his lands and goods by his Charter Royall Ethelward an old Saxon and of the bloud royall doth expresse it thus k He gave the tithe of his possessions for the Lords own portion and ordered it to be so in all the parts of the Kingdome under his command Florence of Worcester in these words l King Ethelwolfe for the redemption of his own soul and the souls of his Predecessors discharged the tenth part of his Realm of all tributes and services due unto the Crown and by his perpetuall Charter signed with the signe of the Crosse offered it to the three-one God Roger of Hovenden hath it in the self-same words and Huntingdon more briefly thus m that for the love of God and the redemption of his soul he tithed his whole dominions to the use of the Church But what need search be made into so many Authours when the Charter it self is extant in old Abbot Ingulph and in Matthew of Westminster and in the Leiger book of the Abbey of Abingdon Which Charter being offered by the King on the Altar at Winchester in the presence of his Barons was received by the Bishops and by them sent to be published in all the Churches of their severall Diocesses a clause being added by the King saith the book of Abingdon that whoso added to the gift n God would please to prosper and increase his days but that if any did presume to diminish the same he should be called to an accompt for it at Christs judgment seat unlesse he made amends by full satisfaction In which as in some other of the former passages as there is somewhat savouring of the errour of those darker times touching the merit of good works yet the authorities are strong and most convincing for confirmation of the point which we have in hand Now that the King charged all the lands of the Kingdome with the payment of