as in the Old and intend as well the maintenance of those that preach the Gospel as it did of those that served at the Altar Quaere 2 The second Quere upon the account of Conscience is Whether the Lord hath any where in his Word Old or New Testament either expresly or by good consequence forbidden Ministers of the Gospel to receive and Christian people as such to give to them as maintenance either occasionally by private bounty of fixedly by publick donation a Tithe or Tenth of any goods increase as a part or portion meerly Typical Judaical and Ceremonial appropriated to the Levitical Ministry or Priesthood which by the coming of Christ is changed and so abolished that Tithes may no more now be used by Christians either Ministers or people than Sacrifices or Circumcision Answ 1 To this the Answer is Negative Nothing in the word of God appears forbidding Christians by private or publicks bounty to set a part a Tenth of their increase or substance to the glory of God for the Maintenance of Piety or Charity both which ends the Ministry of the Gospel chiefly aymes at I say no more than it is forbiden or commanded to give any other portion above or below the Tenth Certainely if Christians may lawfully devote a 5 6 9 or a 12 15 20. part to the glory of God in a publick good no reason or Religion can be produced against the Tenth as the only unlawful portion 2. If any portion or quantity as a fit Medium between Ministers merit peoples retribution be specified intimated recommended or ordeined by God in the Gospel sure it is no other but this of Tithe or tenth as I shall afterwards prove in the 3. Quere If none be pointed out or signified as Gods choice then is any one lawful which is fit and that most lawful which is fittest to attain Gods end which is evidently commanded namely the competent maintenance of his Ministers under the Gospel at a rate answerable to that which those enjoyed under the Law 3. The scruple some make of Tithes as Jewish urging that place that since the Priesthood is changed the Law must bee changed Hebr. 7.12 and therefore no tithes are allowed to the Evangelical Ministry is easily answered § 1 1. It savours too much of the Jews covetous hard hart to question whether a Christian may not be as grateful to his Minister as a Jew was to his Priest of which there is no doubt And it argues too much of a Jewish confidence presumption to think that the Lord should so far prefer the Altar ministry before that of the Gospel Numb 18.21 Levit. 27.30 Gen. 14.20 Gen. 28.22 Plut. in Lucul Diodo Sic l. 5. c. 2. Macrob. Satur. l. 3. c. 12. Majores solitos decimam Herculi vovere è Varrone Plin. Hist Nat. l. 12. c. 14 Herod 1. Clio. Livi Dec. 1. l. 3 as to provide certain and ample Maintenance for the first and none for the second As if there were more excellency in a beast sacrificed then in Christ crucified § 2 2. The Divine appointment of Tithes to be payd as Gods portion among the Jews to his Priests doth not argue any thing so much as this that they are Gods still after the Law as they were his in a Religious right before the Law when Melchisedeck received them as a right of Abram and Jacob vowed them as a due to God from which ancient light of tradition and use among the Holy Patriarcks the opinion which many of the Heathens had touching the holiness of a tenth part of their goods and spoils arose which they in many places consecrated as due to their Gods Jupiter Hercules and others § 3 3. It doth not follow by any right reason that what ever the Jews used to Religious ends was therefore Ceremonial Typical and to be abolished There was never any thing in Tithes discovered as a Shadow Type or Ceremony They were used long before Moses the institution and end of them in all times depended meerly upon common grounds of Piety Equity and Gratitude both to God and man The most wise and just will of God was pleased to accept first from the Patriarck and afterward to claim as his own Levit. 27.30 then to assigne that quantum or portion of Tenths for his publick service and the sustenance of those men who were imploied in it Now since the same ends as to the main are still required by the Lord namely the Maintenance of his publick Ministry under the Gospel there is no reason why Tithes as a proportionate means should be abolished Since there is still an Evangelical Priesthood and Ministry ordeined by God and derived from Christ which men needing Humane and Mortal supplys as much as the Levites and Priests of old did now exercise celebrate and administer doubtless as the same necessities now require like supplies and a parallel livelyhood is by the Lord ordeined in the Gospel so nothing hinders but these may bee made by the same measure of tenths upon the same grounds of equity which were valid among the Jews Especially considering the Ministry of the Gospel is more paineful more honorable and not lesse useful than that of old was Nor is it to bee presumed that God should be more strait handed to this Ministry which hath the honor to be in Christs stead the Lord of glory the beloved Son of God § 4 4. It is most certain that the same moral tyes and dutys he now upon Christians which did upon the Jews in matters of Piety Equity and Charity yea and those Patternes of Prudence and Policy in Church or State which were used by them are so far allowed and by Gods pattern recommended as best to Christians according as they wisely consider the fitnes of them as means to those holy ends which the Lord still requires The sanctifying of a Sabbath or day of rest Confessing of sins over the sacrifice reading and hearing the Law and Prophets explained Praying to and praising of God Charity to the poor Relief of enemies in distress Reconciling before they come to the Altar with their gift preparation before the Passover c. So also as to other Lawes Judicial Penal and Political which the Jews had and observed by a positive command of God Christians may under a different ministration and form use and do the same things upon those moral and general grounds of Equity Piety and Charity which are still and ever will bee in force as they are in this point of Ministers maintenance by Tithes as well yea better than an any other way § 5 5. What sober and judicious Christian understands not this clearTruth That where any duty is at large or in general commanded by the Lord the same duty in its particular circumstances qualifications and restrictions which humane prudence according to the liberty granted puts upon it is also commanded approved and accepted and so becomes not onely lawful but necessary in its
and most proper means where it is meet and proportionate to that end which God hath expresly ordained Which is that the Minister of the Gospel should live of the Gospel even so as the Minister of the Altar did of the Altar Herein although particular circumstances may differ under different administrations yet the main design and general intention is the same both as to the end competent maintenance and to the aptest means so far as they are in our power and opportunity 2. But it is urged if God required a Tenth under the Gospel why did he not in any place of the Gospel mention that part by name as of old he did Gods silence in the New Testament as to renewing a precise command for paying Tithes by name to the Ministers of the Gospel is no abrogating of them as to right and equity the not specifying or exacting of believers a Tenth was upon several grounds of divine wisdome which are evident 1. It was not necessary because the rule and measure of gratitude devotion and equitalble retributions to which the Apostle 1 Cor. 9.14 referrâ—s Christians under the Gospel as a continued binding ordinance of the Lord in this case is sufficiently set forth in the Old Testament both by the Religious bounty of the Holy Patriarcks as Abraham and Jacob expressed in this proportion of Tithes or Tenths before the Law And also by the express command of God afterward pitching upon this quantum as his and appointing it for the fittest medium which his wisdome and bounty thought good to set between the covetousness of Priests who might have exacted or expected more and the niggardliness of people who might have allowed less if left to their own arbitration choice free will men being naturally penurious to the true God and his word as having no love to or delight in his service and only prodigal to their own Idolatrous fancies as those which they most count and esteem Charets and Horses shall be dedicated to the Sun or the Queen of Heaven when a Lamb or Pigeon a little meal or cake is grudged as an offering to the true God and holy Temple The equity and analogy of Gods former will continues in force and sufficiently binds the conscience to obedâ—ence although a particular precept were not renewed especially where Christians are specially referred to that which is clearer in this point of Ministers maintenance by Tithes than for the Lords daies Sabbath or Rest 2. The indulgence of God foresaw and the Apostles tendernes considered That an exact or strict requiring or mentioning of the Tenths of all increase and profits to bee payed to the Ministers of the Gospel in all places and at all times might discourage Jews and Gentiles from the Gospel yea and many times prove very inconvenient to Christians who must expect persecution to whom it might have been a burthen and snare in their uncertainties distresses and poverty A burthen to pay alwaies a tenth of their profits hardly gotten and hardly preserved A snare also if they payed them not exactly Yet this Indulgence Silence Remission which in the primitive tenderness might bee permitted by the Lord is no abrogation of the duty or Law any more than the omission of circumcision for forty years in the wilderness was a vacating of that ordinance of God to the Jews or the not commanding expresly the Lords day to bee kept as a Sabbath is any argument against our sanctification of it which is only related in the New Testament as a primitive practice 3. By the Lords not mentioning Tithes in the very terme or quâ—ntum somthing seems left in the Gospel to the conscience and ingenuity both of people and of Ministers These that they may in part remit in times of distress those rights as Paul did not exacting this proportion of Tenths which they might otherwise claime expect as due People also by so much Indulgence are invited to shew so much the more a liberal and a willing mind where God enables them either occasionally to return or constantly to settle even such a maintenance on their Ministers as comes neerest both to the equity of Gods will and the exemplarines of that proportion of Tithes which he anciently required as his own and which we do not find he hath in the Gospel remitted for then the Lord had left his Ministers of the Gospel to meer uncertainties and benevolence which was not even so as he ordeined for those of the Altar and indeed flatly contradicts the Apostles reddition Even so c. 4. The Divine wisdom saw that in some conditions of Christians living a Tenth of the earths yearly increase would not afford a competent or any convenient maintenance for Ministers as in Cities and populous Towns so in Castles Ships c. There some other way by rents of Houses or Trades increase must equivalently be raised And here although men now a daies would grudg to pay a tenth of Trades increase or their callings yet we read of old it was payd by many Citizens Merchants Lawyers and Physicians 5 Although we do not find in the Practice of primitive Churches among Jews or Gentiles mentioned in the New Testament that either the Apostles or other Pastors and Ministers alwaies used this power or strictly required the just proportion of a Tenth which to the beleving Jews on whom the Charges due to the Altar still lay for a time might have seemed a burthen and so to the Gentiles among whom not many rich or Noble but poor and mean people in Cities chiefly received the Gospel and this oft with persecution Yet we find in those daies in stead of exact Tithes and setled maintenance that which is not in these daies to bee expected Namely Acts 2.45 That in those primitive times Christians were willing to sell all or great part of their possessions to bring the price of them and lay it at the Apostles feet for their support and the Churches relief So faâ— did they as then so afterward exceed the proportion of a tenth part that many gave all they had and themselves too to serve the Lord and his Church Those were excusable in their poverty and persecution if they had come short of a tenth and were commendable where they most what exceeded it Wisdome teacheth us that necessity dispenseth with positive precepts that different times requires different counsels and wayes yet alwayes keeping neerest to Gods rule and aiming at the same good end Those were the purest flames of Christians first Love and Primitive Zeal when Apostles and other excellent Ministers of the Gospel were received as the Angels of God the feet of those Messenge s of peace were beautiful Their persons dearer to believers then their right eies The honor of their calling and Ministry daily kept up with frequent miracles that the poverty of S. Peter Acts 3 6. when he had not gold or silver was venerable by the miraculous power hee exerted to the creple in relieving him
factiousness their listing to be contentious their vain glory their licentious inclinations their warpings to self interests which love not to be reproved or restrained by any severer doctâ—â—â—â— or manners 3. Lastly sift and search more narrowly the finer designes and deeper projects of Pragmatists and Politians the imperiousnes of whose lusts are inconsistent with those strict rules of righteousness truth and holiness by which they are impatient to be discovered or checked Look I say but apart on this drosse which is naturaly in all sorts of men And then as Christians you will soon understand what are the main grounds of so many mens cavilling and contending against the Ministers of England both as to their Office and Maintenance It is humbly confessed as we are men we are subject to as many infirmities as any earthen vessels and as we are Ministers we are liable to more temptations and oppositions both from men and divels yet as to the duty dignity and usefulness of the calling it cannot be denyed that many holy humble wise and contented Christians have for many ages highly valued and sincerely loved it because they happily profited by it For this they have often and unfeinedly blessed God For this blessedness they now earnestly pray that it may be continued to them and theirs by this they acknowledg to have received their greatest good Christ Jesus And to it they gratefully confess they ow even their own souls as to the means under God of their instruction sanctification and salvation We may not now reproach any mens ingratitude being so conscious to our own failings and deformities It must be confessed that the people of this nation ow their troubles to the sins Ignorance Pride and Policy of Ministers as well as People we know it is not a time roughly to test but fairely to plead our cause whose desire is not to uphold our Calling that we may enjoy Maintenance But to continue just Maintenance that we may preserve the honor and blessing of the Calling to Posterity For which Ministers do not urge what is most evident by long enstome and many Lawes in this Nation that they have had and still have possession of that Maintenance which the Law hath assigned to them That their title is as good as any mans by Law to his estate That it were an intollerable vexation to put men to prove by what right they hold those Estates which their Predecessors and themselves have without molestation enjoyed for a thousand years It rests in those that would dispossesse them to disprove their right and claime since they are such Ministers and so invested in their Livings as the Law required Nor do they plead for their Office and Maintenance that universal approbation which all forrain Reformed Churches have ever given to them neither of which their adversaries have either invalidated or questioned Consciencious Ministers are so ingenuous as not to desire to enjoy their Maintenance by the favour of the Law if they cannot before any impartial Tribunal first maintain their Callinâ—â—nd Ministry as Christs both by Scripture grounds and Ecclesiastical examples conform thereto in all ages since Christs Ascension And if these were lesse pregnant for their vindication yet the excellent Ministerial gifts with which many of them have been endued The many gracious works which the Lord hath wrought by them their Spiritual blessings which they have imparted their sound preaching their judicions praying their decent comfortable celebrating of Holy Mysteries their wholsom Doctrine their elaborate writings their Holy living these will testifie for them and their Ministry § The consciences and souls also of many thousand Christians dead and living would give witnesse to them that they are the true Ministers of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 3.2 The holy and happy fruits of their labours have every where pregnantly sealed and confirmed the power and authority of their Ministry however as men they had their faylings It argues grosse blindness in mens eies to deny the light of the Sun when it is present which is sufficient to prove it self to men that have sight and are willing to see It is lost labour to assert either Ministry or Maintenance before those who deny them upon designe either to save mony by having no Ministers at all or to get all the Maintenance to themselves by being the only Ministers though of no legitimate succession § Men full as learned godly and wise as any that now pretend most to Piety and Prudence have both privately and publickely owned honoured loved and preserved both the Ministry of England and its Maintenance In which number you may be if you have that low and modest esteeme of your selfs which best becomes you who have little reason if you look to the rock whence you are hewen and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged Isa 51.1 being but extraordinary and temporary Pilots applyed to the helm of this State to preferre your counsels or conclusions before those of your wise and godly fore fathers nor to advance your power before their undoubted authoritie by removing those ancient land-marks which they have set for many generations § Leaving therefore the Office and Calling of Ministers as self demonstrating to all that are truly gracious Christians I take libertie to proceed more largely upon their Maintenance as it is setled in England chiefly by Tithes Touching which there can be but two grand considerations offered to wise men or entertained by them 1. First that of duty and necessity arising from Divine precept strictly binding in cases where the will of God is precisely and clearly set forth in his Holy Word either bidding or forbidding any thing which cases admit no dispute but exact ready obedience from all men under pain of sin and wrath 2. The second is that of choice and conveniency wherein Christian Prudence may use that rational and Religious freedome which shall in private or publicke cases seem best to them not being precisely determined or limited by the Divine wisdome but left to the discretion of wise and Godly men in their persons or places in families or Policies so as still to regard the main ends which the Lord hath in general propounded In such things Christians may possibly chuse and act things lesse prudent and convenient yet without the blame of sin before God although not without the reproach of Imprudence and weaknes before men As to the first ground upon which conscience must be setled wherein great care must be bad neither to multiply sin beyond the Law of God Eâ—cl 7.16 by an unrighteous scrupalosity nor to diminish them by any loose indifferency Three Quaeres are by sober men to bee examined Quere 1 1. First whether the competent and comely Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel at other mens costs and charges in case Ministers require it bee expresly commanded by the Lord or may by clear and necessarie consequence bee gathered out of his holy word Ans 1. To
the Lord to himself we find he did afterward fully assign and give to the Levitical Ministry at the Altar as a fit proportion to maintain them and to keep up the honour and Majesty of his service 4. Both before the Levitical Priesthood or Ministry as also after it was finished and changed by Christ we read Tithes not onely presented to Christ as honorary in his Type Melchisedeck in the History of the Old Testament but also challenged in the New as a due or right belonging to Christ in order to set forth the honour and prerogative of his royall and eternal Priesthood that not onely he had this right before Levi or Aron but also beyond them and upon them whose Priesthood ceased after Christs appeared and they ought as Levi did in Abraham to pay Tithes to Christs Evangelical Ministry who not dying any more nor changing his Priesthood or Ministry hath a perpetual right to receive Tithes as well from the children of Abraham by the Faith as Melchisedeck had in his Type or Figure to require them of Abraham And this so long as the visible Ministry of Christ continues among men on earth which he hath appointed to be carried on by men is his Ministers and Embassadors 5. The Scriptural right which Ministers under the Gospel have to Tithes is yet more emphatically and industriously upon serious disspute set forth in that pregnant place 1 Cor. 9.14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel Which words since they are a conclusion drawn from many Premises and do import not a counsell and advice of Apostolical prudence but an Ordinance of God an Evangelical Institution which binds the conscience by the divine Authority of it we must not superficially but seriously consider the weight and force of it which lyes thus The Apostle intending to prove a right or lawful power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which himself and all true Ministers had to an honourable maintenance 1 Cor. 9.6 however he might sometimes in charity and prudence remit the use of it having first premised the grounds of naturall equity and common justice to be shewed to man and beast and the light of God in Nature and in the Law he at last brings forth the pattern of Gods own appointment for his Ministers at the Altar which was sufficiently known to Jews and Gentiles to be in great part as to the certainty of it by those Tithes of the Earths increase which the Lord first challenged as his own peculiar and after assigned them as his right to his Ministers at the Altar which the Levites and Priests held not by the will pleasure and bounty of men but by a tenure from God a rent which he charged upon all the Lands Immediatly without any restriction lessening or subduction upon the whole matter the Apostle subjoyns and peremptorily concludes Even so hath the Lord ordained c. 1. That which is the equity of Gods will his divine pleasure both for matter and manner for quantity and quality in point of Ministers maintenance under the Gospel is there sufficiently declared you need go no further for Gods direction both the end and means hold parallel to that former it is still Gods Ministry and so hath his right to his portion what he then ordained he still ordains That even upon the same certainty and proportion such as preach the Gospel as of duty office and authority should live of the Gospel upon such a portion at least of other mens increase or revenues as the Lord formerly required and still doth to himself as God and to his son Christ whom he hath annointed to be King and Priest now in his Church whose Ministry and Ministers must Even so be maintained 2. Even so not as to all particulars properly Levitical which are ceased namely the Sacrifices and legall oblations but so far as the Tenth of the fruits of the earth still continues and holds good to like holy ends though under different ministrations 3. Even so That the Ministers of the Gospel should enjoy not less liberal honourable setled maintenance than the Ministers of the Altar had not of courtesie given but out of conscience paid not of alms but of equity not necessitons not arbitrary but ample and permanent 4. Even so hath the Lord ordeined id est The will of God in this point foreseeing the hardness and narrowness of menâ— hearts which may happen under the Gospel ministry towâ—â—d theiâ— Ministers hath in their behalf declared of old and doth now by mee an Apostle of Christ renew it as an Ordinance of God enacted wâ—th Majesty and Divine Authority Shewing that as th Lord doth not expect that men will be better natured under the Gospel or more large hearted than before And as the Lord hath not less care or regard of his Evangelical Ministers than of the Levitical so that hee hath in no sort left their maintenance now to those loose and general in d fferencies liberties and confusions which the covetous hearts of men are pr one to fall into in things of Religion if they fal under their own will and choice which in this case must not be supposed that the Lord hath done For that were not even so but would differ as much as the tenure of owners to their Lands or Revenues and of poor men to their Charity or Alms 5. Even so To come short then of that proportion so far as in Gods Providence and bounty it still holds Not to give to the Ministers of the Gospel as was given to the Ministers at the Altar is it not to violate Gods ordinance Sure it is not fulfilling of any donors bountiful will and command who bids you so give to a second as to the first if having by precise appointment as of due and necessity given twenty Shillings to the former you give only as of Charity and with brow or insolency but one Shilling or Penny or nothing at all of that deposited bounty to the second To whom the Giver not only intends but clearly commands should bee done even so as to the first 6. Even so hath the Lord ordeined As if the Holy Apostle had said you as Christians now under another easier and more excellent Ministry as to the outward charge and forme though the same as to the substance Jesus Christ must not suffer covetous or parsimonious temptations to rise in your hearts as a root of bitterness So as to fancy that because the former subject of that Law for maintenance by Tithes Namely the Levitical Ministry at the Altar is changed and ceased therefore the Equitable and Moral bond is abrogated But though the letter ceaseth to bind you upon those Rates and Charges to maintain an Altar Ministry yet as then the Lord ordained an ingenuous ample and permanent provision part of which by Tithes at least yet remains in your power so the justice of Gods will still continues and you are to follow
men hold their civill estates and rights There can be no reason that parsimonious cruelty should over-rule and antiquate pious and liberal Antiquity in this point and right of Tithes which in England as in all Christian Churches hath obtained the force of a Law by the long customes and succession of times which the best Christians freely and cheerfully yet conscienciously observed as that which they esteemed to be agreeable to the will of God as well as conform to the best examples of their forefathers It is true no guilding of Antiquity or paint of Custome can commend what is in its nature evill or change it into good but the universal verdict and approbation both by judgment and practice of holy and wise men given to that which is in it self good and lawful advanceth it by the antiquity and universality of a good custome to the sacredness and venerableness of a Law giving great assurance and confirmation to the consciences and practises of sober Christians setting it far above the despite and petulancy of Innovators who are given to change and as Mushrooms are but of yesterday either as to their persons or opinions against whom as a grand prejudice and obstruction 1 Cor. 11.16 the blessed Apostle S. Paul urgeth the custome of the Churches which were guided by the general spirit of wisdome enough to stay and satisfie wavering or scrupulous Christians in things for which as they had not a precise or special command from God yet they were no where forbidden as this matter of Tithes is not 4 A fourth right or claim which Ministers have to Tithes here in England is from that personal bounty and freewill of Christians in this Nation who if no divine rule and precedent had directed them to retribute Even so much as their Tenths to Ministers which no doubt in conscience they had regard unto yet as proprietors of their lands and estates they lawfully and commendably might and effectually have so far honoured God with their substance Prov. 3 9. as to have devoted to his Ministers for a constant retribution of their labours the Tenth of their profits or increase arising out of those Lands and Estates There is no Title lesse disputable then that of free gift where there is no fraud no infirmity of understanding an undoubted power upon just and valuable considerations and to a good end such as God not onely alloweth in general but rather seemeth to require in particular which is the case here exactly and hereby is given the proprieters former right not so much to Ministers as to God himself 5. The Ministers of England have that right to Tithes and other setled maintenance which ariseth from those Political Laws or Civil sanctions which upon mature deliberation and with publique Counsel of all Estates have established long ago and oft confirmed as just and good those particular donations of Tithes made by any lords and owners as no way prejudicial to the publique good either for profit safety or honour to which it is confessed all private acts and Interests must yeeld being frustrate and invalid if inconsistent with a publique and general good of a Nation These Laws of the Land which are the results of publique wisdome and justice have declared Ministers right to Tithes every way pious just and good Yea and do enable them in their several places and portions even by secular power to vindicate these rights both personally to receive them and constantly to preserve them for their successors as a maintenance every way both just and fit which right by the Laws of the Land as learned Lawyers are best acquainted with so I hope some of those Gentlemen are so much lovers of Reformed Ministers as to plead their cause and so valiant as to appear friends to them 6. In the last place I may further twist and strengthen this fourfold cord of Ministers right by natural Equity Scriptural Ordinance Personal donation and publique Sanction which is not easily broken by that divine acceptation or appropriation whereby God himself and our Lord Jesus Christ are invested into a right these joyntly as one God claim a property and challenge as their portion and due what is once thus by any man or men dedicated to their service according as they have instituted in the Word What is given to Christs Prophets and Ministers in his Name is given to God so that it is now Acts 5.4 as Saint Peter told Ananias no more any private mans own nor in his power save onely in order to those ends and uses for which the Lord hath accepted it and which he must be thought no less to approve in the particular obedience or devotion then he doth command or require in the general precept or duty Hence that complaint Mal. 3. Ye have robbed me saith the Lord even this whole Nation For God is not onely well pleased with the internal goodness and equity of his own will ind commands but also with mans cheerful conformity to them both in mind and manners which is then most comfortable and commendable when it comes the neerest unto that equitable rule measure and proportion which the divine wisdome hath set before men which Tithes evidently are when they are so paid to God and setled for maintenance on Christs Ministers as leaves them no more to arbitrary and uncertain allowances or niggardly stipends then God did leave his Ministers at the Altar which is the prescript or pattern to which the Lord refers Christians who are tyed to it as to an Ordinance of God still in force under the Gospel I have done with this third Quaere also which I thus resolve That however there be not so immediate precise and explicite command for the exact Quantum of Tithes named in the New Testament and however the Ministers of the Gospel do not claim a proper and immediate right to Tithes by the letter of the Leviticall Law Yet they have by the dignity of their Ministry and merit of their Labours from the will of God in his Word a general and implicite right by way of equity and proportion also a particular explicite title to Tithes as they are devoted to God and setled upon his Ministers here in England both agreeable to and grounded upon the equity of Gods ancient precept and example in the Old Testament as also upon that express Ordinance renewed and established in the New which carries a force of equivalency and whatever proportion the nature of things may still bear under the Gospel with those under the Law where estates in Lands and the increase of the earth are still the same and common to Christians with the Jews Herein then to imitate Gods President cannot be unsafe to come up to the proportion he required of old cannot but be honourable and every way to observe the neerest conformity to his will in the largest meaning and extent of that Ordinance in the New Testament Even so c. cannot but be most