our precedent Auncestors as well as by our dutie out of the word of God to do the same as appeareth by many Presidents whereof I will onely alleadge one but aboue others that most famous of ETHELWULPHVS King of West-Saxony who in the yeere of our Lord 855 as Ingulphus Saxo and Simeon Dumelmens report by the aduice and agreement of all his Bishops and Nobility Gaue not onely the tithe of the goods but the tenth part of the Land through his Kingdome for euer to God and the Churches free from all secular seruices taxations and impositions whatsoeuer In which kind of religious magnificence as our succeeding Kings haue also abounded so haue they from time to time as well by Parliament Lawes as by their Royall Charters confirmed these and other the Rights of the Church with many solemne vows and impreceations against all that should euer attempt to violate the same Therefore if these things had not bin primarily due vnto God by the rule of his word yet are they now His and seperate from vs by the voluntary gift and dedication of our ancient Kings and Predecessours as was the tribute of a third part of a shekell which Nehemiah and the Iews out of their free bountie couenanted yeerely to giue vnto God for the seruice of his house For as Saint Peter saith to Ananias Whilest these things remained they appertained vnto vs and were in our owne power but now when wee haue not onely vowed them but deliuered them ouer into the hands and possession of Almighty God and that not for superstitious and idle orders but meerly for the maintenāce of his publike diuine worship the Ministers thereof they are not now arbitrable nor to be reuoked by vs to the detriment of the Church 6 Churches being erected and endowed they and their liuings were as I say dedicated vnto God First by the solemne vowe and oblation of the Founders then by the solemne act of the Bishoppe who to seperate these things from secular prophane imployments not onely ratified the vow and oblation of the Patron or Founders but consecrated also the Church it self vsing therein great deuotion many blessings praiers works of charity and some Ceremony for sanctifying the same to diuine vses Therefore also haue the ancient Councels added many fearefull curses against all such as should either violate it or the Rights thereof This consecration Master Perkins calleth a Dedication but confesseth it to haue beene in vse in this manner about the yeere of Christ 300. which is within the time of the Primitiue Church onely he admitteth not that it was then performed with Ceremony and the signe of the Crosse which heere I will not stand vppon nor to shew the greater antiquity thereof though I thinke it may well bee prooued For Athanasius being in those daies accused by the Arians of ministring the Communion in a Church not consecrated excused himselfe to haue done it vpon necessity And Theodoret reporteth that Constantine then likewise cōmanded all those that were at the Councel of Fyrus should come to Aelia and that others should be assembled from all parts for Consecration of the Churches builded by him Which sheweth it to be so notorious and generall an vse at that time and to haue such vniuersal approbation as it could not but haue a roote also from elder ages though there cannot be many presidents found thereof for that the Christians being then in persecution might hardly build or dedicate any Churches but were constrained to vse priuat houses and solitary places for their assemblies Yet euen those houses hadde as it seemeth some consecration for they were most commonly called aedes sacrae Holy houses haue left that name to this day amongst vs for our Churches as a testimony of their sanctification whereof I shal speake more anon * Eusebius also saith that insomuch as the Holy houses and Temples of that time were thus Dedicated and Consecrated vnto God the vniuersall Lord of all therefore they receiued his name were called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Lattin Dominica the Lords houses Which name saith he was not imporsed vpon them by man but by himselfe onely that is Lord of all Of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commeth the Saxon word Cyric or Kyrk and by adding a double aspiration to it our vsuall word Chyrch or Church as it were to put vs euer in mind whose these Houses are namely the Lords houses like that which IACOB dedicating vnto GOD called Bethel that is the house of God But both Church and Church-liuings were thus solemnely deliuered into Gods possession and therefore all ages Councels and Fathers that euer I yet haue met with account them holy and inuiolable things And hereupon they are termed Patrimonium Christi Dos Ecclesiae Dos sponsae Christi and Sacrata possessio or Praedium sanctum For Euery thing that a man doth separate vnto the Lord from the common vse whether it be man or beast or Land of his Inheritance it is Holy to the Lord Leuit. 27. 28. And in what sort I vnderstand the word Holy I haue before declared 7 As then the Law of Nature primarily taught all Nations in the world to giue these things vnto God so the very same Law also taught them that it was sacriledge and impiety to pull them backe againe yea the very heathē counted the things thus seuered vnto their gods to be Sancta inuiolanda And Saint Augustine expoundeth Sanctum illud esse quod violare nefas est It is execrable wickednes to violate that that is holy Pharo would not abridge the Priests of thei◠diet or land no not in the great famin The very Barbarous Nations of the world euen by the instinct of nature abhorred this impietie Diodorus Siculus noteth of the Gaules that though they were a people aboue all others most couetous of gold yet hauing aboundance thereof scattered in all parts of their Temples to the honour of their gods none was found so wicked amongst them as to meddle with any of it I could alledge a multitude of Heathen stories to this purpose But I will not weaue the wollen yearne of the Gentiles into the fine linnen garments of the Christians I meane I will not mingle profane arguments in a discourse of Christian piety For the sheep that are of the fold of Christ are tied onely to heare his voice and to follow that which if they doe not they are thereby knowne to bee Goats and not of his fold 8 The cause why I touched vppon this one heathen Example is to aggrauate the manifold sins of vs Christians in this point For if they that knew not God were so zealous of the glory of their Idols how much more is it to our condemnation if wee that know him doe lesse regard him If it goe hard with Tyrus and
Parsons pocket may well enough containe them I shall not neede therefore to spend many words in a small matter for all the Oblations now in vse are in effect the two-peny Easter Offrings and a fewe other such like which because the owners of Appropriate Parsonages shall not ignorantly conuert vnto their owne benefit I will shewe them why they were paied and why they haue them Saint Paul ordained in the churches of Galatia Corinth that euery one vpoÌ„ the Lords day should yeeld somewhat to God for the Saints 1 Cor. 16. â— â— But this being once a weeek came too thick too often about Therfore in Tertullians time the vse was to doe it monthly and at last at pleasure But it was euer the ancient vse of the Primitiue Church as appeareth by Justin Cyprian that alâ— that come to the holy Communion did according to their abilities offer something of their substance to God for charitable vses and maintenance of the Ministers Therefore Cyprian sharply taxeth a rich Matron that receiued the Communion and offered nothing Locuples diues dominicum celebrare te credis quae Corban omnino non respicis c. What saith hee art thou able and rich and dost thou thinke that thou celebratest the Lords Supper which bringest nothing to the Treasurie So Irenaeus saith That it was the vse of the Church through the world in his time and receiued from the Apostles to offer something of the blessings that they liued by as the first fruits thereof to him that gaue these things vnto them Which Zanchius vnderstandeth to bee meant of offrings at the Communion giuen to holy vses and for reliefe of the poore of the Church commending it for an excellent custome and complaining that it is now discontinued But to this end and in imitation hereof are our Easter and Communion offrings as also those at for Christnings Burials c. which I will not now speake further of at this day made and therefore let Proprietaries consider with what conscience they can swallow and digest them 5 Touching the land glebe and howses belonging to Parsonages which I would haue called Gods fixt inheritance but that I see it is moueable I cannot say that they are Gods ancient demaines in the same forme that tithes are and as our Clergie enioieth them but the warrant and ground thereof riseth out of the word of God who not onely gaue vs a president thereof wheÌ„ hee appointed Cities for the Leuites to dwel in with a conuenient circuit of fields for the maintenance of their Cattell Num. 35. 2 c. but commanded also the Children of Israel and in them all the Nations of the world that in diuision of their land they should offer an oblation to the Lord an holy portion of the Land for the Priest to dwell on and to build the house of GOD vpon Ezeck 45. 1 4. So that the houses and lands that our Ancestors haue dedicated to God in this manner for the Churches and Ministers of this time are now also his right and iust inheritance as well as those which the Israelites assigned for the house of God and Leuites of that time and commeth vpon the same reason and in lieu thereof But because it is vncertain when and how they were brought into the Church I will say something touching that point In the time of the Apostles the vse was as appeareth Acts 2. 45. Acts 4. 34 35. to sell their lands and bring the money only to the Apostles For the Church being then in persecution and the Apostles not to remaine in any particular place but to wander all ouer the world for preaching the Gospell they could not possesse immoueable inheritances and therefore receiued onely the money they were sold for distributing it as occasion serued But after when the church obtained a little rest began to be settled it found much casualty in pecuniary contributions and chused therefore rather to retaine the Lands themselues giuen for the maintenance of Gods Priests and Ministers then by suffering the same to be sold to furnish the time present with abundance and leaue the future time to hazard and vncertainety Heereupon the Fathers in the Primitiue Church as well before Constantine as appeareth by his owne Edicts and by Origen Eusebius and the Epistles of Pius and Vrban as after began to accept retaine the lands thus giuen and to leaue them ouer to their successors for a perpetual Dowry of the Church And this vpon experieÌ„ce was found to be so godly and worthy a course that it not onely receiued the applause of all succeeding ages But commendeth for euer vnto vs their temperance in desiring no more then for present necessity their zeal in prouiding for posterity and their great wisdome or rather Propheticall spirit which fore-sawe so long before hand that deuotion though it were 〈◊〉 at one time hot feruent yet at another it might be cold enough and therefore when time serued they would by this meanes prouide that the Church for euer should haue of her own to maintaine her selfe wiâ—hall Vpon this ensued many godly prouisioÌ„s for endowment of Churches and for annexing their liuings so vnto them as neither the variety of time nor the impiety of man if it were possible should euer haue diuorced them as appeareth by a multitude of ancient Councels Canons Statutes and decrees of the Church Emperours and Princes to that purpose Therefore whilest the world burned so with that sacred fire of deuotion towards the aduancement of the glory of God that euery man desired to sanctifie his hand in the building of Churches lest such holy monuments for want of due maintenance should in proces of time becom either conteÌ„ptible or vnprofitable It was at length ordained in Aurel. Concil 4. An. 545. cap. 33. And Concil Valentin An. 855. cap. 9. That whosoeuer builded a Church should assigne vnto it a Plough-land furnished for the maintenance of the Parson thereof By vertue of these Councels as I take it were the Founders of Churches in France first compelled to assure Liuings to those Churches And it was also prouided by the third Councel of Tolledo in Spaine that no Bishop might consecrate any Church till sufficient maintenance which Chrysostome calleth the Dowry of the Bride were assigned to it But because these were forraigne and Prouinciall Councels not Generall they bound not our Countrey otherwise then by doctrin and example Therefore it was heere decreed afterward to the same effect in a Synod at London vnder Anselme Arch-bishop of Canterbury Anno Domini 1105. H. 1. 3. And though the Lawes of our Church began then first as farre as I yet can finde to constrain our Country-men to giue Endowments to the Churches that they builded yet we were taught before by the Custome and Example of
Sydon in the day of iudgement that sinned ignorantly how much harder will it bee with Corasin and Bethsaida that sin presumptuously Especially with Capernaum that despiseth her Lord God and Master Iesus Christ him selfe What is to despise him if to robbe him of his honor be not despise him Or what is to rob him of honour if to take from him the things giuen him for maintenance thereof bee not to rob him Therefore when the children of Israel withheld their tithes offerings from the Leuites hee crieth out in Malachy 3. 8. That himselfe was robbed and spoiled and was so highly offended therewith that hee cursed the whole Nation for it And to make this sin appeare the more monstrous he conuinceth the offenders therein not onely to bee violaters of his Legall ordinances but euen of the very lawe of Nature written in the heart of euery man For saith he Will any man spoile his gods As if hee should say Can such a man bee found as will or dares commit that sinne that all the Nations of the world euen by the instinct of nature account to bee so horrible and impious To spoile his gods what his owne gods Some were found that now and then aduentured to spoile the gods of other Nations yet not without punishment but fewe or none that I reade of till these latter daies that spoiled their owne gods in apparent and ouert manner as the Lawyers terme it I count it not ouert and apparant when we doe as Ananias and Saphira did pinch detract from God somewhat of that we vowed to giue Nor when we doe as the children of Israel heere did withhold that which wee ought to pay out of our own goods yet both these were heinous sinners and dreadfully punished But I call it ouert apparant when we throw our selues into a more dangerous sinne by inuading openly the deuotions of other men and taking that from God and from his Church as Athalia did which wee neuer gaue vnto it euen the lands and liuings thereof yea the Churches themselues 8 Doubtlesse we haue much to feare in this point For as it is a transcendent sinne so Dauid labouring to match it with a transcendent punishment bestoweth a whole Psalme viz. the 83. in inueying particularly against these kind of sinners such expresly as would take to themselues the houses of God in possession for that onely is the very center of the Psalme and therein do all the lines and proiections of the Prophets inuectiues incurre First hee maketh a flat opposition between God and them and therefore calleth them his enemies Then he describeth the nature of these kinde of enemies namely that they are murmuring enemies as grudging and enuying at the prosperity of the Church Malicious enemies as hating or hurting the seruice of God Proud enemies as lifting vp their heads against God ver 2. Craftie enemies as imagining how to beguile the Church Conspiring enemies as taking Counsell together against Gods secret ones as the Prophet calleth them that is Gods seruants Ministers ver 3. And lastly Confederate enemies as cōbining them selues one by example of another to perseuere in their course of wronging and violating the Church vers 5. Yet for all this those against whom the Prophet thus enueigheth did not that they desired They discouered their malitious purpose by word of mouth saying Let vs take to our selues the houses of God in possession But they onely said it they did it not Their will was good but their power failed Our will and power haue both preuailed for wee haue got the houses of God into our possession His Churches his lands his offerings his holy rights We haue gotten them and led them away captiue bound in cheines of yron that is so conueied and assured vnto vs by Deed by Fine by Act of Parliament as if they neuer should returne again vnto the Church But heare what Dauid saith to those of his time Mark how he praieth for them Marke what strange and exquisite punishments he designeth to them and that in as many seuerall all sorts as there are seuerall branches in this kind of sinne First hee praieth that God would deale with them as hee did with the Madianites vers 9. That is that as Geaeon by Trumpets and Lampes strooke such a terrour in the night time into the hearts of the Madianites that the whole army fell into confusion drew their swords one vpon another were discomfited and 120 thousand of them slaine So that God by his trumpets the Preachers of his word by his Lamps which is the light of the Gospell would confound in like manner the enemies and spoilers of his Church that sleepe in the night of their sinne And that hee would make them like Oreb and Zeb like Zeba and Salmana verse 11. All which were strangely ouerthrowne died violent deaths and beeing glorious Princes of their nations became like the filthy lothsome Dung of the earth vers 10. And Iudges ◠25. and 8. 21. But doth the Prophet stay here no he goeth on with them O my God saith he make them like a wheele vers 13. that is wauering and vnstable in their actions so as they may neuer bring their purposes to an end Yea make them abiect and contemptible like the chaffe that the wind scattereth from the face of the earth vers 13. Well is hee now satisfied no. All this doth but whet his spirits to sharper imprecations He now desireth that the very floudgates of Gods wrath may be broken open vpon them and that the tempest of his indignation may rage at full against them now he crieth out to God to consume them without mercy yea and that in two terrible manners One naturally As the fire burneth vp the wood The other miraculously As the flame censumeth the mountaines vers 14. Persecute them euen so saith hee with thy tempest and make them afraid with thy storme Make their faces ashamed O Lord that they may seeke thy name Let them be confounded and vexed euer more and more let them bee put to shame and perish vers 15 16 17. How should the wit of man discouer and prosecute a sin in more vehement and horrible manner Or what shall make vs to abstaine from such haughty sinnes if all this preuaile not Well if to take the houses of God into possession bee thus take them that will for mee 9 You see how Dauid in this his sacred fury was admirably caried against this sinne Well therefore might hee say The zeale of thine house hath eaten me vp Psal. 69. 9. Yet he spake it not of himselfe alone but in the person also of our Sauiour Iesus Christ who in prosecution of Dauids zeale did that in this case that hee neuer did at any time else in all his life In all other cases he shewed himselfe like the Pascall Lambe that euery body did eat and deuour◠at pleasure and like the sheep that was
prerogatiues belonging vnto him is to haue al the Tithes through the Kingdome in places that are out of any Parish for some such there be and namely diuers Forrests But for all this O! that his Maiestie would bee pleased to remember Syon in this point 18 I grow too tedious yet before I close vp this discourse let mee say one thing more to the Aproprietaries of Churches that happily they hitherto haue not dreamed of And that is that by hauing these Parsonages they are charged with Cure of soules and make themselues subiect to the burthen that lieth so heauily vpon the head of euery Minister to see the seruice of God performed the people instructed and the poore relieued For to these three ends and the maintenance of Ministers were Parsonages instituted as not onely the Canons of the Church but the bookes of the Law and particularly the Statutes of 15. R. 2. cap. 6. And 4. H. 4. ca. 12. doe manifestly testifie And no man may haue them but to these purposes neither were they othâ—rwise in the hands of Monasticall peâ—sons nor otherwise giuen to the king by the statute of dissolution then in as large and ample manner as the gouernors of thâ—se Religious houses had them nor by him conueied otherwise to the subiects For Nemo potest plus iuris in aliam transferre quam ipse habet No man may grant a greater right vnto another then hee hath himselfe And therefore goe where they will transeunt cum onere they carry their charge with them Vpon these reasons Proprietaries are still saide to bee Parsons of their Churches and vppon the matter are as the Incumbents thereof and the Churches by reason of this their incumbencie are full and not void For otherwise the Bishop might collate or the King present a Clarke as to other Churches as it seemeth by the argumeÌ„ts of the Iudges in the case between Grendon the Bishop of Lincolne in Mr Plowdens Coment where it is also shewed that the Incumbencie is a spirituall function and ought not to be conferred vppon any but spirituall persons and such as may themselues doe the diuine Seruice and minister the Sacraments Therefore Dier L. Chiefe Iustice of the Common Pleas there said that it was an horrible thing when these Appropriations were made to Prioresses and houses of Nunnes because that although they were religious persons yet they could not minister the Sacraments and diuine Seruice Implying by this speech of his that it was much more horrible for Lay-men to hold them that neither could doe these holy rites nor were so much as spirituall persons to giue them colour â—or holding of spirituall things Therefore Seriant Rastal also termeth it a Wicked thing complaining in his time that it continued so long to the Hindâ—râ—nce he saith of learning the impouerishing of the Ministry and to the infamy of the Gospell and professors thereof My Lord Coke also in the second part of his Reports saith that it is recorded in History that there were amongst other two grieuous persecutions the one vnder Dioclesian the other vnder Julian named the Apostata for it is recorded that the one of them intending to haue rooted out all the Professors and Preachers of the word of God Occidit omnes Presbyteros But this notwithstanding Religion flourished for Sanguis Martyrum est semen Ecclesiae The bloud of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church and this was a cruel and grieuous persecution but the persecution vnder the other was more grieuous and dangerous Quia as the History saith ipse occidit presbyrerium He destroied the very order of Priesthood For hee robbed the Church and spoiled spirituall persons of their reuenues and tooke all things from them whereof they should liue And vpon this in short time insued great ignorance of true religion and the seruice of God and thereby great decay of Christian profession For none wil apply themselues or their sons or any other that they haue in charge to the study of Diuinitie when after long and painfull study they shall haue nothing whereupon to liue Thus farre my Lord Coke I alledge these Legall authorities and leaue Diuinity because the Approprietaries of Parsonages which shield themselues vnder the target of the Law may see the opinion of the great Lawyers of our owne time and Religion and what the bookes of the Lawe haue of this matter to the end that we should not hang our consciences vpon so dangerous a pinne nor put too great confidence in the equity of Lawes which we daily see are full of imperfection often amended often altered and often repealed O how lamentable then is the case of a poore Proprietary that dying thinketh of no other account but of that touching his Lay vocation and then comming before the iudgment seate of Almighty God must answer also for this spirituall function First why he medled with it not being called vnto it Then why medling with it he did not the duety that belonged vnto it in seeing the Church carefully serued the Minister thereof sufficientlie mainetained and the poore of the Parish faithfully releeued This I say is the vse whereto Parsonages were giuen and of this vse wee had notice before we purchased them and therefore not onely by the lawes of God and the Church but by the Lawe of the Land and the rules of the Chancery at this day obserued in other cases wee ought onely to hold them to this vse and no other 19 It is not then a work of bounty and beneuolence to restore these appropriations to the Church but of duety and necessity so to doe It is a worke of duty to giue that vnto God that is Gods Mat. 22. 2. And it is a worke of necessity towards the obtaining remission of these sinnes For Saint Augustine saith Non remittetur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum cum restitut potest The sinne shall not be forgiuen without restoring of that which is taken away if it may be restored It is duety iustice and necessity to giue them backe vnto God For if Judas who was the first president of this sinne were a thiefe as the Holy Ghost termeth him for imbeasiling that which was committed vnto him for the maintenance of Christ and his Disciples that is of the Church by the same reason must it also be the euery to withhold these things which were giuen for the maintenaÌ„ce of the Church and Ministers of Christ. And herein it is a degree aboue that sinne of Iudas as robbery is aboue theft for Iudas onely detained the money deliuered vnto him closely and secretly but wee and our fathers haue inuaded Church-liuings and taken them as it were by assault euen from the sacred body and person of the Church It is a great sinne to steale from our Neighbour much greater euerâ— sacriledge to steale from God If it were so hainous a fact in Ananias to