Edward the Confessor as by and by we shall more largely declare And the Kings of France being so likewise consecrated ever since the time of Clodoveus alià s Ludovicus whom Saint Remigius Bishop of Rheimes both baptized and anointed about the year of our Lord 500. have from time to time in all ancient ages exercised the like Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction insomuch that Clodoveus himself being but newly entred into iâ— doubted not to appoint a Councell at Orleans and to call thither the Bishops and Clergy of France but out of the motion of Priestly minde to use the very words of the Councell coÌ„manded the Priests meaning the Bishops to assemble there for debating necessary matters which in his own consideration he had advised upon and delivered to them in heads and titles and they having answered thereunto and framed the Canons of that Councell accordingly did submit them to his judgement and desiring if it approved them himself for greater authority would confirm them Tom. 2. Concil pag. 309 in rescripto Synodi The Kings of Jerusalem and Sicil were also anointed and endowed with Ecclesiasticall authority whereof we shall speak more anon for the right of both these Kingdomes resideth at this present upon the Kings of Spain who till the same came unto them were neither anointed nor crowned and though since that time they have been dignified with both these Prerogatives yet are they not so illustrious in them as in the Kings of England and France for that these are ancient Kingdomes raised by their own power and prowesse and those other of lesse continuance erected by the Pope and not absolute but Feodaries of his Sea And touching that of France also the meer right thereof resteâ—h upon his Majesty of England though de facto another for the time possesseth it So that in this point of unction our Soveraign the King of England is amongst the rest of the Kings of Christendome at this day Peerlesse and transcendent and well therefore might William Rufus say that himself had all the liberties in his Kingdome which the Emperour challenged in his Empire Mat. Paris But I wonder why the Papists should so confidently deny the Kings of England to be capable of spirituall jurisdiction when Pope Nicholas 2. of whom wee spake before in an Epistle to King Edward the Confessor hath upon the matter agreed that it may be so for amongst other priviledges that he there bestoweth upon the Church of Saint Peter of Westminster then newly founded by that vertuous King He granteth and absolutely confirmeth that it shall for ever be a place of Regall Constitution and Consecration and a perpetuall habitation of Monkes that shall be subject to no living creature but the King himself free from Episcopall service and authority and where no Bishop shall enter to give any orders c. Tom. Concil part 3. pa. 1129. a. In which words I note first that the Kings of England in those ancient days being before their Coronation meerly Lay persons were by their consecration made candidati Ecclesiasticae potestatis and admitted to the administration thereof for to what other purpose was Consecration ordained but to make secular things to belong unto the Temple and Lay persons to become sacred and Ecclesiasticall like Jacobs stone in the time of the Morall Law which presently upon the anointing thereof became appropriate to the House of God Secondly he plainly maketh the King head of this Monastery that is of the place it self and of all the persons and members therof which then by consequence he might likewise be of all other Ecclesiasticall persons and places through the whole Kingdome And even that also he granteth in a sort in the end of his Epistle Vobis posteris vestris regibus committimus advocationem tuitionem ejusdem loci omnium totius Angliae Ecclesiarum ut vice nostra cum concilio Episcoporum Abbatum constituatis ubique quae justa sunt So that if the Kings of England be pleased to execute this Ecclesiasticall authority as the Popes Vicar then by this his Charter they are invested therewith and peradventure the Clergy of Rome can never revoke it being granted posteris regibus and the Epistles of the Popes being as Barclayus saith of Nich. 1. to Michael the Emperour as an Ecclesiasticall Law Lib. de potest Papae ca. 2. pag. 13. But in the mean time it is hereby evident which I endeavour to prove that the Kings of England are justly capable of spirituall jurisdiction by the Popes own confession for which purpose onely I here alledge it And to give more life to the matter it appeareth by Baronius that Pope Vrbane the granted not onely as much in the Kingdome of Sicil to the King of Spain being the anointed King thereof but added also to that his Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction divers branches of spirituall power belonging meerly to the keys and not to the sword that is to the very function of a Bishop as namely that of Excommunication All which though Baronius impugneth mainly to be of no validity because that all things are void he saith that the Church doth against her self yet the King of Spain both holdeth and exerciseth this function and jurisdiction onely by the connivency of the Pope but defended therein by Cardinall Ascanius Colonna against Baronius But to leave forain examples and to goe on with our domesticall precedents It is manifest by other ancient Authorities Charters and Manuscripts that the Pope thereby granted no more to King Edward and his successors then the same King and his Predecessors before assumed to themselves For this Epistle could not be written to S. Edward before the end of his reign Nicholas not being Pope till then and in the Laws of the same King before that time published himself doth plainly declare himself to be Vicarius suâ—d â—i Regis not summi pontificis yea and that in the government of the Church For the words of his own Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 17. be these The King because he is the Vicar of the highest King is appointed to this purpose that he should rule his earthly Kingdome and the Lords people and should above all things worship his holy Church and govern it and defend it against them that would wrong it and to pull the evill doers out of it c. So that write the Pope what he will S. Edward here taketh upon him to have the rule and government of the Church of England committed to him from God and not from the Pope and to be Gods Vicar not the Popes wherein he imitated his predecessors for King Edgar speaking of the government of the Church saith in plain tearms that it belonged to himself ad nos saith he spectat And because Casaubon in citing this place out of the Manuscript is charged by Parsons to falsifie it and that it is or should be on the contrary ad vos spectat scil Ecclesiasticos give me leave to defend that worthy man
of the first which was from the beginning and the work of nature for as Origen saith naturall wisdome required and established it Abel and Cain before the Priests office by the instinct of nature not by commandement when each of them sacrificed or made an oblation unto the Lord Gen. 4. 4. their outward senses reported to them continually the great mercies that God had shewed unto them and their inward taught them presently that they must be thankfull and what course was fittest to expresse their thankfulnesse namely to honour him that gave all with somewhat of his own I say to honour him with it not to reward him therefore both of them as it is said in Gen. offered of their fruits Cain like a churle his fruits simply that is his ordinary and lean stuffe but Abel like a Prince his first-fruits that is his best fruits namely the fat c. Gen. 4. 3 4. Thus was Priesthood instituted corrupted and reformed even in the beginning Cain for ought that here appeareth to the contrary began it and likewise corrupted it Abel continued and reformed it but some rather think and so saith Hugo that Adam taught it to his children and this to me seemeth more likely that the better function should be derived from the better man and not from the bloody mind of murdering Cain From this fountain it ran under ground I mean unspoken of till the time of Noah and then breaking forth again did shew it self more perspicuously in his person for he not onely offered an oblation which he learned of his Ancestors but offered it also upon an Altar which he taught his successors By this example of Noah the exercise of sacrificing grew common no doubt with the people of that time and after in the confusion of languages to be dispersed through all Nations who losing their originall faith with their originall tongue and falling so to idolatry applied this holy function to the worship of idols and devils Amongst which notwithstanding as here and there an ear of whâ—at in a field of thistles God had his servants who from time to time and age to age traducing this holy mystery as sacred fire to posterity kept it ever in the originall integrity Besides the regall Priest Melchisedek such were Abraham and Job whom though the Scripture intituleth not with that name yet it testifieth that they used the function which seemeth then to be ordinarily though the Scripture mentioneth it not for young Isaac could talk of the fire and wood and ask where the Lamb was for the burnt-offering Gen. 22. before Abraham had made the sacrifice there spoken of But Abraham being first a Gentile and after the Authour of Circumcision brought the mystery of sacrificing and thereby of Priesthood from the Gentiles to them of the Circumcision so that saith Jerome the Gentiles received not Priesthood from the Jews but the Jews from the Gentiles CAP. IX When our Saviour commanded that the Disciples should take nothing with them but live on the charges of the faithfull this bound not the Disciples perpetually VVHen our Saviour prescribed his Disciples to take nothing with them but to live at the charge of them into whose houses they entred this was a law to bind the faithfull to provide for the Minister but not to bind the Minister to live so and no otherwise for though at this time he commanded them to take no scrip with them that is no necessaries yet after he saith But now he that hath a scrip let him take it Luke 22. 36. So likewise he willed them to salute no man yet it was not his meaning that afterwards they should be so uncourteous If this had been a legall commandement to the Disciples then might they not vary from it nor live in any other sort without sinne But Paul and Barnabas left this course of maintenance and lived upon the labour of their hands therefore this was no binding commandement but as a Charter of liberty and power granted to the Disciples They might both use and exact it if they would or they might discedere de jure and leave it if they listed S. Paul 1 Cor. 9. largely handleth this point and concludeth it to the purpose we alledge So saith he the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel v. 14. But I quoth he have used none of these things neither write I these things that it should thus be done unto me v. 15. By which words saith S. Austin it appeareth that our Lord commanded not in such sort as they which preached the Gospel might not live otherwise then by that that was ministred unto them by them to whom they preached it for then saith he the Apostle did against this commandement that got his living with the labour of his hands lest he should be chargeable to any But our Lord saith he gave them power to doe it if they would that thereby they might know that these things were due unto them And again a little after he addeth these words therefore when the Apostle saith That our Lord so ordained but for his part he used it not he sheweth manifestly that power was given them to use it if they would but no necessity imposed of doing it if they would not And from this distinction is the reconcilement drawn of these two places in Scripture which otherwise seem contrary Mat. 10. 10. and Luke 9. 3. say both that our Lord commanded that the Disciples should not take no not a staffe with them but Mark 6. 8. reporteth it Nothing save a staffe onely Saint Augustine therefore in the first place understandeth it literally not so much as a staffe to stay or uphold them but in the second place figuratively for power and authority as if the speech had been Take no kind of necessaries with you no not so much as a staffe to stay you save onely the staffe of authority that I now give you And in that our Saviour left these things to the choice of the Disciples and Ministers he made them Lords and free-men for necessity imposeth bondage Therefore Paul and Barnabas shewed not onely their freedome in not using that that lay in their power but the noblenesse of their mind also that would depend upon no body and hereby we must not judge them to have no right to tithes because they omitted them also CAP. X. That many things in the beginning both of the Law and the Gospel were admitted or omitted for the present or reformed afterward AS Painters in the beginning of their work use rude colours and unperfect lines for their present direction so in all great mutations many things are for the present admitted or omitted which future time shall have just occasion to reform This in humane actions is so common as needeth no instance but insomuch as the holy rites themselves are not free from it neither in the old nor new Testament iâ— is necessary for the
greatest and heaviest service viz. Knights service in Capite But God knowing the heart of man and seeing that man was like those husbandmen in the Gospell which having the possession of the Vineyard forgot their Lord of whom they received it he thought not fit in wisdome to leave the rights and services due unto him in respect of this his seignory and donation unto the mutable construction of Law and Reason but hath expresly declared in his written word in what sort man shall enjoy and hold these his infinite benefits Therefore since our owne reason hath taught us that we owe no lesse unto our earthly benefactors then Homage Fealty some honorary and subsidiary rent for the Lands and tenements we receive of them much more effectually must the same reason teach us that we owe a farre larger proportion of all these unto God of whom besides our essence and creation we have received such innumerable blessings But as â—â—d is a Prince full of all royall munificence and bounty so iâ— he likewise of all abundance riches therefore â—â—â—â—â—ther needeth nor requireth anything of all that we possesse as a subsidiary rent wherewith to enrich his coffâ—rs or support his estate but as an honourary tribute towards the magnifying of his goodnesse and the expressing of our own thankfulnesse This to be short is the sum of all religion Therefore whilst David with admirable strains of divine meditations flieth through the contemplation of all the glorious works of God and of our duty to him in respect thereof he breaketh out in every passage of his Psalmes with variety of acclamations and invitations to stirre us up to glorify God not only inwardly by the spirit but outwardly also in and by and with all worldly things and meanes whatsoever And not knowing how or where to containe himselfe in this his passion of most blessed zeale he runneth at last as he were wild with it and closeth up his Psalter with Psalme upon Psalme six or seven together one upon the neck of another onely to quicken and inforce our sluggish disposition to a worke of so great consequence and necessity It almost carrieth me from my purpose but to returne to my selfe let us see in what way we must glorify God with these externall things that we have thus received from him and that is as before we have shewed in the same steppes that the rules and maximes of his owne law have prescribed viz. First that we shall doe unto him Homage that is true and faithfull service For it is written Him onely shalt thou serve Secondly that we shall be faithfull unto him as becommeth true tenents that is not to adhere to his enemies the world the flesh and the devill as conspiring with them or suffering them to subtract or encroach upon any part of that which belongeth to God our Lord paramount Thirdly that we shall pay duely unto him all rights and duties that belong unto his Seignory for it is written Give unto God that that is Gods And againe Give the Lord the honour due unto his name c. Psal. 29. 1. For all which we must be accomptants at the great Audit and there lies a speciall writ of Praecipe in that case Redde rationem villicationis tuae Give an accompt how thou hast carried thy selfe in this thy businesse that is this his service committed to thee But omitting to handle the first and second of these great Reservations I have undertaken the last viz. de reddendis Dei Deo of ren dring that unto God that is Gods And in this I humbly beseech his blessed hand to be with me and guide me for whose onely sake and honour I have adventured to leave the shore I crept by in my former booke and now as with full sailes to launch forth into the deepe upon so dangerous and uncertaine adventure Amen Of TITHES CAP. I. What things be due unto God THat that is to be rendred unto God for his honour out of temporall things granted by him unto man are by his word declared to be some particular portions of the same things The things granted unto man be of three sorts viz. First the time measured out unto him for this life Secondly the place allotted to him for his habitation Thirdly the benefits and blessings assigned to him for his sustenance Out of every of these God must have his honorary part as by way of reservation and retribution in right of his seignory Let us then see what those parts are and how they grow due unto him Touching the first which is the Time of our life he hath out thereof reserved to himselfe the seaventh part for it is written six dayes shalt thou labour and doe all that thou hast to doe but the seaventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God What other time soever we imploy privately and particularly in his worship this must generally be performed and kept both by our selves and our very cattle for if every creature groane with us Rom. 8. 22. it is also just that they rejoyce with us sometime But though God be much wronged in this kind as well as in other his rights yet since it is confessed of all parts to be due unto him by the expresse Canon of his word I will not medle with it any farther only I desire that the abusing of it were severely punished or at least in such sort as the Lawes have appointed CAP. II. The second kind of tribute that we are to render unto God i. a portion of our Land THe second thing that God hath given unto man is a place for his residence and that is the earth in generall and to every nation and family a part thereof in particular The earth hath he given to the children of men Psal. 115. 16. But as he reserved a portion of the time of our life for the celebration of his honour so hath he also reserved a portion out of the place of our residence For in Ezek. 45. he commandeth the children of Israel and in them all the nations of the world that when they come to inhabite the land he giveth them they must divide it into three parts one for the people another for the King but the first for God himselfe God must have Enetiam partem as the Lawyers terme it the part of the eldest or first borne for the tribe of the Levi that is his Priests and Ministers are called to be the first borne of his people Therefore he saith When ye shall divide the Land for inheritance ye shall offer an oblation to the Lord an holy portion of the Land Ezek. 45. And by and by he declareth how it shall be imployed one part to the building of the house of God and the other part for the Priests and Ministers to dwell on And this is no Leviticall precept but an institution of the Law of nature and in performance of the duty that he was tyed unto by this
and Revel or Jethro Prince and Priest of Midian Of other Priests it appeareth in Exod. 19. 22. 24. that there were many Let the Priests saith God that come to the Lord be sanctified and again Let not the Priests break their bounds c. Touching these Priests we finde no mention either how they were called to their function or how they were maintained in it neither of them that executed that place after the Law was given till the calling of the Levites which though it were a short time as not above a year and some months yet must they have some maintenance and means to live on even during that time The Priests of Aegypt had not onely lands for their maintenance but they also had a certain part appointed them by Pharaoh to live upon and though it appeareth not by the Scripture what this part was yet it is plain that it was such and so bountifull as when all the other Egyptians sold their land to Joseph for Pharaoh to save their lives in the famine they lived upon this part and kept their lands The children of God no doubt came not behinde the Heathen in devotion and consequently not in their bounty to their Priests therefore though we have no authority to demonstrate unto us the particular means wherein they were provided for before the Law yet we may very probably conceive it to be much after the manner of the Heathen Priests of that time for that the Priests and children of God being then scattered amongst the Heathen as Melchisedek among the Canaanites Jethro amongst the Midianites could use no rites nor ceremonies in the worship of the true God but the Heathen would have the same in the service of their gods insomuch as nothing is mentioned in the Scripture concerning the same before the Leviticall Institutions but it is particularly found among the Gentiles first touching both their Priests and manner of sanctifying of them as also touching their offerings altars and sacrifices and the manner of feasting at the sacrifice of thanksgiving used by Jethro Exod. 18. 12. I infer therefore that seeing the Heathen took their originall manner of holy rites from the children of God that therefore what originall rites the Heathen had in their service of their religion that the same were in use also among the children of God though they be not mentioned in the Scripture and consequently that insomuch as the Heathen universally paid Tithes and first-fruits unto their Gods and Priests that therefore the children of God did so likewise from the beginning to the true God And to this agreeth Hugo Cardinalis saying It is thought that Adam taught his sons to offer first-fruits and tenths unto God so that the children of God borrowed it not from the Heathen or the Heathen from them but both the one and the other from the law of nature for as Ambrose saith God therefore by Moses followed not the fashion of the Gentiles Non ergo Deus per Mosem Gentilium formam sequutus est sed ipsa naturalis ratio hoc habet ut quis inde vivat ubi laborat in Epist. 1 Cor. ca. 9. C. 41. Col. c. And as the examples of Abraham and Jacob do plainly confirm it to be done by them so doubtlesse was it also done by other of the Hebrews even before the Leviticall Institutions and even then holden and taken to be a duty belonging unto God as plainly appeareth by Gods own mouth in 22. Exod. 29. when hee saith and that before the Leviticall Institutions Thine abundance and thy liquor shalt thou not keep back which all Interpreters agree to be spoken of the Tithe and first-fruits of corn oyl and wine and therefore Jerome doubted not so to translate it viz. Thy tithes and first-fruits shalt thou not keep back wherein the word keep back non tardabis is very materially to be considered as evidently shewing that it was a custome of old to pay these tithes unto the Lord and therefore that he now required them not as a new thing but as due unto him by an ancient usage That the word non tardabis thou shalt not keep back or delay implieth a thing formerly due very reason telleth us and the use of it in other parts of Scripture doth confirm it for the very same word 〈◊〉 is used in the same sense Deut. 23. 21. When thou vowest a vow unto the Lord thy God non tardabis thou shalt not be slack to pay it or shalt not keep it back this is not a commandement to pay or give a new thing but to pay that is already due the thing vowed In the same sense it is said 2 Pet. 3. 9. non tardat Dominus promissa the Lord is not slack in performing his promise that is not slacke or holding that back which in his honour and justice he hath tied himself to pay or perform the blessing he promised which by his promise is made a debt CAP. XXV That they are due by the Law of God IT is said in Genesis in the end of the 13. ca. and so on in the 14. and in the 7. to the Hebrews That whilst Abraham dwelt at Hebron in the Plain of Mamre his brother Lot was carried away prisoner by the foure Assyrian or Babylonian Kings with all that he had and that Abraham confederate with Mamre the Amorite and his brethren Escol and Aner armed his houshold even the bond-men as well as free 318. in all and pursued them unto Dan where hee smote them in the night and recovered Lot and the prey And that as he returned Melchisedek King of Salem Priest of the most high God met him and gave him bread and wine and blessed him and prayed and praised God for him and that Abraham did thereupon give him the tithe of all This place of Scripture is very materiall for our purpose as portraiting unto us the whole modell or plat-form of the Church now under the Gospel even as if the one were measured out by the other with a line or rod as Moses measured the Tabernacle and as if God had said as he did unto Moses See that thou make it in all things like the pattern I have shewed thee Exod. 25. 40. the last We will therefore stay a while upon it and consider the action the time the place the persons and some other circumstances The action as having nothing in it belonging to the Leviticall Law and therefore a plain direction unto us how to demean our selves under the Gospel The time as performed before the Law was given namely about 300. years after the flood both according to the rites that time and to be president for the time to come after the Law abolished The places where this action was performed Hebron Dan and Salem Hebron a place in Judah where Abraham dwelt afterward one of the Leviticall Cities from whence Abraham departed when he went into this expedition Dan the uttermost limit of the holy
a year So that the Appropriation of a Parsonage was no more at the first but a grant made by the Pope c. to an Abbot Prior Prebend or some other spirituall person being a Body politique and successive that he and his successors might for ever be Parsons of that Church that is that as one of them died his successors might enter into the Rectory and take the fruits and profits thereof without further trouble of admission institution or induction which upon the matter was no more but to doe that briefly at one cut that otherwise might and would in length of time be done at severall times as to admit institute and induct the whole succession of a religious body politique at once whereas otherwise every successour must have had a particular institution and induction and therefore every such successour during his time was as perfect an Incumbent as if he had been particularly instituted and inducted but when the succession failed then it was again presentative as upon the death of an ordinary Incumbent and by extinction of the House dissolution cession or surrender of the House and Order the appropriation is determined and they are now again presentative for the appropriation is but as a stop in a run which being taken away the former right renueth What alteration then did the Statute make of them did it make them lay or temporall Livings no the words of the Statute are That the King shall have them in as large and ample manner as the Governors of those houses had them c. So that though the Statute changed the owner of the thing yet it changed not the nature of the thing The Monasticall persons had them before as spirituall Livings and now the King must have them in as large manner but still as spirituall Livings and with much more reason might the King so have them then any other temporall men for as the Kingdome and Priesthood were united in the person of our Saviour Christ so the person of a King is not excluded from the function of a Priest though as Christ being a Priest medled not with the kingdome so they as Kings medle not with the Priesthood Yet by the Laws of the Land the King is composed as well of a spirituall body politique as of a temporall and by this his spirituall body he is said to be supream Ordinary that is chief Bishop over all the Bishops in England and in that his Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall authority doth many things which otherwise in his temporall he could not doe and therefore the Statute of 25 H. 8. cap. doth agnise the words authoritate nostra regia Suprema Ecclesiastica qua fungimur which the King useth in divers Charters touching spirituall causes doe testifie that he taketh upon him the execution thereof and therefore in this respect he may much better hold them then his lay subjects Neither is this authority of the King founded upon the Statute of H. 8. or any other puisne institution but deduced anciently from the very Saxon Kings as appeareth by many of their Laws and Charters wherein as supream Ordinary they dispose of the rights and jurisdiction of the Church delivering unto religious persons greater or lesser portion thereof according to their own pleasure and abridging and exempting other from the authority of the Bishops and Archbishops or any other Ecclesiasticall Prelate And in this respect it seemeth that the Chappell of the Kings house was in ancient time under no other Ordinary then the King himself for William the Conquerour granting all exemption to Battail Abbey granteth that it shall be as free from the command of any Bishops as his own Chappell Dominica Capella which as it thereby seemeth was under no other Bishop then the King himself But the Bishops agreed to the granting away of these Church Livings It is true that the Law accounteth the judgement of the major part to be the judgement of all but the Bishops cannot be said to have agreed unto it as being willing with it but as concluded by legall necessity and inference For though all the Bishops said nay yet the Lay Barons by reason of their number exceeding the Bishops were not able to hinder it and no man doubteth that in publique suffrages very many times major pars vincit meliorem therefore I neither accuse nor condemn the reverend Bishops herein for their voices though they had given them every one against the Bill were not able to hinder it Neither doe I think but that they being men of another profession unexercised in the elenchs of the Law were overtaken in the frame of words and thereby passed that away in a cloud which if they had perceived could never have been won from them with iron hooks But in this matter there being a question of Religion Whether Tithes be due jure divino or whether they could be separated from the Church it was not properly a question decidable by the Parliament being composed wholly of Lay persons except some twenty Bishops but the question should first have been moved amongst the Bishops by themselves and the Clergy in the Convocation house and then being there agreed of according to the Word of God brought into the Parliament For as the Temporall Lords exclude the Bishops when it commeth to the decision of a matter of bloud life and member so by the like reason the Bishops ought to exclude the Temporall Lords when it commeth to the decision of a question in Theology for God hath committed the Tabernacle to Levi as well as the kingdome to Juda and though Juda have power over Levi as touching the outward government even of the Temple it self yet Juda medled not with the Oracle the holy Ministery but received the will of God from the mouth of the Priest Therefore when Valentinian the Emperour required Ambrose to come and dispute a point of Arianisme at his Court he besought the Emperour that he might doe it in the Consistory amongst the Bishops and that the Emperour would bee pleased not to be present among them lest his presence should captivate their judgements or intangle their liberty That after the Appropriation the Parsonage still continueth spirituall It appeareth by that which is afore shewed and the circumstances thereof that the Appropriating of a Parsonage or the endowing of a Vicarage out of it doe not cut the Parsonage from the Church or make it temporall but leaveth it still spirituall as well in the eye of the Common Law as of the Canon Law for if it became temporall by the Appropriation then were it within the Statute of Mortmain and forfaited by that very Act. But it is agreed by the 21 Ed. 3. f. 5. and in Plowd Com. fo 499. that it is not Mortmain and therefore doth continue spirituall for which cause also the Ordinary and Ecclesiasticall Officers must have still the same authority over such appropriate Churches as they had before those Churches
cals covetousnesse the root of all evill and so the root of that evill which sometimes passeth betwixt a Patron and his Chaplaine and may as frequently and with as much injury be found betwixt some Committee-men and Trustees and the Ministers of their choice as any other But as I am confident that there will be an amendment on the Ministers part by the regular way of the Parliaments reformation according to the directions of ordination of Ministers already printed accordingly practised so will it bee not onely possible but easie for the State to finde out a fit means to prevent prevarication on the part of the Patron but if Tithes be removed from their ancient foundation and lest loose to the disposall of Trustees or Committee-men they will be a more ready prey for the covetous into whose hands they may come and from whose hands perhaps they cannot without great difficulty be redeemed Lastly in the close of this Petition the Petitioners shew great care that the Ministers may be freed from the incumbrance of Tithes to serve the Lord without distraction and to give themselves to the Word of God and Prayer and to be onely employed to make ready a people prepared for the Lord And so they may do if they be maintained by Tithes for that means of maintenance gives a man occasion of more and better acquaintance with the particular disposition of his people and it is his part to be diligent to know the state of his flock Prov. 27. 23. And for that trouble which may be thought inconsistent with the Calling of a Minister if his means be sufficient he may have a servant to take it from him and ease him of it I know a Minister whose Benefice was a Vicarage and his Parish so large that it was 11 miles in length and of a proportionable breadth yet did it not put him to the expence of one day in a year to compound for or gather in his dispersed portion Now for the successe and acceptance of the Petition in the Honourable House of Commons to which it was presented if such an innovation had been granted for that County it had been fitter to have been made a Sibboleth for that cauthe or angle of the Kingdome for so the word Kent signifieth as their custome of Gavelkind then to be made a president or pattern of conformity to other parts of the Kingdome as the News-Book of the same week prescribed that to his Reader But the answer of the worthy Senate was such as may further confirm us in our confidence that they will still continue to be gracious Patrons of the maintenance of Ministers and that they will be more ready to ratifie precedent Statutes and their own Ordinance made in that behalf then to dissettle their tenure which is founded upon them and to make Ministers arbitrary Pensioners to such as may be so far swayed by misprision of judgement or personall dis-affection as to deal most penuriously with those who being truly valued without erroneous mistaking or injurious misliking may both by the eminence of their parts and their faithfulnesse in their places deserve the most ample and most honourable Revenue I will give you their answer in their own words which are most authentick they are these M. Speaker by order of the House of Commons did give the Petitioners the Committee of Kent thanks for their former services and took notice of their good affections to the Publique and did acquaint them That the great businesses of the Kingdome are now instant and pressing upon them and that they will take the Petition into consideration in due time and that in the mean time they take care that Tithes may be paid according to Law But there are some in the Parliament that hold the maintenance of Ministers by Tithes to be Jewish and Popish and therefore they will give countenance to Petitions that are put up against them and doe what they can under such titles to render them offensive to such as are truly religious especially to those who have most power to abolish them 1. It may be there are some such and if there be some such among so many it is neither to be thought strange nor true for such a number of them as may be able to carry the cause against the continuance of Tithes 2. For the tearm Jewish it is mis-applyed against Tithes as it was by the Prelates of late is by the Anabaptists at the present against the Sabbath nor are they more Popish then Jewish For the Papists though their people pay them and their Priests receive them yet they for the most part holding theÌ„ to depend meerly upon Ecclesiastical constitution made no scruple of changing them into secular titles or uses as in Impropriations in the hands of Lay-men and many other distributions made out of them severall ways without any respect to the service of the Sanctuary Nor is there any thing in the payment and receiving of Tithes under the state of the Gospel which may prebably be suspected to have any savour of Judaisme or Popery save onely the payment of Tenths by the Ministers to the King as hath been lately well observed by Mr L. in his second Book against Mr S. I will set down his words and seriously commend them to the consideration of our religious Reformers they are these in answer to Mr S. his Question Qu. What are the maintenance of Ministers by Tithes Jewish and Popish undenyably Ans. How Jewish and Popish undeniably As undeniably as the Sabbath was Jewish when the Prelates so called it or the article of the Trinity Popish as Valentinus Gentilis took it when he disliked the doctrine of the Reformed Churches in that point because they agreed with the Papists therein You are grossely mistaken Sir in the tenure of Tithes for though there be a clamour taken up against them by such as make no scruple either of slander or of sacriledge and some would change the Ministers portion which is their masters wages for his own work and reduce them to voluntary pensions of the people because they would have a liberty to begger them wâ—â— will not humour them in their fond and false opinions and licentious practises but oppose them as of conscience they are bound to doe neither you nor all your party can prove them either Iewish or Popish as they are allowed and received for the maintenance of the Ministers of England And because you are so confident in your opinion against Tithes and shew your self to have a good opinion of Mr Nye whom with Mr Goodwin you cite for a worthy saying touching the golden Ball of Government I refer you for satisfaction to him who will tell you as he hath done divers others in my hearing that Ministers of the Gospel may hold and receive Tithes for their maintenance by a right and title which is neither Jewish nor Popish but truly Christian and there is nothing
house shall be called an house of prayer locally to places of prayer whereas he saith it was spoken figuratively of the congregation of the faithfull I exclude not that sense but I assure my selfe our Saviour Christ when he whipt the sellers out of the Temple not out of the congregation applied this Scripture to the very place of prayer and it is questionlesse that the old and late classicke writers so expound it Some quotations here were intended out of ancient and moderne Authors which though I could easily supply yet being loth to adde any thing to the originall copie I leave it to the learned reader to consult the Commentators which is easily done Againe it much offends him that I interpret the words of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 11. 12. Despise ye the Church of God as spoken of the materiall place which after his manner he will also have to be onely understood of the Congregation and had the word ecclesia no other signification then doubtlesse he had obtained the cause But obserue I pray what I have formerly said touching that point and then take into your consideration the words of the Apostle as they lye in that chapter First in the 18. verse he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quando convenisti in ecclesia For these be the very words and how we shall English them is the question Whether when ye come together in the Congregation that is in the assembly or when ye come together in the Church that is in the place of the assembly I confesse the words indefinitely spoken may beare either interpretation and I condemne neither of them in this place Yet let us see which is more probable or at least whether my trespasse deserves his reprehension The Apostle continuing his speech upon the same subject in the 20. vers goeth on thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he should say convenientibus igitur vobis in eodem leaving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in eodem spoken neutrally and as it were to be applied either to the assembly or the place which to put it out of doubt Beza and our English Geneva translation doe adde the word locus a place in a different letter to declare the meaning of the Apostle and read it accordingly When you come together therefore into one place So that now it is determined how the word Ecclesia or Church in the 18. vers before going is to be expounded and then joyne the words subsequent unto it wherein the Apostle complaineth of the abusing that thing which before he spake of and in reprehension of the abuse committed therein by eating and drinking he saith vers 22. Have ye not houses to eate and to drink in or despise ye the Church of God Where the very antithesis of houses to eate and drink in with the Church of God doe still pursue the precedent interpretation of Ecclesia for the place of assembly as if distinguishing betweene places and not persons he should have said Your houses are the places to eate and drink in but the Church is the place of prayer otherwise he might perhaps have said Have ye not other meetings to eate and drinke at but despise ye this holy meeting And I thinke it not without speciall providence that the Translators therefore did translate here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ecclesiam Dei contemniti Despise ye the Church of God not despise ye the Congregation of God for the word Chyrche coming of the German word Kirken and that of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Dominicum or the Lords House was in ancient times as Eusebiu◠and Nicephorus witnesse the common name of materiall Churches doth to this day properly signifie the same and we doe never use it for a particular congregation but either generally for the body or society of the faithfull through a whole kingdome or common wealth or particularly for the very place of prayer onely This foundation being now laid upon the words of the Apostle himselfe let us see how it hath been since understood by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church as well ancient as moderne Hieroms opinion appeareth already in my booke and Chrysostomes you shall heare anon But this man despiseth the first and therefore I am sure he will account as lightly of the second A Senate of Fathers moves him not an haire a right monothelite he opposeth his owne onely will against them all Yet to satisfie some others whose eares perhaps may be better in tune I will cite one who for humblenesse of spirit integritie of life and admirable learning for the time he lived in hath ever since been venerable throughout the world and no forreigner but our Countreyman Bede who upon these words Numquid domos non habetis an Ecclesiam Dei contemnitis Ecclesia saith he homines sunt de quibus dicitur ut exhiberet sibi gloriosam ecclesiam hoc tamen vocari etiam ipsam domum orationum idem Apostolus testis est vbi ait numquid domos non habetis ad manducandum bibendum an ecclesiam Dei contemnitis hoc quotidianus usus loquendi obtinuit ut in ecclesiam prodire ad ecclesiam confugere non dicatur nisi qui ad locum ipsum parietesque prodierit vel confugerit quibus ecclesiae congregatio continetur But he will say that all this old wine savours of the caske therefore we will spend no more time in broaching of it Taste of the new Peter Martyr upon the place Quando convenitis potest saith he hoc referri ad locum qui unus omnes continebat ita ut notetur corporalis conjunctio c. and then An ecclesiam Dei contemnitis potest accipi Ecclesia saith he pro caetu sacro vel pro loco quo fideles conveniunt c. Si vero de loco intellexeris ut Chrysostomus videtur sentire docemur contaminari locum ex abusu Vnde Augustinus dicebat In Oratorio nemo aliquid agat nisi ad quod factum est vnde nomen recepit ad alia munera obeunda plateas domus habemus And complaining of abusing of Churches he goeth on At nunc templa deambulationibus fabulis omnibus negotiis prophanis toto die patent C. hristus flagello parato ex funiculis ejectis ementibus vendentibus templum Dei repurgavit and goeth still on in this manner much further Marlorat also a common and good friend to our Preachers being well pleased with this exposition and invective of Peter Martyr translateth it verbatim into his owne Commentary upon this place and thereby delivereth it also to the world as his owne opinion But come we now to that part of my booke which puts him most out of patience above all the rest my application of the 83. Psalme to such as destroy Churches and bereave them of their maintenance This he saith fitteth my matter as an Elephants skin doth a gnat yea it hath no cohaerency therewith either figuratively