might not possesse Tithes and Church livings though granted by Kings and Bishops but must restore them CAP. XXI In what right tithes are due and first of the law of nature VVE have said in our definition that they be due unto God now we are to shew by what right and to prove it First therefore I divide Tithes into two sorts Morall and Leviticall Morall are those which were due to God before the Law given in the time of nature Leviticall are those nine parts assigned by God himself upon giving the Law unto the Levites for their maintenance the tenth part being still reserved to himself and retained in his own hands Morall tithes were paid by man unto God absque praecepto without any commandement Leviticall tithes were paid by the Israelites unto the Levites as transacted and set over by God unto them pro tempore for the time being and that by an expresse Canon of the Ceremoniall law To speak in the phrase of Lawyers and to make a case of it God is originally seised of tithes to his own use in dominico suo ut de feodo in his own demesne as of fee-simple or as I may say Jure Coronae and being so seised by his Charter dated year after the Flood he granted them over to the Levites and the issue male of their body lawfully begotten to hold of himself in Frank-Almoigne by the service of his Altar and Tabernacle rendring yearly unto him the tenth part thereof So that the Levites are meerly Tenants in tail the reversion expectant to the Donor and consequently their issue failing and the consideration and services being extinct and determined the thing granted is to revert to the Donor and then is God seised again as in his first estate of all the ten parts in fee. But we must prove the parts of the case and first the title namely that he was seised in fee of originall Tithes that is that originall Tithes doe for ever belong unto him Hear the evidence which I will divide into three parts as grounding it first upon the law of Nature secondly upon the Law of God and thirdly upon the Law of Nations CAP. XXII How far forth they be due by the Law of Nature VVHen I said by the Law of Nature my meaning is not to tiemy self to that same jus naturale defined by Justinian which is common to beasts as well as to men But to nature taken in the sense that Tully after the opinion of others delivers it to be Vim rationis atquè ordinis participem tanquam via progredientem declarantemque quid cujusque causa res efficiat quid sequatur c. the vertue and power of reason and order that goeth before us as a guide in the way and sheweth us what it is that worketh all things the end why and what thereupon ensueth or dependeth This by some is called the Law of Nature secondary or speciall because it belongeth onely to reasonable creatures and not generally to all living things in respect whereof it is also called the law of reason and it is written in the heart of every man by the instinct of nature as Isidor faith not by any legall constitution teaching and instructing all Nations through the whole world todiscern between good and evill and to affect the one as leading to the perfection of worldly felicity and to eschew the other as the opposite thereof This is that law written in the hearts of the Heathen made them to be a law unto themselves as it is said Rom. 2. 14. and by the instinct of nature to doe the very works of the Law of God with admirable integrity and resolution This is that Law that led them to the knowledge of God that they had whereby they confesse him to be the Creator supporter and preserver of all things seeing all things knowing all things and doing whatsoever pleaseth himself to be omnipotent eternall infinite incomprehensible without beginning or end good perfect just hating evill and ever doing good a blessed Spirit and as Plato calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest Spirit that giveth all good things unto man that guideth his actions and blesseth his labours All this and much more did the very Heathen by this Law of Nature conceive and pronounce of God and therewithall confessed that by reason thereof they were justly tyed to yeeld him all service honour obedience praise and thanksgiving but wanting graceto direct them above nature in the right ways thereof they first swarved on one hand then on the other and at length they fell into their innumerable superstitions and idolatries yet as they concurred with us in these fundamentall points of Christian confession touching the nature of God so did they likewise in the fundamentall course of serving and worshipping him as by prayer to crave blessings by hymnes to celebrate his praise by oblations to shew their thankfulnesse to him by sacrifice to make atonement with him for their sins and trespasses by honouring and maintaining his servants Priests Ministers to expresse the honour love and reverence they bear unto himself Some are of opinion that they learned much of this from the children of God So Ambrose alledgeth that Plato did of Jeremy the Prophet meeting him in Aegypt but it appeareth that Jeremy lived before Plato almost 300. years yet it is doubtlesse that with their bloud and linage they deducted many particular rites and ceremonies from Noah and his Nephews but these notions I speak of rise out of the very law of nature written in their hearts by the finger of God as S. Augustine witnesseth saying Quis scribit in cordibus hominum naturalem legem nisi ipse Deus who writeth the law of nature in the hearts of men but God himself and Calvin agreeth that the knowledge of God is naturally planted in the mindes of all men Do we not see at this day the very barbarous and almost savage Indians agree in effect most of them aforesaid touching the nature of God and the course of worshipping him also yea in the five ways we spake of viz. by prayer by songs by offerings by sacrifice and by honouring and maintaining his Priests and servants who taught them this if not the very law of nature Me thinks I hear some answer me the Devill and I must answer them that it is true the Devil taught them to pervert these notions but it is God that wrote them originally in their heart though the Devil hath choaked and corrupted them But say that the Heathen learned these of the children of God whence did the children of God learn it themselves before the Law was given who taught Cain and Abel to offer their first-fruits to sacrifice Abraham and Jacob to give tithes of all that they had Lactantius saith that the law of nature taught to give offerings to God and the practice of all the Nations of the world in all ages and in all religions confirmeth
is the number of spirituall sanctification ten the number of legall justification Therefore to pay all the nine parts was nothing if we failed in the tenth for the tenth is the number of perfection and therefore required above all other as the type of legall justification And as our faith is nothing without works so neither is the Sabbath without tithes for they that minister to us the spirituall blessings of the Sabbath must receive from us the temporall gratuities of Tithing CAP. XXVI That they are due by the Law of Nations THe Law of Nations is that which groundeth it self upon such manifest rules of reason as all the Nations of the world perceive them to be just and do therefore admit them as effectually by the instinct of nature as if they had been concluded of by an universall Parliament Therefore in truth this is no other but that which the Philosophers call the law of Nature Oratours the law of Reason Divines the Morall law and Civilians the Law of Nations As far then as Tithe is due by one of these so far likewise it is due by all the rest and consequently the reasons that prove it in the one doe in like manner prove it in all the other I will not therefore insist here upon arguments but remit you to that hath been formerly said touching the law of Nature and demonstrate unto you by the practice of all Nations what the resolution of the world hath been herein through all ages So ancient it is among the Heathens that good Divines are of opinion that Abraham took example thereof from the Heathen but others with more reason conceive it to be practised even by the children of Adam as well as sacrificing and the offering of first-fruits as by the opinion of Hugo Cardinalis I have shewed in another place Besides I find not any mention of Tithe paid by the Gentiles before the time of Dionysius commonly called Bacchus who having conquered the Indians sent a Present of the spoil Magno Jovi as Ovid witnesseth and this was about 600. after that Abraham tithed to Melchisedek Cyrus having collected a great sum of mony amongst his captives caused it to be divided delivered the tithe thereof to the Praetors to be consecrated to Apollo and Diana of Ephesus as he had vowed Xenophon in Cyro l. 5. Alexander the great having conquered the Countries of sweet odours and frankincense sent a whole ship-loading thereof to Leonides in Greece that he might burn it bountifully unto the Gods Plin. li. 12. c. 24. Posthumius having overthrown the Latines paid the tithes of the spoil as before he had vowed Dionys. Halicar li. 6. Livius Nebuchodonosor did the like too bountifully as Josephus reporteth it to the Temple of Belus Ant. l. 10. C. 13. Rhodopis a Thracian woman before the time of Cyrus gave the tenth part of all her goods unto Delphos Herodot Euterpe pag. 139. The Crotoniati warring upon the Locrenses vowed the tenth part of the spoil to Apollo but the Locrians to exceed them in their vow vowed the ninth part Alex. ab Alex. 165. Agis King of Lacedaemon went to Delphos and there offered his Tithe unto God Xenophon de rebus gestis Grae. li. 3. Agesilaus conquered so much of his enemies Country that in two years he dedicated above an hundred talents to God for the Tithe Xenoph. de Agesil laud. The Liparians having overcome the Hetruscians in many sea battails sent the Tithe of the spoil to Delphos Diodor. 292. l. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The custome of the ancient Gauls and so likewise no doubt of our Brittish Ancestors was to give all in effect that they got by the wars unto their gods as Caesar witnesseth and to sacrifice the cattell so taken De Bell. Gal. lib. 6. 132. And this use of Tithing the spoile obtained in war was every where so ordinary that Croesus the King of Lydia being overcome by Cyrus and taken into mercy told him as advising him for his good that he must of necessity render the Tithe of the spoil unto Jove and that he should therefore set a guard at every gate of the City to prevent the soldiers from embezling of it Herodot in Clio. li. 1. p. 36. I reckon up these particulars the more willingly to beget shame and remorse if it were possible in the soldiers of our time that having been exceedingly enriched in this kind have not I fear remembred God with so much as Croesus did when he sent no more but his iron shackles to Delphos Herodot ib. fo 37. Yet God had 7000. servants that Elias knew not of and therefore I will not judge them As Military men abounded thus with devotion so those of peaceable professions came not behinde them for Festus witnesseth lib. 4. p. 213. l. 67. That they of the old world offered every tenth thing unto God and Varro in his Book De re Rustica adviseth every man to pay his Tithes diligently of the fruits of his ground Therefore because the Sicilians were more happy in corn then other Nations they exceeded all other in thankfulnesse to Ceres as appeareth by Diodor. Sic. 288. in pede c. And for that the Athenians were next in that felicity they did the like and instituted further in her honour initia Eleusina i. the feast of the first-fruits which for the great antiquity and holinesse thereof were as Diodorus reporteth celebrated of all the people of the world Pliny saith the Arabians tithed their frank incense to their god Sabin not by weight as sparingly but by measure as a more bountifull manner Lib. 12. ca. 24. pag. 184. L. 57. The Aethiopians cut not their cinnamon but with prayers made first to their gods and a sacrifice of 44. Goats Rams and then the Priest dividing the cinnamon took that part belonging to their god and left them the rest to make merchandise of Plin. l. 12. ca. 19. fol. 286. in pede The Siphnians sent at one time so great a Tithe out of their silver and gold mines to Delphos as the richest man of that age was not more worth Herodot Thalia lib. 3. fol. 180. The Romans and generally all Nations paid the Tithe of their fruits to Hercules and they held it the happyest thing to vow the payment of them faithfully and they thought that the cause that Lucullus abounded so much above other in wealth was that he paid his Tithe so faithfully Alex. ab Alex. lib. 3. 165. As they paid their Tithes out of the fruits of the earth so did they likewise out of their privy gains and industry Herodotus writeth that the Samians a small people yeelded at one time six talents for the Tithe of their grain gotten by merchanchise Melpom. li. 4. 267. And that nothing might goe untithed the Ancients paid a Tithe of the very beasts killed in hunting namely the skins thereof to Diana Et penet in Trivia Dives praedae tamen accipit omni Exuvias Diana
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
want it in the chiefest of all that is in our habitations Againe he commandeth that they should be Hospitales Goodhouskeepers how should they be so if they have no houses to keep John Baptist lived in the wildernesse it is true and he was commended for it Christ did not so though he frequented the fields yet in that he gave no Commandement that his disciples should follow him for he appointed them to remaine in other mens houses What that they should goe sojourne where they listed The Commandement hath nothing to the contrary but the meaning is thereby apparent they must have habitations provided for them or else shake off the dust of your feet against them Mat. 10. 14. as much as to say let them be accursed So then our Saviour hath not repealed the Law of providing for the Levites unto his Ministers He could not give them Cities to possesse for his kingdome was not of this world But he appointed them to such places as themselves should choose among the children of the Gospell Doeth this differ from the Commandement of providing Cities for the Levites Doubtles no for as the Logitians say Conveniunt in eodemtertio They agree in this that the Ministers must have habitations provided for them as well in the Gospell as the Levites had under the Law Oh but they must have no inheritance among their brethren for the Lord is their portion Numb 18. 24. It is true the Lord hath communicated with them his owne portion viz. his tithes and his offerings as he did with the Levites therefore as the Levites had no share in the division of the Land so our Ministers must have no share with us in tilling the Land matters of husbandry for they are called from secular cares to spirituall contemplation but after the Israelites had their shares in the Land they yeelded portions to the Levites for their convenient residence and so must wee for our Ministers And so still the conclusion is they must be provided for Which to shut up the matter is invincibly ratified by our Saviour himselfe who in sending forth his disciples would not suffer them to take the least implements of sustenance with them because he would put them absolutely upon the care and charge of the congregation alledging a Maxime of the morall Law for warranty thereof that the labourer is worthy of his hire Mat. 10. 10. And therefore into whose house soever yow enter stay there Mat. 10. 11. CAP. V. What part in reason and by direction of Nature might seeme fittest for God It being agreed that some part by the Law of Nature is due unto God out of all the time of our life and the goods that we possesse it is now to be examined how far this Law of nature or reason may lead us to the discovery of that part or portion For which purpose we must for a while lay aside Canonicall Divinity I mean the Scriptures and suppose our selves to live in the ages before the Law was given that is in the time of nature And then let us propose this question to the Sages of that world and see what answer we are like to receive from them And first touching this question What portion of our time or goods were sittest for God It is like they would have considered the matter in this manner That God hath not any need either of our time or goods and that therefore he requireth them not in tanto that is to have so much and no lesse But on our parts it is our duty to yeeld unto him as much in quanto as we can conveniently for beare over and besides our necessary maintenance So that as Bracton saith of Hyde that tenants are to yeeld unto their Lords it must be honorarium Domino and not grave tenenti so much as the Lord may be honoured by it and the tenant not oppressed wherein if a second third or fourth part be too much so a twentieth or thirtieth seem also too little As God therefore desireth but an honourary part not a pressory so reason should direct us to give him that part wherein his own nature with the respects aforesaid is most properly expressed for the maxime or axiome which our Saviour alledged Date Deo quae Dei sunt give unto God the things that are Gods is grounded on the Morall law originally and therefore examining among numbers which of them are most proper and resembling the nature of God we shall finde that seven and ten above all other perform this mystery and that therefore they are most especially to be chosen thereunto therefore God in the Creation of the world following the light of nature chused the seventh part of the age thereof as Philo Judaeus in his Book De fabricatione mundi pag. 36. hath with singular and profound observations declared And because it may be demanded hereupon why he should not by the same reason have the seventh part of our goods also I answer that as touching the time of our life he giveth that unto us of his own bounty meerly without any industry on our part so that whether we sleep or wake labour or play the allowance thereof that he maketh unto us runneth on of its own accord and therefore we owe him the greater retribution out thereof as having it without labour or charge But as for the fruits of the earth we have them partly by our own labour though chiefly by his bounty and therefore he therein requireth his part as it were with deduction or allowance of our charges seeking another number be fitting the same The first place in Scripture wherein a Priest is mentioned is Gen. 14. 18. where Melchisedek is said to be the Priest of the most high God there also are tithes spoken of and paid unto him v. 20. Abraham gave him tithes of all The first place also where an House of God or Church is spoken of is Gen. 28. 18 22. there also are tithes mentioned and vowed unto God even by that very name whereby Parish Churches upon their first Institution in the Primitive Church were also styled that is by the name of Tituli Gen. 28. 22. Lapis iste quem posui in titulum erit Domus Dei omne quod dederis mihi decimas prorsus dabo tibi wherein it seemeth the Primitive Church at that time followed the translation then in use for Damasus in the life of Euaristus Bishop of Rome Anno 112. saith Hic titulos in urbe Roma divisit Presbyteris Tom. Concil 1. pag. 106. And speaking after of Dionysius who lived Anno 260. he saith Presbyteris Ecclesias divisit coemeteria Parochiasque Dioeceses constituit Tom. Concil 1. pag. 206. Thus Church and Tithe went together in their first Institution If there be no mention after of Tithes in the Scripture till the time of Moses that is no reason to exclude them for so also is there not of any House of God or Priest yet no man
to the naturall condition of those times as sacrifice and first-fruits which though they rose out of the law of Nature as touching the common end of being offered by way of thanksgiving unto God yet in that they were also types and figures full of ceremony they became temporall and thereby transitory For the children of Adam finding themselves in the wrath of God and their flesh bloud body and life to be altogether corrupted and accursed by the transgression of their father they sought by all invention possible to help it as far as nature could and therefore both to expresse the present estate of their miserable condition and the mark also they aimed at for redemption in time to come they held it as a necessary correspondency that flesh should be redeemed with flesh bloud with bloud life with life the guilty body with a guiltlesse body and to be short the trespasse and corruption of man by the innocency of some sanctified creature offered unto God for remission of sin And because nothing under the sun could be offered up but it also was full of corruption and that nothing could be acceptable unto God that was impure therefore though they chose the cleanest and perfectest beasts and things for these offerings and sacrifices and purged and sanctified them by all manner of means they could yet they devised further to sever the purer and aeriall part thereof from the grosse and earthly consuming the one that is to say the flesh and the bones as the body of sin and corruption with the deserved torment of fire and sending the other that is the fume and vapour as the purer part to carry their prayers and invocations up into heaven before the Throne of God First how corruptible they were that is even like the great body of a bullock suddainly consumed Secondly the punishment in justice due unto them even the torment of fire Thirdly the place and person from whence they hoped for redemption Heaven and Almighty God And lastly the means whereby they were to attain it taken from two of the proprieties of fire light and heat that is first the light of faith whereby they long foresaw the promised seed and secondly the heat of zeal and hearty prayer breathed and sent forth from the altar of a fervent heart whereby they hoped to obtain remission of their sins After all this they yet considering further that the corruption and wrath fallen upon them was perpetuall and that these oblations and sacrifices were but temporall and momentary they thought in reason being onely under the law of Reason that the one could not countervail the other and that therefore it was necessary by continuall reiteration and multiplying of sacrifices to sollicite and importune God from day to day untill the time came that a perpetuall sacrifice might be offered up to make finalem concordiam in the high Court of heaven a full atonement betweene God and man which being once accomplished by our Saviour Christ both the institution and the end of sacrificing were wholly accomplished and so no cause for ever after to use that ceremony any more For with one offering saith the Apostle to the Hebrews hath he consecrated for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. Touching Circumcision though it were before the Leviticall Law yet it rise not out of the Law of Nature or Morall Law but was instituted by a positive constitution made by God himself and not as a part of his worship but as a seal of his Covenant with Abraham which by this ceremony of cutting away the impurer part of the flesh did put the children of Israel ever in mind to cast away carnall affections and to hope for the promised Messias that should cleanse them from the impurity of sin and restore them again to the favour of God which being performed by our Saviour the Covenant was fulfilled and the seal of Circumcision presently thereby defaced § 2. Of the Sabbath day Easter and Pentecost The Institution of the Sabbath day had in it much more Levitical ceremony then the matter of tithing for no man ought to kindle a fire on that day nor dresse the meat he should eat nor carry any burden take a journey or stir out of the place he was in Tarry every man in his place let no man goe out of his place the seventh day Exod. 16. 29. It was besides a day appointed for divers particular ceremonies sacrifices and offerings as yee may read Num. 28. 9 10. and amongst other significations to be a memoriall of the great deliverance out of Aegypt a thing peculiar to the Jews Neither have we any commandement but only a precedent for the keeping of it from the Apostles Acts 20. 9. 1 Cor. 16. 2. Rev. 1. 10. Yet durst never any man say that the Sabbath was therefore to be abolished but the temporall and ceremoniall parts thereof being taken away the morall use of the commandement which is that the seventh part of our time must be dedicate to the generall service of God remaineth for ever to the worlds end for otherwise our Sabbath is so remote from the Sabbath commanded in the Decalogue that the one holdeth almost no affinity with the other as appeareth in the points aforesaid and for that their Sabbath was the last day of the week ours is the first their 's was in celebration of the end of his workes ours in celebration of the beginning thereof for in the first day were the Elements the Angels c. made August Tom. 10. fol. 250. Theirs in memory of the Creation of the world ours of the Redemption that Christ rise from the dead the first day of the week And though the Apostles taught us by example to exchange the Jewish Sabbath for this of ours as touching the publique meeting on the first day of the week for setting forth the glory of God yet they gave us no commandement to abstain from work on that day but the Church decreed saith S. Augustine that all the honour of the Jewish Sabbath should be transferred to the Christian loco dicto and is done upon the Morall reason of the commandement not the Leviticall So likewise in tithing cut off those parts that were temporall and ceremoniall which as I have shewed were neither in the payment nor in the receiving of them but in the manner of sanctifying and employment of part of them after the Levites were possessed of them and then that which remaineth namely the payment and receiving of them for maintenance of the service of God remaineth for ever as a part of the Morall Law and common equity So touching Easter Christ our Passeover was sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5. 7. and thereby the end of Institution accomplished how come we then to continue it especially having neither commandement nor precedent thereof from the Apostles The Ceremoniall part of the Paschall feast viz. the Leviticall Lamb the Purification precedent c. are abolished with the Law
Law Jacob when he was poore and had not wherewithall to build God an house yet he sanctified a portion of ground when God had blessed him to that purpose by erecting a stone and pouring oyle on the head thereof calling the place Bethel that is the house of God and vowing to build it when God should blesse and make him able to doe it Gen. 28. 22. which as Josephus testifieth Antiq. lib. 1. cap. 27. he afterwards performed And as God commanded the whole Nation of the Israelites in generall that in laying out the chiefe City they should first assigne a place unto God for his Temple Priests So likewise he commanded every Tribe thereof in particular that after they had their portion in the division of the Land they should likewise out of the same assigne unto the Levites Cities to dwell in with a circuite or suburbs of a thousand cubits round about to keepe their cattell in Command the children of Israel that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possessions Cities to dwell in yee shall also give unto the Levites the suburbs of the Cities round about so they shall have the Cities to dwell in and the suburbs shall be for their cattell and for their substance and for their beasts And the suburbs of the City which ye shall give unto the Levites from the wall outward shall be a thousand cubits round about Numb 35. 2 3 4. In execution of this Commandement every Tribe of Israel allotted certaine Cities to the Levites out of their portion according to the quantity thereof as appeareth Jos. 21. 41. The whole Land of promise according as St. Hierom layeth it out in his Epistle to Dardanus Tom. 3. 68. containeth in length from Dan to Bersabe scarce 160. miles and in breadth from Joppa to Bethlem 46. miles A small portion of ground for a Kingdome so famous and so small indeed as St. Hierom there saith that he is ashamed to tell the breadth of it lest it should give occasion to the heathen to blaspheme or deride it yet out of this small territory not so much as the principality of Wales with the Marches fourty eight walled Cities more then are in all England as I take it were assigned onely for their Clergy to dwell upon their maintenance and revenues being otherwise provided generally through the whole Kingdome by Tithes oblations and other devotions of their brethren So that it is apparent both by the Law of God and Nature that God must have one portion of our Lands to build him an house on that is his Churches and another portion thereof for the habitation of his Levites that is his Ministers CAP. III. That the portion of Land assigned to God must be sufficient for the habitation of the Minister THough the portion of Land thus to be rendred to God for his Ministers be not certaine yet is it thus farre determined that it must be answerable to the necessity of the service and to the number of the Levites that is there must be Churches sufficient for the congregations and habitations sufficient for the Ministers and their families to dwell upon with pasture convenient for their domesticall cattell They must not be pulled from God with secular care and therefore their maintenance is appointed to arise by other meanes then by tilling the Earth but their habitation as befitteth students and men of contemplative life must be under their owne command and solitary But what should the portion of the fruites of the earth assigned them for their maintenance be certaine as namely the tenth part and not the portion of Land also allotted for their habitation I answer that as the people encrease so also the fruite of the earth encreaseth with them by their industry and labour and therefore as the Levites encrease in number so doe the rest of the Tribes and by reason thereof there is a greater encrease of Tithe toward the maintenance of the Levite for the labour of ten men yeeldeth more profit then the labour of five But when the Levites were inclosed within walls and confined with immutable bounds this circuite in reason could not alwaies be sufficient for them And therefore being so increased as their Cities might not containe them they must of necessity have new places of habitation provided for them For in such cases God gave a generall rule to the people Deut. 12. 19. Beware that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest in the Land And the people of the Jewes in this necessity did not forsake the Levites for before the transmigration to Babylon which was about 840. yeares after the Leviticall Cities as appeareth 1 Chron. cap. 6. and cap. 9. 1. were growne to be about sixty eight viz. twenty more then were appointed by Josua They might not enlarge the bounds prescribed to their Cities but they might encrease the number of the Cities as the number of the Levites encreased and necessity required The reason is they might not adde house to house and field to field lest growing great in earthly possessions they should forget God who had otherwise provided for them then by manuring the earth but if they wanted habitations they might then seeke for new Cities and the care of the people was to provide them for them One Levite might not have more then sufficient for his habitation but if the Cities appointed were not sufficient to yeeld an habitation for every Levite then might they assigne new Cities to that purpose CAP. IV. That Christ released not the portion due to God out of our Lands THe possession of Lands is ex jure humano but the earth is the Lords ex jure divino Therefore when he granted the earth to the children of men and reserved a portion thereof for his service and Ministers this part thus reserved is in him and his Ministers ex jure divino In this right Christ calleth the Temple the house of God and saith also My house shall be an house of prayer And St. Paul saith Despise ye the house of God So that doubtlesse God must have houses for his service in all places where we inhabite But Christ had not whereon to lay his head Mat. 8. 20. Luke 9. 18. therefore the Ministers must have no houses provided for them for the disciple is not above his master Christ indeed had not whereon to lay his head for he came to his owne and his owne received him not But doth this prove that Ministers should neither have nests in the ayre like birds nor holes in the ground like foxes Did not he that made the Vineyard in the Gospell build a tower in it for them that dressed it So likewise must the Ministers that attend upon the Vineyard of the Church have their habitations in it St. Paul appointed it so when he commandeth us to render a portion unto them 〈◊〉 of all the good things Gal. 5. 6. How have they a part in all if they
of all Nations For God was to be worshipped before in and after the Law and though the Law had never been given but his worship could not be without Ministers nor his Ministers without maintenance and therefore the maintenance of his Ministers was the maintenance of his worship and consequently the tithes applied to the one extended to both God himself doth so expound it Mal. 3. 8 where he tearmeth the not-payment of Tithes to bee his spoil and wherein his spoil but in his worship and how in his worship but by taking from him the service of his Ministers the Priests and Levites who being deprived thereof could neither perform his holy rites in matter of charge nor give their attendance for want of maintenance So that herein the children of Israel were not onely guilty of that great sinne committed against piety in hindering the worship of God but of the crying fin also committed against equity in withholding the wages of the labourer his Ministers and consequently of that monstrous and foul sin of Ingratitude which Jacob in vowing of his Tithes so carefully avoided To come to the other point before spoken of the disposing or employment of the Tithes after they were paid that is when they were out of the power of them that paid them and at the ordering of the Levites that received them it cannot be denied but therein were many ceremonies as namely in the sanctifying of them in the eating them in the Tabernacle the eating of them by the Levites onely and their family and as they were otherwise applied to the ceremoniall habit of Gods service for that time but yet notwithstanding even then they still served in the main point to the Morall end of their originall Institution that is the worship of God in genere the maintenance of his Ministers in genere and for a token of thankfulnesse in genere Against which the particular applying them to the particular form of worship and ceremonies of the Leviticall Law for that time abolished had no repugnancy And therefore though that manner of disposing them were Ceremoniall and did vanish away with the ceremonies themselves yet did it nothing diminish the Morall use and validity of the Institution in genere which notwithstanding still remained to be accepted and imitated by all posterity and yet to be altered and changed accidentally in the particular ordering and disposing of them as the present estate of Gods worship and the necessity of the time should require viz. before the Law at the pleasure of them before the Law under the Law by the rules of the Law and now in the time of the Gospel as the Church of God either hath or shall appoint them keeping always as I say the Morall considerations of their Institution for they may not be diverted from the Minister though the course of Gods service be altered from that of the Levites but both they and the Levites are labourers in the Lords Vineyard and therefore what kind of work soever either the one or the other be for the time there employed upon the wages appointed Denarius in diem Mat. 20. 2. is due unto each of them Therefore to take away the antithesis or opposition that some make between the Ministers of the Gospel and the Levites and Priests of the Law God himself in the last of Esay v. 21. calleth the Ministers of the Gospel Priests and Levites as though he had onely changed the course of their service and not the main or end of their Institution I will take of them viz. of the Gentiles for Priests and Levites that is the generation of Levi shall no longer be appropriate to my service but I will communicate their function to the Gentiles and out of them will I take Priests and Levites to perform the service of my charge God therefore brought no new thing into the Leviticall Law neither changed he the nature of the former Institution thereof nor the course of the payment nor the quantity of the portion assigned nor the end whereto it was but looking generally into the equity of them all and approving them all in the generall yea though they were used by the Heathen he descended into further particularities for order and government whereof he prescribed divers rules and observances some Morall some Judiciall and some Ceremoniall according to the fashion of his Church at that time which like old garments being wholly worn out with the old Law the body whereupon they were put remaineth still in the first shape and vigour And whereas before the Law it seemeth to be somewhat at randome and uncertain God by his owne mouth in the Books of Moses hath established and confirmed So that these things considered it cannot be said to be Leviticall in substance but respectively onely and by way of accident § 1. An Objection touching sacrifice and first-fruits and circumcision It may be objected that sacrifice and first-fruits were also in use under the law of Nature and from thence as Tithe was translated into the Leviticall Law yet they ceased with the Leviticall Law and why should not Tithe cease likewise Though sacrifice and first-fruits were in use under the law of Nature and from thence as Tithe was translated unto the Leviticall Law yet the mark they shot at and the end whereto they were employed being once accomplished there was in reason no further use of them for they were like the cloudy and fiery pillars that directed the children of Israel to the land of promise who being arrived there needed those helps no longer and so they vanished away as then not necessary But Tithe in it self and before the Institution of the Leviticall Law was onely an act of justice and piety and therefore though the Leviticall Law employed it partly unto ceremonies yet the nature thereof was not thereby changed and therefore it still lived when the Leviticall Law died Touching the whole frame of Leviticall ceremonies it is like that of Daniels image the body is decayed and gone but the legs being partly iron as well as clay by which it was supported though the clay that is the ceremony be abolished yet the iron that is the Morall Institution thereof endureth for ever The rites of the Leviticall Law were of two sorts some the naturall children thereof others the adoptive I call them naturall that sprang out of the bowels of it as those touching the Ark and Institution of the Levites Adoptive those that being in use before were afterward annexed to it And of these I observe two sorts one arising from some positive Constitutions as that of Circumcision whereof I will speak anon and the other deduced from the law of Nature as those concerning the worship of God whereof some were generall and necessarily incident to every form of his worship in all ages as Ministers to perform his service which they called Priests and means to maintain it which they ordained to be by Tithes The other appropriate