have his portion Of all that thou shalt give me saith Jacob will I give the tenth unto thee and in the Gospel the Pharisee though braggingly yet according to the use of the righteous of that time saith I give tithe of all that I possesse as it seemeth even of his goods and dead commodities as of the fruits of the earth For I suppose that the Ancients paid tithes in two sorts some ex praecepto others ex arbitrio or placito some by commandement of the Law others out of their free-will and benevolence In the 31. of the 2 Chron. v. 6. it is said They brought the tithes Boum pecudum of oxen and sheep things tithed before whilest they were young as I conceive and not now again to bee tithed when they were grown to their full ages So in the 10. of Nehe. 37. they brought first-fruits of their dough yet no doubt their dough was tithed before in the corn it was made of therefore I take these tithes to be tithes ad placitum in the election of the party whether he will give them or not but if he doe allot them to God he is tyed like Ananias and Sapphira to perform them faithfully for they then become due ex praecepto for he that voweth unto the Lord is commanded not to break his promise Numb 30. 3. And these kind of tithes no doubt were often paid by the godly sometime upon generall occasion as that of Hezekiah sometime of particular as that pretended by the Pharisee Military spoil and the prey gotten in war is also tithable for Abraham tithed it to Melchisedek and thereof if we may depart a little out of the circle of holy Scripture into the Histories of the Gentiles who even by instinct of nature found this duty to belong unto God we abound with examples thereof as paid by Cyrus at the taking of Sardis by Furius Camillus upon the overthrow of the Veians by Alexander the great upon his conquest of Arabia when he sent a whole ship laden with frankincense for the Altars of his gods But occasion to speak of these shall serve me better afterward and therefore to return to that is more materiall The example of Abraham in this point of tithing the prey teacheth us also that we give God a tithe out of every accession of wealth that he sendeth to us in any course whatsoever so that the gains of buying and selling and the great improvement arising by merchandise is under this title both registred and commanded I know not what the rich City of London doth in this kind but I read in Herodotus that the poor Samians yeelded at one time sixe talents to that purpose and that the Siphnians out of their silver and gold Mines sent so great a tithe to Delphos as the richest man of that age was not more worth St Augustine saith Vnusquisque de quali ingenio aut artificio vivit de ipso decimam Deo in pauperibus vel in ecclesiis donet Let every man out of the trade or craft whatsoever he liveth by give God the Tithe De rectitud Cathol conversat Tractat. Tom. 9 f. 250. CAP. XVII That things offered to God be holy I Must first explain what I mean by holy and that is not that they are divine things or like those of the Sanctuary which none might touch save the anointed Priests But like the lands and possessions of the Levites mentioned in Leviticus that were said to be holy and separate from common use and separate from man Levit. 27. 28 29. that is from the injury of secular persons and to be onely disposed to and for the service and servants of God defensum munitum ab injuria hominum N. F. de rer divis L. sanctum as the persons of Emperors and Kings are said to be holy and sacred for as the Altar sanctifieth the offering Mat 23. 19. so these things being offered to God are by this very act of oblation made holy and taken so into his own tuition as they may not after be divorced Wo be therfore to the Scribes and Pharisees that devour widows houses Mat. 23. 14. how much more wo then unto those that destroy the house of God and by divorcing Christ from his Spouse the Church make him also a widower and his Church a widow and so devour both the widows house and the widow her self But some are of opinion that the Church it selfe is no longer holy then while the service of God is in hand therein as the Mount and the Bush were no longer holy then while God was there and by that reason a Church and an Ale-house are of like sanctity for a man may preach in an Ale-house and minister the Sacraments in an Ale-house and occasion sometimes doth necessarily require it And what is their reason hereof why their reason is that consecration of places and of the implements belonging to the service of God were Leviticall ceremonies and therefore ended with the Leviticall Law These men reason as if before the Leviticall Law there had been no rules of Gods honour and as though the Morall Law and the Law of nature taught us nothing therein Doth not God himself leave the precepts of the Leviticall Law and reason with the Israelites out of the Law of nature Mal. 3. when he saith will any man spoil his goddesse as if he should say that the Law of nature hath sanctified those things that are offered unto God and therefore will any man violate the Law of nature Doth not Saint Paul reason also in the same sort when he saith Despise ye the Church of God 1 Cor. 11. 22. If I should apply the places of Scripture that are spoken of the great reverence of the Temple it would be said that that were Leviticall but the office of the Temple was Morall as well as Leviticall and therefore though these be ended yet the other the Morall remaineth When Christ had cast the oxen doves that were for the Leviticall service out of the Temple yet he said that it was an house of Prayer as figurating that after the ceremonies were ended and gone yet the Morall office of the Temple to be an house of Prayer still remained Saint Paul 1 Cor. 11. 22. when he saith Despise yee the Church of God speaking it as if he wondred that any should be so irreligious or rather sacrilegious to despise the Church and no man I think doubteth but that this was spoken of the materiall Church for he blameth them that did use unseemly drinking in the Church See the first Treatise of the rights and respect due § 10. Of the three severall places and three functions of the Temple and how the last continueth holy for Prayer Doctrine and instruction of the people which therefore had in it no Ceremoniall implement at all CAP. XVIII Tithes must not be contemned because they were used by the Church of Rome IF we should reject Tithes because
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
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
God pag. 8 Cap. 6 Concerning the revenue and maintenance of the Church in her infancy first in Christs time then in the Apostles in the Churches of Jerusalem Alexandria Rome and Africa pag. 11 Cap. 7 That the service of the Levites was clean altered from the first Institution yet they enjoyed their Tithes pag. 33 § 1. Of Templar Levites § 2. Of Provinciall Levites Cap. 8 The great account made of Priests in the old Law and before pag. 42 Cap. 9 When our Saviour commanded the Disciples should take nothing with them but live of the charges of the faithfull this bound not the Disciples perpetually pag. 44 Cap. 10 That many things in the beginning both of the Law and the Gospel were admitted and omitted for the present or reformed afterward pag. 46 Cap. 11 That upon the reasons alledged and others here ensuing the use of Tithing was omitted in Christs and the Apostles time and these reasons are drawn ab expediente the other à necessitate pag. 51 Cap. 12 That Ministers must have plenty pag. 55 Cap. 13 Not to give lesse then the tenth pag. 57 Cap. 14 The Etymology and definition of Tithes and why a tenth part rather then any other is due pag. 67 Cap. 15 Who shall pay Tithe pag. 76 Cap. 16 Out of what things Tithe is to be paid pag. 79 Cap. 17 That things offered unto God be holy pag. 62 Cap. 18 Tithes must not be contemned because they were used by the Church of Rome pag. 64 Cap. 19 That the Tradition of ancient Fathers and Councels is not lightly to be regarded pag. 86 Cap. 20 Ancient Canons of Councels for payment of Tithes pag. 88 Cap. 21 In what right Tithes are due and first of the Law of Nature pag. 93 Cap. 22 How far forth they be due by the Law of Nature pag. 94 Cap. 23 Tithes in the Law of Nature first considered in Paradise pag. 97 Cap. 24 The time of Nature after the fall pag. 100 Cap. 25 That they are due by the Law of God pag. 104 Cap. 26 That they are due by the Law of Nations pag. 113 Cap. 27 That they are due by the Law of the Land pag. 129 Cap. 28 Tithe is not meerly Leviticall How it is and how not and wherein Iudaicall pag. 139 § 1. An Objection touching Sacrifice First-fruits and Circumcision § 2. Touching the Sabbath day Easter and Pentecost Cap. 29 How Appropriations began pag. 151 § 1. That after the Appropriation the Parsonage still continueth spirituall pag. 157 § 2. That no man properly is capable of an Appropriation but spirituall men pag. 159 § 3. What was granted to the King pag. 161 § 4. Whether Tithes and Appropriations belonged to the Monasteries or not pag. 163 § 5. In what sort they were granted to the King pag. 164 § 6. That the King might not take them pag. 165 § 7. Of the Statute of dissolution that took away Impropriations from the Church pag. 167 § 8. That the King may better hold Impropriations then his Lay Subjects pag. 169 An Apology of the Treatise De non temerandis Ecclesiis An Epistle to M. Rich Carew concerning Tithes A Treatise of Impropriations by Sir Francis Bigot Knight of Yorkshire An Epistle to the Church of Scotland prefixed to the second Edition of the first Treatise printed at Edinburgh Errata addenda IN the Introduction pa. 1. oweth r. onely Pag. 17. quinto r. quinque P. 18. Cities r. Citizens P. 20. Abraham r. Abel P. 67. Tâ—â—tum r. totum P. 68. quaestorum r. quaesitorum P. 75. caeduus r. arduus P. 78. guests r. gifts P. 82. N. F. r. ut ff P. 115. peret r. peâ—et P. 117. Therumatus r. Therumahs P. 166. even christian r. emne christen Some places and quotations are defective in the originall and could not easily be supplied which the Reader may please to excuse till further search can be made In the catalogue of Benefactors and Restorers of Impropriations there is omitted among others The Right honourable Lo Scudamore Viscount Slego who hath very piously restored much to some Vicarages in Herefordshire whereof yet I cannot relate particulars fully Dr Fell the worthy Dean of Christ-Church in Oxon with the consent of the Prebendaries hath for his short time since he was Dean been very carefull and pious in this kind besides great reparations of the decayed and imperfect buildings and other necessaries of the colledge in renuing and granting Leases to the Tenants of Impropriations he hath reserved a good increase of maintenance to the incumbent Ministers in divers places and hath put things into a course for the like increase in other Vicarages as Leases shall happen to be renewed And much more might have been done if King Hen. 8. had not taken away the goodly Lands provided for that colledge by Wolsey giving Impropriations for them by which exchange he was a great gainer New Colledge Magdalen Coll and Queens Coll have done the like upon their Impropriations and some others have made augmentations also whereof the particulars shall appear hereafter upon perfect information The Introduction GOD hath created all things for his glory and must be glorified by them all in generall and by every of them in particular The celebration of this his glory he hath committed in heaven to the Angels in Earth unto Man Yea the devils declare his glory and Hell it selfe roareth it forth For this purpose he hath assigned unto man the circuit of the whole earth to be the stage of this Action and the place of his habitation whilst it is in hand He hath delivered unto him the wealth and furniture thereof to be the materials for performing of it and the meanes of his maintenance in the meane season And lest he should want leisure and opportunity sufficient for so great a busines he hath commanded the heavens themselves the Sunne the Moone the Starres yea the whole frame of Nature to attend upon him to apply their sweet influence unto him to assist him in all his indeavours and to measure him out a large portion of time and life for the full accomplishing of this right noble most glorious Vocation It is a rule in Philosophy that Beneficium requirit officium And we are taught by the law of nature that he which receiveth a benefit oweth to his benefactor Honour Faith and Service according to the proportion of the benefit received Vpon this rule was the ancient law not onely of England but of other Nations also grounded that compelled every man that had Lands or tenements of the gift of another to hold them of his Donor and to doe him fealty and service for them that is to faithfull unto him and to yeeld him some kind of vassallage though no such matter were once mentioned betweene them Yea at this day if the King give Lands to any man without expressing a tenure the Donee shall not only hold them of him but he shall hold them by 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
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
to a more excellent function and consequently deserve a more excellent reward that have a great charge committed to them and consequently much great travell and labour in performance thereof The Levite travelled onely in body but the Minister of the Gospel â—oth in body and minde he must not onely doe the part of the Leviticall Priest which is to perform the ordinary service sacraments and rites of the Church like the oxe that treadeth out the corn that is brought home but he must be also like the Dove of the Ark he must flie about to seek and fetch home to his Parishoners the blessed olive branch of peace He must be like Solomons Eagle whose way is in heaven there seeking food for his Parishoners and like that Eagle that God compareth himself unto Deut. 32. 11. that dresseth up her nest floteth over her birds stretcheth out her wings taketh and beareth them upon her wings the feeble and sick souls of his Parishoners always teaching comforting strengthning and confirming them committed to his charge and thus shall he dearly earn the portion assigned to him Some then will say this is like Simon Magus to sell the grace of the holy Ghost No Ministers must be no Merchants they must in no case sell Doves i. e. the holy Ghost Christ did drive them out of the Temple but the people must be just piety justice and the law of nature requireth that every man render a reward to the labourer not onely according to his labour but with respect of his function and the quality of his person the Minister must not sell the breath of his mouth but he may sell the sweat of his brows hee may not sell his doctrine but hee may take reward for his travell It is Gods commandement to Adams posterity In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread Gen. 3. 19. much precious sweat doe many worthy Ministers distill for us in their function which God no doubt putteth up in his bottle and therefore they must have bread for it much labour in reading writing watching studying preaching and praying many pined and wasted herewith for much reading the holy Ghost saith it is awearinesse to the flesh and willeth man to take heed of it Eccles. 12. 12. and therefore if there were no more in it but so a worthy reward is due unto them but besides this they minister unto us spirituall things that is things inestimable and is it much then if we return them temporall things And though sometimes there may be found amongst them such as Judas among the twelve Apostles and in all ages some unworthy of that sacred calling they being subject to humane frailties yet tithes are not to be denyed because they are due originally to God who assigned them over to the Levites in the old Testament for he saith I have given them to them Num. 18. 24. the tithes of the children of Israel I have given to the Levites and in the new Testament to the Ministers of the Gospel for they that preach the Gospel must live of the Gospel they are therefore to be paid to the Priest or Minister for he is the steward of Gods house and in this point we are not to respect what condition he is of for the debt is due to his Master not to himself so that whether he be good or bad what condition soever he be of he standeth or falleth to his own Master CAP. XIV The Etymology and definition of Tithe and why a tenth rather then any other part is to be paid DEcimae and decumae in the plurall number or decima and decuma in the singular which Tully most useth in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. capacem saith Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à capiendo because it comprehendeth all other kind of numbers as more largely hereafter shall appear and because this part should of all the rest be the best and the largest which in our English we commonly call Tithe of the Saxon word Teoða i. e. the tenth and Teoðan sceattas tithes of the verb Teo i. traho extraho Tiehð Subtrahit as if we should say the choice part or the part that is taken and chosen from the rest for God himself which whether it be the tenth or not yet it is generally comprehended in Latine under decimae and in English under the name Tithe Omnia sua decimabant saith Augustine de omnibus fructibus suis decimam partem detrahebant ipsam dabant paulo post Tectum decimabant id est decimam partem detrahebant eleemosynas dabant Augustin Tom. 10. p. 27. D. Before I proceed further in this Treatise of Tithes I hold it fit first to propose a definition thereof that my discourse may be the more certain I define it therefore Tithe is the tenth part of that we lawfully possesse rendred by us unto God by way of thanksgiving for his blessings bestowed on us Or according to Hostiensis Decima est omnium bonorum mobilium licitè quaestorum pars decima Deo data divina constitutione debita quae forte addit author vocabularii ut colligitur de decim Ca. 1. ca. Parochianos C. nonest Ca. tua nobis § verum C. non sit ab homine vel Decima est omnium bonorum justè adquisitorum talis pars Deo debita This definition leads us first to examine why the tenth part rather then any other should be yeelded unto God Secondly out of what it is to be yeelded all that we lawfully possesse Thirdly unto whom it is to be rendred unto God Fourthly in what manner it is to be rendred viz. by way of thanksgiving Fifthly and lastly upon what consideration it is to be rendred and that is for his blessings bestowed upon us I have not read why in this matter of Tithing the tenth in number should be rather allotted unto God then any other and therefore wanting a guide to direct me I will walk this way the more respectively but according to mine own apprehension I observe two reasons thereof one Mysticall the other Politicall Touching the first as Plato and the Pythagoreans attributed great mysteries and observations unto numbers so doe likewise all the greatest Doctors of the Church and the very books of God themselves and therefore it is not to be thought that in this point of rendring Tithes but the number of 10. is also respectively chosen S. Augustine saith that many things are not yet understood in Scripture for that we cannot attain unto the knowledge of the vertue or power of numbers And both he and Saint Jerome through their whole works continually observe great secrets therein so doe the rest of the Fathers and not onely in the Old Testament and Ceremoniall Law but in the New Testament also Insomuch that I think there is not almost any number there mentioned out of which some particular observation is
it As soon as Christ was born the wise men that came afar off out of the East brought offerings unto him as directed onely by the law of nature for they were Gentiles and none used to visit the Temple of God but with some presents not that God is delighted with such things but that their affections by the fruits of their devotion were made manifest the Church and service of God maintained and those that were in need and necessity orphanes widows strangers and the poor people provided for and relieved for these are Gods care and are to him as the dearest kinde of his children and though younger brothers as touching the worldly inheritance yet those on whom he thinketh the fat Calf well bestowed Donum saith Lactantius est integritas animi the gifts we give unto God are a testimony of our frank and open heart towards him An offering of a free heart saith David will I give unto thee out of his abundance we have received all things and out of ours let us render some CAP. XXIII Tithes in the time of Nature first considered in the time of Paradise I Would not be so curious as to seek the institution of tithes in Paradise yet no man will deny but that Paradise was a modell of the Church and that God had his honourary rights in all the three kindes he now requireth them at our hands namely ◠portion of time place and of the fruits of the fruits as the tree of knowledge of the place as the midst of the Garden the time as the cool of the day which fignifieth the time of rest and so the Lords day as more particularly wee shall shew by and by Touching the fruit it was the portion that God reserved from Adam when he gave him all the rest and that portion also that justly and properly belongeth to God knowledge And therefore this part particularly was assigned by God unto his Priests as the sacred keepers of this his sacred Treasure and therefore no other man might invade this his right and inheritance Knowledge saith Malachi belongeth to the Priest Touching place what should be assigned to the chiefest but the chiefest and what is the best and chiefest but the midst for medium and therefore the place here where Gods portion is assigned him is the midst of the Garden and therefore into this place doth Adam flye as into Sanctuary and to the horns of the Altar when he had offended for it is said that Adam hid himself in the midst of the Garden So Calvin which is the trees in the midst of the Garden And touching the time it is by all expositors upon the matter applied to the time of rest for either they expound the cool of the day to be the evening as Oncalus or the morning as Calvin and take it in either of these senses it may aptly discover the Judaicall Sabbath in the first sense or the Christians Sabbath in the latter And as these are the times when we are to make our publick reckonings confessions and prayers unto God and thereupon to receive sentence of curse or absolution so at this time presently God calleth Adam and Eve and the Serpent that is the whole congregation of Paradise to a publique reckoning confession and account and like the great Ordinary and Bishop of his Church denounceth against them the curse that their sins had demerited If occasion required I could shew many other particulars wherein Paradise exemplified the very Church of Christ. Again these rights of honour are likewise prefigured unto us in other examples under the age of Nature the time I mean before the floud for we have therein three great examples of all these his three rights First in the creation of the earth he reserved a particular place for himself as the place of his own resort and pleasure Paradise which was the very locall place of his Church and therefore out thereof he threw man being accursed as a prophane and excommunicate person And as touching his portion of time he figuratively shewed the seventh part of our age to belong unto him as in respect of his Sabbath when he took Enoch being the seventh from Adam to keep his perpetuall Sabbath And so likewise all the fruits of the tenth age which was that of Noah for he was the tenth from Adam he took wholly to himself making the evill parts as a sacrifice of his wrath to honour him by their destruction and the better parts which were saved in the Ark of his Church to glorifie his name by their preservation so that in this time of nature the full tenth of all things was paid unto God as a propitiatory sacrifice for of the ten ages from Adam hee had the fruits of one whole age which is all one as if he had had the tenth part of every particular thing as it grew due in every particular age and so the Church expoundeth in that Canon of the Councell of 〈◊〉 where it is commanded that the CAP. XXIV The time of Nature after the fall LEt us take a view of the state of Religion before the Law and from thence unto the calling of the Levites to the service of the Tabernacle The time before the Law was the kingdome of sin and of death having no means propounded whereby to escape but what the light and law of nature taught unto men who finding themselves fallen from the favour devised by invocation and beating of the heavens with continuall odours and savours to seek for mercy at Gods hand and by sacrificing of bullocks and brute beasts to ransome themselves as far as they might from his heavy displeasure Therefore in those times though every man might offer oblations and sacrifices that would yet because the order thereof might bee the more certain and reverent both the children of God and the Heathen also ordained to themselves particular persons of greatest worth wisdome and sanctity which they called their Priests to take care of these things to see them performed in such manner as might make them most acceptable to God Hereby grew the reputation of Priesthood to be above all dignities that in those days the Kings themselves in all Nations affected it as the greatest and immediate honour under God himself Yet because necessity required so great a number of Priests for the service of God as there could not be had Kings enough for that purpose therefore other inferiour persons were also called to that excellent function yet such as in one respect or other were still the noblest that were to be found Therefore even in that time I mean before the Law was given God promiseth the Israelites that if they will hear his voice indeed and keep his covenant they shall not only be his chiefest treasure upon earth but they shall be unto him also a kingdome of Priests Exod. 29. 5 6. Of these kingly Priests two are mentioned in Scripture before the Law Melchisedek Priest and King of Salem
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
of Scripture mentioning tithes is the 28. Gen. ver the last Jacob going upon his adventure voweth that if God will be with him in his journey and give him meat and cloth and so that he return safe then saith he the Lord shall be my God and this stone which I here set up as a pillar shall be Gods house and of all that thou shalt give me will I give the tenth unto thee Romulus made the like vow for building the Temple to Jupiter Feretrius upon Mount Palatine Tatius and Tarquinius upon Tarpeius William the Conquerour for Battail Abbey But Hemmingius cannot say that Jacob did it by their example for they lived too too long after him I think rather that the law of nature and reason taught all Nations to render honour thanks and service unto God and that the children of God being more illuminate in the true course thereof then the Heathen by the light of reason could be first began the precedent and that then the Heathen dwelling round about them apprehended and dispersed it for the use of paying tithes even in those first ages of the world was generall as hereafter shall appear But Iacob doth not here bargain and condition with God that if God will doe thus and thus that then he shall be his God and that he will build him an house and pay him tithe and otherwise not but he alledgeth it as shewing by this means he shall bee the better enabled to perform those debts and duties that he oweth unto God and will therefore doe it the more readily The actions and answers of the Sages are in all Laws a law to their posterity Iustinian the Emperour doth therefore make them a part of the Civill Law The common Lawyers doe so alledge them and the Law of the holy Church hath always so received allowed them And though Saint Augustine saith that the examples of the righteous are not set forth unto us that thereby we should be justified yet he addeth further that they are set forth to the end that we by imitating them may know our selves to be justified by him that justifieth them Why then should we now call tithes in question since we find them to be paid and confirmed by two such great Sages and Patriarchs Abraham Iacob Yea their payment practised generally by all the Nations of the world for 3000. years at least never abrogated by any Law but confirmed also by all the Fathers and Doctors of the Church and not impugned by a single Author as far as I can find during all the time I speak of Well It will be said that all this is nothing if the Word of God commandeth it not for every thing must be weighed and valued by the shekel of the Sanctuary Lev. 27. 25. They may by the same reason take away our Churches for I finde not in all the Bible any Text wherein it is commanded that we should build us Churches neither did the Christians either in the Apostles time nor 100. yeares after build themselves Churches like these of ours but contented themselves at first to meet in houses which thereupon were called aedes sacrae And to shew that they were commanded by the Leviticall Law will not serve our turn for it will be said the Statute of repeal even the two words spoken by our Saviour upon the Crosse Consummatum est Iohn 19. 30. clearly abrogated that Law but it is to be well examined how far this repeal extendeth for though the letter of it be taken away yet the spirituall sense thereof remaineth for Ierome saith that almost every syllable thereof breatheth forth an heavenly sacrament Saint Augustine saith the Christians doe keep it spiritually so that if tithe be not given in the tenth according to the Leviticall Institution yet the spirituall meaning of providing for the Clergy our Levites remaineth But with the precepts of the Leviticall and Ceremoniall Laws divers rules of the Morall Law are also mingled as the Laws against Witches Userers Oppressors c. the Laws that command us to lend to our brother without interest and to sanctifie the Sabbath for though the Institution of the Sabbath be changed yet the spirituall observation remaineth and that not onely in the manner of sanctifying it but as touching the time also even the seventh day Notwithstanding I find not that the Apostles commanded us to change it but because they did change it we take their practice to be as a Law unto us yet though they changed the time they altered not the number that is the seventh day I will then reason that God hath as good right to our goods of the world as to the days of our life and that a part of them belong unto him as well as the other And the action of Abraham and Jacob may as well be a precedent to us for the one in what proportion we are to render them as that of the Apostles in the other for both of them were out of the Law the one after it the other before it And why may not the limitation of the day appointed to the Lord for his Sabbath be altered and changed as well as the portion appointed to him for the tenth You will say the seventh day was not due to him by the law of nature for then Abraham and the Fathers should have kept it before the Law given but it held the fittest analogy to that naturall duty that we owe to the service of God and therefore when that portion of time was once particularly chosen by God for his service by reason himself had commanded it under the Law the Apostles after the Law was abolished retained it in the Gospel And so since the number of the tenth was both given to God before the Law and required by him in the time of the Law being also most consonant to all other respects great reason it is to hold it in the age of the Gospel Yet with this difference that in the old Law the Sabbath was the last part of the seven days and in the Gospel it is the first because our Saviour rose from the dead the first day of the week and not the seventh God is our Lord and we owe him both rent and service our service is appointed to bee due every seventh day our rent to be the tenth part of our encrease He dealeth not like the hard Landlords that will have their rent though their Tenants bee losers by their Land but he requireth nothing save out of their gain and but the tenth part thereof onely These two retributions of rendring him the seventh day of our life and the tenth part of our goods are a plain demonstration to us of our spirituall and temporall duty towards God Spiritually in keeping the Sabbath and temporally in payment of tithes that is in providing for his Ministry and them in necessity the one being the image of our faith the other of our works for seven
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
ergo macte hac illace dape pollucenda esto then manus interluito vinum sumito He that performed this ceremony was to doe so and then to say Jupiter dapalis macte istace Dape pollucenda esto macte vino inferio esto Nor did they thus appropriatly use this ceremony unto only Jupiter but unto what Deity soever they did acceptum referre their encrease Quoties aut thus aut vinum super victimam fundebatur saith Servius dicebant Mactus est Taurus vino vel thure hoc est cumulata est hostia magis aucta est hostia And Cato hath the same form of words concerning other sacrifices besides this cap. 130. 141. 134. Arnobius in zeal to Christian religion derideth and scoffeth at this Pagan use and ceremony but because they did not recte offerre doe it to the true God not because they did not rite dividere doe that which was not to be done not the thing done but done unto Jupiter and unto Idols not to the true God of heaven and earth was blamed Withall he giveth us to understand That this erroneous act of theirs had beginning from a true ground That The earth is the Lords and all that therein is that He hath given it to the sons of men that it is He that openeth his hand and filleth all things living with plenteousnesse that tithes and first-fruits are given unto God to recognize his supream dominion over all his admirable goodnesse in giving us whatsoever we possesse and that by giving of them back unto him as it were a certain quit-rent unto the Lord Paramount thereby we doe and not otherwise a quire unto our selves a right unto the Remains with an interest therein and not otherwise to use them unto our own behoof which if we doe not we are but Vsurpers and Intruders For all the world as the Jewes did who might not durst not meddle with the encrease untill they had paid God his due and thereby purchased liberty to use their own Thus the Gentiles who had not the Law by direction and light of nature though so much obscured yet did the things of the Law Concerning the Siphnians whereof mention is made already it is further to be remembred what Pausanias expresly relateth of them who saith when covetousnesse made them leave paying that tribute of Tithes the sea brake in upon them and swallowed up their mines a just vengeance upon detainers of Divine right by dishonouring of God to lose all So long as yearely they paid Tithe of the encrease so long it was well with them so soon as they defrauded God of his right God turned them in justice and vengeance out of all Aristotle reports that Cypselus had a speciall regard to the tenth as competent to a Deity when he vowed all the goods of the Citizens if he could get Corinth Aristotle was the great dictator of learning in whom God would remonstrate what he could doe in meer Nature without supernaturall endowments of grace he speaks directly That the tenth part is competent to a Deity and that He vowed all the goods but because this vow implyed an absurdity unlesse he meant which he did not intend to ruine the City he was fain to have recourse unto the ordinary use of Tithing but so that the Tithe decies repetita should answer the proportion of his vow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having made a rate and cessement of every mans goods and state he took the tenth part for that yeer and so the next for ten years together leaving them nine parts to trade with and live upon Every one did not so but every Conquerour that would not be unthankfull gave the tenth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto God with us daily men are not thankfull as they ought yet they should be gratefull Agesilaus whiles he warred in Asia and had the spoil of that wealthy Country made such havock upon the enemy that within the compasse of two years he sent more then one hundred talents tithes unto Delphos which proveth an ordinary Spartane use and custome at least The same Agesilaus having vanquished the Thebans and their associates in a great battail at Coronaea though having received many wounds in the fight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forgat not God saith Xenophon nor to be thankfull unto God That Retrait which Xenophon made with his ten thousand men out of upper Asia is the most remarkable piece of service one of them in all Antiquity In this hazard Xenophon as himself relateth it gave decimam spoliorum partly unto Apollo partly unto Diana of the Ephesians The tenth being separated for these two Deities was by generall consent committed unto the Captains to be dedicated That for Apollo was laid up at Delphos in the Athenian Treasury for most Nations of Greece had a severall one there But with that other part Diana's part Xenophon purchased a piece of ground and built there a Temple and an Altar and appointed the tenth of the yearly encrease for ever unto that service This is a passage very considerable there being not such an expresse and observable example in all Antiquity for Tithe in this kinde with an endowment of a Church with lands Sacred is that land unto Diana whosoever possesseth or occupieth the ground must every year consecrate the tenth unto the service of Diana and employ the rest upon the fabrique and upholding of the Temple Tithes of spoiles commonly paid amongst the Graecians but not accustomed in this sort to be employed A generall sacred Revenue appropriated to a speciall end where besides the profits and Revenues of this land tithed what was purchased with the tithe at first unto Diana as president of the trade and the chiefest ranger amongst Pagans Tithe of Venison and Game is said in the same place to have been paid Diodorus Siculus in his elventh Book hath three severall instances for tithing spoils of warre the first of Pausanias and the Graecians that having vanquished the Persians and slaine Mardonius in the field Set apart the tenth of the spoils and therewith caused a tripos of gold to be made which they dedicated at Delphos no vow preceding nor other intimation being but as done out of duty and ordinary profession of thankfulnesse Another of Cimon the Athenian Generall who remaining victor at the battail upon the River Eurymedon as Pausanias had done so did he set out the tenth of the spoiles as Gods part sacred and dedicated unto him to God in generall not naming Apollo or any else In a third place the Argivi having made the Mycenians their slaves and captives consecrated the tithes of all they took to God and utterly rased the Town Mycenae Porphyrie declareth that first-fruits were given unto God and what is said of first-fruits must be granted of tithes out of devotion by the Pagans of all things usefull to the life of man as of corn honey wine oyl cakes and what not Those that gave
service of God not onely Samaria hath exceeded Jerusalem but even Babylon put down Sion And so Theodoret complaineth that the heathens did give their tenths and first-fruits to be employed in their idolatrous service to the maintenance of their Temples Oratories Priests and Altars in more liberall manner then Christians but saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such honour saith he speaking of the care taken for the Egyptian Priests Gen. 47. the Priests of the living God and Ministers of our Redeemer Christ Jesus have not with us And much lesse have they in these days especially with us who boast to have reformed things amisse For yet amongst those of the Church of Rome it is otherwise that think nothing too dear for their Jesuites and have their Priests in so great respect that they fall down on their knees and desire their blessing every morning but Nuper Tarpeio quae sedit culmine cornix Est bene non potuit dicere dixit erit Mr Selden saith that the Turks pay the tenth according to the Mosaicall Law which they receive as authentique but keep it according to Mahomets fancy and the doctrine of his Canonists Mr Blunt an accurate observer in his travails affirmeth that the Turks in their principall Cities have very stately Moskeetoes i. Churches of magnificent building accommodated with goodly Colledges for the Priests lodgings and Bathes equall to the Monasteries of any City in Christendome Aelian relateth as Mr Selden citeth him that some kinde of beasts in Africa alwayes divided their spoile into eleven parts but would eat onely the tenne leaving the eleventh as a kinde of first-fruits or Tithe and why may not beasts of the field teach men the practice of piety seeing man that is without understanding is compared to them Thus Jews Pagans Turks and some beasts have had a care to pay Tithes but many Christians in these times come farre short in their duties and may bee upbraided with these examples Which are here more largely insisted on to shew the impiety of many men in these last days who are more inexcusable then ever any people were because we have the rules and practice of all ages set before us for our direction as before the Law of Moses in Abraham and Jacob and likewise under the Law during the Priesthood of Aaron and since under the Gospel abundant light to guide us besides all the Records Histories and Monuments of Gods judgements in former times to instruct us All which saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. are written and recorded for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come If we therefore offend now we are greater sinners then any former people as sinning against conscience knowledge and examples of all ages and like to the servant that knew his Masters will but did it not who therefore must be beaten with many stripes CAP. XXVII That they are due by the Law of the Land AS they are due by the law of Nature and of Nations by the Law of God and of the Church so are they likewise due by the very Temporall Laws of the Land as well ancient as later therefore Edward the elder and Guthrun Saxon and Danish Kings punished the not payment of Tithes by their temporall Constitutions Lambard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 54. Tom. 1. Concil Britan. pag. 392. King Athelstan about the year of our Lord 924. not onely decreed them to be paid by himself his Bishops Aldermen and Officers but maintaineth that his Law by the example of Jacob saying Decimas meas hostiam pacificam offeram tibi and by other effectuall Authorities providing precisely that his owne Tithes should diligently be paid and appointing a time certain for doing thereof viz. the feast of the decollation of S. John Baptist. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pa. 57. Tom. 1. Concil p. 402. King Edmund about the year 940. in a solemn Parliament as well of the Laity as Spiritualty ordained that every man upon pain of his christendome and being accursed should pay them truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 73. Tom. 1. Concil pag. 420. King Edgar in a great Parliament about the yeare 959. confirmed the payment of Tithes assigning certain times when every thing should be paid viz. the Tithe of all young things before Whitsontide of the fruits of the earth by the harvest aequinoctiall i. about the 12. Septemb. and of seed by Martimas and this to be done under the pain mentioned in the Book of the Lawes of the Land whereby it appeareth that the Laws of the Land had anciently provided for the payment hereof though the Book remaineth not to us at this day as well as the Laws of the Church And he further enacted that the Sheriffe as well as the Bishop and Priest should compell every man to pay their Tithes and should set it forth and deliver it if they would not leaving to the party offending onely the 9th part and that the other eight parts should be divided four to the Lord and four to the Bishop and that no man should herein be spared were hee the Kings Officer or any Gentleman whatsoever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 77. Tom. 1. Concil pa. 444. King Canutus about the yeare 1016. made the like Law with some little enlargement as appeareth in his Laws ca. 8. and as Malmesbury testifieth strictly observed all the Laws of the ancient Kings de gestis Regum Angl. lib. 2. p. 55. And he wrote also about the 15. year of his reign from beyond the seas a long letter to all the Bishops and Nobility of England conjuring them by the faith that they ought both to himself and to God that they caused these Lawes touching Tithes and Rights of the Church to be duly executed and the Tithes to be paid as abovesaid Malmsb. p. 74. But King Edward the Confessor about the year 1042 made all certain namely that Tithe was due unto God and should be paid the tenth sheafe the tenth foal the tenth calf the tenth cheese where cheese was made or the tenth days milk where there was no cheese made the tenth lamb the tenth fleece the tenth part of butter the tenth pigge and that they that had but a calfe or two should pay for every of them a penny And to this price is the Parson generally holden at this day when ten of our pennies are scarcely worth one of that time He also ordained that Tithe should be paid of bees woods meadows waters mils parks warrens fishings coppises orchards and negotiations and out of all things saith the Law that the Lord giveth the tenth is to be rendred unto him that giveth the nine parts with the tenth and bindeth the Sheriffe as well as the Bishop to see this executed And all these were granted saith the Book by the King Barons and Commonalty as appeareth in those his Laws cap. 8. and Hoveden Annal. part poster pag. 602. Long after the learned Author had written this he published the first Tome
of our English Councels wherein not onely these Laws mentioned are recited but also many other Laws and Constitutions concerning Tithes by other Kings and Parliaments of that age It would have been an easie matter to have inserted them at large here being there set down in order of time successively but because I am unwilling to add any thing or alter in the text of his discourse and that the Tome of the Councels is obvious to every mans perusall I will onely adde some brief references to them as also to M. Selden in the eight chap. of his History who hath recited them all and some more then are here mentioned From both these learned Lawyers the studious Reader may be abundantly satisfied especially when the second Tome of the Synods shall be extant there will be full testimony of our own Laws to confirm this truth for 500. years after the Conquest as these are for 500. years before it When Gregory the great sent Augustine about the year 600. Chr. assisted with 40. Preachers to publish the Gospel to our forefathers in England it is testified by the Laws of Edward the Confessor among other things that he preached and commanded Tithes to be paid Haec beatus Augustinus praedicavit docuit haec concessa sunt à Rege Baronibus populo sed postea instinctu diaboli multi eam detinuerunt c. and all this was confirmed by the King and his Barons and the people Tom. 1. Concil Brit. pag. 619. § 8 9. Egbert Archbishop of York brother to Eadbert King of Northumberland published Canons about the yeare 750. which did binde all the Northern parts and Scotland in those days wherein he directeth all Ministers to instruct their people when and how to pay their Tithes Tom. 1. Con. pa. 258. Can. 5 c. About the year 786. in the time of Offa a great King of Mercia and Helfwood King of Northumberland and the two Archbishops there was a great Councell held by two Legates from Hadrian the first wherein Tithes were established and it was likewise confirmed in the South part by the King of West-Saxony And as M. Selden saith it is a most observable Law being made with great solemnity of both powers of both States History cap. 8. pag. 201. Tom. 1. Con. pag. 291. Can. 17. In the year 855. King Ethelwolph by the consent of all his Baronage and Bishops granted the perpetuall right of Tithes to the Church throughout his whole kingdome and that free from all taxes and exactions used then in the State and this statute is very remarkable and was confirmed by other Kings Brorredus and Edmundus of East-Angles Tom. 1. Con. pag. 384. For the Northern Clergy there was a Law made to punish the non-payment of Tithes Tom. 1. Con. pag. 501. In a great Parliament at Earham Anno 1009. by all the States assembled under King Ethelred Tithes are commanded and confirmed Tom. 1. Con. pag. 510 c. Maccabeus an ancient King of Scotland confirmeth Tithes in his Laws Con. pag. 571. Anno 1050. In the Canons of Aelfric Tithes are confirmed Anno 1052. Con. pag. 572. These and many other Constitutions and Laws are particularly and more fully recited in the first Tome of our Councels and in Mr Seldens History cap. 8. from whence the Reader may please to take satisfaction for the space of some 500. years before the Conquest William the Conquerour in the fourth year of his reign when he took a view of all the ancient Laws of the Land he first confirmed the liberties of the Church because that by it saith Hoveden the King and the kingdome have their solid foundation pag. 601. and herein amongst other Laws of King Edward these particularly touching Tithes which Hen. 1. also did Anno 1100. as appeareth by Mat. Par. pa. 53. The like did also Hen. 2. in the 26. year of his reign as Hoveden witnesseth pa. 600. And for a perclose of all that went before or should follow after King Hen. 3. in the ninth year of his reign by that sacred Charter made in the name of himself and his heirs for ever granted all this a new unto God We have granted saith he unto God and by this our present Charter have confirmed for us and for our heirs for evermore that the Church of England shall be free and shall have all her holy rights inviolable Magna Charta cap. 1. And that this Charter might be immortall and like the sanctified things of the Temple for ever inviolable it was not onely fortified by the Kings Seal the sacred Anchor of the kingdome but by his solemn oath and the oath of his sonne and the Nobility of the kingdome Yea the whole kingdome yeelded themselves to stand accursed if they should at any time after impeach this grant And therefore in the 25 Ed. 1. a speciall Statute was made for confirmation of this Charter wherein amongst other things it is ordained that the Bishops shall excommunicate the breakers thereof and the very form of the sentence is there prescribed according to which upon the 13. Maii Anno 1304. Ed. 1. 31. Boniface the Archbishop of Canterbury and five other Bishops solemnly denounced this curse in Westminster Hall the King himself with a great part of the Nobility being present First against all them that should wittingly and maliciously deprive or spoil Churches of their rights Secondly against those that by any art or devise infringed the liberties of the Church or Kingdome granted by Magna Charta de Foresta Thirdly against all those that should make new Statutes against the Articles of these Charters or should keep them being made or bring in or keep other customes and against the writers of those Statutes Counsellors and Executioners thereof that should presume to give judgement according to them And lest this should seem a passion of some particular men for the present time rather then a perpetuall resolution of the whole kingdome in the succeeding ages the zeal and care thereof was continually propagated from posterity to posterity So that in 42 Ed. 3. cap. 1. it was further enacted that if any Statute were made contrary to Magna Charta it should be void And 15. times is this Charter confirmed by Parliament in Ed. 3. time eight times in Rich. 2. reign and six times in Hen. 4. Yea the frontispice of every Parliament almost is a confirmation of the rights and priviledges of the Church as having learned of the very Heathen Poet who had it from the law of Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we begin ever with God Neither was there any man found that ever would or durst with Nero lay hands upon his Mother the Church for he that smiteth his father or mother shall die the death Exod. 20. 15. Heu tot sancitas per plurima secula leges Hauserit una dies hora una et perfidus error My meaning is not to strain these Laws to the maintenance of such superstitious
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
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
Livings unto the King made somethings in the Act to passe unconsidered and no doubt amongst other these appropriate Parsonages which in truth are not named in that Act but carried away in the fluent of generall words wherein though Tithes be inserted yet the word may seeme onely to intend such portions of Tithes as belonged to the Monastery it self as many did and not those belonging unto Appropriations since the Appropriations themselves are not there named But I will excuse the matter no farther then equity for after Religion had gotten some strength the following Act of 31 H. 8. c. 13. gives them expresly to the King by the words Parsonages appropried Vicarages Churches c. yet was all this done in the heat and agony of zeal then privily enflamed on all parts against the Romish religion insomuch as other inconveniences and enormities likewise followed thereon as in Ed. 6. the burning of many notable Manuscript Bookes the spoiling and defacing of many goodly Tombes and Monuments in all parts of the kingdome pulling down of Bels Chancels and in many places of the very Churches themselves Moses for haste broke the Tables of the Law and these inconveniences in such notable transmutations cannot be avoided some corn will goe away with the chaffe and some chaffe will remain in the corn mans wit cannot suddainly or easily sever them Therefore our Saviour Christ fore seeing this consequence delayed the weeding out of the tares from the wheat till the Harvest was come that is the full time of ripenesse and opportunity to doe it Besides light and darknesse cannot be severed in puncto the day will have somewhat of the night and the night somewhat of the day the religion professed brought something with it of the religion abolished and the religion abolished hath somewhat still that is wanting in ours and neither will ever be so severed but each will hold somewhat of the other no rent can divide them by a line When the children of Israel came out of Aegypt they brought much of the Aegyptian infection with them as appeareth in the Scripture and they left of their rites and ceremonies among the Aegyptians as appeareth in Herodotus Therefore as Moses renued the Tables that were broken through haste and time reformed the errors of religiō amongst the Israelites So we doubt not but his Mty our Moses wil still proceed in repairing these breaches of the Church and that time by Gods blessing wil mend these evils of ours I will not take upon me like Zedechias to foretell having not the spirit of prophecy but I am verily perswaded that some are already borne that shall see these Appropriate Parsonages restored to the Church let not any man think they are his because Law hath given them him for Tully himself the greatest Lawyer of his time confesseth that Stultissimum est existimare omnia justa esse quae sita sint in populorum institutis aut legibus Nothing to be more foolish then to think all is just that is contained in the Laws or Statutes of any Nation Experience teacheth us that our own Laws are daily accused of imperfection often amended expounded and repealed Look back into times past and we shall find that many of them have been unprofitable for the Common-wealth many dishonourable to the kingdome some contrary to the Word of God and some very impious and intolerable yet all propounded debated and concluded by Parliament Neither is this evill peculiar to our Country where hath it not reigned Esay found it in his time and proclaimeth against it Wo be unto you that make wicked Statutes and write grievous things So Tully and the Roman Historians cry out that their Laws were often per vim contra auspicia impositae reipublicae by force and against all religion imposed upon the Common-wealth God be thanked we live not in those times yet doe our Laws and all Laws still and will ever in one part or other taste of the cask I mean of the frailty of the makers It is not therefore amisse though happily for me to examine them in this point if the◠be contrary to the Word of God for I think no man will defend them they leave them to be a Law God cannot be confined restrained or concluded by any Parliament let no man therefore as I say think that he hath right to these Parsonages because the Law hath given them him the law of man can give him no more then the law of Nature and God will permit The Law hath given him jus ad rem as to demand it or defend it in action against another man it cannot give him jus in re as to claim it in right against God Canonists Civilians and common Lawyers doe all admit this distinction and agree that jus ad rem est jus imperfectum right to the thing is a lame Title they must have right in it that will have perfect Title The Law doth as much as it can it hath made him rei usufructuarium but it cannot make him rei dominum the very owner of the thing The books of the Law themselves confesse that all Prescriptions Statutes and Customes against the law of Nature or of God be void and against Justice That the King may better hold Impropriations then his Lay Subjects No man by the Common law of the Land can have inheritance of Tithes unlesse he be Ecclesiasticall or have Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction Lord Coke part 5. Rep. fol. 15. and Plowd fol. So that he which hath Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction though he be no Ecclesiasticall person yet by the ancient Law of the Land he may enjoy Tithes and this concurreth not onely with the Canon Law but seemeth also to be warranted by the example of the Provinciall Levites who medled not with the Temple and yet received their portion of Tithes and other Oblations as well as those that ministred in the Temple But it plainly excludeth all such as be meerly Lay from being capable of them let us then see by what better Title the King may hold them As the head cannot give life and motion to the divers members of the body unlesse it hold a correspondency with them in their divers natures and compositions So the King the head of the politique body cannot govern the divers members thereof in their severall constitutions unlesse he participate with them in their severall natures which because they are part Lay and part Ecclesiasticall the jurisdiction therefore whereby he governeth them must of necessity have a correspondent mixture and be also partly Lay and partly Ecclesiasticall to the end that from these divers fountains in the person of his Majesty those divers members in the body of the kingdome may according to their peculiar faculties receive their just and competent government My meaning is not that a Prince cannot in morall matters govern his subjects professed in religion unlesse himself doe participate with them in some portion of
Acts 4. 34 35. 1. Num. 4. 2. 3. Exod. 26. 15. * Praecepit eis â—â— unaquaeque generatio ministraret Deo per dies octo à Sabbatho usque ad Sabbathum Joseph Antiq. l. 7. cap. 15. p. 389. * Eos verò qui erant de germine Mosis eminentiùs honoravit fecit eos auteÌ„ custodes thesaurorum Dei atque vasorum quae reges Deo dicare contigerit Antiq. l. 7. c. 15. pag. 390. Iudices autem populi scribas eorum 6000. Antiq. l. 7. c. 15. p. 389. Note 1 Chron. 26. 14 1 Chron. 27. 5. 1 Chron. 11. 22 Gen. 49. 7. Erant niâ—ilominus ea tempestate sacrdotes nec dum adhuc à lege ordinati sed naturali sâ—pâ—entia hâ—s requirente perficienâ—e l. 11. in Iob p. 2. In Gen. 4. 3. Vâ— non Gentes ex Iudaeis sed Iudaei ex Gentibus sacerdotium acceperint Ep. ad Euagrium Tom. 3. p. 38. Tom. 4. 99. August de Consens Eu. Tom. 4. 100. a. 1. 2. 3. 1. Numb 6. 8. 2. 3. Conc. Laodicen c. 11. When there shall be a place which the Lord God shall chuse to cause his name to dwell there thither shall you bring all that I command you your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices your tithes and the offerings of your hands and all your speciall vows which you vow unto the Lord Deut. 12. 11. these things were not respited till then but appointed that then also they must bee performed for it is also said Exod. 12. 21. When yee shall come into the Land which the Lord shall give you then ye shall keep this service i. e. of the Passeover which was done Ios. 4. 6. but yet I take this to be discharge of it in the mean time Quaerc * Many affirm that he was at Rome Metaphrastes and some other that he was here in Britannia Petri igitur muneris erat ut qui jam complures orientis Provincias praedicando euangelium peragrasset jam quod reliquum esse videbatur lustraret orbem occidentalem usque ad Britannos quod tradunt Metaphrastes alii Christi sidem annuncians penetraret Baron Tom. 1. f. 5 97. l. 13. Metaph. die 29. Junii 3 Tim. 3. 2. Though the Levite be said 2 Chron. 25. 3. to teach all Israel yet it seemeth not that they expounded the Word of God unto the people or had it in charge so to doe but that they iÌ„nstructed them how to carry themselves in their sacrifices ceremonies therefore Jerome translateth this place Levitis quoque ad quorum eruditionem omnis Israel sanctificabatur Domino For which cause the Latines used the word decimare exdecimare to choose and cull out the principall things and our own English word Tithe importeth as much for it commeth of the Saxon Teoð i. e. the tenth which is a verball of Teo that signifieth to take out as if it should admonish us that the tithe or part given to God must bee a choice or principall part In sum de deci §. 1. V. Vocab Vtrius Jur. in verbo decima Raymundus 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. * Multis aliis atque aliis numerorum formis quaedam similitudinum in libris sanctis seponuntur quae propter imperitiam numeroruÌ„ legentibus clausa sunt De doâ—tri Christ. lib. 2. De Abraham Patriarch l. 2. Mat. 22. 21. Mat. 22. 21. Mar. 12. 17. Luke 10. 25. Joh. 13. 7. Decima omnia complectitur Bullinger in â— Heb. Lib. de 10. praecep sol 75 76. seq Quid si numero isto denario universitas reguÌ„ significata est De C. D. lib. 20. 23. Decima hora numerus iste legem significat quia in 10. praeceptis data est lex in cap. 1. Evang. Joh. Tract 7. To. 10. Serm. 15. de verb. Domini in Evang. Mal. Ser. 15. Tom. 10 Numb 18. 27. Tom. 10. fol. 15. 2 Chro. 31. 10. Lib. 4. Lib. 14. Pharsal 5. In Agamem Cic. in Verrem Satis amplum ex se ad librum conficiendum praebet argumentum Phil. de 10. praecep Quia omnia Dei sunt per quae vivit sive terra sive â—lumina sive semina vel omnia quae sub coelo â—unt aut super coelos De reâ—tiâ—ud Cath. convers Traâ—t Tom. 4. Antiq. Iud. l. 4. ca. 3. De rectitud Cath. Convers. Tom. 9. Sustulerunt dominum at non servum Gen. 14. 20. Heb. 7. V. 30. Nehem. 10. 37. Deut. 16. 16. The tenth of bullocks and sheep and all that goeth under the rod commanded Lev. 32. Herodot Clio. lib. 1. f. 36. Livy li. 5. Pliny l. 12. c. 24 Melpont l. 4. f. 267. Thalia l. 3. f. 1â—0 Note In Ranis Decimas nupeius extortas per papas Caal test ter primo impositas in Concil per Pelagium Papam Anno 588. Damas. pâ— patrim adiit An. 367. Hoc confirm Con. Hispalens Tom. 2. Et approbat pâ—r Gualter Hospinian de origin honorum ecclesiae ca. 3. p. 123. De nat Deo l. 2. Quis scribit in cordibus hominum naturalem â—egem nisi Deus Aug. desâ—rm Domini in monte l. 2. Instit. l. 1. c. 3. Calv. Iâ—st l. 1. c. 4. It seemeth this law of nature is tearmed by Moses the Law of God for he saith I declare the Ordinances of God and his Laws Exod. 18. 16. when as yet the Law was not given and before ca. 15. 26. If Israel will hearken to his Commandements and keep his Ordinances c. 19. 5. Exod. 16. 1â— In the Hebrew text it is indefinite which of them gave tiths to other therefore the Iews say Melchisedek gave it to Abraham but the holy Ghost in the 7. to the Hebrews explaineth it that Abraham gave them to Melchisedek Codomannus saith in the year 293. some other count it above 370. Melchised Dei sacerdos Solymorum quam civitatem postea Hierosolymam vocarunt Ios. Antiq. l. 1. c. 18. Hieron in Ep. ad Euagr. et in loc Heb. Lyra in Gen. 33. Joh. 3. 23. So that Melchisedek prefigurated the whole Priesthood of Christian Religion and Abraham the whole Laity therefore Chrysostome saith Considera quanta sit excellentia nostratis sacerdotii quandoquidem Abraham Patriartha Iudaeorum progenitor Levitarum comperitur benedictionem accipere à Melchisedec Orat 4. advers Iud. Sed ita Paulus ipse Superbia vitae Concupiscentia carnis Hypocrisis Avaâ—â—tia vel concupiscentia oculoruÌ„ Hugo Multo post futurum Domini sacramentum anâ—e signavit ac sacrificio panis vini mysterium corporis sanguinis expressit p. To. 4. 14. c. Ministravit iste Melchisedek Abrahamo exercitui xenia multam abundantiam rerum optimarum simul exhibuit super epulaâ— eum collaudare coepit benedicere Deum qui ei subdiderat inimicos Jos. Antiquit. l. 1. c. 18. No fisâ— as though the curse extended not to the sea Liv. â— â— Non ideo nobis proponi exempla justorum ut ab eis justificemur sed ut eos imitantes ab eorum justificatore nos quoque
mightily encreased in Davids time as that there were 38. thousand Levites besides the Priests 1 Chron. 23. 3. Magnus sanè numerus pro isto populo ut facilè intelligas multos ornatui magis serviisse quà m necessitati as Grotius there saith Therefore God employed them for many uses more then to attend at the Temple some were designed for other employments in the Common-wealth and they applied other studies as being the chief men for nobility and dignity and also for learning and knowledge in that Common-wealth Cum pingue haberent otium non tantum omnia legis sed medicinae aliarumque artium diligentes ediscebant ut Aegyptii sâ—â—erdotes ideoque primis seculis ex illis ut eruditioribus Senatus 70. virûm legi maxime solebat Grotius in Deut. 17. There was no other Academy or School then in the whole world but at the Temple among them where the knowledge of Gods law or learning in any kinde could bee gained The administration of law and justice throughout the kingdome depended on them principally for God made his covenant with Levi of life and peace The law of truth was in his mouth The Priests lips should preserve knowledge and they should seek the law at his mouth Mal. 2. 5 6 7. and so Ezek. 44. 23. They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and prophane and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean and in controversie they shall stand in judgment they shal judg according to my judgements and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies they being the principall Judges and Lawyers in that Common-wealth of Gods own constitution And whereas it is now granted on all hands than there was 3. Courts of Justice in that kingdome 1. the great Councel of 70. Elders 2. the Court of Judgement consisting of 23. 3. the Court of three or some few more the Priests and Levites were principall men both Judges and Officers in all Courts Scophtim Schoterim as 1 Chron. 23. 4. both to give sentence and judgement and also to execute the same so the Divines doe affirm also in their late Annotations upon 1 Chron. 26. 29 30. and 2 Chron. 19. 8. 11. They did study the Judiciall and Politique laws and had power to see the law of God and injunctions of the King to be observed and to order divine and humane affairs And they held also other honourable offices for we read that Zechariah a Levite was a wise Counsellor And Benaiah a Priest son of Jehoiada was one of Davids twelve Captains being the third Captain of the Host for the third month and in his course consisting of 2400. was his son Amizabad Benaiah was also one of Davids principal Worthies having the name among the three Mighties He was also Captain of the guard to David and after the death of Joab hee was made Lord Generall of the Host by King Solomon in Joabs room 1 Kings 2. 35. And because some have doubted whether they were imployed in the administration of justice it is more clearly of late evinced then formerly hath been for besides Sigonius Bertram Casaubon Moulin and divers others the learned Hugo Grotius in his Annotations upon Matthew cap. 5. 21. hath very accurately proved it out of the Text Josephus Philo and other monuments of the Jews whose testimonies at large I cannot now recite that there was no distinction nor division of the Courts of Justice the one Ecclesiasticall the other Civill but the Courts were united and the Priests and Levites the principall Judges and officers in every Court to whom the people were to be obedient upon pain of death Deut. 17. 12. they being appointed to hear every cause between bloud and bloud between plea and plea and between stroke and stroke being matters of controversie within thy gates and as our Lawyers call them Pleas of the Crown and Common pleas or whatsoever else did arise among them The Provinciall Levites were especially appointed to the Courts of Justice and also the Templar Levites when they had performed their courses and went home to their own houses being but one week in half a year were at very good leisure to assist the people in every Tribe where their Cities were allotted to them in governing ruling and directing in all matters pertaining to God and the King 1 Chron. 26. 30. 32. for which purpose God did scatter them in every Tribe and turned the curse of Jacob into a singular blessing to be divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel appointing 1700. to be on the west-side Jordan and 2700. on the East-side The ancient frame of our Common-wealth for 500. years before the Conquest was thus disposed and governed as this learned Authour sheweth fully in his Glossary and Councels and happy had it been if things had so continued still but now the law being otherwise setled and the Courts divided it is not safe or easie to make alteration Comes praesidebat foro Comitatus non solus sed adjunctus Episcopo hic ut jus divinum ille ut humanum diceret alterque alteri auxilio esset consilio praesertim Episcopus Comiti nam in hunc illi animadvertere saepe licuit errantem cohibere idem igitur utrique territorium jurisdictionis terminus Glossar Spelman The Bishop and Earl of the County were joynt Magistrates in every Shire and did assist each other in all causes and Courts and so Mr Selden in his History cap. 14. § 1. By this means there was great union and harmony between all Judges and Officers whereas there is now great contention for jurisdiction and intolerable clashing in all Courts by injunctions prohibitions consultations and crosse orders to the great vexation of the clients and subjects The division of Courts seems to have proceeded first from Pope Nicholas 1. as is mentioned in Gratian Can. cum ad verum 96. dist about 200. years before the Conquest which was imitated here by William the Conquerour whose statute is recited and illustrated by Spelman in his Glossary and Councels and lately also published by Lord Cook lib. 4. Institutes cap. 52. But the further proof hereof will require more then this place or occasion will bear onely thus much was necessary to be mentioned and asserted in regard of explication and reference to many passages in this book and also other parts of his works which perhaps are not obvious or well observed by every common Reader Vide Glossar Domini Spelman in diatribis de Comite de Gemottis de Hundredo c. Concilia passim CAP. VIII The great account made of Priests in the old Law and before PRiesthood is of 3. sorts 1. That before the Law 2. That of the Law 3. This of the Gospel The first belonged to the Gentiles the second to them of the Circumcision the third to us under grace The third came in lieu of the second and the second rise out
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