Selected quad for the lemma: order_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A48940
|
Tythe no gospel maintenance for gospel ministers In an epistle to all who conscienciously suffer for not paying them. By William Loddington.
|
Loddington, William, 1626?-1711.
|
1695
(1695)
|
Wing L2808; ESTC R220162
|
7,345
|
30
|
TYTHE NO Gospel Maintenance FOR Gospel Ministers In an EPISTLE to all who Conscienciously suffer for not Paying them By William Loddington Haec olim meminisse juvabit Posterity shall reap the Fruits Of your hard Sufferings by Tythe-suits LONDON Printed and Sold by T. Sowle near the Meeting-house in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-street 1695. To the Priest that Sues for Tythe DID thy Parish'oners themselves invite Thee to their Pulpit Do they still delight To hear thee Preach 〈◊〉 I shall not gainsay Nulla volenti fit injuria He that is free to hear should freely pay But if within thy Parish any dwell Who see the Way which doth thy Ways excel Here is for Thee and Them a Dram that may God's Power Co-working purge thy wrath away And strengthen them that in a Suffering Season Men may not judge them wilful void of Truth having taught us rightly to divide What things are God's and what 's on Caesar's side Let not Man's Idol Self divert thine Eyes Then this may prove to thee a richer Prize Than Levi's Tythe For if thou wouldst advance Christ's glorious Gospel trust his * 1 Cor. 1.9 14. Maintenance W. L. TYTHE NO Gospel Maintenance FOR Gospel Ministers Dear Friends IN the weighty Sense of God's Honour and the Peoples Welfare both which are eminently concern'd in your Sufferings do I salute you desiring all Grace and Peace Courage and Constancy may be in You. You may probably expect harder Sufferings than many others for many of those you have to deal with neither want Wit to disgrace us nor Malice to pursue us to the utmost of their Chain I doubt not but you are well satisfied in the Goodness of your Cause though some of you may not have so many words in readiness to defend it as others But inward Satisfaction is beyond Words Yet this I knowing by long Experience That it 's a Refreshment and Delight to hear that Cause justified by others for which I suffer I am concern'd to add this Mite for that end partly as also to inform impartial Readers we have Scripture and Reason with us I know many able Friends have abounded in this subject I have only this to say I know none in so few words It 's the more probable Men of Business will sooner read it First We may observe for our Encouragement how the Clergy-men so called of late Years have retreated from pleading for Tythe upon a Gospel Account With their Jure Divino People formerly were very much frighted But now blessed be God there is so much Light broken forth as discovers the Darkness of those kind of Arguments for Tythe which the Priest himself perceiving runs now to the Law of the Land as his best plea for Tythe Take one instance out of a Learned Man's Commentary upon Heb. 7. after a large pleading for Tythe he closeth up his Matter with this Question ' Why are Tythes under the Gospel paid to Ministers Mark his Answer verbatim ' It is for the most part the fittest Proportion and that the very Heathen did observe about their Ministers When God himself set down a distinct and particular Portion for his Ministers he should have said Priests he judged a Tenth part most convenient Hereupon saith he good Governours have in all their Commonwealths thought meet to establish such a Portion and where such a Portion is established by Law the People are bound in Conscience to observe the same Thus we see how so Great and Learned a Man as Dr. Gouge found himself necessitated pag. 129. to clench up his whole Argument for Tythe in his day with the Law of the Land And now it 's become a general plea for it But a little more to this Heb. 7. because I read it as the plainest Text in all the Scripture to prove Tythe abolished The Author in this Chapter principally treats of the Levitical Priesthood and their Maintenance by way of Comparison to Christ and his Ministry as if he had lived in our day and heard our Controversie about Tythes Therefore to end or rather to prevent all such Disputes he first proves Christ to be an High-Priest after the Order of Melchisedeck and not after the Order of Aaron and therefore his Ministers not to be maintained as the Others Priesthood Mark how he grants ver 5. That the Sons of Levi who receive the Office of the Priesthood have a Command to take Tythes of the People according to the Law that is of their Brethren but in ver 12. The Priesthood being changed there is made of Necessity a change also of the Law If any ask Of what Law What Answer can be with Sence or Reason but of the Ceremonial Law and especially of Tythes that Priesthoods Maintenance as a Branch of that Law and in particular mentioned by the Apostle upon this Occasion Nothing can be more plain for if he had believed that Tythes were to be paid to Christ's Ministers here was a very fit Opportunity to confirm it But for as much as the Law of the Land is most pleaded now I turn to that ' Obj. The Law say the Clergy which compels People to pay them Tythe is very just for Tythe is not theirs they did not buy them when they bought their Lands but the purchase was the cheaper because they were Tythable Ans The common Answer to this is not to be omitted viz. That the Writings do not except the Tythes if they had the Objection had been good but the common form of Deeds is to have and to hold every part and parcel of the Premises with the Appurtenances But further It 's but reasonable such Tythe-sick Land should be sold cheaper than other Land for if the Buyer have Faith and Patience to suffer for the Good of Posterity he must expect great Sufferings and Charges before it be Cured of this Evil. For it 's not to be done by any outward Force or Might but by the Spirit of the Lord Zach. 4.6 The Lamb in time will have the Victory Rev. 12.11 It 's well observed in our Common Grammar Daemona non Armis sed Morte subegit Iēsus And we may truly say Dēcima non Armis sed Morte necatur Iesu Legibus aut Armis non revocanda feris Tythe not by Arms but by Christ's Death being slain No Laws or Arms can give it Life again But a little more to this because it 's the most common and thought the strongest Objection I grant as aforesaid I bought Land the cheaper for being Tythable I will freely give Two and Twenty Years Purchase for Tythe-free Land rather than Twenty for Tythable But what is that to the Priest This gives him no Right to it Nor can any Law as a Salary for Preaching for Christ hath established a Maintenance for his Ministers and it 's not in the power of any Government under Heaven to change it Wherefore such as Demand Tythe by vertue of the Law of the Land either confess by so doing that Christ