themselves with benevolences arising out of t he others ruines These crooked practices have already had their dangerous consequences the world hath seldome been without many bleeding witnesses hereof Germany in particular may be wayle not onely her flain thousands with Saul nor ten thousands with David but her handred thousands For Schisme is not accustomed to stay long confined in the Church but shee is likewise wont to disseminate Faction in the State Archbishop Sands of excellent memory for the cause of the Gospel preached at Pauls Crosse that by reason of the want of worthy wages unto these workmen for salvation this mischief spreadeth wider and regardeth as little the Throne of David as the Chaire of Moses the Scepter as the Book the Prince a the Prophet the Civill a the Ecclesiasticall State Thus as unity and peace between the Soveraigne and the Subjects and withall the people mutually among themselves comprehends the true and proper glory of earthly Kingdomes typically figuring the celestiall unity in blessednesse and eminency of the Triumphant Church of God So Schisme and Division of any people into variety of opinions and affections is the bane and subversion of a Church and Nation resembling the confusions and perturbations of Satans infernall Regiment But these will never be totally suppressed nor can there want wicked instruments to incourage the Subjects for to run a course of contrariety and opposition to the laws and personall practice of the Prince himselfe in matters conversant about the exercise of Religion Neither shall we be free from the hazard of perillous Faction in our State by occasion hereof untill the establishment of a proportionable mayntenance for the spirituall Pastors doth arme and animate them by example and doctrine to teach and practice without pusillanimous dread or dependance upon any man religious and loyall obedience the giving to God the things which are Gods and unto Caesar the things which are Caesars the feare of the Lord and the honour of the King Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth c. 7. I alledge the divine curses against bad and dishonest tithing therfore still rather where a requisite supply and provision for the sufficient mayntenance of spirituall Pastors is wanting It is manifest Malac. 3. that as upon the performance of this duty a marvellous prosperity of the severall fruits of the ground a gracious opening of the windows of Heaven and the pouring down plentifull showres of blessings are promised So for the neglect and contempt of this notable present confider in the same Chapter most grievous maledictions threatned Our Elders Saint Augustine expresseth had a happy abundance of all good things because they were faithfull in the paying to God his tenths and unto Caesar his Tribute But since that devotion of tithing waxed cold sacrilegious persons have by their covetousnesse in that kinde defrauded themselves of a double blessing namely of the promises of this life and of the life to come Other exactions arise to punish their execrable avarice what is stoln from the Church cannot be preserved in the chest what is grudged towards the Sanctuary is urged into the treasury when men murmure to give the tenth they are made to forego the totall Dabis impio militi quod non vis dare Sacerdoti whiles men deprive the carefull Ministers they become a spoyle to the cruell souldiers The Lord is always ready and liberall to blesse but the wicked perversnesse of man opposeth wretched impediments to hinder it for he would have God bestow all things upon him and yet hee will offer nothing againe unto this bountifull owner of all things Quid faceres si novem partibus sibi sumptis tibi decimans reliquisset What couldest thou doe if hee took all the nine parts to himselfe and left the tenth onely unto thee Thus indeed he not seldome dealeth when as he withholdeth his former and latter raine to wither and waste away thy wished harvest with a wofull drought or when hee smiteth thy fruits with unseasonable stormes of hayle or blasteth them with extremitie of untimely Frosts And so thou grievously failest of thy covetous and greedy computation the nine parts being taken away from thee because thou refusedst to pay the tenth which the Lord requited For this is his most righteous course to turn them unto the tenth which will not offer to him the tenth to punish them with want which famish those which worke Witnesse either the proper experience of offending persons or else the events of their posterities Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the corn The use of the whole premises is to admonish all sorts of Christians to practise the doctrine of my text to tithe and conferre towards their Ministers mayntenance according to the rules of holy Writ within the compasse of their severall vocations Private persons must apply themselves unto Christians patience the properly have no warrantable power to redresse and alter publike inconveniences Neverthelesse they must omit the duty of diligent and zealous praier unto God who is able and willing to helpe and succour They must appeare likewise chearefull and forward in any legall course to procure a remedy against these sacrilegious incroachments and usurpations They ought faithfully herein to ayd and further their Ministers by liberall contribution and all other justifiable assistances they poor men for the most part are least able to undergoe expences And as the nature of their Calling affordeth commonly small leysure so concerning temporall affaires they have but litle skill and experience Oh how liberally doe the wise children of this world in their generations see their Lawyers in matters appertaining to their outward estates yea not seldome in strifes and contentions which come from the evill lusts that warre in their members Moreover if a sickenesse seizeth on their bodies they spare neither horses nor Caroches nor peeces no travail nor cost for a Physitian Is it possible then that such a multitude of them will shew their selves so base and blockish as to grudge and repine almost at every penny that they part with to the heavenly Physitians of their souls when as notwithstanding the certainty is that upon the health and happinesse of the soule all the good promises all true welfare of body and estate depend Let none then miserably pinch and spare in cases of this kinde which indeed be Gods cause and wherein the prosperity of their soules their bodies their posterities be very deeply interessed Personages of Superior place and ability as they have the best meanes so in no wise may they slacke behind in cheerefull imployment of them in every loyall and lawfull occasion to releeve and right our holy and venerable mother the Church They will finde at length nothing to bee more noble pious nor remunerable Finally I beseech all sortes touching the reverend Clergies maintenance to take into serious consideration that the God of equity hath in his divine wisedome and goodnesse built his ordinance
without all contradiction the lesse is blessed of the better And here men that die receive tiths but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that hee liveth And as I may so say Levi also who received tiths paid tiths in Abraham For hee was yet in the loines of his Father when Melchisedech met him c. Levi in Abraham decimatus est quoniam in lumbis ejus fuit quando decimas dedit sacerdoti Melchisedech Saint Augustin hath left written that Levi was tithed in Abraham because he was in his loines when he gave tiths to the Priest Melchisedech I conceive the scope of this Scripture is to manifest and magnifie the high and honourable condition of Melchisedech and consequently of Christ Iesus But one maine argument for Melchisedecs admirable greatnesse is drawne by our Apostle from his receiving tiths of him whose off-spring the tribe of Levi then in Abrahams loines afterwards tooke tiths For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he tithed Abraham taking the tenth part of him as his due and not given Neither may wee affirme that Melchisedecs admirable greatnesse is since unhappily eclipsed and fallen into wane but rather he is as ample and evident still as ever he was because he is the Priest of God for ever a Priest that never dieth and so his Priesthood and the rights of it never cease But certainely his greatnesse in his antitype Christ cannot be concluded to be still the same if Christ hath no right to take tiths for this indeed appeareth the chiefest and most urged of the two notable arguments to declare his greatnesse This argument of Pererius may bee said to concerne the point The Priesthood of Melchisedec hath beene more excellent then the Leviticall Priesthood But Christ hath beene a Priest after the order of Melchisedech therefore the Priesthood of Christ is more excellent then the Leviticall Priesthood The minor proposition is manifest Psalm 110. and the major is proved by Saint Paul in a twofold manner partly because Melchisedech blessed Abraham principally because he received tiths of him What then was due and paid to Melchisedech is also due and payable to Christ else he were not a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech if he should faile in something to be as Melchisedech was But to grant that seemeth absurd because he is after his order as the Priests of the Law were after Aarons Since then tiths were due and paid to Melchisedech doubtlesse they are due and ought to be paid unto Christ And so consequently to his servants the Ministers of the Gospell who are Christ representatively and in whom he blesseth refresheth with the bread and wine of the holy Sacrament of heavenly consolations the faithfull which are weary and ready otherwise to saint in their spirituall warrefare Neither was Abrahams payment of tiths voluntary but of duty for were must note how Melchisedech was the image of Christ his Church Abraham figured forth the Congregation of the faithfull Although then Levi received tiths afterward by a particular grant from God for the time yet he payd them generally with the Congregation in the loines of Abraham unto the Priesthood of Christ here personed by Melchisedech which being perpetuall and an image of this in the Gospell may well note unto us that this duty of tithing ought also to be perpetuall Saint Chrysostome conceiveth Abraham to have been herein our Tutour and whiles he payeth tiths not to a Priest offering up Leviticall sacrifices but administring bread and wine the elements of the Evangelicall Sacrament it intimateth sufficiently that men must now pay their tiths to the Ministers of the Gospell Moreover if the order of Priesthood here spoken of be an eternall order and yet such an order as to whom the tiths are due which plainly appeareth in the Chapter alledged surely then let the Priest be either Melchisedech the type or Christ the Antitype yet the same matter must remaine still evinced namely that tiths must alwaies continue to the end of the world being the rightfull due of an enduring Priesthood To this purpose may be applyed these words of Master Calvin on the place The Apostle affirmeth the dignity of Melchisedechs Priesthood to be for ever and that of the Priesthood of Levi but temporary The life of this latter Priesthood was one day to be dissolved even as the lives of men liquid expire Yet no Scripture speaking of tiths payd to Melchisedech saith any thing of his death wherefore the right of his Priesthood was not to cease but continue The latter Law did not derogate from the former the right belonging of old to Melchisedech is not now repealed by another Law given of God by Moses whereby to turne over that right unto the Levites Saint Paul prevented that conceit cum dicit ad tempus decimas Levitis solutas shewing that tiths were paid to the Levites but for a certaine season because they might not live ever But Melchisedech being immortall retaineth unto the end what God hath once given him namely the dignity duty yea and the rights of the Priesthood which are declared to be the tiths c. The 13.14 c. verses of this 7. Chapter with some other passages therein will determine the things spoken under the name of Melchisedech upon Christ without question Behold then he is the rightfull receiver of tiths in his Evangelicall Priesthood even by witnesse of the new Testament As under the Law tiths were not so much the Levites at Gods in the Levites they receiving them as deputed by him to take this sacred tribute Even so likewise before the Law not so much Melchisedech as the Lord in Melchisedech did receive tiths Now under the Gospell not so much the Ministers of the Gospell as he that is our blessed Lord Iesus Christ in the Ministers of the Gospell doth by divine right take the tithes Miserable then are those wretches which dare defraud him by depriving his Ministers and regard not this precept Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth c. Although whiles Christ lived on earth the Leviticall Priesthood being not abrogated had the tithes Moreover he and his Apostles leading a kinde of travelling life from place to place could not conveniently receive them yet intermission for a time must not bee thought to infringe their due right no more then the suspension of circumcision for forty yeares space in the wildernesse did disannull that The Apostles also and their primitive successours tooke the price of whole fields and possessions of those which converted to the Church and professed the Gospell whereby they had meete meanes to maintaine their owne selves and the poore brethren That course continued about two hundred yeares after Christ and the practise of it multiplied into a very great proportion Then the state of the Church being setled the ancient Fathers taught tithes to be thus due general councels decreed them so and publique authority renewed the paiment of them To this purpose
wages and the labourers deserve to receive their reward This seemeth a character so deeply ingraven in common reason as although the direfull hands of impious sacriledge be shamefully audacious to incroach upon the substance of the tithes c. yet are they not sufficiently able to extinguish the stampes of it's truth Namely that the excellency of the Clergies labour being in quality and industry in place and paines supereminent above others must needs aptly challenge the most worthy stipend and best temuneration To this purpose the Lord Archbishop Sandes affirmeth that there is no state though of that heigth as feare honour obedience and tribute is due to it which may more rightly challenge a competent and sufficient living then the Ministers of the word of God Wherfore those which repine at the reasonable maintenance of them they seeme to have put out the very light of nature in themselves 5 Because this hinderance and detraction of the spirituall Pastours portion is very averse and degenerate from the conceit and course of venerable Antiquity For decimae erant ante legem sub consilis in lege sub praecepto post legem in libertate Spiritus the payment of tenths before the Law seemed to subsist under counsell and in the time thereof they stood firme by precept and when as that was once expired still they are good in the Evangelicall liberty of the Spirit As in the season of the old Law the affection of the faithfull people unto the Temple and Service there spared no expences yea some of the chiefest Princes of the Gentiles Cyrus Artaxerxes Darins Alexander Magnus Ptolomeus Philadelphus Antiochus Epiphanes c. shewed themselves in this sort exceedingly bounteous So since the birth of our Saviour Christ the pious munificence of Emperours Kings c. also the jealous devotion of Christian people ran in the current of continuall addition to the Churches patrimony but not in substraction from her propriety The Clergy held their Lands free from Taxes and Impositions their children held their Inheritance with like freedome in honour of their Fathers Priest-hood But now a long time since hellish iniquity hath abounded the holy love of the most part of our Christian World is waxed cold the dolefull tune of the desolate Churches Song is thus sad and lamentable Isaiah 24. My leannesse my leannesse wo unto me the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously yea the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously King James of excellent memory imployed in some places of his Realmes pious wisdome and power for a relief of our Sions shamefull distresse Hee gave moreover many thousand Acres of good ground to the Irish Churches an illustrious monument of his religious liberality Our now most gracious King God be thanked followeth the devout foot-steps of his happy Father in paternall protection and favour of his Clergy His Majesties Sovereigne power and sanctified disposition is able and willing with the precious balme of heavenly justice to cure this otherwise unrecoverable and inveterate ulcer and to compell the due practice of this divine precept Thou shalt not muzzle the month c. 6. I alledge when the maintenance of the Ministers lyeth at such a low ebbe it usually occasioneth Schisme in the Church and Faction of the State especially as for the most part commeth to passe where poore beneficed Parishes are most populous Amongst sundry wise and learned persons sacriledge hath been concluded the prophane mother of these deformed daughters It is no lesse lamentable then shameful to consider some Clergy men through defect of a legall provision being stung with the smart of want and put to extremity they are forc'd to submit their necks unto a slavish yoke of servile dependance and base engagement unto their wealthier people who are able to succour and support them They are bound to the base peace of obsequious flattery by the cruell chaine of intolerable necessitie so they dare not but quietly digest whatsoever these inordinately do either in conversation of life or by confusion at Church either in the rudenesse of their works or by the irregularity of their worship Neither durst they refuse to stand as they set them for single Cyphers and suffer them patiently to number their summes at their own pleasures with the figures of such idolized Ministers as they most fancy whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas yea I wish there wanted cause sometimes to adde be he Martin Mar-prelate or Julian or Iudas or Satan transforming himselfe into an Angell of light they may scarce murmure at his preferment Moreover whiles the Clergy remayneth miserably oppressed with poverty which contempt of their persons and neglect of their Ministery usually accompany so long doth that necessity of theirs being of an active nature seeme to call in many of them a continuall scrutiny of devises and shifts for the succour and reliefe of it selfe And because those courses which swimme against the common stream of goverment and neverthelesse carry an externall countenance of piety and sincerity have ever appeared most prevalent for the promotion of sinister designes they palliate their subtile practice under this specious habit Thus they declaim against the corruption of the times and bitterly inveigh against the Ceremonies and Polity of the Church It is their usuall property to speak evill of those which are in Authority chiefly they draw our the sharp sword of Schismaticall censure against Ecclesiasticall Superiours The drift of their whole doctrine concerning them soundeth always With this Anabaptisticall accent down with them to the ground They never preach against Church-robbery nor presse in any Sermon the true payment of tithes But for their own peculiar interests without any due distinguishment of different reasons they perswade this Paradoxe how when the Church is poorest she is purest And wheras the ancient Fathers determined out of the sacred Scriptures that God is to be worshiped with some liberall return of his own bounty And how hee must be thankfully acknowledged for the munificent Lord and Donor of all blessings by a devout and free-hearted reflux and rendring back again a meet and sufficient portion of the good things and benefits given us to his honour and service Such sentences they insimulate to favour of Popish superstition and whiles they are sure God hath no necessity they are as secure to do him no dutie condemning for an errour in opinion to offer unto him but commending as a mayn ingredient of Reformation to take away from his Church Thus having by these plausible insinuations skrewed themselves into a world of the peoples affections unto whom nothing for the most part is wont to be more gratefull and pleasing then liberty of censure matter of innovation disorder singularity and Religion at their owne price which is next cost nothing lo They get private gains out of the publike losses having brought conformable Ministers out of a good conceit into an evill estimation with their Parishes they climbe up by their breaches and supply