ἸΕΡΟΣΥΛΙΆΣ ΜΆΣΤΙΞ OR A SCOURGE OF SACRILEDGE In Answer to a Pamphleter calling himself ANTHONY PEARSON Concerning The Great Case of Tythes VVherein many gross Fallacies and Untruths of the Pamphleter are discovered and convinced By JOH READING once a Student of Magdalen Hall in Oxford It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy and 〈◊〉 after vowes to make enquiry Prov. 20.25 〈◊〉 are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this â—â—â—le Nation c. Mal. 3.9 〈…〉 abhorrest Idolâ— dost thou commit Sacriledge Rom. 〈◊〉 London Printed by Daâ—â—â—â—well and are to be sold by George Sawbridg at the sign of the Bible on Ludgate-Hill 1661. To the Right Honorable Sr EDWARD NICHOLAS Kt. Principal Secretary of State and one of His Majesties most honorable Privy Council Grace Mercy and Eternal Happiness in Christ Jesus our Lord. Right Honorable IT hath been the constant practice of the Adversary to oppose Truth and to use his power to the discouragement of Faithful Ministers and Professors thereof Sometimes like an envious Philistim by casting dirt and earth into the Fountain of living Waters opened by the hard labors of godly men Sometimes by casting out of his mouth water as a flood after the Woman the Church that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood Sometimes by supersemination of his pernitious Tares among the good Wheat in the Lords Field Hence were and now are those multitudes of Schisms and Errors which in all ages of the Gospel have infested the Church of Christ In this last age Satan knowing that his time is short hath more furiously raged moving all his engins and using all his stratagems for his siege against the holy City and Tents of the Saints Amongst other his artifices knowing how much innate avarice inclineth vulgar mindes to sacriledge he hath lately tempted many to endeavor the utter taking away of Tythes the Ordinance of God as ancient as his Church on Earth well-knowing that by subtracting the Oyl from the Tabernacle Lamps the light will soon go out and the people must be left to a darkness worse then Egyptian This fearful condition was coming on us so precipitately as that the enemies of Truth were not ashamed openly to boast That within one years time they would not leave either Church or Priest in England But blessed be God who hath broken the jaw-bones of these ravenous Lions and prevented their mischievous designs by his gracious and marvellous providence restoring his Sacred Majesty in peace unto his long afflicted people and them by Him to their just Laws and Liberties and therewith the free exercise of the true Religion maintained by our former Princes of ever-blessed Memory In which respect though divers able Champions of Christ and his Church have encountered the adversaries of these Church Rites with such full abilities as that they have left little to be added hereto Quod non fit dictum prius Yet seeing this conflict hath not so been ended but that new enemies still gird themselves to the battle it is necessary that they be invested and answered Therefore having brought to me from an adversary of all good this piece which I endeavor to confute as I conceive by way of challenge I could neither with credit to our Cause nor good conscience toward God be silent or leave the truth without defence my hope being that I may hereby undeceive some who have misunderstood the case which this adversary with his Jesuitical Arguments so stingily and contumeliously laboreth in Why I presume to prefix your Honors Name to this homely Tract none need demand who know the great favors which your Honor hath done for me others I desire to understand that in point of gratitude I humbly acknowledg the debt which I am no otherways able to pay then by acknowledgment and my daily and hearty Prayers to Almighty God abundantly to retribute for me by his preserving your Honor and all yours Which he really professeth who is Your Honors most obliged and humble Servant John Reading To the Christian Reader STanders by see more then the Actors especially in businesses Polemical wherein sundry motions are not so much composed unto comeliness Wisd 16.20 21 as present necessity of defence and offence It is very rare therefore that any piecce of writing like the Manna fitteth every palate or is as strong meat to the strong and as Milk to those who are of less exercised senses Hence are such variety of Censurers one profiteth by that he Readeth another is imbittered by Truth it self because some Spirit of Error possesseth him which like a Feavourish distemper makes the most wholsome things seem unsavoury It is an Insipid Discourse which falleth under no censure If in this velitation some things are let fall seeming more Sarcastical and sharp then the gravity of the cause may seem to allow I desire the prudent reader to consider that I deal with an adversary who careth not whether Dolus an virtus right reason or absurd and fallacious Mediums fair language or railing scurrility brings his deluded reader to an opinion of safe and impregnable conclusions on his side If any ask why I meddle with this Argument which some years past hath been discussed by so many learned writers the business in hand speaks my defence This bold Champion of Gath upon the matter cryeth out Give me a man 1 Sam. 17.10 in his opposing the Ministers of Christ and reviling Gods Israel and should we sleep The Enemy endeavoureth to bring Gods curse upon us and should not we arm and stand up in the Gap For my part however less able then many yet for Sions sake I cannot hold my peace nor sleep because the Ark and Israel 2 Sam. 11.11 and Judah abide under tents and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields Here is an emergent danger of seducement cast in among the people by which a dreadful curse must inevitably fall upon them because the Lord hath spoken it and should we be silent Consider who it is that saith Ye have robbed me Ye are cursed with a curse Remember who it is that saith to the Prophet concerning those sinners whom he warneth not Ezek. 3.18 Their blood will I require at thy hands Truly my hope is if my endeavours gain none of our adversaries Matth. 8. who are carried on with the foul spirits of Malice and Avarice like that precipitate Hoard to their own destruction yet by Gods mercful assistance we may stay and confirm our own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Henod lest being deceived by others examples they should likewise err in unjust gains embracing their own mischief How ever I would no have this bragging enemy go away with his vain oppinion Haec dici potuisse non potuisse râ—felli I have endeavoured to satisfie those who are not willing to be deceived but to know the Truth and their Duties hoping that others with their greater
Again in the writing of the history of the Creation Moses mentioneth not the Creation of Angels What will you say that Angels were not created because in Moses writings we read not of their Creation Nay but Moses saith Gen. 2.1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them You may say and that truly in that general word all are comprehended the particulars though not nominalitèr and expresly named for indeed omne or totum est extra quod nihil est and why I demand where the Apostle saith Gal. 6.6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things that is in all his goods for he would not teach any to offer è rapina holocaustum to rob others to pay his teacher and why may not the Apostles all comprehend the unspecified particulars Tythes and Offerings as well as Moses all comprehendeth unspecified Angels By this it appears how feeble your main argument is to prove no use or practise of payment of Tythes because we read them not commanded or paid in express words in the New Testament and seldome in ancient councels of the first age of the Church yet ye will not deny Tythes expresly specified and paid Heb. 7. Abraham paid Tythes or gave a tenth of all to Melchisedech pag. 5. Of Ambrose you say But his authority he produceth wholly from Moses writings And would you desire better authority then Moses writings which Christ the Lord of the Prophets citeth See whither blind zeal precipitates men But you say They imposed their own opinion with so heavy Penalties How were they their own opinions if from the Law given to the Israelites they take as you confess their whole Doctrine 2 Pet. 1.19 St. Peter would teach you better That no prophesie of the Scripture is of any private interpretation But h ly men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost And what say these men of God as to this matter more or less then God spake by the Prophets Moses and Malachi Ye are cursed with a Curse Deut. 33.11 Mal. 3. ye have robbed me in Tythes and Offerings pag. 6. You say Tythes Easter Pentecost Now for another sigary Our question is concerning Tythes What are Easter and Pentecost to that Will he not bring the Poles Artick and an-Arcick together if he please But you say It was not a general received Doctrine that Tythes ought to be paid Nor as it seems by you is it now it sufficeth us that the devouter sort as your self confess gave Tenths or greater parts of their annual encrease And who knowes not that the better part of the people is very seldome the greater You say Fathers Popes Bishops Praesto pretty Legerdemain you shuffle in Popes hoping as it seems in that company to render Fathers and Bishops odious to the vulgar but if we consider the original of that name Papa was once a name of honour and reverence importing only Patrem Patriae a father of the Country and so was it long used in the better part as Cypriano Papae Cyprian l 2. ep 7. 16. l. 3. ep 11 12. so ad Cornelium Papam This use of that name continued until after the time of Gregory the last of the good Roman Bishops and the first of the bad When Boniface 3. obtained of the Emperor Phocas that the Church of Rome should be called Caput omnium Ecclesiarum which his predecessor Gregory gave for the mark of Antichrist or his fore-runner then was his Seat quickly exalted to Supremacie not only above all Bishops of the Western Churches but also to a claim of Superiority over Kings Princes and People hence the name Papa Pope began to fall into an odium with all those who received not the marke of the beast Rev. 13. But if Popes did in any thing declare or determine Truth and Equity would you eo nomine reject it Remember that the Pharisees Scribes sitting in Moses Chair though bitter enemies to the Person and Doctrine of Christ were to be heard Yea If the devil confess Christ to be the Son of the most high would you reject it as devilish Nay but consider that though the Devil spake it it is the truth of God which when Satan uttereth he speaks not his own God hath so over-ruled some wicked men as to make them instrumental to that eminent good which he who can do nothing but good fore-ordained to do by them See it in the example of Judas the high Priests Herod and Pontius Pilat Act. 4.27 28. You say None of the first 8 general Councils of the Church did so much as mention the name of Tythes While none contradicted there was no cause why they should speak of them yet were the issue and determination of your controversie put upon antiquity we could say enough thereof We can prove that Tythes are more ancient then the law of Moses who shews that Abraham paid them and you cannot shew them taken away by any law of God why general Councels did not make Canons for them Agobardus cited by Mr. Sâ—lden some give this reason Nulla enim compulit necessitas fervente ubique religiosa devotione c. indeed the actual payment of Tythes was not exacted in the infancy of the Church of Christ but respited until the greater interests of Faith and Obedience to the Gospel were setled in a Church constituted yet Paul sheweth that there was much due unto him in respect of his Ministry 1 Cor. 9. but concluded that he had not used that liberty but as the time and present condition of the Gospel required suffered all things that he might not hinder the propagation thereof and that he might stop the mouths of backbiters Add hereto that there appeared more probability that men of the world and Pagans would more readily entertain the truth which cost them nothing and when the Ministers could not be suspected to preach for gain honor or any selfishness but only for their auditors Salvation That which you say That Tythes were never so much as named in the first 8 general Councels makes nothing against their right yet you may know that though we avow not the Canons attributed to the Apostles to be indeed the children of those fathers yet that the first of them are very ancient and neer the Apostles times it may appear in that Dionysius exiguus who lived within 400 years of the Apostles translated them out of the Greek and received long before in the Eastern Church Sr. Henry Spelmans large work of Tythes c. 20. of which City you may see Plin. lib. 3. c. 1. Stra. lib. 3. c. Bin. To. 4. See thereof the fifth Canon likewise the Council Agrippinense is cited Anno 356. Decreeing that Tythes should be called Dei census Gods rent The Concilium Hispalense or Spalense as Garsias citeth it held about the time of Gregory 1. about the year 603. in a
That with Unbelievers the Gospel which Christs Sacred Lips Preached was a Doctrine not generally received Was the Jews unbelief which gave that holy Doctrine no better reception any prejudice to the truth of Christ He said of John Baptist Matth. 11.14 If ye will receive it this is Elias which was for to come And again Matth. 17.12 I say unto you that Elias is come already What if the Jews then would not or Papists now will not receive this Doctrine as their learned Cardinal Bellarmine Tom. 1. l. 3. c. 6. de Pontif. Rom. Tom. 4 de gra Prim. hom c. 14. who affi meth That Enoch and Elias shall come before the end of the world to oppose Antichrist and to convert the Jews Doth mans unbelief any whit annul the truth of Christ You see the feebleness of this your Argument from the generality of mens not receiving a Doctrine to conclude it not true Your nineth and tenth Observations are to no purpose against us Moreover you say 11. That tythes were brought in as a duty owing to God and were so required and enforced c. This may be an Argument against you it is nothing against us But we say more What can any Law made by man have for so sure a ground as the Law and Commandment of God upon which all Humane Laws and Decrees are or ought to be grounded And who gives Divine or Civil property as to justice indefeaceable but God whose the Earth is Psal 24.1 and all the fulness thereof From him we claim our portion As for the Coercive Laws of Princes giving us a jus ad rem we look upon Gods good providence therein and thankfully acknowledge their favors for the preservation of Gods worship and our Ministers subsistence without which it is too evident that many mens Atheistical confidence would embolden them securely to venture on the Justice of God as they commonly do when there are no witnesses of their sacriledge present They have no Law of Conscience to hinder them from taking away what they can from Ministers You say again That till the year Twelve hundred 12. or thereabouts it was the common practice for every one to bestow his tythes where he pleased Supposing it a free-gift the owner had fair colour so to do But were this true as it is far from it what were the common practice of every one against the Law of God more or less than a general Rebellion against him And your self in your next Observation shew the mischief ensuing on such arbitrary dispositions to wit inriching those lives of Drones Abbeys and Monasteries And you also confess That all exemptions from payment of tythes came from the Pope You say here To bestow his tythes as if they were alms of free benevolence and not duty by God injoyned But we claim a right not depending on your charity knowing it too well You are not so kinde to the Prophet 1 Kings 17.6 as the Ravens at the Brook of Cherich they brought him Bread and Flesh in the morning and likewise in the evening but you would rather starve your Prophet and pick out his eyes Your fifteenth and sixteenth Observation we conceive make nothing against us Next you talk of tythes That they are the same thing whether claimed by an Abbey or Impropriator or a Priest and stand upon the same ground and foundation c. That they are the same in materiâ subjectâ it is true but to no purpose urged Would you intimate that there is in the Creatures tythed such an inherent mischief as that quatenus ipsum they must needs be evil which are once tythed whether taken by Gods Law or by man impropriated If so the madness of your Argument sufficiently appears Sacrificing flesh to idols did not in St. Pauls judgment 1 Cor. 10.25 27 28. so pollute it but that it might be eaten asking no question for Conscience sake That you mention an Impropriator or a Priest and tythes standing on the same ground If you mean by Priest a Minister of the Gospel and tythes impropriated you cross your own Concessions and the Dictates of Gods Law Truly by your obscure grumbling you seem to be very angry and that you would fain bite but that you know that your Toothless Argument cannot hurt us And this possibly so discomposed the Animal that as if he had forgotten on which side he is in his seventeenth Observation he doth ingenuously confess A state of a Church declining to corruption and error clearly to be discerned and traced in that as the power of truth was lost so was the fruit thereof which caused such earnest pressing to needful contributions Pag. 15. and when that would not serve Laws and Decrees were made to force them But in the beginning it was not so for while the purity and simplicity of the Gospel was retained there needed no pressing for their charity then abounded not onely to the tenth part that is tythes but for greater parts Antonii gladios potuit contemnere si sic omnia dixisset 18. Next you say That the right of tythes was never cleared even among the greatest Papists What is that to us Ipsi videant were ever all Cases of Conscience cleared among them advise with your own Casuists Further you say In all ages there were those that withstood the payment of them What then we know it to our grief Hereto you may cite this present age with a witness our self at Conclude now we challenge you thereto but conclude categorically Whatsoever hath been withstood by some in all ages is not good or just The payment of Tythes to Ministers hath been withstood by some in all ages ergo the payment of Tythes to Ministers is not good or just To such a conclusion your medium looks if you deal rationally and if so who sees not the falshood of your major Proposition which can neither by you nor any Sophister in the World be proved For if that were universally true that whatsoever hath been withstood by some in all ages is not good or just What would become of the holy Gospel it self You know what the Jews at Rome said to Paul Act. 28.22 As concerning this Sect we know that every where it is spoken against What truth was ever yet so evident to all men that it found no contradiction Blind Harpaste will contend that the room hath no light Antiquity wanted not an Anaxagoras so paradoxical Fir. Lactant. as to affirm that the snow is black of all truths Satan will be sure that the Gospel shall never want Adversaries some Jewes or other to gain-say the preaching thereof and to withstand the Ministers as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses 2 Tim. 3.8 some tinkerly Alexander the Copper-Smith 2 Tim. 4.4 O but some of the Martyrs saith our Antagonist among other things suffered in flames you say for that sci denying payment of Tythes We answer possibly a Martyr may not