Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	church_n	doctrine_n	teach_v	6,712	5	6.4919	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10796	The reuenue of the Gospel is tythes, due to the ministerie of the word, by that word. Written by Foulke Robartes Batchelour of Diuinitie	Robartes, Foulke, 1580?-1650.	1613 (1613)	STC 21069; ESTC S115987	99,848	152

which is most consonant to the will of God For howsoeuer diuerse or euery one of those auncients are sometimes suspected to be and also sometimes indeede are in error some in one point some in an other as who erreth not beeing neither Prophet nor Apostle Yet are they not combined therein like Simeon and Leui brethren in euill they vphold not any error with generall consent but what is either mistaken or scarse soundly auouched by one is better interpreted and more purely taught by an other so that what point soeuer the fathers doe harmonically and with consent of all agreeingly maintain that point rightly vnderstood according vnto their true meaning is euer certainly orthodoxall truth I will not stuffe vp a volume with multitude either of Authors or of testimonies but onely produce a few of the most auncient and best esteemed Fathers and of each mans writings but a few of their most pregnant assertions The youngest that I will cite is no babe nor infant but a Father indeede of twelue hundred yeares standing and antiquitie who is plaine and copious for his iudgement in this point in one place these are his words Maiores nostri ideo copijs omnibus abundabant quia deo decimas Aug. l●b ●0 homiliar hom ●8 dabant Caesari censum reddebant modo autem quia discessit deuotio dei accessit indictio fisci that is Our auncestors did abound therefore with plentie of all things because they did giue tythes vnto God and performe tribute vnto Caesar but of late because that deuotion of God is gone the imposition of the Excheaquer is come vpon you The plaine testimonie of Augustine therefore is that in the times before him tythes were wont to be paid vnto God as Gods due which thing caused God also to blesse those which paid them and least it might be deemed that in the time of Augustine which was foure hundreth yeares after the incarnation tythes were growen out of due date hee addeth that the meanes of impouerishing men by the heauie exactions of the Emperours officers in his time were a iudgement of God vpon men for want of deuotion in tythe-paying whereupon is that saying dabis impio militi quod non dabis sacerdoti that is thou shalt be constrained to giue that to the prophane Soldiour which thou wilt not giue to the Priest And in an other place the same Father saith exim● partem aliquam 〈…〉 redituum tuorum Decimas vis Decimas accipe quanquam parum sit dictum est enim nisi abundauerit inflicia vestra plus quám Scribarum Pharis●orū non 〈◊〉 in regnum eaelorum that is Lay out some part of thy reuenues Wilt thou haue it to be the tenth part take out the tenths though that be a small matter for it is said except your righteousnesse exceede the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisies yee can not enter into the kingdome of heauen So also Serm. de temp 219. Deus non eget tuis bonis non postulat munus sed honorem non rogat tuum sed suum dignatur rogare decimas primitias quid faceres si nouem partes vendicaret tibi relicta decima that is God hath no need of thy goods he demandeth not a reward but honour at thine hands hee doth not aske thine but his owne hee vouchsafeth to demand tythes and first fruites what wouldest thou doe if he should challenge the nine parts leauing vnto thee onely the tenth In all which sayings and many more Augustine doth claime tythes not by any humane constitution but in Gods behalfe as Gods right or due Of the same time with Augustine and of the same iudgement in this point was Hierom whose words are these Quod de decimis diximus quae oli● à populo dabantur In Mal. 3. ● sacerdotibus Louitis in ecclesiae quoque populis intelligo that is what we haue said concerning tythes which in old time were giuen to the Preists and Leuites I doe meane it also in the people of the Church Where he plainely expoundeth that double honour whereby Paul termeth the 1. Tim. ● 1● exhibition of the Ministers to be tythes which he maintaineth to be as due now to the Ministers of the Gospel as euer they were vnto the Leuites in the Tabernacle Chrysostome saith Iusticiam fidem misericordiam Deus Hom. in Matth. 4● mandauit propter suam gloriam sed decimas in sustentationem suorum ministrorum that is God hath commanded iustice faith and mercie for his glorie but tythes for the maintenance of his ministers Likewise in his Homilies Hom. 1● Act. vpon the Acts of the Apostles stirring vp men to pay their due to the Ministers of the Gospel hee telleth them that howsoeuer they are but meane men yet they may doe good workes though they be not able to build Churches nor to performe any such great matters if they wil but truly pay their tythes parumne est deum ex omnibus fructibus prius partem ac decimas accipere that is Is it a small matter that God doth first take a part tythes of all increase not intimating that God doth impose any heauy burthen in asking the tenth but stirring vp the poore man not to be discouraged seeing that in paying to Gods Ministers no lesse then the tenth part of all his increase he doth therein such a worke as God accepteth at his hands in good part So Chrysostome affirmeth plainely that tythes are due to the ministerie by the word or commandement of God mandauit Deus are his words that is God hath commanded Ambrose swarueth not in this point from those aforenamed 〈…〉 but requireth at the hands of men true and exact payment of their tythes imputing that for a capitall sinne vnto any man wherein hee hath failed in true tything Quicunque recognouerit in se quòd fideliter non dederit decimas ●mendet quod minus secit that is whosoeuer shall be think himselfe that hee hath not faithfully paid his tythes let him amend that wherein hee hath failed So Ambrose speaketh of tythes as matters due and also in vse and practi●e so farre forth as the non payments of tythes yea the vnperfect or vnfull payment of them was a greiuous sinne to be repented of but more of Ambrose his minde in this point is to be seene hereafter in the 12. chapter in the distinction of tythes into praediall and personall These foure so reuerend Fathers for learning and holinesse liuing in the same age by their consenting iudgement in this point wherein they neither contradict one an other not are contradicted by any either of their own times or of the times before them or of the times which followed them for the space of eight hundred yeares doe both sufficiently testifie what was the doctrine of the Church in their most happie times concerning tythes and also confirme that that doctrine was the truth And that it may yet further appeare that

this doctrine which Ambrose Chrysostome Ierome and Augustine taught about tythes was no new inuention of their own I will yet shew that they held no otherwise in this point then they had learned from their learned predecessors for Cyprian Origen who were aboue an hundred yeares before these aforenamed taught also the same and no other doctrine concerning tythes Cyprian his words are debere presbyteros tanquam decimas 〈…〉 accipientes ex fructu non recedere ab altari sed nocte dieque spiritualibus inseruire that is That ministers as beeing receiuers of tythes of the increase ought not to retire from the altar but night and day to attend vpon spirituall things The word altar is here to be taken tropically for the ministery of the Gospel which saith Cyprian the Minister may neuer neglect by incumbering himselfe or intermedling in seculer affaires because that the maintenance of the ministery doth arise out of the tithes of mens increase without intangling the ministers minde with worldly care Origen was something before Cyprian in time but differed 〈…〉 nothing from him in this point for thus hee speaketh Quomodo iusticia nostra abundat plus qu●m 〈◊〉 Scribarum Pharisaeorum si illi de frugibus terrae non aud●●t gustare priusquam primi●ias offerant sacerdotibus decimas Leuitis separauerint nos autem nihil horum c. that is How doth our righteousnesse exceede the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisies if they dare not tast of their fruites before they haue offered the first fruites to the Priests and laid apart the tenths for the Leuites wh●● we shall doe no such matter But what may one say is this to the purpose I answer that Origen hauing in that place spoken of the right of tythes among the Israelites hee then addeth as followeth Hanc ego legem obseruari e●iam secundum literam puto that is I hold that this law ought to be obserued euen according to the letter which words he oftentimes repeateth in that homilie and is verie copious and carnest in the point affirming fully that tithes are due by morall precept which is perpetuall as wee haue shewed before cap. 6. Also Origen expounding that place Matth. 23. 23. these things vz. paying the least tythes ought ye to haue done and not to haue left the other vndone saith that this is a precept non minus in vsum Christ●anorum qu●m Iudaeorum no lesse for the vse of Christians then of Iewes These of the most auncient and excellent of the Fathers some of them so neere the times of the Apostles others so long after for the space of 400. yeares knewe no other doctrine concerning tythes but that they are due still according to the letter and that it is a hainous offence against God either not to pay tithes at all or to pay them fraudulently and vnfaithfully More of the iudgement of the auncient Fathers together with the manifold decrees of councels to this effect who will may see in the treatises of M. Carlton and M. C●rl●t cap 〈…〉 Eburne and also in the decrees of Gratian. CHAP. X. The iudgement and practise of heathen concerning tythes BEsides all this which I haue shewed to haue been the ●udgement and practise of men fearing the true God wee haue also arguments to bee drawne to this purpose Carle● t●●h cap. ●●●burn cap ● pag. ●1 62 ●● from the heathen which knewe not God yet by their practise haue declared the paiment of tythes to bee a morall dutie For euen Heathen writers doe witnesse that this euen this verie portion of the tenth part hath been accustomably and religiously paid vnto the heathen Gods with this obseruation thereupon that by such payments they became rich and prospered Plutarch saith of Lucullus 〈…〉 that he became rich because he paid tythes to Hercules And Diodorus Siculus reporteth that many of the 〈…〉 Romanes both meane and wealthy did vow and practise the like paiments of tythes vnto Hercules and prospered thereby Macrobius prooueth as much out of Varro and 〈◊〉 l. ● cap. ●● that it was the common custome of the auncients to vow tythes vnto Hercules Xenophon writeth of some who paid 〈◊〉 3. tythes to Apollo To the same effect are the words of ●estus decima quaeque veteres dijs suis offerebant that is The auncients did offer their gods all maner of tythes for among the Sabaeans and Aethiopians as Plinie writeth the 〈◊〉 l. 12. cap. 1● ●● merchants may not meddle with their spices vntill the Priests haue laid out the tenths for their gods So also in He●c●● 〈…〉 spoiles of warre they did pay their tenths and offered tythes of all vnto Iupiter Pausanias a Grecian generall ●a●●l 〈…〉 3. l. 2. p●g ●3● hauing obtained great victorie against the Persians layd aside the tythes of all his spoiles to be diuided betweene Iupiter Apollo and Neptune The Carthagmians paid ●au●l pag. ●0● tythes of the pray vnto Hercules when they had spoyled the Scicilians Camillus going against the Veians vowed to pay tythes vnto the goddesse Matuta if hee should ouercome Plu●●n Ca●●l And Linie saith concerning that expedition that when the Veians had beene ouercome by the Romans Dea●● ●1 l. ● the tythes were paid howsoeuer hee nameth the party to whome they were paid to bee not Matuta but Apollo Now whereas the Heathen so vsually so long time in so many places haue accustomed the paiment of tythes to their gods what shall we thinke of it but that the Heathen by the light of nature perceiuing all prosperi●ie to come from God and to depend vpon his good pleasure haue thought themselues bound to honour God with their riches and this they haue learned by tradition from the sonnes of Noah spread and continued among all nations that the tenth is gods speciall part neither is this my pri●ate fancie but the opinion of those learned men who so lately haue laboured in this point and also the iudgment of the learned Brentius before their times whose words are Dare decimas ad conseruanda sacra non fuit recens à Leuiticis In Le●●t ●7 ●0 sacrificulis excogitatum sed erat iam ante patriarchis vsitatum Abraham cum reuerteretur à caede quatuor regum dedit decimam spoliorum sacerdoti Melchisedecho lacob cum fugeret saeuitiam fratris sui vouit si reuerteretur incolumis ad patriam se daturum decimam omnium facult atum suarum ad constituenda sacra in Bethel Gentes etiam dederunt aliquoties decimam dijs suis quod haud dubie sicut mos sacrificandi à Patriarcharum exemplo desumptum est that is To giue tythes to maintaine Gods worship was no new inuention of the Leuiticall Priests but a thing long before accustomed among the Patriarches When Abraham returned from the slaughter of the foure kings hee gaue tythe of the spoiles to Melchisedech the Priest and when Iacob sled