giuen They counted it their glorie to be found to be liberall to the Church yea so carefull and precise were they in these matters that manie times they would in their last wils bequeath some thing f To bee seene in many Testamentary records pro decimis oblitis for forgotten tithes And therefore God did blesse them he did increase their store and multiply their seede he made their flocks to prooue well and their cattell to prosper If we that exceede them in knowledge would but equall them in practise and we that goe before them in profession would but imitate them for this point in our conuersation no doubt wee should succeed them in plentie as well as in place finde Gods fauour as readie to attend vs as them and see our fields and flocks our grounds and goods more fertile and fruitfull more luckie and prosperous then oft they be He hath said it g Titus 1. 2. that cannot lie h 1. Sam. 2. 30 Them that honour me I will honour and honour i Prou. 3. 6. the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruites the best of thine increase so shall thy Barnes be filled and thy presses runne ouer with new wine or in plainer tearmes k Concil Trib. cap. 13. Da mihi decimam multiplicabo tibi nouem that is Giue me my tenth duelie and then I will multiplie thy nine parts assuredly And now beloued to conclude and bring my long labour The conclusioÌ„ exhortatiue wherwith happely I haue wearied you as well as my selfe to an end Consider I beseech you well what I haue said and l 2. Tim. 2. 7. the Lord Iesus giue you vnderstanding If ought distast you yet rashly reiect it not doe first as did Saint Paules hearers Act. 17. m Act. 17. 11. Ioh. 5 39. Search the scriptures whether it be so or no weigh what I haue spoken n Iohn â— 24. in an equall ballance consult not in matters diuine o Galat. 1. 16. with flesh and blood let not selfe will couetousnesse custome companie and other sinister respects blinde and ouerrule you What conuicted by truth the p 2. Esdr 4. 41. force whereof is verie great and soundnesse of argument and demonstration you finde consonant to veritie and equitie that practise remembring well that not they are blessed which heare the word onely but they which q Luk. 11. 28. heare it and doe it that r Act. 5. 29. we ought rather to obey God then man and that we must fit and frame not the word as if it were Å¿ Pigh Hierarch lib. 3. cap. 3 Hos lib. 3. de autoâ—iâ— scrip Cusan ad Bohem. epist 2. a leaden rule to our actions time but our actions and time to the word If you heare and yet will not obey but harden your hearts and say within your selues licet persuaseris non persuadebis that is t Postn p. 97. Though you haue perswaded vs to the right yet to the practise perswade vs you shall not you haue nothing left to cloake your sinne withal I take u 2. Cor. 1. 23. God to witnes to my soule that I haue not haÌ„dled the word of God deceitfully but haue shewed you the plaine and right way and laid before you with all faithfulnesse and sincerity the very truth and law of God And therfore I beseech you as you desire to approue your selues x Iam. 1. 22. Reuel 1. 3. not hearers only of the word but doers also of the work that with all readinesse of heart and will you embrace and follow it That so giuing to God those things that be Gods iustly without alteration fully without diminution freely without corruption and timely without delay or ouerhast God thereby being rightly honoured with your substance and the Ministers of God duly prouided for and condignlie entertained you may auoid the euils which hang ouer their heads that do it not and enioy Gods blessings and fauours which he hath certainly promised and will most assuredly performe vnto all those that do according to this Commandement The God of mercy author of all grace make you wise vnto saluation enlighten your minds that you may discerne things that differ and guide your hearts that you may delight to doe those things that be wel pleasing in his sight to the edifying of your brethren furtherance of the Gospell comfort of your owne soules and withall and aboue al to the eternall glory of God our heauenly Father To whom with the Sonne and the holy Ghost three persons and one euerliuing God be rendred and ascribed all honor praise power and dominion both now and euer Amen FINIS Faults escaped In the first page of the Epistle Dedicatorie last line but two for thus reade this Pag. 5. line 9. reade complained Pag. 10. line 17. reade of anie at anie time
you perfect that you may in these and all other duties performe from time to time that which is wel-pleasing in his sight Beseeching the same God through the merits of his dearest sonne by the operation of his holy and all sanctifying spirit so to rule our hearts and worke in vs that we being holy and acceptable in his sight and our prayers feruent and faithfull they may pierce the heauens and so preuaile with God as they may thence bring iudgements as fire vpon Caesars enemies but as the dew of Diuine grace blessings manifold vpon Caesar and his true subiects That so his most sacred Maiesty may long religiously and happily raigne ouer vs heere on earth and that in the ende and without all end hee with vs and we with him may liue and raigne together in the euerlasting kingdome of Heauen Amen FINIS A SERMON PREACHED AT HENGSTRIDG IN THE COVNTIE OF Somerset the 16. of August vpon Matth. 22. 21. CONCLVDING A FORMER SERMON Preached there the fifth day of August vpon the same text By RICHARD EBVRNE Vicar there PROVERB 20. 25. It is a destruction for a man to deuoure that which is sanctified and after the vowes to enquire London Printed by Felix Kyngston for William Welby 1613. To the Reader COurteous and Christian Reader I had a purpose to haue seconded my first labour The Maintenance of the Ministerie in such sort as it might haue satisfied thine expectation and that title at full but partly discouraged by want of time and meanes fit for a worke of that waight partly detained by hope that as I had heard some one farre more able and ancient would ease me thereof I do for the present present thee againe with this sermon which as a supply to my former treatise may so much further thee if thou take some small paines in perusing and conferring both that by both thou maist haue as it were one sufficient volume of this Argument and I the lesse neede heereafter to labour any farther therein If thereby I preuaile with thee so much that thou acknowledge the same for truth and conforme thee to the practise I haue a great part of my desire or if I may but occasion some or other more learned and able to performe what I haue but rudely informed I shall account my labour not wholly lost I haue abounded in quotations and other mens obseruations for Ornament to the worke Authoritie with the learned direction to the vnlearned and protection for my selfe which if thou vse well will informe thee at full that I am neither alone nor from the ancient nor with the worst Touching the Argument or subiect of my labour in this my Sermon if any shall thinke it not so fit for the pulpit as the pen let him know There can bee no more fault in me to preach thereof then in Moses in the Prophets and in the Apostles so oft so much and so diuersly to speake and write thereof They feared not as * Rulling Decad. lib. 5. Serm. 10. one well notes of Moses lest in handling that matter they should be accused of greedy desire or couetousnes neither need I. That imputation may with better right and reason be retorted vpon them which after all our preaching and teaching of doctrine so necessary vrged so oft by so many in so sound and effectuall manner as might make euen the stones of the street to heare an heart of Adamant to relent and a brow of brasse to blush at this sinne and for all our preaching and publishing of other doctrines most holy most necessary most sweet and comfortable for which they are not able to yeeld vs sufficient recompence with all 1. Cor. 9. that they haue for what are their carnall things to our spirituall Doe yet suffer vs to liue in all needinesse and contempt and making due prouision and supply for the wants of the meanest of themselues passe by vs as not worthie the looking on Touching the meanes by which our distresses wants may be releeued it may happily seeme hard or strange to some that I intimate the off-cutting of customes prescriptions exemptions c. But whoso shall well and thoroughly consider of this businesse shall well perceiue that if euer there be a sincere intent and setled purpose to effect this so holy so necessary so iust and so great a worke it must this way and none other be effected For whereas our estate cannot bee bettered but either by restoring vs that which indeed and properly is our owne which once wee had and which was vnaduisedly and vniustly taken from vs or else by allotting and bestowing vpon vs some things that we neuer had To expect the latter that is that we should haue either sufficient stypends added in all places where need is vnto that which we already haue or that our gentlemen patrones or parochians should lay vs out so much of their fineable lands and temporall liuings as might increase our gleeb in that measure as might supply the want and roome of our tithes by their customes prescriptions c which held is neither probable possible nor reasonable It resteth therefore that by the meanes which I haue mentioned especially this must if euer be effected Thence is the maine cause of the disease and euill and thence according to the old Maxime Sublata causa tollitur effectus must come the cure and remedy much helpe I grant may be had by Impropriations but neither can they wholly be restored nor is the hurt they doe so great so common and generall as of the former Doth it seeme improbable that euer this great good worke should be effected and as a case desperate a matter past hope This may doe so to some but to me it doth not For first when I consider that it is much easier to repaire some Churches then to endow all and yet doe perceiue that time hath beene that all our Churches the whole land thorough haue beene indowed both with conuenient gleebe and their full tithes in kinde I perswade my selfe if we had that true zeale to the Church and vnfained loue to religion that the first Christians which so endowed our Churches had that the ruines rents and maymes of our Churches might with facility and celerity enough be repaired and amended the rather for that as in ruines and rubble of old buildings there resteth in the place matter conuenient and sufficient for performance thereof 2. When as I doe finde that for long agoe in time of darkest popery one man alone one bishop of the land I mean that famous Bishop Grosthead then Bishop of Lincolne could and did obtaine of the Pope being yet scant his friend power and authority both to institute vicaridges in Churches impropriate where none were and where such were as seemed too slenderly prouided of sufficient allowance to augment the same as to him should seeme expedient The coppie of which letters papall I haue for the worthines thereof as in
his ministers are free and at our owne choice to take as in ancient time we were either money or if that we dislike our owne in kinde No man no man I There is as great reason and cause wee shold improue our liuings as other men doe their lands am sure is able to shew iust cause why we alone the Clergye ought not to haue our owne in kinde or the full valew thereof as well as first our predecessors formerly haue had secondly our selues in diuers things and thirdly our neighbours the Laity on euery side vs rich and poore in euery thing continually haue There be that wil tell vs of customes compositions prescriptions Customes Praescriptions c. in case of tithes prooued vnlawfull c To the contrary The very name of p Cicer. 2. Tuscul Custome is of great force and prescription hath a peculiar might so that q Galen de sánit tâ—end lib. 1. pag. 33. et lib. 5. p. 336. Aug. ad Ian. lib. 1. as in mens bodies hee that leaueth a thing accustomed doth many times hazard his health so in mens estates hee that breaketh a custome doth oftentimes preiudice their right But yet I hope no wise man much lesse any good Diuine will affirme that in all things the very colour of a Custome is enough and that all that must needs alwaies be lawfull and good which can be proued to be a Custome For then in vaine did God charge his people that r Leuit. 18. 30. they should not doe any of these abominable customes which had bene done before Leu. 18. The sonne of God did not well Å¿ Matth. 15. 3. to reprooue the Pharisies Matth. 15. for obseruing the Traditions that is the ancient customes of their elders and the good Fathers of the Church haue greatly erred in teaching vs that t Aug. de vnic bapt lib. 2. Cipr. ad Pomp. Isidor in synon lib. 2. Distinct 8. veritate Ratio et veritas Consuetudini praeponenda that is Reason and veritie are to be preferred before vse and custome Presuming therefore that wee shall easily thus farre agree u Andr. Hisp de Dec. ca. 8. That against the word of God no custome can hold That x Concil Sardicen Canon 1. Duaren de Benef lib. 5. cap. 3. Mala Consuetudo non minus quam pernitiosa corruptela funditus eradicanda est that is An euill custome in the body politique no lesse then a pernitious corruption or dangerous disease in the body naturall ought vtterly and speedily to be rooted out That custome y Decret lib. 1. tit 4. de consu cap. vltim to the ende it may hold for a Law ought to be agreeable to reason and as our z An. 32. H. 8. cap. 7. in praef owne Law well giues the terme laudable and good and that a Aug. de Baptis paruul Tertul. de Virg velandis Senec. de vera vita Veritate manifestata non est sequenda consuetudo quia Dominus non Dixit Ego sum consuetudo sed ego veritas that is The truth beeing manifested we are not to follow the custome but the truth because the Lord said not I am the custome but I am the truth I doubt not to make it cleare that these customes prescriptions c. Whereof now wee speake in as much as by them the Church is abridged and debarred of a great part of the full valew of her tithes are contrary to the worde of God repugnant to reason and equity and nothing lesse then laudable and good For 1. The word of God requireth of vs expressely b Num. 18. Mal. 3. 8. Deeimam 1. God requireth the full tenth the tenth and not any other part Now it is most euident in all true sense and naturall construction that as hee goes not a iourney that goes but a mile or two of the way and not the whole hee doth not doe a worke that doth but a part thereof and not the whole he payes not a sum of money that paies but some halfe or a quarter thereof and not the whole c Andr. His reg Dec. 9. Ridl view pag. 148. Foem Mon. n. 7. b No example in the Bible to the contrary Ridl view of page 141. So hee paies not Decimam that paies but the 20. 40. or the hundreth part thereof and not the whole 2. There can no one instance be giuen out of the word of God either that Gods people paid or God accepted for the tenth some other thing money or money-worth lesse in valew then the tenth and so any custome for the thing it selfe And when as our Sauiour speaking of the Pharisies which d Matth. 23. 23. Luke 11. 42. tithed their mint annis cummin rue et omne olus and euery other herbe saith This they ought not to haue left vndone hee signifies not obscurely that this manner of Tithing viz. in kind and without Diminution euen for those smaller things much more then for the greater was in vse vntill his time and was a manner of tithing iust and lawfull How precise God was in this point wee may not obscurely gather by this that he prohibited any man so much e Leuit. 27. 33. as to chaunge the tithe a good for a bad or a bad for a good without a penall augmentation of it This beeing Gods law then seeing he f Mal. 3. 6. is the same God still the tithe is his right still and the vse of them is like necessary still how can it be probable that he should now approoue such g Martial epigr. l. 5. Homer Ili 6 a Glaucus exchange or alteration as taking away the thing in kinde leaues in lieu thereof not the halfe not the fourth yea many times not the tenth part that it is worth And when as hee pronounceth him directly accursed h Mal. 1. 13. that offereth hauing better in store the torne the lame the sicke and denieth flatly to accept it what likelihood is there hee can bee pleased to haue for his faire goodly and sound portion the tenth a modicum so bad and so little that in comparison thereof the smallest weakest and worst in kinde were a rich oblation I will graunt though with faire probability I may denye it and Calu. in locum as some iudicious writers doe restrain that law to vowes and oblations onely that God permitted any of his people Deut. 14. k Deut. 14. 24. in some one case to sell the tithe and make it in mony and so to come with that mony in his hand vnto the house of the Lord. But that is so far froÌ„ making against me that it doth not a little confirme that I do affirme For first that was but in one case onely which with vs comes not in vse Secondly he was bound to bestow l Vers 26. the same mony the whole mony againe vpon such commodities as he had sold and so to bring that
Saint Augustine long agoe obserued Domini iustissima consuetudo the Lords custome most iust and equall a thing that he doth very often execute what vt si illi tu decimam non dederis tu ad decimam reuoceris that is If thou giue him not his tenth thou m Andr. Hisp reg dec 9. hauing lost thy nine parts be brought to a tenth And therefore as the same father peremptorily n C. 16. Maiores q. 17. Nicola 1. caus 16. q. 2. Rab. Maur. in Num. lib. 2. C. 22. â—t 23. affirmeth now there are so manie tempests by sea and land so much sterilitie and dearth of victuals so often and so great mortalities and famines because people doe not pay to God his due but detaine vnto themselues some by one meanes some by another that which is Gods Other of the fathers as o Orig. in Num. homil 11. Hier. in mal 3. Origen Hierom and others haue obserued the like And not the fathers only but likewise the auncient p Concil Tribur c. 13. conc worm c. 16. q. 1. synod Arelat 4. cap. 9. counsels and sacred synods of those first and best times that so wee might know the same to haue beene also the common doctrine and the verie faith of the whole Church haue so decreede and concluded According vnto whom for our owne land and time though our other sinnes bee manie and God no doubt doth for diuers transgressions send among vs diuers and sundrie plagues yet I make no question of it but that for The Principal cause why God many times smiteth vs with famins vnseasonable weather c. this one sinne this so great so common and vsual a sinne viz. the defrauding of God and his Church the manifold sacriledge euerie where committed among vs the contempt and wrong that way done to our Church-men both in towne and countrie the ill and slender prouision made for the Ministers of the Gospell by vs that so long haue professed the Gospell euen for this massie sinne or rather masse of sinnes it is that we are so oft smitten with famines and dearth with vnseasonable and bad weather scorching drought and drenching wet flouds and fires with losse of goods and needinesse of all things that so wee may receiue a iust and full reward according to our wicked workes The particular falls and miserable ends of sundrie such as haue lift vp their hand in this sort against God as that of q Melanc de gest reg Angl. lib. 3. Polid. virg anglic hist lib. 10. William Rufus here at home r Gagn. lib. 4. hist franc Rebuff de dec q. 10 fig. 7. Charles Martel in France may teach vs what danger it is to be aduenturers this way And where as there haue beene such in these later times Å¿ Hous ser 2. on Matth. 21. 12. p. 35. 38. as vnder colour of friendship and holy pretenses haue made no little spoile of that is Gods if we consider what hath beene the end of such may wee not say with the t Psalm 78. 66. Bern. in Cantic ser 65. Ridl view p. 170. Psalmist 77. Percussit inimicos in posteriora that is that God hath wounded his enemies on the hinder parts and put them to a perpetuall shame and see that fulfilled in them which is written in another place u Psal 109. 10. Foem Monar in the conclus o. 3. a. Couel in praef to Carlton Let the stranger spoile his labour and let his posteritie be destroyed and in the next generation let his name be cleane put out It is an old rule yet not more old then true Ex male quaesitis vix gaudet tertius haeres that is Seldome doe goods ill got descend to the third heire Church-goods are the right x Sabellic Aene. 5. lih 8. p. 821. Gueuarra Suruey of the preten discip c. 21. aurum Tholossanum scant a man that vnlawfully takes to himselfe anie part thereof euer thriues afterward very like to the Arke of the God of Israel if they y 1. Sam. 5 3. be forced into the temple of Dagon or z 1. Sam. 5. 9. 1. Sam. 6. 19. God will blesse them that pay him these things iustly touched by strangers they will be their ouerthrow On the other side if wee render to God his due and rightly giue him the things that be his wee may safely promise vnto our selues Gods assured fauour and blessing We haue his word for it Mal. 3. if we bring omnes decimas a Mal. 3. 8. all the tithes into his barne and take such order that there may be sufficient meate in his house for them that doe him and vs seruice there he will open the windowes of heauen vnto vs and power out vpon vs a blessing of plentie without measure he will rebuke the deuourer that he shall not destroy the fruit of our ground our land shall be a pleasant land and so wee b Hag. 2. 20. shall be repaid at large and plentifully restored the losse we might feare and the hindrance we might doubt wee should doe our selues in yeelding him his due He can say no more but bid vs * Mal. 3. 10. prooue him withall and make triall a yeere or two whether he will be as good as his word and fulfill his promise or not And c Gryn in Mal. 3 would to God in hac re longè maxima in this so great and weightie a cause we could at length be induced to prooue what God would doe Hee doth not vse to deceiue meÌ„ with vaine words nor draw theÌ„ on to their hurt if therefore there be anie truth in him and his word and what greater impietie can there be then to doubt thereof It is the readie way to thriue and grow rich Maiores nostri ideo copijs omnibus abundabant quia Deo decimas Caesari censum dabant that is Our auncestors saith Saint d Aug. C. maiores caus 16. q. 17. Augustine did therefore abound in all wealth and riches because they alwaies duely paid to God his tithes and to Caesar his tribute And we may iustly thinke that no small part of that plentie and abundance which our eares haue heard our owne forefathers had was because in this point they were more righteous then we They made that conscience Our fathers in their ignorence shewed a better conscience this way theÌ„ many of vs in our knowledge of paying their tithes iustly and fully that we doe not They would not for a world take to themselues that they knew to bee as they rightly and religiously tearmed it Gods part They beleeued they should neuer prosper if they should deceiue the Church or rob God of his due They thought it their duetie if not e Cassiod lib. 3 epist 9. Foem Mon. o. 2. a. noua construere that is to giue somewhat themselues to the Church at least yet vetera conseruare to keepe most carefully that was alreadie