Gospel but that the labourer should receive his necessaries from the place wherein he laboureth And a little before him Hierome also in his Book De vita Monach Cler. instituenda saith If I be the Lords part and the lot of his inheritance not having a part amongst the rest of the Tribes but as a Levite and Priest doe live of tithes and serving at the Altar am sustained by the offerings of the Altar having victuals and cloathing I will be contented herewith and being otherwise naked will follow the naked crosse So in his Book De Co. virginitatis having reproved the curiosity of some Clerks of that time he saith also Habentes victum vestitum his contenti sumus for as Ambrose saith upon Esay 1. Tom. 2. In officio clericatus lucrum non pecuniarum sed acquiritur animarum In the function of a Clegy-man the gain of mony is not to be sought but the gain of souls All these are but particular opinions of some Western Fathers hear now therefore the determination of the Eastern church assembled in the Councell of Antioch Anno 340. cap. 25. Episcopus Ecclesiasticarum rerum habeat potestatem ad dispensandum erga omnes qui indigent cum summa reverentia timore Dei participet autem ipse quibus indiget tam in suis quà m in fratrum qui ab eo suscipiuntur necessariis usibus profuturis ita ut in nullo qualibet occasione fraudentur juxta sanctum Apostolum sic dicentem Habentes victum tegumentum his contenti sumus Quòd si contentus istis minime fuerit convertat autem res ecclesiae in suos usus domesticos ejus commoda vel agrorum fructus non cum Presbyterorum conscientia diaconorumque pertractet sed horum potestatem domesticis suis aut propinquis aut fratribus filiisque committat ut per hujusmodi personas occultè caeterae laedantur ecclesiae Synodo provinciae poenas iste persolvat Si autem aliter accusetur Episcopus aut Presbyteri qui cum ipso sunt quòd ea quae pertinent ad ecclesiam vel ex agris vel ex alia qualibet Ecclesiastica facultate sibimet usurpent ita ut ex hoc afsligantur quidem pauperes criminationi verò blasphemiis tam sermo praedicationis quà m hi qui dispensant taliter exponantur hos oportet corrigi sancta Synodo id quod condecet approbante Prosper proceedeth further and will not suffer that a Minister able to live of himself should participate any thing of Church goods Nec illi qui sua possidentes c. For saith he They which have of their own and yet desire to have somewhat given them of that whereon the poor should live doe not receive it without great sinne The holy Ghost speaking of Clerks or Clergy-men saith They eat the sins of my people But as they which have nothing of their own receive the food they have need of and not the sins so they which have of their own receive not the food which they abound with but the sins of other men Therefore though the Councell of Antioch An. 340. Can. 25. ordained that the Bishops might distribute the Church goods yet would it not suffer them to take any portion thereof to the use of themselves or of the Priests and brethren that lived with them unlesse necessity did justly require it using the words of the Apostle 1 Tim. 6. 8. habentes victum tegumentum his contenti sumus having food and raiment let us be therewith contented And decreed further that if the Bishops should not be satisfied but did employ any goods of the Church to their kindred brethren or children they should answer it at the next Synod So likewise touching Priests as the words subsequent imply and as Achilles Statius expoundeth it pag. 14. for the Priests at that time had nothing but by the assignment of the Bishops and if the Bishops themselves might take no more then onely for their necessity we may easily judge what the inferiour Clergy might doe But Gregory looking upon 2 Thess. 3. 7 8. where it is said You ought to follow us we take no bread of any man for nought and that he which will not work should not eat applieth these to the Clergy and concludeth that though such kind of Ministers have never so much need yet they must not participate the food of their function or Church Revenues for saith he Pensemus cujus damnationis sit c. let us think with our selves how great damnation it is to receive the reward of labour without labour Behold we the Clergy live of the oblations of the faithfull but what doe we labour to get the goods and cattell of the faithfull doe we take those things for our wages which the faithfull have offered for the redemption of their sins and doe we not earnestly labour as we ought to doe against those sins by industry of prayer and preaching For the next Ages of the church what the Authour intended further will bee supplied by himselfe in the 20. chap. following collecting out of divers Councels severall canons touching tithes but for our owne church of England he doth abundantly expresse himself in his first Tome of our English Councels out of which see the collections here following cap. 27. and much also may be observed out of Mr Selden in his History c. 6. where he sheweth when Tithes began to be commanded by Laws and Synods and withall giveth the reason out of Agobardus a very learned Bishop of Lions as he truly saith of him why Councels did not at first make canons touching Tithes and gifts to the church which Agobardus speaketh touching generall Councels but Provinciall Councels did frequently command them as will appear by the collections following here cap. 20. Agobardus words are considerable in his Book De dispensatione contra sacrilegos p. 176. Jam verò de donandis rebus ordinandis ecclesiis nihil unquam in Synodis constitutum est nihil à sanctis patribus publicè praedicatum nulla enim compulit necessitas fervente ubique religiosa devotione amore illustrandi ecclesias ultro aestuante c. Concerning giving of goods and endowing of churches nothing hath ever been decreed in Councels nothing publickly promulgated by the holy Fathers for no necessity required it the religious devotion and love of beautifying the churches every where abounding of their owne accord At first religious christians sold all their lands goods houses and possessions laying down the money at the Apostles feet Acts 2. 45. and long after the Apostles time devotion and zeal in this kind was so fervent that there was no need of laws but when this zeal began to waxe cold in the next Ages following then laws and canons were made more carefully for Tithes and maintenance Many Kings and Princes also were so pious and carefull that the full tenth should be paid that they made severall lawes to pay
establishment of the Gospel be impeached and turned out of the course thereof it rising in the midst of the enemies in the flame of persecution and with the opposition of the greatest Potentates in every Region It must therefore have the greater need of sundry Reformations some of the first lineaments must be wiped out some altered some as occasion served must be added or amended the Iudaicall ceremonies that for many years together were permitted in the cradle time of the Church must be taken away Paul that then suffered them now suppresseth them Col. 3. Gal. 3. ca. 4. c. 5. and the holy Ghost throughout all the Epistle to the Hebrews beateth them down for ever Thus as old branches be cut off so some new be ingraffed the Lords day the Feasts of Easter and Whitsontide not spoken of in the beginning are brought in at length Deacons are ordained presently after Christ Act. 6. 2. but no Bishops in 20. years after nor were they then particularly ascribed every one to his limit but many together over one City as at Ephesus Act. 20. 28. So women at first were admitted to be Deacons but time afterwards wore them out Christ commanded his Disciples that they should not goe from house to house but Paul saith I have taught you openly and from house to house Acts 20. 20. To conclude all could not be suddainly done nor compendiously written that belonged to the government of the Church therefore the Apostles left much to the wisedome of the Church under this generall Commission Let all be done in order 1 Cor. 14. 40. a few words but of great extent like that of the Dictators at Rome which being but two words providere reipub gave them authority over every thing CAP. XI That upon the reasons alledged and other here ensuing the use of tithing was omitted in Christs and the Apostles time and these reasons are drawn one ab expediente the other à necessitate THe greater matters thus quailing as aforesaid it could not bee chosen but things of lesse importance must also be neglected especially such as were outward and concerned onely the body amongst which the use of Tithing was likewise discontinued both in the Apostles time and in the first age of the Law when the great ceremonies of Circumcision Sacrifice and Oblations the Passeover c. and many other holy rites were suffered to sleep But some will say God strictly exacted not these things till the place he had chosen was prepared for them that is till the building of the Temple as it is true in part touching the old Law so is it likewise true in the new Law and that therefore Christ and the Apostles exacted not the payment of Tithes in the first pilgrimage and warfare of the Gospel but referred them amongst some other things till the Church were established for as Solomon saith Every thing hath his time and the time was not yet come that the Church should demand her owne lest with Martha shee seemed curious about worldly things rather then as Mary to seek the spirituall When the Kingdome was rent from Saul and given to David David by and by sought not the Crown but life and liberty so the Priesthood being rent from Levi and given to the Church the Church by and by required not her earthly duties but as David did life to grow up and liberty to spread abroad for love saith Saint Paul seeketh not her own 1 Cor. 13. 5. and should then the mother of all love the Church be curious herein especially when her necessities were otherwise so abundantly supplied Saint Paul maketh it manifest 1 Cor. 9. throughout where he sheweth that very much liberty and great matters were due unto him in respect of his Ministry yet he concludeth I have not used this power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but on the contrary part suffered all things ibid. v. 12. and again v. 15. I have used none of all these things But why did he not use them since they were due unto him his reason is that we as though he spake in the name of all the Apostles should not hinder the Gospel of Christ ibid. v. 12. But why should the taking of that was due unto him hinder the Gospel because the malicious backbiters would thereupon report that he rather preached it for gain then of zeal and so abased his authority in the Gospel ib. 18. wheras by this course of taking nothing for his pains hee made it as he saith free ibid. and stopped their mouths Thus it is evident that the Apostles not onely neglected but absolutely refused even the things that they certainly knew to belong unto them Another reason why the Apostles received no Tithes drawn à necessitate The very condition of the Church in the time of the Apostles could not suffer them to receive Tithes for as the Levites received them not in their travell and ways but when they were setled and the Temple built so the Apostles being altogether in travel through all parts of the world and in continuall warfare with the enemies of the Gospel one while in prison another while in flight always in persecution much lesse could they look after Tithes which also were not to be paid as they needed them but at the times and places onely when and where they grew to be due and ere that time came they that were to receive them were in another Countrey many hundred miles off for example the holy Ghost saith that Peter walked through all quarters Acts 9. 32. one while at Lydda ib. another while at Joppa ib. v. 36. first at Jerusalem after at Antioch in Syria Gal. 2. 11. then at Babylon in Aegypt 1 Pet. 5. 13. Paul and Barnabas being at Antioch aforesaid or sent forth by the holy Ghost first to Seleucia in Syria then to Salamis and Paphus in the Isle of Cyprus after from thence to Perga in Pamphilia so to the other Antioch in Pisidia Acts 13. after to Iconium Lystria Derbe the parts of Lycaonia So again to Antioch in Syria thence to Jerusalem and presently back to the same Antioch where Paul and Barnabas breaking company Barnabas with Mark saileth to Cyprus Paul taking Silas travelleth through Syria and Cilioia confirming the Churches Then he commeth to the Countries of Phrygia Galatia Mysia from whence being called by the holy Ghost he leaveth Asia and passeth by Samothracia into Europe preacheth at Philippi a City of Macedonia furthest North-ward of all Greece then back again and up and down Asia to Jerusalem again and from thence at length to Rome Reade Acts 13. 14 15 16. cap. I will not speak of that Theodoretus and Sophronius the Patriarch of Jerusalem affirm that after his first imprisonment at Rome he preached the Gospel to the Britaine 's our Countrymen for happily he might doe that at Rome But to come to the rest of the Apostles Bartholomew as Jerome witnesseth Catalog script Eccles. Tom. 1. goeth to the Indians Thomas
house shall be called an house of prayer locally to places of prayer whereas he saith it was spoken figuratively of the congregation of the faithfull I exclude not that sense but I assure my selfe our Saviour Christ when he whipt the sellers out of the Temple not out of the congregation applied this Scripture to the very place of prayer and it is questionlesse that the old and late classicke writers so expound it Some quotations here were intended out of ancient and moderne Authors which though I could easily supply yet being loth to adde any thing to the originall copie I leave it to the learned reader to consult the Commentators which is easily done Againe it much offends him that I interpret the words of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 11. 12. Despise ye the Church of God as spoken of the materiall place which after his manner he will also have to be onely understood of the Congregation and had the word ecclesia no other signification then doubtlesse he had obtained the cause But obserue I pray what I have formerly said touching that point and then take into your consideration the words of the Apostle as they lye in that chapter First in the 18. verse he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quando convenisti in ecclesia For these be the very words and how we shall English them is the question Whether when ye come together in the Congregation that is in the assembly or when ye come together in the Church that is in the place of the assembly I confesse the words indefinitely spoken may beare either interpretation and I condemne neither of them in this place Yet let us see which is more probable or at least whether my trespasse deserves his reprehension The Apostle continuing his speech upon the same subject in the 20. vers goeth on thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he should say convenientibus igitur vobis in eodem leaving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in eodem spoken neutrally and as it were to be applied either to the assembly or the place which to put it out of doubt Beza and our English Geneva translation doe adde the word locus a place in a different letter to declare the meaning of the Apostle and read it accordingly When you come together therefore into one place So that now it is determined how the word Ecclesia or Church in the 18. vers before going is to be expounded and then joyne the words subsequent unto it wherein the Apostle complaineth of the abusing that thing which before he spake of and in reprehension of the abuse committed therein by eating and drinking he saith vers 22. Have ye not houses to eate and to drink in or despise ye the Church of God Where the very antithesis of houses to eate and drink in with the Church of God doe still pursue the precedent interpretation of Ecclesia for the place of assembly as if distinguishing betweene places and not persons he should have said Your houses are the places to eate and drink in but the Church is the place of prayer otherwise he might perhaps have said Have ye not other meetings to eate and drinke at but despise ye this holy meeting And I thinke it not without speciall providence that the Translators therefore did translate here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ecclesiam Dei contemniti Despise ye the Church of God not despise ye the Congregation of God for the word Chyrche coming of the German word Kirken and that of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Dominicum or the Lords House was in ancient times as Eusebiu◠and Nicephorus witnesse the common name of materiall Churches doth to this day properly signifie the same and we doe never use it for a particular congregation but either generally for the body or society of the faithfull through a whole kingdome or common wealth or particularly for the very place of prayer onely This foundation being now laid upon the words of the Apostle himselfe let us see how it hath been since understood by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church as well ancient as moderne Hieroms opinion appeareth already in my booke and Chrysostomes you shall heare anon But this man despiseth the first and therefore I am sure he will account as lightly of the second A Senate of Fathers moves him not an haire a right monothelite he opposeth his owne onely will against them all Yet to satisfie some others whose eares perhaps may be better in tune I will cite one who for humblenesse of spirit integritie of life and admirable learning for the time he lived in hath ever since been venerable throughout the world and no forreigner but our Countreyman Bede who upon these words Numquid domos non habetis an Ecclesiam Dei contemnitis Ecclesia saith he homines sunt de quibus dicitur ut exhiberet sibi gloriosam ecclesiam hoc tamen vocari etiam ipsam domum orationum idem Apostolus testis est vbi ait numquid domos non habetis ad manducandum bibendum an ecclesiam Dei contemnitis hoc quotidianus usus loquendi obtinuit ut in ecclesiam prodire ad ecclesiam confugere non dicatur nisi qui ad locum ipsum parietesque prodierit vel confugerit quibus ecclesiae congregatio continetur But he will say that all this old wine savours of the caske therefore we will spend no more time in broaching of it Taste of the new Peter Martyr upon the place Quando convenitis potest saith he hoc referri ad locum qui unus omnes continebat ita ut notetur corporalis conjunctio c. and then An ecclesiam Dei contemnitis potest accipi Ecclesia saith he pro caetu sacro vel pro loco quo fideles conveniunt c. Si vero de loco intellexeris ut Chrysostomus videtur sentire docemur contaminari locum ex abusu Vnde Augustinus dicebat In Oratorio nemo aliquid agat nisi ad quod factum est vnde nomen recepit ad alia munera obeunda plateas domus habemus And complaining of abusing of Churches he goeth on At nunc templa deambulationibus fabulis omnibus negotiis prophanis toto die patent C. hristus flagello parato ex funiculis ejectis ementibus vendentibus templum Dei repurgavit and goeth still on in this manner much further Marlorat also a common and good friend to our Preachers being well pleased with this exposition and invective of Peter Martyr translateth it verbatim into his owne Commentary upon this place and thereby delivereth it also to the world as his owne opinion But come we now to that part of my booke which puts him most out of patience above all the rest my application of the 83. Psalme to such as destroy Churches and bereave them of their maintenance This he saith fitteth my matter as an Elephants skin doth a gnat yea it hath no cohaerency therewith either figuratively
God pag. 8 Cap. 6 Concerning the revenue and maintenance of the Church in her infancy first in Christs time then in the Apostles in the Churches of Jerusalem Alexandria Rome and Africa pag. 11 Cap. 7 That the service of the Levites was clean altered from the first Institution yet they enjoyed their Tithes pag. 33 § 1. Of Templar Levites § 2. Of Provinciall Levites Cap. 8 The great account made of Priests in the old Law and before pag. 42 Cap. 9 When our Saviour commanded the Disciples should take nothing with them but live of the charges of the faithfull this bound not the Disciples perpetually pag. 44 Cap. 10 That many things in the beginning both of the Law and the Gospel were admitted and omitted for the present or reformed afterward pag. 46 Cap. 11 That upon the reasons alledged and others here ensuing the use of Tithing was omitted in Christs and the Apostles time and these reasons are drawn ab expediente the other à necessitate pag. 51 Cap. 12 That Ministers must have plenty pag. 55 Cap. 13 Not to give lesse then the tenth pag. 57 Cap. 14 The Etymology and definition of Tithes and why a tenth part rather then any other is due pag. 67 Cap. 15 Who shall pay Tithe pag. 76 Cap. 16 Out of what things Tithe is to be paid pag. 79 Cap. 17 That things offered unto God be holy pag. 62 Cap. 18 Tithes must not be contemned because they were used by the Church of Rome pag. 64 Cap. 19 That the Tradition of ancient Fathers and Councels is not lightly to be regarded pag. 86 Cap. 20 Ancient Canons of Councels for payment of Tithes pag. 88 Cap. 21 In what right Tithes are due and first of the Law of Nature pag. 93 Cap. 22 How far forth they be due by the Law of Nature pag. 94 Cap. 23 Tithes in the Law of Nature first considered in Paradise pag. 97 Cap. 24 The time of Nature after the fall pag. 100 Cap. 25 That they are due by the Law of God pag. 104 Cap. 26 That they are due by the Law of Nations pag. 113 Cap. 27 That they are due by the Law of the Land pag. 129 Cap. 28 Tithe is not meerly Leviticall How it is and how not and wherein Iudaicall pag. 139 § 1. An Objection touching Sacrifice First-fruits and Circumcision § 2. Touching the Sabbath day Easter and Pentecost Cap. 29 How Appropriations began pag. 151 § 1. That after the Appropriation the Parsonage still continueth spirituall pag. 157 § 2. That no man properly is capable of an Appropriation but spirituall men pag. 159 § 3. What was granted to the King pag. 161 § 4. Whether Tithes and Appropriations belonged to the Monasteries or not pag. 163 § 5. In what sort they were granted to the King pag. 164 § 6. That the King might not take them pag. 165 § 7. Of the Statute of dissolution that took away Impropriations from the Church pag. 167 § 8. That the King may better hold Impropriations then his Lay Subjects pag. 169 An Apology of the Treatise De non temerandis Ecclesiis An Epistle to M. Rich Carew concerning Tithes A Treatise of Impropriations by Sir Francis Bigot Knight of Yorkshire An Epistle to the Church of Scotland prefixed to the second Edition of the first Treatise printed at Edinburgh Errata addenda IN the Introduction pa. 1. oweth r. onely Pag. 17. quinto r. quinque P. 18. Cities r. Citizens P. 20. Abraham r. Abel P. 67. Tâ—â—tum r. totum P. 68. quaestorum r. quaesitorum P. 75. caeduus r. arduus P. 78. guests r. gifts P. 82. N. F. r. ut ff P. 115. peret r. peâ—et P. 117. Therumatus r. Therumahs P. 166. even christian r. emne christen Some places and quotations are defective in the originall and could not easily be supplied which the Reader may please to excuse till further search can be made In the catalogue of Benefactors and Restorers of Impropriations there is omitted among others The Right honourable Lo Scudamore Viscount Slego who hath very piously restored much to some Vicarages in Herefordshire whereof yet I cannot relate particulars fully Dr Fell the worthy Dean of Christ-Church in Oxon with the consent of the Prebendaries hath for his short time since he was Dean been very carefull and pious in this kind besides great reparations of the decayed and imperfect buildings and other necessaries of the colledge in renuing and granting Leases to the Tenants of Impropriations he hath reserved a good increase of maintenance to the incumbent Ministers in divers places and hath put things into a course for the like increase in other Vicarages as Leases shall happen to be renewed And much more might have been done if King Hen. 8. had not taken away the goodly Lands provided for that colledge by Wolsey giving Impropriations for them by which exchange he was a great gainer New Colledge Magdalen Coll and Queens Coll have done the like upon their Impropriations and some others have made augmentations also whereof the particulars shall appear hereafter upon perfect information The Introduction GOD hath created all things for his glory and must be glorified by them all in generall and by every of them in particular The celebration of this his glory he hath committed in heaven to the Angels in Earth unto Man Yea the devils declare his glory and Hell it selfe roareth it forth For this purpose he hath assigned unto man the circuit of the whole earth to be the stage of this Action and the place of his habitation whilst it is in hand He hath delivered unto him the wealth and furniture thereof to be the materials for performing of it and the meanes of his maintenance in the meane season And lest he should want leisure and opportunity sufficient for so great a busines he hath commanded the heavens themselves the Sunne the Moone the Starres yea the whole frame of Nature to attend upon him to apply their sweet influence unto him to assist him in all his indeavours and to measure him out a large portion of time and life for the full accomplishing of this right noble most glorious Vocation It is a rule in Philosophy that Beneficium requirit officium And we are taught by the law of nature that he which receiveth a benefit oweth to his benefactor Honour Faith and Service according to the proportion of the benefit received Vpon this rule was the ancient law not onely of England but of other Nations also grounded that compelled every man that had Lands or tenements of the gift of another to hold them of his Donor and to doe him fealty and service for them that is to faithfull unto him and to yeeld him some kind of vassallage though no such matter were once mentioned betweene them Yea at this day if the King give Lands to any man without expressing a tenure the Donee shall not only hold them of him but he shall hold them by the
will deny but both are necessary and therefore let them also say whether they be ex Jure divino I mean Churches and Priests before the Law and Gospel CAP. VI. Concerning the Revenue and maintenance of the Church in her infancy first in Christs time then in the Apostles by a communion of all things and submitting all to the Apostles as in the Churches of Jerusalem Alexandria Rome and Africa How the Clergy had their allowance given them weekly or monethly per sportulas in baskets De jure sportularum concerning those baskets and the manner of them When Lands were first given The Church goods distributed by the Bishops and Officers under them The liberality of Constantine and other Emperors The piety and charity of the Clergy in spending their goods and means VVHilest the Church was in her foundation shee had no other maintenance then the poor private purse of our Saviour supported onely by the almes and contribution of his poor Disciples and followers for as himself had no house to live in so had he no rents to live on being therefore often in want he was constrained sometimes to use the power of his Godhead to supply the necessities of his Manhood and to call the fish of the sea to aid him with money miraculously Mat. 17. 27. while the beasts of the Land withheld their devotion from him unnaturally but whatsoever it was that his Godhead blessed his Manhood withall he divided it as appeareth in the Gospel of Saint John 13. 29. into two parts one for the sustenance of his family the other for relief of the poor Touching the part assigned to his family it was not curious nor superfluous no not at the great feast of Easter when others were so sumptuous and profuse his rule was then to buy the things they had need of And touching the provision of his house at other times we have twice an Inventory taken of it once in Matth. 14. 17. where it was found to be but five loaves and two fishes yea barly loaves another time Mat. 15. 34. but seven loaves and a few little fishes for himself and his whole houshold twelve Apostles in ordinary besides some servants and a multitude of Disciples hanging upon him extraordinarily All the beasts of the forest were his and so were the cattell upon a thousand hils yet read we not that he once killed so much as a Calfe for the provision of his family for flesh could not be had but for money and money going always low with him he used such kinde of victuals especially as might always be supplyed unto him by the industry of his Disciples from the common storehouse of nature the sea without being beholding or burdensome to any man In this frugality lived our Saviour touching his houshold expence that there might be the greater remanet for the poor and from this modell of the Church in his poor family was the great frame of the Universall Church first devised as well for raising as disposing of her Revenues the means of raising them from the oblations and devotion of the people the manner of employment of them for the necessity onely of the Minister and poor Thus much doth Augustine also declare upon the place alledged out of Saint John Tractat. 62. Habebat Dominus loculos c. Our Lord had his treasury or bagge wherein he kept the things that were offered by the faithfull and did distribute them to his family and such other as had need then first was the form of Church government instituted The Apostles following our Saviour exactly would not be rich servants of a poor master nor owners of any thing when their Lord himself possessed nothing holding it therefore not fit for them aut in imis consistere sed nec in mediis they reached at the highest garland of perâ—ection and because their master had said Let him that will be perfect sell all that he hath and give to the poor whatsoever was their own and whatsoever was given them by others they cast it all into the common treasury disposing it by their masters example to two uses onely Hospitality and Alms or works of charity in their hospitality they provided for the whole family of the Church then living with them at Jerusalem out of which arose the great businesse of serving the Tables spoken of in the Acts all of them jointly caring for every man in particular and every man particularly applying himself to support the generall Their alms and part assigned to them in necessity they dispersed fully and faithfully not onely to the poor of their own Town City or Countrey but wheresoever through the world the members of Christ had need And so carefull they were in employing these things to the highest benefit and honour of the church that Paul chused rather to live in want and earn his sustenance with his fingers then to diminish this blessed portion by taking his due share out of it Yea the only thing that the Apostles gave so precisely in charge one unto the other was in every passage that they should remember the poor Gal. 2. 10. Act. 11. 36. 2 Cor. 9. 3. as the bowels of Christ the darlings of the Church and those whom God especially had chosen to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdome Jam. 2. 5. With this mortar I mean this blessed theologicall work of charity which S. Paul so highly extolleth above all other did our Saviour lay the first stones in the foundation of his Church and with it to hold uniformity did the Apostles build the second course commending the pattern to be for ever after pursued throughout all ages for whatsoever is built without it is like stones laid without mortar which cannot therefore couple together and grow into an holy Temple in the Lord as is required Eph. 2. 21. In the succeeding Church founded by Saint Mark the Disciple of Saint Peter at Alexandria in Egypt the same rule used before by the Apostles at Jerusalem was so precisely established that he thereby drew all Christians to follow his example insomuch that Philo Judaeus a famous Author of that time reporteth that not onely there but in many other Provinces the Christians lived together in societies and he calleth even then their habitations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Monasteries saying that none among them possessed any thing to his private use no man was rich no man poor but all divided their substance to them in necessity disposing themselves wholly to Prayer singing of Psalms to matter of doctrine and to temperance Come lower down Dionysius Corinthius in an Epistle to Soter Bishop of Rome in the year of Christ 170. congratulateth with him that the Church of Rome still continued her ancient use in dispersing her goods in works of charity It is now growne to be an ancient custome with you to bestow many benefits upon all the brethren of the Church and to send maintenance to the Churches in
as Suetonius in his life cap. 7. reporteth sportulas publicas sustulit revocata coenarum rectarum consuetudine which Martial also remembreth in an Epigram to Domitian l. 8. Grandia pollicitus quanto major a dedisti Promissa est nobis sportula Recta data est Sportula nuptialis signified the wedding feast or provision Coelius Rhodiginus Antiq. lect l. 28. c. 24. apud Apuleium sportulas legimus nuptiales quippe inquit ita placuerat insuburbana villa potius ut conjungeremur ne cives denuò ad sportulam convolarent Sportula convivalis is described also by Coelius lib. 27. cap. 24. Eranon inquit est quod pluribus differtum occumbentibus sit sed ita ut ferat sibi unusquisque quod edat quod etiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicebatur id est sportula Sportula opipara I may tearm that which is mentioned by Tully in his Epistles Famil lib. 9. Ep. 20. Dediscendae tibi sunt sportellae artologani where some interpret sportellae for those meats quae secundis mensis numerantur dishes of the second course and greatest dainties So that sportula presbyteria was no base thing but an honourable congiary or portion of victuals distributed to the Clergy whether by the basket as the word signifieth or in vase nitido as Pius appointed it And thus much doth the very place alledged out of Cyprian intreat where he saith sportulis idem cum presbyter is honorentur What this sportula contained I cannot declare but Alexand ab Alexand. Genial dier lib. 5. cap. 24. speaking of the Roman sportula publica saith In qua frequens obsonium panis oleum porcina caro dari solita est absque vino and Domitius in his Comment on the first Satyr of Iuvenal much more fully ex sportula omnia sibi coemebant que ad victum ad cultum pertinerent So that sportula presbyteria seemeth to be then a Cornu copia that ministred unto the Clergy all things they had need of as well for cloathing and other necessaries as for sustenance For no doubt the people of God did at this time not onely according to the precept of the Apostle make the Ministers of the Word partakers of all their goods but as Abraham did also to Melchisedek present unto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very top and chiefest part thereof following Abraham in offering the fat and abhorring to give the carrion things unto God like the sacrifice of Cain And that it may be no disgrace to the honourable Ministers of the Church to live thus ex sportula let me note by the way that the Kings and Princes of the world are likewise said to live ex sportula for their Exchequer or Treasury hath thereupon the name of Fiscus which word as appeareth by Ascanius is all one with sportula Fisci fiscinae fiscellae saith he sportea sunt utensilia ad majoris summae pecunias capiendas unde quia major summa est pecuniae publicae quà m privatae factum est ut fiscus pro pecunia publica inde confiscare dicatur a little before he saith Sportae sportulae sportellae munerum sunt receptacula And let me also remember that in the Easterne Empire the Master of the Store-house and Wardrobe as well Palatine as Ecclesiastical was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Canistro vel Sportula Touching Lands though the Churches at this time had little yet were they not altogether without any as appeareth partly by that which Eusebius reporteth of Paulus Samosatenus that under Aurelian the Emperour i. e. about the yeare 274. he wrongfully invaded an house belonging to the Church of Antioch But more amply by the edict of Licinius and Constantine where it is expresly commanded that all Lands and places which belonged to the Christians as well for their publique use as in their private possession that had been taken from them in the persecution of Dioclesian should be restored to them Platina saith that Vrbane Bishop of Rome anno 227. first instituted that the Church might receive Lands and possessions offered by the faithfull and then sheweth to what end she might enjoy them namely that the Revenues thereof should be distributed by portions to every man and that no man should have them to his particular benefit Vrbane himself in the Decretall Epistle attributed unto him affirmeth this usage to be more ancient saying also that the Bishops within their Diocese and other faithfull persons appointed by them both did and ought to distribute these Revenues in manner before mentioned adding further that they were called the oblations of the faithfull for that they were offered unto God and that they ought not to be otherwise employed then to Ecclesiasticall uses the relief of Christian brethren living together in common and of the poor people for that they are the vows of the faithfull the price of sin the patrimony of the poor and delivered over unto the Lord for the performance of this work Many account this Epistle Apocryphall I will therefore strengthen it with the opinion of Origen a Father of those times who in his 16. Homily upon Genesis disputeth it to be utterly unlawfull for the Ministers of the Gospel to possesse any Lands to their own use for so I understand him confessing himself not to be faultlesse herein and therefore exhorting others to joyn with him in Reformation thereof he saith Festinemus transire à sacerdotibus Pharaonis let us make haste to depart from the Priests of Pharaoh who enjoy earthly possessions to the Priests of the Lord who have no portion in earth for that the Lord is their portion fol. 26. col 3. And to shew to what end the Church enjoyeth her goods and in what manner they ought to be divided amongst her Ministers and poor children in his 31. Homily upon Matthew he saith Opus habemus ut fideles simus pariter prudentes ad dispensandos ecclesiae reditus c. It behoveth us to be faithfull in disposing the rents of the Church Faithfull that we our selves devour not those things which belong unto the widows and that we be mindfull of the poor and because it is written The Lord hath appointed that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel that we therefore take not occasion to seek more for our selves then our simple diet and necessary apparell retaining a greater portion to our selves then that we give to the brethren that are hungry and thirsty and naked and which suffer necessity in secular affairs Discreet as to minister to every man his portion according to his rank and dignity remembring that which is said Blessed is he which considereth the poor and needy Psal. 41. for it is not sufficient for us simply to give away the goods of the Church so to keep our selves clear from devouring or stealing of them but we must wisely consider every mans necessity how he falleth
they were used by the Church of Rome by the same reason we must also reject our Churches but the Apostles used both the Synagogues and the Temple it self after Christs Ascension though they were polluted with the doctrine and ceremonies of the Jews and therefore we are not to reject Tithes and other things profitable to Gods service because the Papists used or misused them The Censors ordained for Gods honour were impiously abused by Corah Dathan and Abiram yet God rejected them not but commanded them to be still employed in some better course of his service namely in making plates for the Altar Numb 16. 38. And by this Scripture doth Huge and Origen reprove them that judge the works of an heretique to be burned without preserving the good things in them and the Altar to be pulled down whereat a Schismatique hath ministred Hugo in Genes 16. fol. 136. a. and Origen in Homil. 9. sup Num. fol. 104. God refused not the burnt-offering of Gedeon though he made it with the idolatrous wood of Baals grove yea himself commanded it so Judg. 6. 26. and in the Gospel the offerings of the proud Pharisees were as well received into the Treasury of the Temple as the mite of the poor widow When Jericho was destroyed and accursed yet God required the gold and silver for his holy utensils Jos. 6. 19. For though filthy gains are forbidden to be offered unto God yet good things because they have been abused are not forbidden to be offered unto him When the pottage provided for sustenance of the children of the Prophets was infected by him that threw in the wilde gourdes or colloquintida Elisha the Prophet commanded them not to be cast away but cleansing them from their infectious venome used them still for food of the children 2 Kings 4. 38. So if the pottage of the Ministers have been abused with Roman Colloquintida purge the infection but take not their pottage I mean their Tithes from them Aristophanes bringeth in Hercules laughing to see effeminate Bacchus clad in the Lions skin but we may well lament to see a spruce Castilio and his masking mistresse trickt and trimmed up with those Church-livings that godly and grave men in times past gave for maintenance of Gods service and the Ministers thereof I can but wonder what should move Flacius Illyricus a man so conversant in the history of the Church to affirm that Tithes were lately extorted by the Popes and that they were first imposed by Pope Pelagius in the Councell Anno 588. unlesse his meaning be that in elder times they were paid at pleasure and now first commanded to be paid of duty which construction though contrary to the understanding of a common Reader if we doe allow him yet is it untrue also for that Councell reciteth that they had been paid before of long time and that by the whole multitude of Christians and as due by the Word of God and consequently not at pleasure Concil Matisconense 2. c. 5. Anno 588. Tom. 2. So that this Councell did but revive and quicken the cold devotion of that time and not inferre new matters unheard of before CAP. XIX That the Tradition of ancient Fathers and Councels is not lightly to be regarded IT appeareth by divers ancient Fathers and Councels that Tithes were paid long before their times in the Primitive Church and were unto the age of the Apostles though little memory thereof remaineth in the Authors of those times And shall we not beleeve the Fathers received such instruction from their elders Doth not God bid us ask after the days of old and the years of so many generations saying Ask thy father and he will shew thee thine elders and they will tell thee Deut. 32. 7. If we shall not beleeve them why should we ask them and why did the children of Israel complain that their Fathers heard not the words of the book of the Law 2 Kings 22. 13. but because they therefore could not report it to them their children Shall we think nothing to be done but what is written doth not the Evangelist tell us that if all were written that Christ did he supposed the world could not contain the books Joh. 21. 25 are not many actions of elder time alledged in latter Scriptures and yet no testimony of them in the former it is said 1 Chro. 26. 18. that Samuel Abner and Joab dedicated many things unto God yet their story reporteth no such matter Solomon is noted 1 Chron. 10. to have kept a famous Passeover yet is there not a word of it in the history of his time Fasting was brought into the Church before Christ and the use also of building of Synagogues but it appeareth not when or how Paul alledgeth that our Saviour said It is better to give then to take Act. 20. 35. yet no Evangelist doth mention it Jude saith v. 9. that Michael and the Devil strove for the body of Moses yet the Old Testament noteth no such thing how then came they by these instructions Surely by books that are perished or by inspiration or by relation of others and doubtlesse the ancient Fathers came to the knowledge of many things by all these ways First by books that be perished for it is manifest by Eusebius Jerome Gennadius and others that the ancient Fathers saw many thousands which are not now extant If by inspiration the holy Ghost that was sent down upon the Apostles and passed from one to another returned not by and by to heaven but remained actually amongst the Fathers of the Primitive Church and therefore what they generally taught is carefully to be kept But if they received these things by Tradition the very Tradition of those first ages of the Church are much to be received for all that time no doubt infinite speeches and actions of Christ and the Apostles whereof many were collected by Ignatius and Papias as Jerome reporteth but now lost were then fresh in the mouths of every man as not onely the Fathers of that time doe abundantly testifie but our own experience also induceth us to conceive for doe not we our selves hear and beleeve many things to be done in the time of King Hen. 8. that never yet were written nor like to be CAP. XX. Ancient Councels and Canons for payment of Tithes THe Canons attributed to the Apostles come first in rank to be mentioned yet I will not insist upon them Neither doth Bellarmine as they are now published maintain them to be the children of those Fathers Yet can it not be denyed that the first 35. of them are very ancient and neer the time of the Apostles for Dionysius Exigu that lived within 400. yeares of the Apostles translated them out of Greek as received long before in the Eastern Church The fifth of those Canons ordaineth that all other fruit should be sent as first-fruit and tithe home to the house of the Bishop and Priests and not to be offered upon the Altar
it As soon as Christ was born the wise men that came afar off out of the East brought offerings unto him as directed onely by the law of nature for they were Gentiles and none used to visit the Temple of God but with some presents not that God is delighted with such things but that their affections by the fruits of their devotion were made manifest the Church and service of God maintained and those that were in need and necessity orphanes widows strangers and the poor people provided for and relieved for these are Gods care and are to him as the dearest kinde of his children and though younger brothers as touching the worldly inheritance yet those on whom he thinketh the fat Calf well bestowed Donum saith Lactantius est integritas animi the gifts we give unto God are a testimony of our frank and open heart towards him An offering of a free heart saith David will I give unto thee out of his abundance we have received all things and out of ours let us render some CAP. XXIII Tithes in the time of Nature first considered in the time of Paradise I Would not be so curious as to seek the institution of tithes in Paradise yet no man will deny but that Paradise was a modell of the Church and that God had his honourary rights in all the three kindes he now requireth them at our hands namely ◠portion of time place and of the fruits of the fruits as the tree of knowledge of the place as the midst of the Garden the time as the cool of the day which fignifieth the time of rest and so the Lords day as more particularly wee shall shew by and by Touching the fruit it was the portion that God reserved from Adam when he gave him all the rest and that portion also that justly and properly belongeth to God knowledge And therefore this part particularly was assigned by God unto his Priests as the sacred keepers of this his sacred Treasure and therefore no other man might invade this his right and inheritance Knowledge saith Malachi belongeth to the Priest Touching place what should be assigned to the chiefest but the chiefest and what is the best and chiefest but the midst for medium and therefore the place here where Gods portion is assigned him is the midst of the Garden and therefore into this place doth Adam flye as into Sanctuary and to the horns of the Altar when he had offended for it is said that Adam hid himself in the midst of the Garden So Calvin which is the trees in the midst of the Garden And touching the time it is by all expositors upon the matter applied to the time of rest for either they expound the cool of the day to be the evening as Oncalus or the morning as Calvin and take it in either of these senses it may aptly discover the Judaicall Sabbath in the first sense or the Christians Sabbath in the latter And as these are the times when we are to make our publick reckonings confessions and prayers unto God and thereupon to receive sentence of curse or absolution so at this time presently God calleth Adam and Eve and the Serpent that is the whole congregation of Paradise to a publique reckoning confession and account and like the great Ordinary and Bishop of his Church denounceth against them the curse that their sins had demerited If occasion required I could shew many other particulars wherein Paradise exemplified the very Church of Christ. Again these rights of honour are likewise prefigured unto us in other examples under the age of Nature the time I mean before the floud for we have therein three great examples of all these his three rights First in the creation of the earth he reserved a particular place for himself as the place of his own resort and pleasure Paradise which was the very locall place of his Church and therefore out thereof he threw man being accursed as a prophane and excommunicate person And as touching his portion of time he figuratively shewed the seventh part of our age to belong unto him as in respect of his Sabbath when he took Enoch being the seventh from Adam to keep his perpetuall Sabbath And so likewise all the fruits of the tenth age which was that of Noah for he was the tenth from Adam he took wholly to himself making the evill parts as a sacrifice of his wrath to honour him by their destruction and the better parts which were saved in the Ark of his Church to glorifie his name by their preservation so that in this time of nature the full tenth of all things was paid unto God as a propitiatory sacrifice for of the ten ages from Adam hee had the fruits of one whole age which is all one as if he had had the tenth part of every particular thing as it grew due in every particular age and so the Church expoundeth in that Canon of the Councell of 〈◊〉 where it is commanded that the CAP. XXIV The time of Nature after the fall LEt us take a view of the state of Religion before the Law and from thence unto the calling of the Levites to the service of the Tabernacle The time before the Law was the kingdome of sin and of death having no means propounded whereby to escape but what the light and law of nature taught unto men who finding themselves fallen from the favour devised by invocation and beating of the heavens with continuall odours and savours to seek for mercy at Gods hand and by sacrificing of bullocks and brute beasts to ransome themselves as far as they might from his heavy displeasure Therefore in those times though every man might offer oblations and sacrifices that would yet because the order thereof might bee the more certain and reverent both the children of God and the Heathen also ordained to themselves particular persons of greatest worth wisdome and sanctity which they called their Priests to take care of these things to see them performed in such manner as might make them most acceptable to God Hereby grew the reputation of Priesthood to be above all dignities that in those days the Kings themselves in all Nations affected it as the greatest and immediate honour under God himself Yet because necessity required so great a number of Priests for the service of God as there could not be had Kings enough for that purpose therefore other inferiour persons were also called to that excellent function yet such as in one respect or other were still the noblest that were to be found Therefore even in that time I mean before the Law was given God promiseth the Israelites that if they will hear his voice indeed and keep his covenant they shall not only be his chiefest treasure upon earth but they shall be unto him also a kingdome of Priests Exod. 29. 5 6. Of these kingly Priests two are mentioned in Scripture before the Law Melchisedek Priest and King of Salem
of Scripture mentioning tithes is the 28. Gen. ver the last Jacob going upon his adventure voweth that if God will be with him in his journey and give him meat and cloth and so that he return safe then saith he the Lord shall be my God and this stone which I here set up as a pillar shall be Gods house and of all that thou shalt give me will I give the tenth unto thee Romulus made the like vow for building the Temple to Jupiter Feretrius upon Mount Palatine Tatius and Tarquinius upon Tarpeius William the Conquerour for Battail Abbey But Hemmingius cannot say that Jacob did it by their example for they lived too too long after him I think rather that the law of nature and reason taught all Nations to render honour thanks and service unto God and that the children of God being more illuminate in the true course thereof then the Heathen by the light of reason could be first began the precedent and that then the Heathen dwelling round about them apprehended and dispersed it for the use of paying tithes even in those first ages of the world was generall as hereafter shall appear But Iacob doth not here bargain and condition with God that if God will doe thus and thus that then he shall be his God and that he will build him an house and pay him tithe and otherwise not but he alledgeth it as shewing by this means he shall bee the better enabled to perform those debts and duties that he oweth unto God and will therefore doe it the more readily The actions and answers of the Sages are in all Laws a law to their posterity Iustinian the Emperour doth therefore make them a part of the Civill Law The common Lawyers doe so alledge them and the Law of the holy Church hath always so received allowed them And though Saint Augustine saith that the examples of the righteous are not set forth unto us that thereby we should be justified yet he addeth further that they are set forth to the end that we by imitating them may know our selves to be justified by him that justifieth them Why then should we now call tithes in question since we find them to be paid and confirmed by two such great Sages and Patriarchs Abraham Iacob Yea their payment practised generally by all the Nations of the world for 3000. years at least never abrogated by any Law but confirmed also by all the Fathers and Doctors of the Church and not impugned by a single Author as far as I can find during all the time I speak of Well It will be said that all this is nothing if the Word of God commandeth it not for every thing must be weighed and valued by the shekel of the Sanctuary Lev. 27. 25. They may by the same reason take away our Churches for I finde not in all the Bible any Text wherein it is commanded that we should build us Churches neither did the Christians either in the Apostles time nor 100. yeares after build themselves Churches like these of ours but contented themselves at first to meet in houses which thereupon were called aedes sacrae And to shew that they were commanded by the Leviticall Law will not serve our turn for it will be said the Statute of repeal even the two words spoken by our Saviour upon the Crosse Consummatum est Iohn 19. 30. clearly abrogated that Law but it is to be well examined how far this repeal extendeth for though the letter of it be taken away yet the spirituall sense thereof remaineth for Ierome saith that almost every syllable thereof breatheth forth an heavenly sacrament Saint Augustine saith the Christians doe keep it spiritually so that if tithe be not given in the tenth according to the Leviticall Institution yet the spirituall meaning of providing for the Clergy our Levites remaineth But with the precepts of the Leviticall and Ceremoniall Laws divers rules of the Morall Law are also mingled as the Laws against Witches Userers Oppressors c. the Laws that command us to lend to our brother without interest and to sanctifie the Sabbath for though the Institution of the Sabbath be changed yet the spirituall observation remaineth and that not onely in the manner of sanctifying it but as touching the time also even the seventh day Notwithstanding I find not that the Apostles commanded us to change it but because they did change it we take their practice to be as a Law unto us yet though they changed the time they altered not the number that is the seventh day I will then reason that God hath as good right to our goods of the world as to the days of our life and that a part of them belong unto him as well as the other And the action of Abraham and Jacob may as well be a precedent to us for the one in what proportion we are to render them as that of the Apostles in the other for both of them were out of the Law the one after it the other before it And why may not the limitation of the day appointed to the Lord for his Sabbath be altered and changed as well as the portion appointed to him for the tenth You will say the seventh day was not due to him by the law of nature for then Abraham and the Fathers should have kept it before the Law given but it held the fittest analogy to that naturall duty that we owe to the service of God and therefore when that portion of time was once particularly chosen by God for his service by reason himself had commanded it under the Law the Apostles after the Law was abolished retained it in the Gospel And so since the number of the tenth was both given to God before the Law and required by him in the time of the Law being also most consonant to all other respects great reason it is to hold it in the age of the Gospel Yet with this difference that in the old Law the Sabbath was the last part of the seven days and in the Gospel it is the first because our Saviour rose from the dead the first day of the week and not the seventh God is our Lord and we owe him both rent and service our service is appointed to bee due every seventh day our rent to be the tenth part of our encrease He dealeth not like the hard Landlords that will have their rent though their Tenants bee losers by their Land but he requireth nothing save out of their gain and but the tenth part thereof onely These two retributions of rendring him the seventh day of our life and the tenth part of our goods are a plain demonstration to us of our spirituall and temporall duty towards God Spiritually in keeping the Sabbath and temporally in payment of tithes that is in providing for his Ministry and them in necessity the one being the image of our faith the other of our works for seven
gifts as were made to the Church against the honour of God but to those onely that were for maintenance of his Word and Ministery which if they were lawfully conferred as no man I think doubteth but they were then let us consider how fearfull a thing it is to pull them from God to rend them from the Church to violate the dedications of our Fathers the Oaths of our Ancestors the Decrees of so many Parliaments and finally to throw our selves into those horrible curses that the whole body of the kingdome hath contracted with God as Nehemiah and the Jews did Nehem. 10. should fall upon them if they transgresse herein For as Levi paid Tithes in the loins of Abraham Heb. 7. so the lawfull vow of the fathers descendeth upon their children And as the posterity of Jonaâ—ab the sonne of Rechab were blessed in keeping it Jer. 35 18 so doubtlesse have we just cause to fear the dint of this curse in breaking this vow Say then that Tithes were not originally due unto God and that there belonged no portion of our Lands unto his Ministers yet are we in the case of Nehemiah and the Jews Nehem. 10. 32. They made Statutes by themselves to give every year the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of God And our fathers made Laws amongst themselves to give a portion of their Land and the tenth part of their substance that is these Parsonages for the service of the house of God If they were not due before they are now due For when thou vowest a vow unto the Lord thy God thou shalt not be slack to be pay it for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee and so it should be sin unto thee Deut. 23. 20. Therefore S. Peter reasoning the matter with Ananias telleth him That whilest his land remained in his hands it appertained unto him and when it was sold the money was his own Act. 5. 4. he might have chosen whether he would give them God or not but when his heart had vowed his hands were tied to perform them he vowed all and all was due not by the Levitical law which now was ended but by the Morall law which lasteth for ever for Job being an Heathen man and not a Jew saith also Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him and he shall hear thee and thou shalt render him thy vows Job 22. 27. If the King give a gift of his inheritance to his son his son shall have it if he give it to his servant his servant shall have it Ezek. 46. 16. If the King then give a gift to his Father that is to God Almighty shall not God have it or the servant to his Master and Maker shall not he enjoy it Who hath power to take that from God which was given unto him according to his Word can the Bishops can the Clergy give this away no they are but Vsufructuarii they have but the use of it the thing it self is Gods for the words of the grant be Concedimus Deo we give it to God not to the Bishops Therefore when Valentinian the Emperor required the Church of Milan of that noble Bishop S. Ambrose O saith he if any thing were required of me that were mine as my land my house my gold or my silver whatsoever were mine I would willingly offer it but saith he I can take nothing from the Church nor deliver that to others which I my self received but to keep and not to deliver CAP. XXVIII Tithe is not meerly Leviticall How it is and how not and wherein Judiciall TIthe is not simply a Leviticall duty but respectively not the naturall childe of Moses Law but the adoptive Consider first the action and then the end the action in payment of them the end in the employment or disposing of them The action of payment of them cannot be said to be properly Leviticall for divers reasons First it is much more ancient then the Leviticall Law as is already declared and cannot therefore bee said to begin by it or to be meerly Leviticall Secondly the manner of establishing of it in the Leviticall Law seemeth rather to be an annexion of a thing formerly in use then the creating or erecting of a new custome for in all the Leviticall Law there is no originall commandement to pay Tithe but in the place where first it is mentioned Lev. 27. 30. it is positively declared to be the Lords without any commandement precedent to yeeld it to him Some happily will affirm the commandement in the 22. Exod. that thou shalt not keep back thy Tithe doth belong to the Leviticall Law though it were given before the Levites were ascribed to the Tabernacle Yet if it were so that is no fundamentall Law whereupon to ground the first erection of paying Tithe but rather as a Law of revive and confirmation as of a thing formerly in esse for detaining and keeping back doe apparently imply a former right and therefore Tithe was still the Lords ex antiquiore jure and not ex novitio praecepto by a precedent right and not by a new commandement Thirdly it containeth no matter of ceremony for if it did then must it be a type and figure of some future thing and by the passion of our Saviour Christ bee converted from a carnall rite into some spirituall observation for so saith Jerome of the legall ceremonies but no such thing appeareth in it and therefore it cannot be said to be a ceremony The whole body of the Fathers doe confirm this who in all their works doe confidently affirm the doctrine that S. Paul so much beateth upon that all legall ceremonies be abolished and yet as many of them as speak of Tithes doe without all controversie both conclude and teach that still they ought to be paid and therefore plainly not to be a ceremony Fourthly the Tithing now used is not after the manner of the Leviticall Law for by the Leviticall Law nothing was tithed but such things as renued and encreased out of the profits of the earth but our manner of tiching is after that of Abrahams who gave tithe of all And this is a thing well to be considered for therein as Abraham tithed to Melchisedek not being of the Tribe of Levi so our Tithing is now to Christ being of Melchisedeks order and not of the Tribe of Levi but of that of Juda whereunto the Tribe of Levi is also to pay their Tithe Fifthly and lastly the end whereunto Tithe was ordained is plainly Morall and that in three main points Piety Justice and Gratitude 1. Piety as for the worship of God 2. Justice as for the wages and remuneration of his Ministers 3. Gratitude as sacrificium laudis an offering of thankfulnesse for his benefits received All which were apparent in the use of Tithes before they were assigned over to the Levites both in the examples of Abraham and Jacob and by the practice
to the naturall condition of those times as sacrifice and first-fruits which though they rose out of the law of Nature as touching the common end of being offered by way of thanksgiving unto God yet in that they were also types and figures full of ceremony they became temporall and thereby transitory For the children of Adam finding themselves in the wrath of God and their flesh bloud body and life to be altogether corrupted and accursed by the transgression of their father they sought by all invention possible to help it as far as nature could and therefore both to expresse the present estate of their miserable condition and the mark also they aimed at for redemption in time to come they held it as a necessary correspondency that flesh should be redeemed with flesh bloud with bloud life with life the guilty body with a guiltlesse body and to be short the trespasse and corruption of man by the innocency of some sanctified creature offered unto God for remission of sin And because nothing under the sun could be offered up but it also was full of corruption and that nothing could be acceptable unto God that was impure therefore though they chose the cleanest and perfectest beasts and things for these offerings and sacrifices and purged and sanctified them by all manner of means they could yet they devised further to sever the purer and aeriall part thereof from the grosse and earthly consuming the one that is to say the flesh and the bones as the body of sin and corruption with the deserved torment of fire and sending the other that is the fume and vapour as the purer part to carry their prayers and invocations up into heaven before the Throne of God First how corruptible they were that is even like the great body of a bullock suddainly consumed Secondly the punishment in justice due unto them even the torment of fire Thirdly the place and person from whence they hoped for redemption Heaven and Almighty God And lastly the means whereby they were to attain it taken from two of the proprieties of fire light and heat that is first the light of faith whereby they long foresaw the promised seed and secondly the heat of zeal and hearty prayer breathed and sent forth from the altar of a fervent heart whereby they hoped to obtain remission of their sins After all this they yet considering further that the corruption and wrath fallen upon them was perpetuall and that these oblations and sacrifices were but temporall and momentary they thought in reason being onely under the law of Reason that the one could not countervail the other and that therefore it was necessary by continuall reiteration and multiplying of sacrifices to sollicite and importune God from day to day untill the time came that a perpetuall sacrifice might be offered up to make finalem concordiam in the high Court of heaven a full atonement betweene God and man which being once accomplished by our Saviour Christ both the institution and the end of sacrificing were wholly accomplished and so no cause for ever after to use that ceremony any more For with one offering saith the Apostle to the Hebrews hath he consecrated for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. Touching Circumcision though it were before the Leviticall Law yet it rise not out of the Law of Nature or Morall Law but was instituted by a positive constitution made by God himself and not as a part of his worship but as a seal of his Covenant with Abraham which by this ceremony of cutting away the impurer part of the flesh did put the children of Israel ever in mind to cast away carnall affections and to hope for the promised Messias that should cleanse them from the impurity of sin and restore them again to the favour of God which being performed by our Saviour the Covenant was fulfilled and the seal of Circumcision presently thereby defaced § 2. Of the Sabbath day Easter and Pentecost The Institution of the Sabbath day had in it much more Levitical ceremony then the matter of tithing for no man ought to kindle a fire on that day nor dresse the meat he should eat nor carry any burden take a journey or stir out of the place he was in Tarry every man in his place let no man goe out of his place the seventh day Exod. 16. 29. It was besides a day appointed for divers particular ceremonies sacrifices and offerings as yee may read Num. 28. 9 10. and amongst other significations to be a memoriall of the great deliverance out of Aegypt a thing peculiar to the Jews Neither have we any commandement but only a precedent for the keeping of it from the Apostles Acts 20. 9. 1 Cor. 16. 2. Rev. 1. 10. Yet durst never any man say that the Sabbath was therefore to be abolished but the temporall and ceremoniall parts thereof being taken away the morall use of the commandement which is that the seventh part of our time must be dedicate to the generall service of God remaineth for ever to the worlds end for otherwise our Sabbath is so remote from the Sabbath commanded in the Decalogue that the one holdeth almost no affinity with the other as appeareth in the points aforesaid and for that their Sabbath was the last day of the week ours is the first their 's was in celebration of the end of his workes ours in celebration of the beginning thereof for in the first day were the Elements the Angels c. made August Tom. 10. fol. 250. Theirs in memory of the Creation of the world ours of the Redemption that Christ rise from the dead the first day of the week And though the Apostles taught us by example to exchange the Jewish Sabbath for this of ours as touching the publique meeting on the first day of the week for setting forth the glory of God yet they gave us no commandement to abstain from work on that day but the Church decreed saith S. Augustine that all the honour of the Jewish Sabbath should be transferred to the Christian loco dicto and is done upon the Morall reason of the commandement not the Leviticall So likewise in tithing cut off those parts that were temporall and ceremoniall which as I have shewed were neither in the payment nor in the receiving of them but in the manner of sanctifying and employment of part of them after the Levites were possessed of them and then that which remaineth namely the payment and receiving of them for maintenance of the service of God remaineth for ever as a part of the Morall Law and common equity So touching Easter Christ our Passeover was sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5. 7. and thereby the end of Institution accomplished how come we then to continue it especially having neither commandement nor precedent thereof from the Apostles The Ceremoniall part of the Paschall feast viz. the Leviticall Lamb the Purification precedent c. are abolished with the Law
were appropriate Therefore in the year 1252. Robert Bishop of Lincoln by commission from Innocent 4. not onely enlarged the endowments that before were made to divers Vicarages as he thought good but endowed others out of those Appropriations that had no Vicarages endowed to the great discontentment of all the Approprietaries of that time as appeareth by Matth. Paris And therefore also the Statute of 15 R. 2. cap. 6. and that of 4 H. 4. cap. 12. that ordained that in Licences of Appropriation in the Chancery it should be contained That the Bishop of the Diocesse in every Church so appropriated should provide by his dissretion that the Vicar were convenably endowed Divine service performed and a convenient portion of the fruits thereof yearly distributed to the poor of the Parish did but agnise and affirm the spirituall end whereto these Parsonages were appointed and the authority the Church had still over them notwithstanding such Appropriation commanding the Bishops to see it executed Neither doe I yet finde where this power is taken from the Bishops for the Statute that giveth these appropriate Churches to the King saith not that the King shall have them as temporall lands or discharged of the Bishops jurisdiction but that he shall have them as the religious persons had them that is as spirituall Livings and consequently subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishops before had over them and then are they no otherwise in the hands of the Laity for testimony whereof they also carry at this day the badges and livery of their Lords and Masters of the Clergy for as Joseph was taxed in his own City so are they yet ranked amongst other spirituall Livings and as members of that body doe still pay their Synodals and Proxies to the Bishops and Archdeacons and if Tithes bee withholden from the Approprietary he still sueth for them as spirituall things in the Spirituall Court All which are by Gods Providence left upon them as marks of the Tribe they belong unto that when the Jubile commeth if ever it please God to send it they may thereby be distinguished and brought back again to their own Tribe That no man properly is capable of an Appropriation but spirituall men Spirituall things and spirituall men are correlatives and cannot in reason be divorced therefore was no man capable of Appropriations but spirituall persons before the laws of dissolution which first violated this holy marriage and like Abimelech Gen. 20. 2. took the wife from the husband and made Laymen which before were the children of the Church now become spirituall Fathers The act of Appropriation is nothing but to make a body corporate or politique spirituall that hath succession perpetuall Incumbents in a Rectory or no more upon the matter then to entail the incumbency to one certain succession of spirituall men Therefore as a Patron saith my Lord Dyer Chief Justice and Plowden 496. must present a spirituall person to a Church and not a temporall so by the same reason an Appropriation must be made unto a spirituall person and not temporall for saith he the one hath cure of souls as well as the other and they differ in nothing but in this the one is Parson for his life and the other and his successours Parsons shall be for ever and for this in the beginning saith he were the Appropriations made to Abbots Priors Deans Prebends and such like as might in their own person minister the Sacraments and Sacramentals and to none other And for the same reason at the first it was holden that they could not grant their estates to any other no more then the Incumbent of a Parsonage presentative who though he may lease his Glebe and Tithes yet can he not grant his Incumbency to any other but must resign it and then the Patron and Bishop must make the new Incumbent And so the Incumbency which is a spirituall office cannot be granted nor by the same reason could the perpetuall Incumbent which is the Approprietary at the first grant his estate which contained the Incumbency and the Rectory which is the revenue of the Incumbent Therefore when the Order of the Templars to whom divers appropriate Parsonages were belonging was dissolved and their possessions granted to the Prior of S. John of Jerusalem in England Justice Herle in 3 Ed. 3. said that if the Templars had granted their estate in the Appropriations to the Hospitalers that is to them of S. Johns of Jerusalem the Hospitalers should not have it for it was granted onely to the Templars and they could not make an Appropriation thereof over unto others Therefore to make good the estate of the Prior and Hospitalers it was shewed there that by the grant of the Pope King and Parliament the Prior had the estate of the Templars And so by Herle an Appropriation cannot be transferred to another and with good reason saith the book for it hath in it a perpetuall Incumbency which is a spirituall function appropriate to a certain person spirituall and cannot be removed from them in whom it was first setled by any act of theirs Herle there also said that That which was appropropriate unto the Templars was disappropriate by the dissolution of their Order fo 497. B. So that as death is the dissolution of every ordinary Incumbent so the dissolution of a religious Order Monastery or Corporation is the death thereof and by that death according to this opinion of Justice Herle the Church appropriate that belonged thereunto is again become presentable as it was before the Appropriation whereunto my Lord Dyer and Manwood doe also agree and therefore by the dissolution of religious houses all Appropriations had been presentable like other Churches if the Statute of dissolution had not given them to the King and by as good reason might the same Law-makers have given him the other also for any thing that I perceive to the contrary Yet let us see in what manner they are given unto the King for though I cannot examine the matter according unto the rules of Law being not so happy which I lament as to attain that profession yet under correction I will be so bold as to offer some points thereof to further consideration as first what is granted to the King secondly the manner how it is granted thirdly the ends why And herein I humbly beseech my Masters of the Law to censure me favourably for I take it by protestation that I doe it not as asserendo docere sed disserendo quaerere legitima illa vera that Littleton speaketh of What was granted to the King 1. The Statute saith That the King shall have all such Monasteries Priories and other such religious Houses of Monks c. as were not above 2001 a year And the Sites and Circuits thereof and all Manours Granges Meases Lands c. Tithes Pensions Churches Chappels Advowsons Patronages Annuities Rights Conditions and other Hereditaments appertaining or belonging to every such Monastery 2.
Livings unto the King made somethings in the Act to passe unconsidered and no doubt amongst other these appropriate Parsonages which in truth are not named in that Act but carried away in the fluent of generall words wherein though Tithes be inserted yet the word may seeme onely to intend such portions of Tithes as belonged to the Monastery it self as many did and not those belonging unto Appropriations since the Appropriations themselves are not there named But I will excuse the matter no farther then equity for after Religion had gotten some strength the following Act of 31 H. 8. c. 13. gives them expresly to the King by the words Parsonages appropried Vicarages Churches c. yet was all this done in the heat and agony of zeal then privily enflamed on all parts against the Romish religion insomuch as other inconveniences and enormities likewise followed thereon as in Ed. 6. the burning of many notable Manuscript Bookes the spoiling and defacing of many goodly Tombes and Monuments in all parts of the kingdome pulling down of Bels Chancels and in many places of the very Churches themselves Moses for haste broke the Tables of the Law and these inconveniences in such notable transmutations cannot be avoided some corn will goe away with the chaffe and some chaffe will remain in the corn mans wit cannot suddainly or easily sever them Therefore our Saviour Christ fore seeing this consequence delayed the weeding out of the tares from the wheat till the Harvest was come that is the full time of ripenesse and opportunity to doe it Besides light and darknesse cannot be severed in puncto the day will have somewhat of the night and the night somewhat of the day the religion professed brought something with it of the religion abolished and the religion abolished hath somewhat still that is wanting in ours and neither will ever be so severed but each will hold somewhat of the other no rent can divide them by a line When the children of Israel came out of Aegypt they brought much of the Aegyptian infection with them as appeareth in the Scripture and they left of their rites and ceremonies among the Aegyptians as appeareth in Herodotus Therefore as Moses renued the Tables that were broken through haste and time reformed the errors of religiō amongst the Israelites So we doubt not but his Mty our Moses wil still proceed in repairing these breaches of the Church and that time by Gods blessing wil mend these evils of ours I will not take upon me like Zedechias to foretell having not the spirit of prophecy but I am verily perswaded that some are already borne that shall see these Appropriate Parsonages restored to the Church let not any man think they are his because Law hath given them him for Tully himself the greatest Lawyer of his time confesseth that Stultissimum est existimare omnia justa esse quae sita sint in populorum institutis aut legibus Nothing to be more foolish then to think all is just that is contained in the Laws or Statutes of any Nation Experience teacheth us that our own Laws are daily accused of imperfection often amended expounded and repealed Look back into times past and we shall find that many of them have been unprofitable for the Common-wealth many dishonourable to the kingdome some contrary to the Word of God and some very impious and intolerable yet all propounded debated and concluded by Parliament Neither is this evill peculiar to our Country where hath it not reigned Esay found it in his time and proclaimeth against it Wo be unto you that make wicked Statutes and write grievous things So Tully and the Roman Historians cry out that their Laws were often per vim contra auspicia impositae reipublicae by force and against all religion imposed upon the Common-wealth God be thanked we live not in those times yet doe our Laws and all Laws still and will ever in one part or other taste of the cask I mean of the frailty of the makers It is not therefore amisse though happily for me to examine them in this point if the◠be contrary to the Word of God for I think no man will defend them they leave them to be a Law God cannot be confined restrained or concluded by any Parliament let no man therefore as I say think that he hath right to these Parsonages because the Law hath given them him the law of man can give him no more then the law of Nature and God will permit The Law hath given him jus ad rem as to demand it or defend it in action against another man it cannot give him jus in re as to claim it in right against God Canonists Civilians and common Lawyers doe all admit this distinction and agree that jus ad rem est jus imperfectum right to the thing is a lame Title they must have right in it that will have perfect Title The Law doth as much as it can it hath made him rei usufructuarium but it cannot make him rei dominum the very owner of the thing The books of the Law themselves confesse that all Prescriptions Statutes and Customes against the law of Nature or of God be void and against Justice That the King may better hold Impropriations then his Lay Subjects No man by the Common law of the Land can have inheritance of Tithes unlesse he be Ecclesiasticall or have Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction Lord Coke part 5. Rep. fol. 15. and Plowd fol. So that he which hath Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction though he be no Ecclesiasticall person yet by the ancient Law of the Land he may enjoy Tithes and this concurreth not onely with the Canon Law but seemeth also to be warranted by the example of the Provinciall Levites who medled not with the Temple and yet received their portion of Tithes and other Oblations as well as those that ministred in the Temple But it plainly excludeth all such as be meerly Lay from being capable of them let us then see by what better Title the King may hold them As the head cannot give life and motion to the divers members of the body unlesse it hold a correspondency with them in their divers natures and compositions So the King the head of the politique body cannot govern the divers members thereof in their severall constitutions unlesse he participate with them in their severall natures which because they are part Lay and part Ecclesiasticall the jurisdiction therefore whereby he governeth them must of necessity have a correspondent mixture and be also partly Lay and partly Ecclesiasticall to the end that from these divers fountains in the person of his Majesty those divers members in the body of the kingdome may according to their peculiar faculties receive their just and competent government My meaning is not that a Prince cannot in morall matters govern his subjects professed in religion unlesse himself doe participate with them in some portion of
Augustin epist. 109. Quando ergo simul estis in ecclesia ubicunque viri sunt invicem pudicitiam custodite Hieronymus in Esaiam cap. 60. Videmus Caesares aedificare ecclesias expensis publicis epist. 8. Alij aedificent ecclesias vestient parietes marmorum crustis columnarum moles advehant earumque deaurent capita c. fastidit in re tam nota olei tantum perdere clarum est Ecclesiam idem esse christianis quod Synagogam Judaeis Augustinum habes in eandem sententiam in Psalm 82. unde priscus quidam Nobis ecclesia datur Hebraeis Synagoga Plura si cupias numerosa habeas exempla in Burchardi Deâ—retorum lib. 3. qui de ecclesijs inscribitur Besides also not to conceale the doubts and apprehensions of wiser and more learned men upon the argument there was also a gentleman of eminent quality and learning Mr. Richard Carew of Anthony in Cornwall who was not satisfied in all points with this treatise of Sir Henry whereupon he wrote his doubts in some particulars unto him submitting much to his judgement Vnto whom for satisfaction Sir Henry wrote a very pious epistle which shall here follow after the apology for satisfaction to the better sort who sometime stumble out of private interest or passion as well as inferiour men Hoping that such will be easily corrected in their opinion as Mr. Carew was being a Gentleman ennobled no lesse in regard of his parentage and descent then for his vertue and learning as Cambden testifieth of him in his Britannia THE APOLOGY This Apology cleareth some passages as 1. Touching the word Ecclesia which signifies either a materiall Church or the Congregation of the people assembled 2. An explication of the text of Esa. 56. 7. My house shall be called the house of prayer 3. The place of the Aposâ—le 1 Cor. 11. 12. Despise ye the Church of God 4. The expâ—sition of the 83. Psalm aâ—ainst such as destroy Churches and the maintenance of them and the Ministers 5. The number oâ— Churches spoilâ— amonâ— us COming to my worthy friend Sir Ralph Hare and lying a while idle there I thought that idle time fittest for some idle worke and disposed my selfe therefore to give some answer to such passages of this Treatise as the Author at his pleasure hath very idly if not maliciously taxed me in But being far from my books and having not so much as that Treatise of his by me or any note out of it I shall no doubt forget mistake omit and misplace many things Wherein good Reader I must entreat thy patience and favour It being brought unto me I ranne over divers leaves thereof wherein I met multa verba nulla verbera but judging therefore the Author by his worke I thought neither of them worth the answering himselfe as it seemeth some rude Naball delighting in contentions and uncivill speech wherein I will not contend with him onely I will consider of his reasons though indeed they are such as will shew him to be a weake adversarie Qui strepit magis quà m sauciat And therefore though I sit safe out of his dint yet will I let the reader see how vainely he bestoweth his shot and how farre from the marke As for the parts of my booke wherein I labour as he saith to prove tithes to be due â—ure divino and his answers thereto my purpose is not here to medle with them for that they require a more spacious discourse then either that volume admitted or I now meane to enter into it being not a private question betweene him and me but long controverted by greater clerks and left to this day as questionem vexatam non judicatam The truth is the course of my argument lead me upon it and I therefore produced some arguments tending to the maintenance thereof but referring the point unto a greater work and forbearing to declare my selfe therein without ample and more laborious examination of so great a controversie leaving therefore that as a generall cause whereof he may perhaps have more another time I will here wage my selfe against him onely in those things wherein he chargeth me particularly in my owne person and passing over amongst them such snatches of his as scarcely ruffle the haire I will onely meddle with those parts where he thinketh he biteth deepest First he quarrelleth with me about the title of my booke in that I use the word Ecclesia for a materiall Church or as in contempt he termeth it a stone-house affirming in his learning that it signifieth onely the congregation which assertion if he could make good would give him a great hand in the cause for that much of his argument following lieth very heavily upon this pin Surely if I guesse right some Dictionary hath deceived him for perhaps his reading reacheth not so far as to resolve him herein but if two thousand authorities be sufficient to defend me withall I speak it without hyperbole I assure my selfe I could produce them Who knoweth not how ordinary a thing it is to have one word signifie both the persons and the place as Civitas the citizens or towne Collegium the society or house Senatus the Senators or Senate house Synagoga the assembly or place of assembly I am sure he will confesse that where it is said He loveth our nation and hath built us a synagogue It is not there meant of the persons he built them a congregation but of the place A Synagogue and Ecclesia signifie both one and the same thing the congregation or place of congregation in which sense we Christians notwithstanding use onely the word Ecclesia for our congregations and houses of prayer for that the Jews had taken up the other word for their â— ratories according to an old verse Nobis Ecclesia datur Hebraeis Synagoga And in this manner was the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used amongst the Greeks before the Christians borrowed it from them as it appeareth by some of your Lexicons where it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caetus concilium congregatio c. ponitur etiam pro loco ipso in quem convenitur Lucianus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Ubi curiam in qua consultant undique stravero And that the Church hath ever since used it in the same sort shall by and by appeare when we come to insist more particularly upon this point Faine would I know what himselfe would call one of our stone-Churches in Latine Templum savours of Judaisme and if I should have used a word of the ancient Fathers and said De non temerandis Basilicis Curiacis or Dominicis it may be I should have driven him to his Dictionary and yet left him pusled I thought fanum too prophane a word but he perhaps would think it so much the fitter for a Church and a play-house seem a like to him Another of his quarrels is that I apply the place of Isaiah the Prophet cap. 56. 7. My
allegoricall or anagogicall To retort his scoffe I might say it seemeth an Elephant of absurdity to the Gnat of his learning but I desire rather to satisfie him Si malitia non mutaverit intellectum then to disgrace him It cannot be denied if there be a correspondency betweene the body of our Church and Common wealth with the body of the Church and Common wealth of the Jewes the same must also hold proportionably amongst the members thereof and in consequence that the passages of state of government of peace warre liberty oppression prosperity adversity and other occurrents either active or passive must hold some aspect and analogy one unto the other And then also that whatsoever is denounced against the enemies of the one trencheth comparatively against the enemies of the other Come then unto the matter The prophet inveigheth against them that seeke to spoile oppresse or disturbe the Church of God seated in India be it openly by war or secretly by some stratagem of wit Doth not this thwart them also that attempt the like in our Church Yes saith he against them of the King of Spaines Armado in 88. and those of the Powder Treason wherein the universall desolation both of the King and Kingdome Church and Common-wealth were not onely projected but attempted by our enemies But shew me will he say what hath the appropriating of a pelting Parsonage or the pulling downe of a stone-house which you call a Church is unto this for the one is an Elephant the other but a Gnatt I answer Eadem est ratio partium quae est totius And out of this reason and analogy our Saviour Christ argueth him that casteth but a lascivious looke to be guilty of the great Commandement non maechaberis as well as him that committed the very heinous act it selfe and then also that whatsoever the Prophet denounceth against them that spoile the Church in generall the same descends upon every particular man that spoileth the same in any particular part as Omne genus praedicatur de omnibus singulis suis speciebus etiam infimis individuis Now that the taking up of these parsonages and defacing of places of publike prayer is a spoile of the Church of God appeareth in this that the meanes and maintenance of the seruice of God and of his ministers is thereby diminished and destroyed which subtraction of maintenance from the minister God in Malachi 3. 8. declareth to be a spoyling of himselfe for that his seruice is thereby hindred and his Church impaired And although this man affirmeth that although there were never a stone-Church or minister in the kingdome yet the Church and service of God might stand well enough for that every mans family is a Church and every master thereoftyed to instruct his servants every father his children yet by example of the Church in the time of the Apostles we ought to have places of publicke prayer and some to instruct these masters and fathers for the husbandman the artisan the day-labourer are not commanded to neglect their vocation and turne preachers as too many now adayes do And though perhaps some such good men out of their devotion would preach now and then to instruct their brethren yet who shall do it ordinarily and where shall the Assembly be entertained for every town hath not a Guild-hall a Sessions-house a Cock-pit or a Play-house fit for such a multitude And though they may as he saith serve God abroad with Paul in a dungeon with Ieremy or on a muckhill with Iob yet heat or cold wet or wind will hinder them at one time or other so that doubtlesse it were very necessary to have a man and a place publickly appointed for the service of God in every Congregation And then since this man cannot perform his office without maintenance and such a place as we speake of the taking of them away puts him from doing his duty deprives his parishioners of their instruction and then by consequence spoyles the Church of God and so the curse of the Psalme lyeth justly against them But let us now take a view of the gnat he speaketh of and which he contemneth so much in respect of the smalnesse thereof Had there been but three or foure of these livings taken from the Church his fancy might have had the more colour to use such fond applications but if it cometh to three or foure hundred it groweth now beyond the size of a Gnat what shall we then say of 3845. livings or appropriate Parsonages thus taken from the Church which is more by 1126. then the halfe of all those that remaine and within 897. as many as them all for the Churches not appropriate are but 5439. through all England and Wales So that the parishes of the Churches appropriate containe neare about the one halfe of the kingdome which is more if Hierome in his Epistle to Dardanus as I take it deceive me not then twice so much as all the land of Iudea though we reckon the kingdome of Israel into it but many times more then the kingdome of Iudea which conteined but the two tribes onely that stucke to God and of whose times this Psalme seemeth to be a prophecie And thus ye see both the gnat and the Elephant that he speaketh of though I mean not to propose them to you by way of comparison but discover his intemperance or want of judgement But to support his credit with a broken prop it may be he will say that upon the appropriating these Churches and transferring of them to the King there was a provision left in most of the parishes for a Vicar or Curate to do divine service there and that nothing was taken from them but superfluity so to keepe them in diet and bridle their immoderate luxurie which he proclaimeth to be so exorbitant as scarcely all England and Virginia to boot can satisfie Lord blesse us is it possible that our Church-men should become so monstrous or hath Shimei thus railed against the body of them without his perill I hope much better of their temperance then of his tongue But I leave them to make their own Apology for I have digressed beyond my purpose and therefore will spend no time in discoursing upon the provision made for Vicars and Curates in these Churches appropriate He seemeth to be of Micahs mind that ten shekels or a matter of foure nobles a year besides diet and a suite of apparell is a faire maintenance for one of our Ministers In which point I have else-where declared my selfe at large and will not therefore here insist upon it onely this I would know of him what surplusage or superfluity there could be to give unto the King or take from the Church when besides the maintenance of the Ministers much was to be disposed by them in relieving the poore and other pious uses Henricus Spelmannus Richardo suo Careo viro praestanti Sal. P. D. MAnsuctudinis tuae prorsus
presently after the first impression here both because it proceeded from a pious intent of the Authour who it seemes was very well affected as also because he sheweth the concurrence and approbation of the best religious in that Kingdome where sacrilegious practises have invaded that Church more violently since the dayes of reformation and cleare light of the Gospel then ever was done in the darkest times of popery Rolloc a grave and learned Divine of Scotland hath besides Master Knox and others in his Commentary upon Dan. 2. 5. discovered his judgement against the sacrilegious practices of his time and countreymen reprehending them sharply for taking to their owne use and profit all that was pulled from the Church and doth severely cite them to answer it before the tribunall of God which though they neglect and contemne yet saith he they shall be made inexcusable thereby Master Knox not long before his death wrote to a Generall Assembly holden at Sterling 6. August 1571. and his Letter is among the Records of that Assembly out of which it is also published with many other Records of Parliaments and Assemblies there holden in the compasse of sixty years in a Declaration lately of the Church of Scotland The mighty Spirit of Comfort Wisdome and Concord remaine with you Deare brethren if ability of body would have suffered I should not have troubled you c. but now brethren because the daily decay of my naturall strength threatens unto me certaine and sudden departure from the misery of this life of love and conscience I exhort you yea in the feare of God I charge and command you that you take heed to your selves and to the flock over the which God hath placed you Pastours To discourse of the behaviour of your selves I may not but to command you to be faithfull to the flock I dare not forget Unfaithfull traytours to the flock shall ye be before the Lord Jesus if that with your consent directly or indirectly ye suffer unworthy men to be thrust into the Ministery of the Church under what pretence that ever it be Remember the Judge before whom ye must make an account and resist that Tyranny as ye would avoid hell fire This battell I grant will be hard but the second part will be harder That is with the like uprightnesse and strength in God ye gain-stand the mercilesse devourers of the patrimony of the Church If men will spoile let them doe it to their owne perill and condemnation but communicate ye not with their sinnes of whatsoever state they be neither by consent nor yet by silence but with publique protestation make this knowne to the world that ye are innocent of such robberies which will ere it be long provoke Gods vengeance upon the committers thereof whereof you will seeke redresse of God and man God give you wisdome strength and courage in so just a cause and meane happy end Knox. Saint Andrews 3. August 1571. Ll. H. 1. c. 29. Ennius 1 Tim. 1. 15. Numb 11. 26. Ll ad confess in Prooem Westminst 1. Esay 49. 23. If these things had not been primarily due unto God by the rule of his Word yet are they now his and separate from us by the voluntary gift and dedication of our ancient Kings and Pâ—cdecessâ—rs Spelmans first Treatise § 5. cap. 28. inf Dominicum aureum Nobilissimum Antiochiae templum à Constantino M. inceptum sub Consâ—antio verò absolutum hoc epitheto prae excellentia honoratum insigni Episcoporum populorumque confluentia ejus encaeniam ceâ—â—â—nte Hieron in Chronico In Antiochia Doâ—â—â—â—icum quod vocatur aureum aedificari coeptum Et infra mox Antiochiae Dominicum aureum dedicatur Glossar Spelman pa. 224. Cyrill describing a Church of Constantines building in Jerusalem â—als it Cat. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Church all adorned and embossed with silver and gold Eusebius reporting of the spacious and beautifull Church of Tyre which was built anew by the famous B. P. Paulinus says the lustre and splendour was such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as made beholders amazed to behold it L'Evesque de winchester case fol. 45. Ezek. 45 c. Cap. 6. In Epist. ad Philip. Tom. 4. Edit Savil. M. Nettles pag. 120. In Epi Philip Edit Decimae Philippo Regi Francorum in oppugnationem Saladani Mahometani principis concessae erant Hujusmodi etiam obtinuit Rex Angliae Richardus 1. ut testatur Matth. Paris in Anno 1189. ab exemplis istis posteri saepe Reges Annatas sive primitias Bonifacius Papa beneficiis Ecclesiasticis primus imposuit circa annum 1400. sunt tamen qui hoc inventum Iohanni 22. ascribant hanc autem consuetudinem omnes admisere praeter Anglos qui id de solis Episcopatibus concessere in caeteris beneficiis non adeo Platina Hodie fisco penduntur non tantùm ex Episcopatibus verùm etiam ex beneficiis quibuslibet Ecclesisticis annui valoris 10. marcarum Vicariisque 10. lib. nec minores sane quà m unius anni fructus integri juxta tabulas Regias aestimandos Glossarium Spelm. in Annatis Tom. 1. Concil Britan. Exod. 30. 13. Numb 35. 4 5. No Tribe but the royal Tribe of Juda had so many Cities allowed to them as Jos. 15. 21 Num. 1. 3. A pitiful wonder it is to see learned men alledge such reasons as Sir James Sempil saith p. 23. Concil Valentin Anno 855. Com. 10. Tom. 3. Concil Nonae quas pii ex propensiori in Deum animo dabant ultra decimas Quod plurimis Lâ— allatis probat explicat Glossar Dni Spelm. In Mat. 21. Plerique arbitrantur maximum esse signorum quod Lazarus est suscitatus quod caecus ex utero lumen acceperit quod ad Iordanem vox audita sit Patris quod transfiguratus in monte gloriam ostenderit triumphantis mihi inter omnia signa quae fecit hoc videtur mirabilius esse quod unus homo illo tempore contemptibilis in tantum vilis ut postea crucifigeretur Scribus Pharisaeus contra se saevientibus videntibus lucra se destruisse potuerit ad unius flagelli verbera tantam ejicere multitudinem mensasque subvertere Cathedras confringere alia facere quae infinitus non secisset exercitus igneum ei quiddam atque sydereum radiabat ex oculis ejus divinitatis Majestas lucebat in facie Hieron In M Pler tra◠〈◊〉 Prov. 16. 4. for himselfe Esay 43. 7. Wisd. 9. 2. Ecclus. 17. 2. Deut. 4. 19. Ecclus. 17. 2. 1. 2. 3. 1 Crr. 11. 22. Edit 1606. Joh. 12. 6. Mar. 6. 38. Luk. 9. 13. Joh. 6. 9. Dist. 12. 9. 1. â—abeâ—at Hiâ—ron in vita Marci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. temperantia continentia moâ—estia In vita Pii Strigelius in leg lib. 2. pag. 307. Codin p. 5. Suidas Apud Euseb. l. 10. ca. 5. 1 Cor. 9. 14. Lib. 21. de vita Contemplativa Epist. ad Nepotianum Note