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
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
adding further that it was manifest that the Bishops and Priests did divide it to the Deacons and the rest of the Clerks And though the Greek copy in this place calleth not these fruits 〈◊〉 Tithes yet the Canon seemeth to bee meant thereof for other fruit none was to be carried to the house of the Bishop or to bee divided amongst the Priests and the Deacons save offerings tithes and first-fruits therefore the old Translation of the Canons out of Zonaras expresseth it tithe and first-fruits And this fashion here received of sending these things to the house of the Bishop and his dividing of them among the Priests and Deacons sheweth the great antiquity of this Canon for it appeareth that the first usage was so and that the Ministers had menstruam sportulam every month a basket of the offerings and tithes for their maintenance whereupon they were called Clerici sportulantes i. basket Clerks Vid. Cyprian Epist. 34. 66. Baron anno Ch. 57. Num. 72. 145. anno 58. Num. 89. And the people then offered accustomably to the Altar and for the maintenance of the Priests Concilium Agrippinense cap. 6. Anno 356. first decreeth that Tithes shall be called Dei Census Gods rent and reciting that the third part thereof as was declared in the Toletan Councell belonged to the Bishops yet according to the Roman use they agreed to take but every year the fourth part which upon excommunication they commanded to be paid Burchand lib. 3. ca. 135. Concil Romanum 4. sub Damaso about the year 375. amongst the Decrees thereof it is ordained ut decimae atque primitiâ— Ã fidelibus darentur qui detrectant anathemate feriantur that tithes and first-fruits should be paid by the faithful Concil Aurelianense 1. sub Symmacho An. 507. Can. 17. decreeth that the Bishops shal have every year the fourth part or every fourth year the whole tithe Tom. 2. Con. Concilium Tarraconense sub Hormisda An. 517. Can. 8. juxta Burchandum 9. juxta Bin. saith that it was an Order antiquae consuetudinis that the Bishop should have the third part of all things yeerly and therefore willed it still to be kept Burchard lib. 3. Ca. 33. Bin. Tom. 2. Conc. Concilium Mediomatricis Anno willeth the Bishops to reprove prohibeant them that would not pay Tithe without some reward be given them Bur. l. 3. C. 134. Concilium Toletanum Anno 533. divideth all Church rights into two sorts of oblations one to be those that are offered i. e. given to the Parish Churches as Lands Vineyards bond-men c. and willeth that these should be wholly in the ordering of the Bishops The other to be those of the Altar whereof it commanded â—â—e third part to be carried to the Bishop and two parts to be for the Clerks And of Tithes it saith that according to some the third part yearly or every third year the whole was so paid But that they following the manner of the Roman Church decreed that the Bishops should have every year the fourth part or every fourth year the whole tithe Burchard lib. 3. C. 136. Bin. paulo aliter Tom. 1. In a collection of Canons of an uncertain Author in the Vatican Library this is attributed to Sylvester who was Bishop of Rome 315. Binnius in a note upon this Canon somewhat differeth in words Concilium Matisconense 2. sub Pelagio 2. Anno 588. affirmeth Tithes to be due by the Laws of God that the whole multitude of Christians kept those Laws very warily of long time that by little and little they were in those days almost wholly neglected And this Councell decreeth that the ancient usage of the faithfull should bee revived and that all the people should bring in their Tithes to them that ministred the ceremonies of the Church c. otherwise to bee excommunicated Tom. 2. Con. Concilium Hispalense sub Gregorio 1. Anno 590. concludeth thus That if any mantithe not all these things viz. before named he is a spoiler of God a thief and a robber and the cursings that God put upon Cain for his deceitfull dividing are cast likewise upon him Ivo p. 2. 174. Tom. 2. Concil Concil Valentinum sub Leone 4. Anno 858. ca. 10. That all faithfull men should with all readinesse offer their ninths and tithes to God of all that they possesse c. upon perill of excommunication Tom. 3. Con. Concil Rothoma cap. 3. nameth particularly what ought to be tithed and commandeth to doe it upon pain of excommunication Burchard li. 3. ca. 130. and annexeth the Councell Mogunt ca. 38. Concil Cavallon ca 18. Anno 8â—3 That Bishops Abbots and religious persons should pay them to Churches out of their possessions and families where they baptized and received Burch lib. 3. ca. 132. And Concil Cavallon c. 1. decreeth that all Churches with their whole livings and tithes should bee wholly in the power of the Bishops and to be ordered â—â—d disposed by him Burchard lib. 3. ca. 146. Concil Moguntin 1. ca. 8. recited by Burchard who lived about 6â—0 years since saith that Abraham by his action and Jacob by his promise declared unto us that tithe was to be given to God The Law hath since confirmed it and all the holy Doctors are mindfull of it c. Hereof the venerable Doctor Saint Augustine saith Tithes are required as a debt What if God should say quoth he thy self a man art mine and so forth as followeth in that Sermon of his that hereafter we exhibit The Councell proceedeth further shewing reasons why Tithes should be paid That if the Jews were so carefull in executing this commandement as they would not omit it in the least things mint and rue c. as our Saviour testifieth how much more ought the people of the Gospel to perform it that hath a greater number of Priests and a more sincere manner of Sacraments They are therefore to be given unto God that being better pleased with this devotion he may give more liberally the things we have need of That this kind of maintenance is fittest for the Clergy that they otherwise be not troubled with worldly businesse but may attend their calling That the daily offerings of the people and that Tithes are to be divided into four parts according to the Canons The first to the Bishop another to the Minister or Priest Clericorum the third to the poor the fourth to repairing of Churches Burchard li. 3. c. 133. Concil Moguntin 1. cap. 10. tempore Appae 4. 4. Lothar Imp. Anno 847. sub Rabano Archiepiscopo qui scribit Ludovico This Councell admonisheth men to pay their Tithe carefully because God himself appointed it to be paid to himself And that it is to be feared that if any man take Gods right from him God for his sins will take things necessary from him also Tom. 3. Conc. Roman Conâ—il 5. Anno 1078. Tom. 3. saith that Lay-men upon pain of sacriledge excommunication and damnation
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
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
into it what his dignity is how he came by it how much he needeth and for what cause he needeth it We must not therefore deal alike with them which were pincht and hardly brought up in their infancy and with them who being nourished delicately and plentifully are now fallen into necessiâ—y Neither must we minister the same things to men and to women nor like quantity to old men and young men nor to sickly young men that are not able to earn their living and those 〈◊〉 have somwhat of their own to maintain themselves withall It must also be considered whether they have many children and whether those children be idle or industrious and how far forth they are insufficient to provide for themselves to bee short there is great wisdome required in him that would well dispose the Revenues of the Church and that by being a faithfull and discreet disposer hee may become an happy man Thus far Origen to which purpose Cyprian also in his Epistle to Eucratius lib. 1. Epist. 10. sheweth that the Church maintained many poor and that her own diet was frugalioribus innocentibus cibis sparing and plain and all her expence sumptibus parcioribus quidem sed salutaribus full of frugality but sufficient for health The persons by whom this distribution of Church goods was made were chiefly the Bishops as appeareth by the former Epistle of Vrbane and Deacons appointed under them as in the times of the Apostles Acts â— Therefore Origen in his 16. Homily upon Matthew fol. 31. col 4. taxing the unfaithfull Deacons saith Diaconi autem c. But the Deacons which govern not well the tables of the Ecclesiasticall money that is the goods and Revenues of the Church but doe always purloin them not distributing that which they give according unto judgement and so become rich by that which belongeth unto the poor they are the Exchangers whose Tables Christ will overthrow For the Apostles in their Acts teach us that the Deacons are Governours of the Tables of Ecclesiasticall moneys or Revenues c. and again after unusquisque diaconorum Every one of the Deacons which gather wealth to themselves by defrauding the poor let them now so understand this Scripture that they gather no more lest the Lord commeth upon them and overthrow the Tables of their distribution Thus much touching the use of Church goods in the first age of the Church or first 300. yeers of Christ whereby it plainly appeareth that no Ecclesiasticall person enjoyed any thing belonging to the Church to his own benefit but that the Church-men had out of the Revenues and goods of the Church so much onely as sufficed for their necessary maintenance in meat drink cloth and such like the surplusage being faithfully employed to the relief of the poor the needy the widows persons banished for Religion or imprisoned Captives and Christians any way distressed So that the Church exposing all this while the dugs of her piety unto others did live her self on thistles and thorns that is in want necessity and professed poverty When the flood of persecution had prevailed as many years against the Church in the time of the Gospel as that of waters did days against the wicked in the time of Noah and that Constantine like the Dove of the Ark had brought the olive branch of peace unto the people of God the Church then began to smell the sweet savour of rest and changing presently her disposition with her fortune changed also the very policy of her government before in poverty now in riches before a servant now a Mistresse before a Captive now a Conquerour For the noble Constantine being miraculously converted to the faith did not onely free her from persecution but setled her also in the very bosome of peace raised her to honours endowed her with possessions established her with immunities and to be short poured upon her the fulnesse of his regall munificence Insomuch that many prudent Fathers foreseeing then another evill likely to proceed from hence as namely that her plenty might make her wanton and forgetfull of her duty began now to dispute whether it were lawfull for her to accept lands and Temporalties or not Some alledged that the examples of our Saviour and his Apostles bound them to contemn the world and to live in a strict and Stoick kind of poverty Others conceived that course to be but temporall and like a medicinall diet prescribed by Physitians to their patients in sicknesse onely not in health affirming the time to be now come when it pleased God to crown the long-suffering of his Church with the blessings promised in the tenth of Mark v. 29. 31. That since they had forsaken house and brethren and sisters and father and mother and wife and children and lands for Christs sake and the Gospel they should receive an hundred fold now at this present with their persecutions and in the world to come eternall life I will not argue this point but letting passe the School-men will rest my self upon the determination of many ancient Councels Fathers and Doctors of the Church who with one consent conclude affirmatively that the Church may hold them And I think their opinion to be of God for that it hath prevailed these 1500. years against all the enemies thereof though the Kytes of Satan have pulled many a plume from it To return to Constantine though he and others by his example did abundantly enrich the Church yet did not the Church-men take these riches to the benefit of themselves and their families but employed them as before to workes of charity Yea Silvester himselfe though the sea of these things flowed into his bosome and were at his pleasure yet took he as sparingly of them as if he had been but a little pitcher suffering the whole streams thereof to run abundantly amongst the children of the church and poor people as did also the other Fathers Priests and Clergy of that time who reckoned not otherwise of riches then as dung which being spread and scattered in the fields of God might make them the more fertile For the resolution then was as in the age before that no Church-man might take Lands to his private use nor the Church her self otherwise then for works of charity and the necessary sustenance of her Ministers not to make stocks or portions for them in earth whose inheritance was in heaven and that had God himself fortheir portion Therefore Prosper a godly Father of that time whose authority is often used in the Councel of Aquisgrane disputing the point concludeth it thus If every Minister of the Church have not a Living the Church doth not provide one for him in this world but helpeth him with things necessary that he may receive the reward of his labour in the world to come resting in this life upon the promise of our Saviour To which purpose he applieth the place in the 1 Cor. 9. 14. What is it to live of the
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
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
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