the Lord. From all these Scriptures here recited at large for the Readers fuller satisfaction conviction and ease in turning to them these conclusions undeniably arise 1. That the Priests and Levits had by Gods special command precept oft repeated both Cities Houses Suburbs Lands Glebes designed to setled on them by their brethren out of all the other tribes of Israel for their habitation and the keeping feeding of their Cattel Goods Beasts and that in a very large and bountifull proportion And likewise necessary convenient houses chambers lodgings neer the Temple when first built and when re-edified afterwards which refutes the common errour of those ignorant Simpletons and illiterate New-lights who from Numb 18.20 Deut. 10.9 chap. 18.1 2. The Priests the Levites and all the tribe of Levi shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire and his inheritance Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren the Lord is their inheritance as he hath said unto them Conclude That the Priests and Levites amongst the Israelites had no Cities houses lands suburbs or possessions of their own belonging to their Office and were expresly forbidden by God to receive or enjoy any among their brethren And hence inferr That Ministers of the Gospel ought not to enjoy any Rectories Houses Lands or Glebes Whereas all the forecited Scriptures directly record the contrary and the meaning of these seeming repugnant texts is only this That they should have no inheritance amongst their Brethren in such sort and manner as they had set out altogether in one parcel by Joshua and the rest who divided the land amongst the tribes by lot which would have hindred them from their duties but only a subsequent assignment of certain Cities houses and suburbs seattered and divided one from another in and out of every tribes inheritance that so they might perform their offices with more ease and be alwayes ready at hand in every tribe to teach and instruct the people upon all occasions 2. That the inheritance of the Cities houses and suburbs which they enjoyed were not reputed their own proper inheritance though they enjoyed the possession and profits thereof but Gods inheritance as a thing devoted and dedicated unto God himself and therefore stiled by Ezekiel an Oblation unto God and an holy portion as Histories Divines Common Civil and Canon Lawyers stile all our Rectories Church-lands and Glebes with the Charters that first setled them being given and consecrated Deo et Ecclesiae an oblation unto God and the Church 3. That these endowments and Glebes of theirs were called reputed Gods own Portion and Inheritance 1. Because given by his special command and appointment by all the tribes 2. Because originally consecrated devoted to God and to his Priests and Ministers onely in Gods right for his sake 3. Because given to promote Gods worship service glory and for an habitation support to Gods own Priests and Levites imployed wholly in his immediate service 4. That they were expresly prohibited to be sold exchanged or alienated by the Priests Levites or any others because they were reserved by and given unto God himself as an holy Portion and Oblation and to the Priests and Levites for a perpetual possâ—ssion in regard of the perception of the profits the inheritance of them residing only in God himself Therfore not possible to be justly and lawfully sold exchanged or alienated by the Priests Levites or any other mortal Powers whatsoever who could claim no power right property or disposing interest in or over them against Gods own Soveraign and sacred title 5. That these Cities Suburbs Glebes were ratably set out in and by every tribe in an equal proportion according to the multitude or paucity of their Cities as a Tenth of their Cities and lands to which their 48 Cities and Suburbs amounted as some probably conceive And yet besides these 48 Cities there were Houses and Schools of Prophets and Prophets children in nature of our Universities in Bethel and in Jericho 2 Kings 2.3 4 5 7 to 24. chap. 6.1 2 3 4. which were none of these 48 Cities 6. That none of the Kings and Princes of Judah though many of them were Idolatrous wicked and put to great extremities to raise monies to pay their Armies and Tributes to forein Invaders and Conquerors did yet ever attempt to sell or alienate the Cities Suburbs or revenues of the Priests and Levites to maintain their warrs or pay publike Debts or tributes though King Asa Jehoash Hezekiah by way of loan made bold with the Silver and Gold in the treasure of the Lords house in cases of publike extremity which might be and was afterwards re-paid 1 Kings 15.18 cap. 18.15 2 Chron. 16.2 Yea the Scripture expresly records that in the great famine in Aegypt when all others sold their lands to buy bread to King Pharaoh only the Lands of the Priests bought he not For the Priests had a Portion assigned them of Pharaoh and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them wherefore they sold not their Lands Gen. 47.20 to 27. 7. That the Idolatrous usurper Jeroboam out of a carnal fear and policy to keep the people from returning to their rightfull Soveraign and establish the crown on himself and his Posterity was the first man we read of and his Idolatrous sons and successors after him who cast out Gods Priests and Levites out of their offices and then out of their Cities Suburbs and Possessions which he enforced them to desert though we read not that they sold them to maintain their Warrs or pay Soldiers arrears who thereupon repaired to Jerusalem to Rehoboam the right heir and after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem to enjoy Gods Ordinances strengthned Rehoboam and his kingdom against this persecuting usurper 2 Chron. 11.13 to 18. 8. That this his casting out of the Priests and Levites from their Offices and Pâ—ssâ—ssions making Priests of the lowest of the People and suffering every one that would to consecrate himself a Priest without a lawfull call is objected against Jeroboam by Abijah as a very high crime and provocation against God and the maintaining encouraging of Gods lawfull Priests and Levites in their Offices and setled possessions alleged by him as a certain argument of Gods presence with him and so with any other King and people and of victory successe in conclusion against sacrilegious Usurpers 9. That when Gods lawfull Priests and Levites are deprived of their Glebes and Possessions we must presently expect a base contemptible time-serving Idolatrous ignorant Priestood Jeroboams Golden Calves with their new Feasts and Sacrifices and a universal inundation of Idolatry wickedness prophanness to ensue with all the forementioned calamities which befell Ieroboams Army adherents subjects Person Family Kingdom which the Lord now set home on all our hearts that we may
that they most affect yea farr lesse troublesom to more convenient for our Ministers Persons families and necessary Cattel than bare stipends which must enforce them to run to Markets to buy all their Corn and other provisions both for their Houshold Horses Cattel at the dearest rates So if this Maintenance by Tithes be once abolished either before any other competent Maintenance setled in its steed lesse grievous and inconvenient than Tithes which all wise men in the world will never be able to invent much lesse to establish as things now are setled or Ministers left wholy to an arbitrary unconstrained Benevolence without any limited Proportion or means to recover it if detained as some now petition This expected proposed unconstrained Maintenance would in verity and reality signify just Nothing and be no Maintenance at all in the Petitioners own sence and intention as appears by John Cannes forecited passages and the very words of their Petitions since they refuse to pay them their very Tithes yet due by Law and never freely contributed one penny to them for their Ministry which they revile disclaim as Antichristian Wherefore if any New-fangled Politicians resolve to settle such a new Maintenance only insteed of the old for the peoples pretended Ease let them first establish settle an arbitrary Excise Custome uncoercive voluntary Impost and monthly Contribution as this on the people for Maintenance of the Army and Navy not so simply necessary as the Ministry for our real welfare without any compulsory means to recover it if not freely rendred till the next harvest come and see what a competent Maintenance that will be for the Souldiers and Seamen and provide that all Tenants for the year ensuing shall render only what Rents they please to the State their Landlords Lessees who shall have no power to distrain sue or enter upon any of them in case they deny to pay their Rents and trie what a certain Annual Revenue this whimsy will produce to the States and Land-Lords purses Or else give over this Jesuitical Anabaptistical devised new Maintenance for our Ministers as a Stratagem only to starve their bodies and their Peoples souls without any more Debates concerning Tithes to gratify such malicious Projectors and offend all Godly people through the Nation who deem this old way of Maintenance of Gods own Prescription farr better lesse inconvenient in all respects than this arbitrary or any other new-fangled way of these or other mens invention 5ly That although God by his divine Providence is able to support the faithfull Ministers of the Gospel though totally stripped naked of all their Glebes Tithes antient Maintenance through the unrighteousnesse or malice of ungodly men as he did the Apostles and his Ministers in all ages in times of Persecution yet let all such who have or shall have a hand in such a Sacrilegious design consider 1. That they shall be as bitter Enemies to and Persecutors of the Ministers of Christ amongst us in and by this very Project as Julian the Apostate Christian was to Gods faithfull Ministers in the primitive Times when he took away their Preferments Glebes and Church Revenues as the High Commissioners and Prelates were of late to all those godly Puritan Ministers whom they deprived of their Benefices for Non-conformity to their Ceremonies and no real Crime deserving such an inhuman Censure depriving them of their Livelyhoods 2ly That they shall hereby draw a great Scandal upon our very Religion it self Church Nation render them odious Sacrilegious to all foreign Churches Nations gratify rejoyce the hearts of the Pope Jesuites Papists and other professed Enemies of our Religion accomplish their Designs against our Church and Ministers exceedingly sad the hearts and grieve the righteous souls of all Gods faithfull Saints amongst us of all Protestant Churches in Foreign parts and draw this just Censure on themselves 2 Pet. 2.14 15. An heart they have exercised with covetous practices cursed Children which have forsaken the right way and are gon astray following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor who loved the wages of unrighteousnesse These are wells without water Clouds carried with a Tempest to whom is reserved the mist of darknesse for ever 3ly That although God should miraculously preserve a faithfull able Ministry and his true Religion still amongst us through the bounty and charity of other well affected Christians yet they have done their uttermost endeavours to destroy them and the peoples souls with them both for the present and succeeding ages 4ly That this unrighteous violent act will in all probability bring in a world of Confusion Atheism Schisms Heresies Divisions Contentions Blasphemies disorders amongst us in all places a famine of the sincere preaching of Gods word a neglect and contempt of Learning and Piety a dilapidation Spoliation of all or most Parish Churches Chapels a confusion of the bounds of all Parishes and Parochial Congregations and bring all those Calamities on our Nation as it did upon the Israelites when Jeroboam thrust out the Priests and Levites from their Glebes Suburbs Ministry thus registred 2 Chron. 15.3 5 6. Now for a long season Israel was without the true God and without a teaching Priest and without Law as some would have us now And in those days mark the consequence there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in but great veration upon all the Inhabitants of the Country And Nation was destroyed of Nation and Citie of Citie for God did vex them withall Adversity In which condition they continued till King Asa and the people renued repaired the decayed Altar House and worship of the Lord Gathered all the people to Jerusalem to worship God and enter into a Solemn Covenant and Oath to serve the Lord God of their Fathers with all their hearts and with all their soul And that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great man or woman Offred Sacrifices to the Lord of the Spoyl they had taken from the Enemy 700. Oxen and 7000. Shéep and brought into the house of God the things that his Father had dedicated and himself had dedicated Silver and Gold and Vessels formerly taken thence and then there was no more war in divers years v. 8. to the end of the Chapter And probably our Wars Taxes Vexations will never end till we give over our late irreligious Sacrilegious Rapines Church Robberies and do the like as this pious King and his people here did 5ly That this discouraging robbing abusing despising mocking misusing of Gods Messengers Prophets sent amongst us and of all his and their words against our wicked Atheistical Sacrilegious Rapines is the High way to provoke the wrath of God to rise against us till there be no remedy yea to bring in a powerfull Foreign Nation upon us to pillage waste destroy enslave our whole Nation extirpate us out of the Land of our Nativity and
yea by spoils won in battel by Generals Collonels Captains Souldiers is not only lawfull expedient but the most fiting rational convenient Maintenance of all others warranted by direct Presidents Precepts both before under the Law and likewise by the Gospel which doth no wayes abolish condemn but approve confirm this way of Maintenance 3. That if Tithes and other Maintenance formerly setled on our Ministers be either wilfully with-held or substracted from them by the people in part or in whole the Civil Magistrates may yea ought by coercive Laws and Penalties to enforce the payment of them in due form and time both by the Law of God and Rules of Justice without any injurie or oppression to the detainers 4. That our Ministers Tithes are really no burthen grievance oppression to the people but a charge debt dutie as well as their Landlords Rents or Merchants poundage That the abolishing of them will be no real ease gain advantage to Farmers Lâ—ssees and the poorer sort of people as is falsely pretended but only to rich Land-lords and landed men and a loss detriment to all others 5. That the present Opposition and endevoured Abolition of Tithes and all other coercive Maintenance for Ministers proceeds not from any real grounds of Pietie Conscience or any consideble real inconveniences mischiefs arising from them but meerly from base covetous carnal hearts want of Christian love charitie to and professed enmitie hatred against the Ministers of the Gospel yea from a Jesuitical Papistical Anabaptistical design to subvert ruine our Ministers Church Religion the probable if not necessary consequence of this infernal Project if it should take effect which would prove the eternal shame infamie ruine of our Nation not its glory and benefit CHAP. I. THe first of these Propositions being the foundation and corner-stone whereon all the rest depend and into which it hath a prevailing influence I shall be more copious in its Probation and in the Refutation of the Objections which are or may be raised against it That there is a just competent and comfortable Maintenance due to all lawfull painfull Preachers and Ministers of the Gospel from the people even by Divine right institution and express Texts Precepts of the Gospel is as clear as the noonday Sun by these irrefragable Gospel Testimonies I. By Matth. 10.5 6 9 10 11. where when our Lord and Saviour Christ himself first sent forth authorized commanded his 12. Apostles to preach the Gospel he gave them these instructions among other Provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses nor scrip nor bread adds Mark 6.8 for your journey neither two coats nor shooes nor yet staves adding this as the reason thereof For the Labourer is worthy of his meat or his Reward Hire Wages Maintenance as the Greek word will bear and other following Scriptures render it II. By Luke 10.1 6 10. recording that when our Saviour Christ not long after his former Commission to the 12. Apostles sent forth the 70. Disciples by two and two to preach in every City and place whither himself would come he gave them almost the self-same instructions Carry neither purse nor scrip nor shoes and into whatsoever house ye enter first say Peace be to this house c. And in the same house remain eating and drinking such things as they give subjoyning this reason for it For the Labourer is worthy of his Hire Go not from house to house as Beggars use to doe for alms And into what City you enter and hey receive you eat such things as are set before you c. III. By John 6.35 36 37 38. where our Lord Jesus Christ soon after the former Commissions used these words to his Disciples Behold I say unto you Lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest And He that reapeth receiveth Wages and gathereth fruit unto eternal life c. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour c. Which may be aptly paralleld with and interpreted by Matth. 9.37 38. Then said he our Saviour unto his Disciples The harvest truly is plenteous but the Laborers are few pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth Laborers into his harvest Which when he did he agreed with them all for a certain stipend by the day and when the evening was come he said unto his Steward Call the Laborers and give them their hire beginning from the last unto the first Mat. 20.1 to 15. as is there parabolically expressed From which Texts words of our Lord and Saviour Christ himself it is most apparent 1. That the Apostles Preachers Ministers of the Gospel are and ought to be diligent painfull Labourers in Christs spiritual harvest not idle loiterers 2. That they were not obliged but expresly prohibited to provide gold silver brass scrips shoes clothes bread meat drink lodging and other necessaries at their own free cost when they were commissioned and sent forth to preach the Gospel as some now would enforce them to for this very reason That being Labourers in the Lords own harvest for the eternall salvation of mens soules they were worthy to receive them as hire or wages from those to whom they preached 3. That our Saviour Christ himself at the very original institution and first mission of his 12. Apostles and after of his 70 Disciples to preach the Gospel thrice one after another expresl y resolves in positive terms That they are worthy of their meat hire wages for their Labour in the Gospel and so by consequence all other lawfull Labouring Ministers who diligently preach the Gospel are worthie of the like at this day and neither of them obliged to preach the Gospell freely without any recompence wages reward as some Seducers now pretend 4. That meat drink clothes lodging and a competent maintenance are as truely justly due to the true Labouring Ministers of the Gospell from the people and that of pure common natural yea Gospell right justice not as meer arbitrary Charity or Benevolence but as merited HIRE WAGES as much as well as deserved hire wages are due to any other hired servant or labourer whatsoever by common justice and the law of God Gen. 29. 15. Exod. 2.9 Levit. 19.13 Deut. 24.14 15. Mat. 20.1 to 16. Joh. 4.36 Or as well as pay wages are justly due to the best deserving Officers soldiers Luke 3.14 Ezek. 28.18 19. and that by Christs own trebled resolution recorded by the Evangelists for their greater evidence and conviction who emphatically by way of reason applies these words only to his Apostles and Ministers For the Labourer is worthy of his meat hire wages they being the most divine excellent usefull necessary Labourers of all others and that in matters of highest concernment in relation both to God and Men Therefore of all other labourers they are most worthy of a honorable comfortable certain hire salary reward for their support and encouragement 5. Hence
and on the North side two thousand Cubits and the City shall be in the midst this shall be to them the suburbs of the Cities And among the Cities which ye shall give unto the Levites there shall be six Cities for refuge which ye shall appoint for the Manslayer that he may fly thither and to them ye shall adde forty and two Cities So all the Cities which ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty and eight Cities them shall ye give with their Suburbs And the Cities which ye shall give shall be of the possâ—ssion of the Children of Israel from them that have many ye shall give many and from them that have few ye shall give few Everyone shall give of his Cities according to his inheritance which he inheriteth This positive just command of God was given before the Israelites entrance into and conquest of the land of Canaan And this further positive law then likewise made against the sale and alienation of these Glebes and Possessions Levit. 25.32 33 34. Notwithstanding the Cities of the Levites and the Houses of the Cities of their possession may the Levites redeem at any time which others could not doe v. 30 31. And if a man purchase of the Levites then the House that was sold and the City of his possession shall go out in the year of Jubile for the houses of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel but the field of the Suburbs of their City may not be sold for it is their perpetual Possession After this when the land of Canaan was fully conquered by the Israelites and divided amongst the Tribes by bounds and limits we read Josh 21.1 to 43. Then came near the heads of the Fathers of the Levites unto Eleazer the Priest and unto Joshua the son of Nun and unto the heads of the tribes of the Children of Israel and they spake unto them at Shilo in the land of Canaan saying The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses in the text forecited To give us Cities to dwell in with the Suburbs thereof for our cattel And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites at the commandment of the Lord mark it all enemies of our Ministers Rectories Lands Glebes Maintenance these Cities and their Suburbs Then follow the Names and Places of the Cities allotted to the Levites proportionably out of every tribe and how they were divided by lot amongst them which you may read in the text it self over large to transcribe After which ensues this cloze of the story v. 8.41 42. And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these Cities and their Suburbs as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses all the Cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight Cities with their Suburbs These Cities were every one with their Suburbs round about them Thus were all the Cities In 1 Chron 6 We have a recital of the Sons and Families of Levi and the Office of the Priests and Levites with the names of all the Cities and Suburbs alloted to them out of every Tribe agreeing with this of Joshua where those who please may read them at their leisure These fourty eight Cities and their Suburbs as some conceive amounted to the tenth or at least twelfth Part of the Cities and Land of Canaan the Priests and Levites according to their number enjoying in proportion as large a share of the promised Land as any of the other Tribes for their Habitation and Glebes besides their Tithes first-Fruits Offerings and other Dues All which as Dr. George Downham and Mr. Samuel Purchas observe amounted to a far greater proportion for the maintenance of that small Tribe than all the Bishopricks Deaneries Benefices Cathedral and College lands Revenues Glebes Tithes and whatsoever Ecclesiastical Profits endowments of the Clergy and Scholars in our whole Kingdom and Nation After this when the Temple of Jerusalem was built where the Priests and Levites were to wait in their several Courses successively by Davids appointment 1 Chron. chap. 23 to chap. 27. 2 Chron. 8.14 15. chap. 23.8 and ch 13 10 11. ch 29.4 chap. 31.2 chap. 35. 2. Levit. 1.5 8 9. they had Houses Chambers lodgings provided for them at Jerusalem near the Temple where some of them constantly dwelt and attended and likewise for the Tithes first-fruits and oblations brought thither to them 1 Chron. 9.10 to 35. chap. 23.28 chap. 28.11 12 13. 2 Chron. 2 to 13. Ezra 8.29 Neh. 10.37 38 39. chap. 12.44 45 47. chap. 13.4 to 15. Ezech 40.4 to 45. chap. 42.1 to 19. chap. 44.19 chap. 46.19 These Cities Suburbs Habitations Chambers the Priests and Levits constantly enjoyed without interruption til the revolt of the ten tribes from Rehoboam when Jeroboam the usurper erected two Golden Calves in Dan and Bethel to keep the people from going up to Jerusalem to worship God there out of carnal fear and suspition saying in his heart Now shall the Kingdom return to the house of David if the people go up to Jerusalem to do Sacrifice in the House of the Lord there then shall the heart of this people turn back again to their Lord even unto Rehoboam King of Judah and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam King of Iudah 1 Kings 12.26 to 33. and then we read 2 Chron. 11.13 14 15 16. The Priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to Rehoboam out of all their Coasts For the Levites left their Suburbs and their Possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them out from executing the Priests Office unto the Lord and he ordained him Priests for the High Places of the lowest of the People and for the Devils and the Calves which he had made which King Abijah warring with him after his Fathers death when he claimed the right of his usurped Crown thus objected against him and the revolted Tribes 2 Chr 13.4 to 14. Hear me thou Jeroboam and all Israel Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the Kingdom over Israel to David for ever even to him and to his Sons by a Covenant of Salt Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat the servant of Solomon the Son of David is risen up and hath rebelled against his Lord. And there are gathered unto him vain men the children of Belial and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the Son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted and could not withstand him And now ye think to withstand the Kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David and ye be a great multitude and there be with you Golden Calves which Jeroboam made you for Gods Have ye not cast out the Priests of the Lord the sons of Aaron and the Levites and have made you Priests after the manner of the Nations of other lands so that whosoever cometh to Consecrate himself with
from the Secular Priests to themselves That the Command of Tithes was not Moral but Ceremonial and not to be performed by constraint of Conscience to the Minister and that out of whatsoever Lands at least was given to any of the four Orders of Fréers Mendicants as now to Anabaptists and Quakers their disciples no Tithe was in conscience to be deduced for the Minister as he proves out of the Council of Vienna held An. 1340. Pope Innocent the 4th and Richard Archbishop of Armagh in Defens Curatorum Alex. l. 4. Consil 60. and William Râ—ssel a Franciscan Freer his Doctrine condemned in the Convocation of the Clergie Anno 5 H. 6. as Haeretical and publikely recanted by him at Pauls Cross as such That Tithes especially personal fall not under divine precept at least that they should be paid to the Parochial Curate as a due unto him of right unlesse there were a Custom to the contrary but that every one might lawfully give them to pious uses at their pleasure Whereupon these Nâ—w Masters and Preaching Freers preaching and teaching thus against the Old and Nâ—w Testament were enjoyned by several Councils and Synods in their Sermons to exhort inform and instruct the people without any fraud to pay their Tithes faithfully to their Ministers as DVE by the Lawes of God and the Church under pain of being deprived of the power of absolving the people from their sins Therefore John Cannes with his confederate Anabaptists and Quakers new Doctrines Invectives Petitions against our Ministers Tithes derived from these old and new Franciscan Mendicant Freers now swarming amongst them is far more truly really Antichristian than our Ministers and their Tithes of which more in its due place 11. That God in the Levitical and Judicial Law prescribed Laws for Warr and Souldiers in the Wars Deut. 20. throughout and amongst others v. 2 3 4. It shall be when ye come nigh unto the Battel that the Priest shall approach and speak unto the people and shall say unto them for their encouragement Hear O Israel you approach this day unto battel against your enemies let not your hearts faint fear not and do not tremble neither be ye terrified because of them for the Lord your God is he that goeth with you against your Enemies to save you After which v. 8. c. The Officers are commanded to make Proclamation that every man who was fearfull and faint-hearted should go and return to his house lest they should discourage their brethren that they should proclaim Peace to every City they came nigh before they besieged or stormed it and if they won it by force the Souldiers should take the spoil thereof unto themselves and eat the spoil of their enemies which the Lord their God had given them And by another Levitical Law the Priests were thus enjoyned by God to pray for and bless his people Num 6.23 24. c. On this wise ye shall blesse the children of Israel saying to them the Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his Countenance upon thee and give thee Peace and they shall put my name upon the Children of Israel and I will bless them If then it be neither Jewish nor Antichristian nor superstitious nor unlawfull for Ministers of the Gospel to encourage Christian Souldiers going to battel in the self same manner and form or to bless them and the people in these very Levitical words as Iohn Canne and all Anabaptistical Independent Chaplains of the Army and Mr. Peters especially will grant who have frequently used the self same or like encouragements and exhortations to the Army receiving good constant pay for their pains And if it be neither Jewish nor Antichristian nor unchristian for our Saintlike Officers and Soldiers under the Gospel to make like Proclamation to cowardly persons or to proclaim peace to Cities and garisons ere they besiege or storm them and if obstinat and won by force to take the Spoil and Plunder of such Cities Enemies to themselves and eat therof which I am certain all our Officers Soldiers and their Anabaptistical Tithe-oppugning Chaplains will grant and subscribe to though thus prescribed by the Levitical law abolished as they say by Jesus Christ Then questionless our Ministers of the Gospel may still receive and enjoy their Glebes Tithes Oblations by like reason without the least guilt or reproach of Judaism or Antichristianism though prescribed to the Levitical Priests and Levites by the Levitical law else John Canne and others of his fraternity professing themselves the only Ministers of the Gospel and rejecting all others as Antichristian must give over their Chaplains places in the Army Navy Garrisons and no more encourage nor accompany any Soldiers in the wars or bless the people as aforesaid because it was a part of the Levitical Priests Office who were also to blow the Trumpets in the wars Num. 6.1 to 10. Josh 6.4 c. prescribed by an abolished Levitical law 12. That all Israelites Jews both Priests and people were by the Levitical law frequently commanded inviolably to perform keep pay execute the solemn Oaths Vows Covenants they made to God or men and no wayes to infringe them or prevaricate in them Levit. 19.12 Num. 21.2 3. cap. 30.2 to 16. Deut. 12.11 cap. 23.21 22 23. Josh 2.11 12 13. cap. 6.22 to 26. cap. 9.15 to the end And among other things we finde their Tithes vowed to God by Jacob Gen. 28.20 21 22. coupled with their Vows as things devoted by them to God by Vow as well as reserved by Law Deut. 12.11 Yea all the Jews were obliged by a Solemn Covenant to bring pay their first fruits and Tithes to God his Priests and Lâ—vites Nen. 10.31 to 39. Will or dare John Canne then or any other Tithe-leniers averr that it is both Jâ—wish Antichristian unlawfull for Ministers and Christians under the Gospel inâ—iolably to observe and perform all those just lawfull Oathes Vows Covenants they have solemnly made to God and men with hands listed up to heaven as some of their persidious horrid violations of them without blush or check of late seems to proclaim before God and all the world and to pay those Tithes Dues to our Ministers which our Ancestors and we by Solemn Vows and Covenants too have dedicated unto God and his Ministers and never intended by our Covenant to abolish or diminish in the least degree as Canne perjuriously and absurdly asserts but to establish and perpetuate as the late Ordinances for Tithes and Aâ—gmentations made by the very Prescribers and Subscribers of the late Solemn League and Covenant which it seems John Canne never took though he presseth it on others as his words Many have sworn who I hope will now observe it import both at the time and since the making taking of the Solemn League and Covenant with the Assemblies Exhortation for the better taking
them to the use of the Army for the pretended ease of the people in their future taxes I shal for the cloze of this Proposition and prevention of this detestable impious Sacrilegious plot against our Ministers and Religion too propound and answer all such specious Arguments Pretences as may be produced by them to delude the people veil over the execrable Impiety and take off the odium of this prodigious Villany First they may and will suggest that they have some ancient punctual Presidents to warrant countenance justifie this their Project As namely the practical example of Charles Martel King of France who about the year of our Lord 730. as the Marginal Authors report having perpetual wars and seldom or never peace in his Kingdom Ideo res Ecclesiarum suis Militibus in stipendium contulit maxima ex parte did thereupon bestow the Lands Revenues Rents and Tithes too as the Act of Restitution with others prove of Parish-Churches Monasteries Bishops Deans and Chapters upon his Souldiers for their Pay and Arrears for the greatest part And surely upon a very Godly and just reason as John Canne and some Army-Officers will swear thus expressed in his Decree recorded in Goldastus and Mr. Selden ut subveniatur necessitatibus Publicis et Salariis Militum pro Dei Ecclesiae bono statu Reipublicae uniuscujusque propria pace pugnantium That he might relieve the Publick Necessities and pay and reward the Souldiers fighting for the Church of God and the good of the State of the Common-wealth and the proper peace of every one as our Officers and Souldiers now say they do And is it not then most just they should have all the Lands Glebes and Tithes of the Church King Common-wealth and of every particular Person too who have fought all this while for them and their defence To this they may chance to adde the President of the Templers and Hospitalers who being no part of the Clergy but Religious Souldiers imployed only to fight in the defence of the Church were by special Bulls and Grants of several Popes exempted from paying any Tithes at all to any Ministers out of the Lands belonging to their several Orders Because they fought for the Church against her Enemies as Turks Saracens and other Infidels Therefore there is great reason equity all our Officers and Souldiers who have lately fought or are now or hereafter fighting for the Church against her Enemies and Malignants should be totally and finally discharged from paying any Tithes at all out of their Old or New Purchased Lands Leases Cattel Estates Spoyls Pay or other increase Besides most of our Army-Officers and very many of the Souldiers are extraordinarily gifted inspired from Heaven and constant Speakers or Preachers transcending all Black-coated Ministers yea the undoubted new Ministers and Priests of Jesus Christ as many deem them So as they may be truly stiled a chosen Generation a Royâ—â— Priesthood yea Army of Priests being made Kings and Priests by Christ himself to God the Father as John Canne hath published in his Voyce p. 24 27 28 29. Therefore they may not only enter into our Ministers Churches Pulpits and dispossess them of them as he there asserts and presseth them to put in execution but be capable in right equity justice to receive all their Tithes to their own use Nay one step more John Canne in his Voyce p. 27. thus peremptorily concludes I will affirm and abide by it since it hath pleased the Lord to draw out the hearts of some Souldiers and others who were never brought up at Universities to learning publickly to preach which is not above 10 or 12. years the People of this Common-wealth have had more true Light and glorious Discoveries of Christ and his Kingdom than all the Nations Ministers ever before made known to them since first they took their calling from the Sea of Rome till this Day On the contrary the greatest Heresies and Blasphemies which have been in the world have been broached by Ministers and Scholars whereas Lay-men at the same time have been sound in the Faith and zealously earnest against such abominable Doctrines Therefore there is just ground that both our Vniversities and all Colleges for Advancement of Learning should be suppressed as the very poyson bane subversion of Religion Church and Common-wealths as some Souldiers and the Anabaptists generally deem them and their Lands as well as Bishops Deans Chapters and Ministers Glebes and Tithes sold or conferred on the Officers and Souldiers of the Army for their better encouragement reward and supportation to propagate defend Religion and the Common wealth A design now eagerly prosecuted by some To which let them receive this Answer before hand since I intend not any future Treatise of this nature 1. That I never read of any pious Generals Armies Officers or Souldiers in Scripture the rule of Faith and Manners that spoyled the Church or Ministers of their Lands and Tithes to maintain their wars or enrich reward themselves but we find it expresly recorded of Abraham the Father of all the Faithfull that he paid Tithes even of the Spoyls of the first Wars to the first Pâ—â—â—st we find in Scripture unto Christ himself both in the Old and New Testament for other Christian Souldiers imitation The like we read of David and all his Officers Captains of the Army with sundry others fore-cited whose Presidents are more obliging and commendable than Charles Martels 2ly That it was the Custom use and pious practice of many Pagan Warlike Nations as the Romans Graecians Carthaginians Tyrians Saxons to do the like who consecrated the Tenths of all their Spoyls to their Idol-Gods and Priests as we may read at large in Mr. Seldens History of Tithes and Review c. 3. and in Mr. Richard Mountague his Diatribe thereon ch 3. Therefore they are worse than Pagans who neglect not only to pay their Ministers the Tenth of their Spoyls but will even spoyl them of their Glebes and Tithes besides 3ly It is very observable and let our Souldiers and Officers consider it in good earnest That God himself specially consecrated and devoted the future Spoyls a Sacrifice for and to himself and all the Spoyls City of Jericho the very first City taken by the Israelites in the Land of Canaan as a sacred First-fruits and kind of Tenth for the use of his Sanctuary and Priests in these memorable words Josh 6.17 18 19. And the City shall be devoted even it and all that is therein except Rahab and her Family and House Lord Whereupon when the City was taken they burnt it and all that was in it as a Sacrifice to the Lord But the Silver and Gold and the Vessels of Brass and of Iron they put into the Treasury of the House of the Lord v. 24. But Acban a covetous plundring Souldier seeing among the rich Spoyls of the City a goodly Babylonish Garment and two hundred Shekels of
or Feasts to God at all as the Jews by the Levitical law were bound to doe If so then farewell all Lords-dayes Fasts Feasts publike Assemblies for Gods worship all Ministers Churches and God himself together with them as well as Tithes let Gain Money be the only Deities henceforth adored among us as the Motto stamped upon our new State-coyn God with us and most mens practices sadly proclaim to Gods dishonour and Religions intolerable defamation These Answers I presume will for ever satisfie or silence these Objectors with John Canne their new Champion who may now discern their grosse mistake and learn this for a general certain truth That whatever is not in its own nature and Original meerly Jewish and ceremonial but hath a kind of natural justice equity conveniency morality or necessity in it and had a divine original institution before the ceremonial Law given or the Levitical Priesthood instituted That thing though afterwards given limited prescribed to the Levitical Priests or Israelites by a general or special Levitical Law abrogated by Christ doth neither cease its being nor become unlawfull in its primitive or proper use unto Christian Ministers or Believers under the Gospel by the abolishing of the Levitical Law and Priesthood but may and must necessarily be continued practised perpetuated among them without the least sin scandal or Judaism according to its own primitive institution or natural necessary divine moral or civil use else Bread meat drink wives clothes religious Sabbaths Fasts Feasts Edifices and Assemblies for Gods publick worship Houses for Hospitality Charity to Ministers to poor distressed Saints People yea reading prayer preaching of the word of God Magistracy and Government it self should be utterly unlawfull unto Christian Ministers and People as well as Tithes because given prescribed to be used by the Levitical Priests and Jews by the Levitical Law Therefore seeing meat drink food raiment Lands Houses and a competent proportion of all worldly necessaries are as simply needfull for the preservation subsistence of the Ministers of the Gospel and their Families now under the Gospel as for the Priests Levites before and under the Law or all other sorts of men in the world who cannot live without them And seeing Tithes Lands Houses both before and under the Law were originally given to and setled by God and Men upon Priests and Levites first and Ministers since not as meer Types Shadows Ceremonies but as a just fitting convenient recompence of their Labour necessary maintenance Livelihood habitation residence for them and their Families to provide them meat drink Books clothes and other necessaries to live by Why our Ministers under the Gospel should not still enjoy them in this kind and Nature without the least shadow of Judaism as well as Melchisedec before the Law or the Jewish Priests and Levites under it or their Predecessors before them even from the first settlement of the Gospel amongst us or as well as any other Men or the Objectors do enjoy their Lands Goods Houses and the other nine parts of their Tithes encrease for their Livelihood and subsistence as well as the Jews without any sin or Judaism transcends my capacity to apprehend and the ability of all armed or unarmed Enemies of Tithes or Glebes to demonstrate from Scripture Law Reason or the objected abused Text over-long insisted on to clear it from all ignorant or wilfull wrestings And so much for the payment of Tithes by Abraham and vowing them by Jacob before the Law to justifie the lawfulnesse and continuance of them under the Gospel against all cavilling Exceptions Secondly I shall make good the Proposition from the Maintenance of the Priests and Levites by Glebes Tithes and Oblations under the Law urged as the strongest if not only Reason against them and thus form my Argument That which God himself who is infinitely and only wife just holy did by his special Laws Edicts institute prescribe as the most expedient equal fit just rational convenient maintenance of all other for his own Priests and Levites to receive and take from his own People when once setled in the promised Land for the execution of their function must questionlesse be not only a lawfull but the most expedient equal fit just rational convenient maintenance of all other for his Ministers of the Gospel to receive and take from all believing Christians in any setled Christian Kingdome State Church under the Gospel especially if he hath neither positively prohibited this kind and way of maintenance nor specially prescribed any other way or kind of setled maintenance for them in and by the Gospel But God himself who is infinitely and only wise just holy did by his special Laws Edicts institute prescribe Houses Lands Glebes Tâ—thes and Oblations as the most expedient equal fitting just rational convenient maintenance of all other for his own Priests and Levites to receive and take from his own people when once setled in the promised Land for the execution of their Functions and hath neither positively prohibited this kind or way of maintenance nor specially prescribed any other way or kind of setled maintenance for them in and by the Gospel Ergo It must questionlesse be not only a lawfull but the most expedient equal fit just rational convenient maintenance of all other for his Ministers of the Gospel from all believing Christians in any setled Kingdome State Church under the Gospel The Major I suppose no rational Christian can or will deny except he thinks himself as King Alphonso the proud Atheistical self-conceited Astronomer did more wise just holy than God himself and abler to carve out a more expedient equal just fitting rational convenient maintenance for Gods Priests Levites Ministers than God himself hath done and dare bid defiance to this Gospel precept Eph. 5.1 Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children The Minor I shall thus confirm in order 1. That God did by special Laws Edicts institute and prescribe Cities Suburbs Lands Houses Glebes for the Priests and Levites habitation and the better maintenance of them and their Cattel and that in a liberal proportion is apparent by Num. 35. from v. 1 to 12. where we find recorded That the Lord spake unto Moses in the plain of Moab by Jordan near Jericho saying command the Children of Israel that they give unto the Levites of the Inheritances of their possession Cities to Dwell in and ye shall give also unto the Levites Suburbs for their Cities round about them And the Cities they shall have to Dwell in and the suburbs of them shall be for their Cattel and for their Goods and for all their Beasts And the suburbs of the Cities which ye shall give unto the Levites shall reach from the wall of the City and outward a thousand Cubits round about And ye shall measure from without the City on the East side two thousand Cubits and on the South side two thousand Cubits and on the West side two thousand Cubits
a young Bullock and seven Rams the same may be a Priest of them that are no Gods But as for us the Lord is our God and we have not forsaken him and the Priests which minister unto the Lord are the Sons of Aaron and the Levites wait upon their business c. For we keep the Charge of the Lord our God but ye have forsaken him And behold God himself is with us for our Captain and his Priests with sounding Trumpets to cry allarum against you The issue of this Atheistical State-policy and Sacrilegious deprivation spoliation of Gods Priests and Levites of their Suburbs Possessions Ministry by Jeroboam and his Sons is very remarkable 1 It brought ruine upon his whole Army though double the number of Abijah his host of whom they had a great advantage by an ambushment God himself smiting him and his host so that they fled before Judah and Abijah and his people slâ—w them with a great slaughter so that there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men 2 Chron. 13.13 to 20. The greatest slaughter in one battel that ever we read of in Sacred or prophane Stories before or since 2. It brought Captivity on his Adherents and people who were brought under at that time pursued and had their Cities taken and plundered v. 18 19. 3. It drew down this misery and fatal Judgement on himself v. 20. Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the dayes of Abijah and the Lord strook him and he died 4. It became sin to the house of Jeroboam even to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth 1 Kings 13.33 34. 5. It made all the succeeding Kings of Israel professed Idolaters and most of them bloudy Murtherers Vsurpers Persecutors and produced perpetual successive civil warrs between Judah and Israel 1 Kings 14.30 chap. 15.6 7 16 32. 2 Chron. 28.4 to 12. 6. It brought final captivity ruine and desolation in conclusion to the whole kingdom of Israel and the ten revolting Tribes 2 Kings 17.20 21 22 23. where this sad story is recorded And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of spoilers until he had cast them out of his sight For he rent Israel from the house of David And they made Jeroboam the Son of Nebat King of which God thus complains Hos 8.4 They have set up Kings but not by me they have made Princes and I knew it not and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord and made them sin a great sin for the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did they departed not from them untill the Lord removed Israel out of his sight as he had said by all his servants the Prophets So was Israel carried away out of their own Land to Assyria till this Day when as the Kingdom of Judah continued above 134. years after in Davids royal posterity enjoying Gods Priests Levites Prophets and Ordinances till their captivity for their sins in mocking abusing his Messengers Prophets and despising his words 2 Chron. 36.16 17. And then after 70. years captivity they were restored again to their Country re-edified Jerusalem and the Temple and with them the Priests and Levites returning from bondage were restored likewise to their Cities and Glebes of which the Kings of Judah never deprived them as Jeroboam and his Sons and the Kings of Israel who were all Idolaters did whence thus we read Ezra 2.70 So the Priests and the Levites and the Singers and the Porters the Nethinims dwelt in their Cities and all Israel in their Cities Thus seconded Neh. 11.18 20. All the Levites in the holy City were 284. and the residue of Israel of the Priests and Levites were in all the Cities of Judah every Man in his Inheritance and Neh. 13.10 The Levites and Singers that did the work were fled every one to his field In the Prophecie of Ezechiel written during the Jews Captivity in the Land of the Chaldeans Ezech. 1.1 2 3. prophesying of the re-edifiing of the Temple the dimensions and whole fabrick thereof ch 40.1 to 45. we find frequent mention of holy Chambers therein provided for the Priests and their vestments And ch 45.1 to 5. God enjoyns the Israelites by this Prophet upon their restitution to their own Land when they should divide it by Lot for an Inheritance That they should offer an holy portion of the Land an oblation unto the Lord the length thereof twenty five thousand reeds and the breadth ten thousand This shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about Of this there shall be for the Sanctuary 500 reeds in length with 500 in breadth square round about and fifty Cubits round about for the Suburbs thereof Then he addes The holy Portion of the land shall be for the Priests the Ministers of the sanctuary which shall come neer to minister unto the Lord and it shall be a place for their Houses and an holy place for the Sanctuary And the 25000. of length and 10000. of breadth Shall also the Levites the Ministers of the House have for themselves for a possession for twenty Chambers In the 47. Chapter verse 13. to the end of the Prophecy he writes of the bounds and division of the land of Canaan after their restitution according to their several tribes in relation to and imitation of the bounds and division of it formerly made and recited by Joshua out of which there was a special portion reserved for the Priests and Levites as there was in Joshua's division forecited Thus expressed Ezeck 48.8 to 15. And by the border of Judah from the East side unto the West side shall be the offering which they shall offer of 25000. reeds in breadth and in length as one of the other parts from the East side unto the West side and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it The oblation ye shall offer unto the Lord shall be of 25000. in length and 10000 in breadth And for them even for the Priests shall be this holy Oblation toward the North 25000. in length and toward the West 10000. in breadth and toward the East 10000 in breadth and toward the South 25000 in length and the sanctuary of the Lord shall be in the midst thereof It shall be for the Priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadock which have kept my charge which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray after Jeroboam and his calves as the Levites went astray And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites And over against the border of the Priests the Levites shall have 25000. in length and 10000. in breadth all the length shall be 25000 and the breadth 10000. reeds And they shall not sell of it neither exchange nor alienate the first fruits of the land for it is holy unto
brought away the Hallowed things out of mine House and also have given them unto the Levite c. According to all thy Commandements which thou hast commanded me I have not transgressed thy Commandements neither have I forgotten them I have not eaten thereof in my mourning neither have I taken away ought thereof for my Vnclean Vse nor given ought thereof for the dead but I have hearkened to the Voice of the Lord my God And have done according to all that thou hast commmanded me Look down from thy Holy Habitation from Heaven And bless thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us a Land that floweth with milk and honey Such a conscientious true payment of Tithes as this according to all Gods Commandements without the least Substraction or embezlement emboldens enables every particular man to make such a Prayer to God as this not only for himself but for the whole Land brings a blessing upon himself and all the Realm yea makes it a Land flowing with milk and honey and abundance of all rich blessings Besides we read in 2 Chr. 31.1 to 15. That when godly King Hezekiah had destroyed Idolatry and appointed the Courses of the Priests and Levites after their Courses every man according to his service he brought â—urings and Peace-offerings to minister and to give thanks and to praise in all the Gates of the Tents of the Lord He appointed also the Kings portion of his Substance for the burnt-offerings for the morning and evening for the Sabbaths the new Moons and set Feasts moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem To give the Portion of the Priests and the Levites that they might be encouraged in the Law of the Lord. And as soon as the Commandement came abroad the children of Israel brought in abundance the first Fruits of Corn Wine Oyl and Honey and of all the encrease of the field and the Tithes of all things brought they in abundance And concerning the children of Israel and Judah that dwelt in the Cities of Judah They also brought in the Tithes of Oxen and Sheep and the Tithe of holy things which were dedicated unto the Lord their God and laid them by heaps In the third moneth they began to lay the foundation of the heaps and finished them in the seventh moneth and when Hezekiah and the Princes came and saw the heaps they blessed the Lord and his People Israel Then Hezekiah questioned with the Priests and Levites concerning the heaps And Azariah the chief Priest of the House of Zadok answered him and said Since the People began to bring the Offerings into the house of the Lord We have had enough to eat and have left Plenty But did the people grow poor thereby no but much richer than before for the Lord hath blessed his people and that which is left is this great store Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare Chambers or store-houses in the house of the Lord and they prepared them and brought in the Offerings and the Tithes and the dedicate things faithfully over which Cononiah the Levite was Ruler How different was this practice of all the people and godly Saints in those daies in a chearfull bringing in their Tithes and Oblations to the Priests and Levites in abundance for their encouragement which caused King Hezekiah his Princes the Priests Levites and God himself to bless them from the sacrilegious practice of Tith-detaining Hypocritical Saints Anabaptists Quakers Sectaries and Christians in our daies who shall never receive such a blessing as this from God or good men but their curses If these Texts and Presidents will not move such hard-hearted men let them consider both this â—â—â—cept and promise of God Prov. 3.9 10. Honour the Lord with thy Substance and with the first fruits of thine encrease So shall thy Barns be filled with Plenty and thy Press shall burst out with new Wine And Mal 3.7 10 11 12. Return unto me and I will return unto you saith the Lord of hosts but ye said Wherein shall we return Bring ye all the Tithes into the Store-house that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts If I will not open you the windows of heaven and powr you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground neither shall your Vine cast her fruit before her time in the field saith the Lord of Hosts And all nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a delight some land saith the Lord of Hosts What Christians heart though never so covetous and worldly should not these sacred promises of God the last of them recorded in the last of all the Books and Prophets in the Old Testament they being not meerly Levitical and Judaical but of eternal verity use and evangelical too excite and engage most cheerfully to pay and bring in all their Tithes and Dues to Gods Ministers now as well as to the Priests and Levites heretofore Christ himself having made like parallel promises of blessings and rewards for relieving and maintaining his Ministers in the Gospel Mat. 10.40 41 42. Mark 9.41 Phil. 4.18 19 9. That the due payment of Tithes to Gods Priests and Levites was a great encouragement to them in the law of the Lord and in the diligent execution of their duties 2 Chron. 31.3 4 5 10. And on the contrary The with-holding of them from them a great discouragement necessitating them to desert their duties and functions witnesse that memorable Text Neh. 13.10 11 12. And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them mark the consequence For the Levites and the Singers that did the work were fled every one to his field Then contended I with the Rulers and said Why is the house of God forsaken and I gathered them together and set them in their place Then brought all Judah the Tithes of the Corn and the new Wine and the Oyl unto their treasuries And I made treasurers over the treasuries Shelemiah the Priest and Zadock the Scribe and of the Levites Pedajah c. for they were counted faithfull and their office was to distribute unto their Brethren Which reason still continuing under the Gospel in relation to the Ministers and Preachers thereof Heb 13.16 17. Phil. 4.10 to 21. is a strong argument to engage all true Christians desiring the propagation of the Gospel and a painfull able Ministry duly to pay their tithes and portions to them 10. That it was the bounden duty care of Religious Kings and Governours amongst Gods own people when the people were backwards to pay and bring their Tithes and duties to the Priests and Levites to command and enforce them to do it by special Covenants and Oaths sealed subscribed by the Princes and people Neh. 9.38 cap. 10.1 to the end and likewise by positive Ordinances
is cause to do their duties and reform their Errors without the least guilt or colour of Injury or Oppression to the wilfull obstinate or negligent detainers of them and that by the self-same Laws rules of Justice Reason Conscience as all Tith-Opponents yet grant they may enforce obstinate or negligent Tenants Creditors Masters Publick or private Accomptants Trespassers Disseisors and the like to pay their just Rents and Services to their Landlords their due Debts to their Creditors their contracted wages to their hired Labourers or menial Servants their audited Arrears to the publick Treasury or others to whom they are indebted upon Account their ascertained dammages to such as they have injured and to restore the Goods or Lands unjustly taken or detained to those they have plundered or disseised of them yea as justly as they may by any coercive Laws and means enforce and constrain any obstinate Persons or Merchants to pay all Tenths Fifteens Subsidies Ayd Cuâ—toms Tonnage Poundage for defence of the Realm â—y â—and or sea when publickly and legally granted in and by a full free and lawfull Parliament duly summoned and elected by the people according to the manifold Laws and Statutes enacted for that purpose the want of which indubital Ingredients only how fatal they have been to Parliaments in former Ages to make them and all their Acts Iudgements Orders Ordinances mere Nullities and what a prejudice they have been to the People and Republick too those who please may read at leasure in the Statutes of 39 H. 6. c. 1. Rot. parl n. 3.17 c. 7. And the Act for repealing the Parliament of 21 R. 2. in the Parliament of 1 H. 4. c. 3. The reason of which Repeal is thus recorded by Mr. Oliver Saint Iohn in his Declaration in Parliament against the Shipmony Iudges Anno 1640. printed by the Commons command p. 33. That Parliament of 21 R. 2. of Revocation was held by force as is declared in the Parliament Roll of 1 H. 4. n. 21 22. That it was held Viris armatis et Sagitariis immensis The Knights of Parliaments were not elected by the Commons Prout mos exegit Sed per Regiam voluntatem And so the Lords Rex omnes Dominos Sibi adhaerentes summonare fecit Whereupon Nu. 48. These judgements of Revocation and that of the whole Parliaments proceedings too are declared to be Erronea Iniqua et omni juri et rationi repugnantia Erroneous wicked and contrary to all Right and Reason So Mr Saint John Numb 37. This was one grand Article of Impeachment of King Richard the 2 l. for which he was then deposed from his Government by a forced Resignation Heu licet quod eo Statuto Consuetudine Regni sui in Convocatione cujuslibet Parliamenti sui populus suus in singulis Comitatilus Regni DEBEAT ESSE LIBER ad eligend deputaâ—d Milites pro hujusmâ—di Comitatibus ad interessend Parliamento ad exponend eorum gravamina ad prosequend pro remediis superinde preuâ— eis videbatur expedire Tamen praefatus Rex ut in Parliamentis suis ut liberius consequi valeat suae temerariae voluntatis effectare direxit mandata sua frequentius Vicecomitibas suis ut certas Personas per ipsum Regem nominatas ut Milites Comitatus venire faciat ad Parliamenta sua Quos quidem Milites eidem Regi faventes indulgere poterat prout frequenter fecit quandoque per minas varias et terrores quandoque per munera ad consentiend illis quae Regno praejudicialia fuerant et Populo quamplumum onerosa et specialiter ad concedendum eidem Regi Subsidium ad certos Annos suum Populum nimium opprimendo Which I leave to John Canne to English for those who understand not Latin or our Laws and would strip our learned Ministers of their Tithes and setled maintenance by colour of an extraordinary call as he terms it to such an extraordinary Sacrilegious work as this Quest But what ground is there in Scripture may some demand for compelling People to pay their Tithes and other Duties to their Ministers Answ I answer 1. We have the President Law and Commandement of Godly Hezekiah recorded in the 2 Chron. 31.4 5 6 7 8. with the good effect it wrought already recited 2ly The Examples of zealous Nehemiah and the Religious Nobles and People under him who entred into a solemn Covenant curse oath and made Ordinances to charge themselves yearly with the third part of a Shekle for the service of the House of God and that they would bring in all their First-fruits and Offerings and the Tithes of their ground unto the Levites that the same Levites might have their Tithes in all the Cities of their Tillage Neh. 9.38 c. 10.1 throughout specially v. 29 32 37 38 39. ch 12.44 45. which when afterwards neglected by the people Nehemiah contended with the Rulers for their negligence in not enforcing the people to pay them whereupon this effect ensued Then brought all Judah the Tithes of the Corn and the new Wine and the Oyle unto the Treasurers c. And Nehemiah was so far from deeming this Injustice or Oppression as some now malitiously term it that he prayes Remember me O my God concerning this and wipe not out my good Deeds that I have done for the House of my God and for the offices thereof Neh. 13.10 to 15. From which President Nicholas Hemingius a far better Divine and Scholar than John Canne and all his Associates against Tithes thus resolves in his Commentary on 1 Thess 5.12 13. Therefore the Godly are to be admonished That by Divine Right they owe Stipends unto the Ministers of the Church But that nothing may be here neglected to the dammage of the Ministry This care belongs to the Superious For if Kings be nursing Fathers to the Church as Isaiah admonisheth Possunt et debent jure divino ministris Ecclesiae stipendia ordinare they may and ought by Divine Right or Gods Law to ordain Stipends to the Ministers of the Church by the example of the most godly King Hezechiah 2 Chron. 31. That they may wholly addict themselves to the Law of God And if the people detain these Salaries and setled Dues from them they may enforce them by Fines penalties and Actions to pay them 3ly If these Examples prevail not we have the President of a zealous Heathen Prince who shall rise up in judgement against many pretended Magistrates refusing to assist complaining Ministers to recover their just Tithâ—s and Dues from their refractory ingrate people to wit King Attaxerxes who making a Decree for furnishing Ezra the Priest with whatsoever he should require for the maintenance of Gods worship and House Ezra 7.11 c. concludes it thus v. 26. And whosoever will not do the Law of thy God and the Law of the King which confirm our Ministers Tithes and Dues Let Iudgement be executed speedily upon him whether it be unto Death or unto Banishment
Silver and a wedge of Gold coveted took and hid them in the midst of his Tent which so much kindled the Anger of God against the Children of Israel for this his Trespass in these devoted things That they were presently smitten before their Enemies of Ai and fled before them Whereupon Joshua their General and chief Governour humbling himself before God and requiring the cause of this ill success God returned him this Answer Israel hath sinned and they also have transgressed my Covenant which I commanded them for they have taken of the devoted thing and have also stollen and dissembled also and they have also put it among their own stuff Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their Enemies but turned their backs before Enemies Because they were accursed neither will I go with you any more O Israel thou canst not stand before thine Enemies untill thou hast taken away the accursed devoted thing from among you Whereupon this Sacrilegious Robbery of Achan being discovered by Lot and his own Confession and hid stoln Plunder devoted to God taken forth of his Tent and powred out before the Lord in the presence of Joshua and all the Children of Israel Joshua passed this Judgement against him for his Sacrilege Why hast thou troubled Israel the Lord shall trouble thee this day and all Israel stoned him with Stones and they burned them with fire as a devoted Sacrifice to God after they had stoned him with stones And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day So the Lord turned from the fiercenesse of his Anger Wherefore the place is called the Valley of Achor that is Trouble to this day And when Hiel many hundred years after in Idolatrous Ahabs daies would needs seize upon the devoted Spoyl of Jericho and build it again for his own habitation he laid the Foundation thereof in his first-born Abiram and set up the Gates thereof in his youngest Son Segub that is God destroyed and cut off all his Posterity before the Gates were set up and the Building finished according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Joshua the Son of Nun as we read at large Josh 7. throughout 1 Kings 16.34 and Josh 6.16 I read of Ataxerxes that in imitation of Cambyses before him he caused some Judges betraying their Trusts like Tresylian of old and too many of late to be excoriated alive and their Skins to be hanged up round about the Tribunals that the other Judges sitting upon them might have an example hanging before their eyes what punishment the pravity of Iudges did demerit I desire all Souldiers Officers and Sacrilegious Anabaptists would hang up these Skins and Examples of Achan and Hiel before their eyes recorded in sacred Writ and then make this use and application to themselves of them If Achan for stealing away only a Babylonish Garment and a few Shekles of Silver and Gold of the very Spoyls of Iericho devoted to the service or Treasury of the House of the Lord brought so much wrath misery upon the whole Nation and Camps of Israel and such a fatal death and exemplary punishment upon himself and Hiel only for building upon the ruines of the Soyl of this devoted City drew down sudden Death and Destruction upon all his Sons and Posterity O what strange exemplary wrath vengeance and judgements shall we then draw upon the whole Nation Army our Souls Bodies and Posterities to their utter extirpation if instead of rendring unto God and his Ministers the Tenth of our warlike Spoyls belonging of right unto them we shall sacrilegiously rob them not only of these Tenthes and all other issuing out of our Lands and Estates but even of all their other Glebes Rectories Tithes Revenues demolish the very Churches Houses dedicated to Gods worship or turn them into Houses for us and our Posterities to inhabit and obstinately yea atheistically refuse to take warning by their and other sacrilegious Persons tragical examples 4ly Let those who will imitate Charles Martels President remember 1. his punishment Historians record That for this his Sacrilege he was smitten with a long and terrible Convulsion of all his Members whereof he died in great anguish that Eucherius Bishop of Orleans in a Vision SAW HIM DAMNED FOR IT and that upon search made in his Tomb by an Angels Admonition it was also confirmed for truth no relique of his Corps being found therein but only a dreadfull Serpent Apud Frances Carolus Martellus insignis vir fortitudinis exactis vitae sue diebus in Ecclesia beati Dionysii legitur esse Sepultus sed quia Patrimonia cum Decimis omnium fere Ecclesiarum Galliae pro stipendio commilitonum suorum mutilaverat miserabiliter à malignis Spiritibus de Sepulchro corporaliter avulsus usque in hodiernum diem nusquam comparuit as Matthew Westminster stories of him 2ly The censure passed against him for this Sacrilegious Robbery by the Marginal Authors and others especially by Agobardus Bishop of Lions An. 828. in his Book De Dispensatione Rei Ecclesiasticae contra Sacrilegos worthy the reading who thus complains p. 269. Nunc non solum possessiones Ecclesiasticae sed ipsae etiam Ecclesiae cum possessionibus venundantur c. Which he condemns as detestable Sacrilege execrable to God and men By Petrus Damianus Anno 1060. l. 1. Epist 11. where he gives this censure of his practice and others Inter omnia vero hic mala Illud excedit et Diabolicam fere modum videtur aequare nequittam Quia pradiis in Militem profligatis c. Moreover among all wicked Acts this exceedeth and seems almost to equal the very wickednesse of the Devil That all the Farms and Possessions of the Church being prodigally spent upon Souldiers insuper etiam et Decimae plebes adduntur in Beneficium Secularibus Moreover Tithes and people are likewise added and conferred on these Secular men for a reward which in his lib. 4. Epist 12. lib. 5. Epist 9. he stiles a great Sin Sacrilege and Prophanation of holy things concluding What is it to turn Tithes to the use of Souldiers and Secular men nisi mortiferum iis virus quo pereant exhibere but to give them deadly Poyson whereby they may perith Petrus Blesensis Arch-deacon of Bath Epist 82. Joannis de Belith De Divinorum Officiorum Explicatione c. 5. write much to the same effect making it a greater Robbery and Sacrilege to take away Ministers Tithes though it be by the Popes own Bulls than violently to take away and plunder Mens Horses as they are riding or carting in the High way and convert them to their proper use as Souldiers use to do 3ly Let them remember That Charles Martels immediate Successors so much detested both his practice and Sacrilege that by publick Edicts they decreed in these terms That the Tithes and Ecclesiastical Lands and Goods seised upon by prophane Persons so they stiled