or otherwise without special License of the Ordinary of the same place Was not this an Usurpation of the Prerogative of the Lord of the Harvest Before Henry the 8th's dayes the King nominated who should be Bishop of such a Diocess being presented to the Pope the Pope was to approve of him After the Popes Approbation he was consecrated by the Arch-Bishop in England In the Apostâ—es dayes Bishops were made by the holy Ghost Acts 20.28 Henry the 8th casting off the Pope then he and his Parliament Enacted That no Bishop should be commended to the Pope but that the King should nominate them and approve of them to be suffiâ—ient Ministers About the year 1547. Edward the 6th put forth Injunctions That none should preach except sufficiently Licensed King James Enjoyned That none should Preach except lawfully Licensed thereto by the King or the Bishop Fox Acts Mon. Queen Mary in the first year of her Reign Enjoyned That none should preach but such as were allowed of by her Authority or by the Arch-Bishop or by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge In the thirteenth Year of Queen Elizabeth 't was Enacted That none should be made Ministers or admitted to preach unless he were able to answer and render to the Ordinary an Account of his Faith in Latin that is he was to be a Linguist a Schollar Now how Peter and John unlearned and ignorant men could have passed such a Tryal let the wise in Heart judge Further Queen Elizabeth Enacted That none should be admitted to any Benefice or above the value of 30 l. per ann unless he were a Batchellor of Divinity or allowed of by the University of Oxford or Cambridge Now how Peter and John and others the Ministers the of Waldenses and Albigenses being most of them Tradesmen Non-Entes of no standing in Universities could have passed this Tryal I see not though called by the Lord of the Harvest to labour in the Vineyard In the Year 1644. the Parliament made an Ordinance to authorize the Presbyter Assembly of Divines for the Ordination of Ministers and gave them Rules for the Examination of such as were to be ordained by them as Whether they had Sworn and taken the Covenant What Degree they had taken in the Vniversity c Herein notwithstanding the swelling pretence of Reformation Christ the Lord of the Harvest was denyed In the Year 1653. Oliver Cromwell and his Council ordained for the Approbation of publick Preachers and appointed Commissioners for that purpose to judge of the Abilities of men before they were admitted to preach And how such were entertained who were sent by the Lord of the Harvest to bear witness against Man-made Ministers and their Unscriptural Covetous Practices 't is fresh in the remembrance of many Now you that plead for a Mediate Humane Call let me thus Reason with you Must the Aaronical Priesthood which typed out Christ and the Prophetical Dispensation which foresaw Christ allow of no Call but what was Divine contrary to the Will of man And must the Evangelical Dispensation the Substance the end of the Law the end of the Prophets the Glory of Dispensations lean upon the bruised Reeds of a Humane Mediate Call by Natural Tongues Heathen Arts and Sciences I have done when I have answered a few Objections Objection Acts 1.24 Answer This makes nothing for a Humane Mediate Call by the Will of man but against it The Apostles after the Resurrection and Ascention of Christ judged it expedient that one should be ordained a Witness with them of the Resurrection of Christ instead of Judas who was gone to his place they appointed two Joseph and Matthias men that had been conversant among them had seen the glorious and wonderful Works of Christ grew up in the Faith of the Gospel with them not trained up in Natural Tongues Heathen Arts and Sciences Logicks Spoiling Philosophy Pagan Metaphysicks for that purpose and the Apostles said Thou Lord which knowest the Hearts of all men shew whether of these two thou hast chosen Acts 1.24 Mark this Whether of these two thou hast chosen So that the adding of him to the cleaven Apostles they ascribed it to the Lord's Call Choice or Election Obj. Moses was learned in all the Wisdom of the Aegyptians Acts 7.22 Answ 'T is true but his Aegyptian Wisdom was not his Call into the Work of the Lord nâ—ither his Aegyptian Philosophy Hieroglyphicks nor the Smaragdine Table of Hermes Trismâ—gistus could qualifie him for that notwithstanding his Aegyptian Wisdom yet when he was to be concerned for the Lord he was as I may say Mute the Lord said to him Go and I will be with thy Mouth and will teach thee what thou shalt say Exod. 4.12 Here he is drawn from the muddy Lake of Aegyptian Wisdom to have his Dependance and Reliance upon the Mouth and Teaching of the Living God from whom he had his Call The Smoke of the Bottomless Pit saith the Book called The Naked Truth hath so blinded men as that it is grown up into a general Opinion that none are fit to be admitted into holy Orders but University Students and if he hath learnt a little to chop Logick he is presently deemed fit to divide the Word of Truth and is easily instituted into a Living and if he can bring some nice Metaphysical Speculations from Aristotle some Theological Distinctions from Thomas Aquinas then he is judged worthy of two or three Livings And thus University Youth and even Boys of no Experience saith this Author are made Spiritual Pastors the most weighty Office in the World Obj. Acts 13.2 3 4. Answ This makes nothing for a Humane Mediate Call acquired by Heathen Arts Sciences and Philosophy but against it the holy Ghost said Separate me Barnabas and Saul for tht Work whereunto I have called them Mark this Whereunto I have called them So they being sent forth by the holy Ghost c. Mark this sent forth by the holy Ghost Here both their Call and Mission is ascribed to the holy Ghost Further if Paul was not called before that he preached without a Call Acts 9.6 where Saul said Lord what wilt thou have me to do Here he was taken off from the Mouth of the High Priest to the Lord to know his Will and do it vers 15.20 Heavenly Wisdom being revealed his Idolized Magnified and highly Prized Arts Parts and Endowments fetched from Philosophers he accounted as Dung and Dross It is an Error saith Luther to say that a Divine is not made without Aristotle rather a Divine is not made except that be done without Aristotle Tom. 1. Fol. 10. The weighty Work of the Ministry saith Poole on this place is not to be undertaken without the Command and Mission of God None but such as are chosen and called of God can be fit to preach the Gospel Aug. Marl. on this place No kind of men are less capable of receiving the Doctrine of Christ than they that have their Mind
1200. Upon the aforesaid Consideration this Innocent the third by his Decetal Epistle to the Bishop of Canterbury commanded him To enjoyn every man to pay his Temporal Goods to those that ministred Spiritual things to them and the same was enforced by Ecclesiastical Censures And this was the Rise Beginning and Original of General parochial Payment of Tythes in England This the Pope enjoyned notwithstanding any Custom to the contrary The Popes Decree is recorded by Cooke in the second part of his Institutes After this Innocent the third about the Year 1200. had restrained the Free and Voluntary Distribution of Tythes and settled a parochial Payment thereof in Pursuance and Confirmation thereof Gregory the tenth about the Year 1274. ordained That it should not be lawful for men to give their Tythes at their own Pleasure where they would as it had been but to pay all their Tythes to the Mother-Church this saith Cisterniensis Thus the Pope prevailed with People to pay their Tythes and after screwing a Peg higher limitted People to the Payment thereof according to his Appointment CAP. VI. Of the Rise of first Fruits in Christian Churches ACcording to the Mosaical Dispensation a portion of first ripe Fruits were offered unto the Lord and this did Sanctifie the Remainder of Fruits and by these the Jews were raised up into hopes of enjoying their whole Crop in due Season Exod. 22.29 This was a Type fulfilled in the Substance Christ Jesus the Glory of the Evangelical Dispensation Paul having received Christ the end of all the Jewish Types Figures Shadows Offerings first Fruits preached not up the Jewish first Fruits but Christ the end thereof who Sanctifies all that receive him and raises in them Hope and strong Confidence for the Fruition of the Crown of Life Now saith Paul Christ is risen from the dead and is become the first Fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 Yea and the Saints in Christ are the Evangelical first Fruits taken out of the Residue of men as the Jewish first Fruits were taken out of the rest an Offering unto the Lord. Of his own Will begat he us saith James by the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of first Fruits of his Creatures Jam. 1.18 Yea and John called the Hundred Forty and Four Thousand who stood on Mount Sion with the Lamb The first Fruits unto God and to the Lamb Rev. 14.4 Thus in Gospel dayes the Jewish first Fruits were not preached up but Christ the End thereof the End of the first Covenant first Priesthood and its Typical Appurtenances even Christ the Evangelical first Fruits So who preach up the Figure the Substance being come such are Antichrists Now after the rising of the Smoke of the Pit darkning Sun and Air spoiling the Glory of the primitive Church the Beast that had long plunged in the Sea was rifen out of the Sea the Pope had gotten the Supremacy he by colour of the Jewish Laws which gave Tythes to the Levites gained an Universal Payment of Tythes to his Clergy he as Successor of the Jewish high-Priest claimed to himself first Fruits and Tenths denying thereby Christ Jesus to be come in the Flesh the End of Types Shadows and Figures First Fruits and Tenths are but a late Innovation claimed by the Pope as Successor to the Jewish high-Priest as Cooke in the third part of his Institutes testifies Though it was long e're the Pope brought to pass his Attempt of Tenths to himself from all his inferiour Priests in England yet at last it was effected Yea and the Laws of this Nation shew that there was no little strugling by Kings and Commons in Parliament against first Fruits calling the same An Horrible Mischief and a Damnable Custom Yet not so Horrible Mischievous or Damnable but the Pope would receive them and Man-made Ministers preach them up The Payment of first Fruits and Tenths were continued to the Pope as annexed to his Chair as Successor to the Jewish high-Priest Head of the Church till the days of Henry the 8th who then denyed the Popes Supremacy and assumed it to himself and by Act of Parliament got first Fruits and Tenths annexed to his Crown Thus the Aaronical Types and Figures were received from hand to hand entertained among the Professors of Christianity which thing being duely consider'd is Antichristian a Denyal of Christ to be come in the Flesh This being settled on King Henry and his Successors through want of Consideration and of a divine Understanding and being supposed a Due is continued among Protestants pretending to be high Sharers in Reformation CAP. VII Of the Rise of Mortuaries IN the Mid-night of Popery Priests begot in People a Belief that their Prayers Mass-Services Obits c. were wonderful effectual to bring the Souls of the deceased out of Purgatory So 't was appointed that the Relict the Wife of the Deceased was to pay ten Shillings more or less to the Priest and this was called a Mortuary And why must she pay so much to the Priest That the Priest might pray for the Soul of her Deceased Husband and that some of their Merits which they had in store might be shared out to him pretending They had a stock of Merits to sell to such as came with Money in their hands Selden mentions a Synod in Ireland wherein it appears that a man might have bequeathed his Burial to what Abbey he would and that the Abbot thereof should have his Apparel his Horse and his Cow for a Mortuary although he had before bestowed all he had upon another Abbot Now the Pope being denyed and a Reformation intended the Clergy concluded that it was gross and idolatrous to receive Mortuaries upon such a Consideration and yet unwilling to part with such a sweet Morsel devised a more plausible consideration and that was That Mortuaries should be given in Recompence of Tythes not duely paid in the Life-time not considering that in this very thing they condemn all their Hearers as Fraudulent and Deceitful so must have a Recompence for the Fraud Guile Unjust detaining of Church-dues in their Life-time The Apostles practised no such thing but bare Testimony That men should arise stained with Covetous Practises 'T is a shame that Protestants so called from protesting to renounce Popery should be so defiled and contaminated with such Covetous Practices In the dayes of Henry the 8th 't was enacted That the Bishops of Bangor Landaff and St Assaph and the Arch-Deacon of Chester should take Mortuaries of the Priests within their Jurisdictions as had been accustomed This Henry enacted That no Mortuary should be demanded where the Goods of the dead Person Debts deducted amount not to the value of ten Marks Nor above the Sum of three Shillings four Pence when they exceed not thirty pound Nor above six Shillings eight Pence when they exceed thirty Pound but under forty Nor above ten Shillings when they amount to forty Pound or above Thus after the primitive
or Maintenance introduced by man contrary to what Christ and the Apostles taught and appointed We forbid saith Cardinal Galo the Pope's Legate under the penalty of Excommunication that Priests and Clergy-men through the occasion of any Custom should presume to exact or extort any thing for Baptism Burial or any other Sacrament Sum. Concil Pontif. Whether the Pope be obeyed in this as in other of his Ordinances 't is well known but Ordinances of this Nature and Tenure savour not well to the minds of Man-made Ministers CAP. XI Of the Rise of Reek-penny called also Smoke-Money called also in the Saxon Tongue Romefeoh that is the Fee of Rome and Romescot that is Rome's-shor or Rekoning and Rome-penny and Denary sancti Petri that is Peter-Pence and Regis Eleemosyna that is the King 's Alms. EThelbert King of the East-Angles being perswaded by his Council to Marry against his own inclination went to Offa in design to obtain his Daughter Athelred to Wife King Offa's Wife being averse to the Match caused Ethelbert to be slain whereupon Offa King of the Mercians to expiate that horrid Act gave the Peter-Pence to St Peters Church in Rome This Peter-Pence was a Penny for every House in which was twenty penny-worth of Goods to be paid Yearly on Lammas-Day such strictness was required in the payment thereof that in time it was esteemed Consuetudo quasi Apostolica c. A Custom as it were derived from the Apostles from which neither the King nor the Arch-Bishop Abbot Prior or any in the Kingdom was free only the Monastery of St Albans in honour of Alban the Protomartyr was by the Indulgence of King Offa exempted from that Charge This Peter-Pence this Yearly Tribute Ethelwoulph ordained to be paid Yearly by every House in England that kindled a Fire Ina King of the West Saxons as some say was the first Donor of Peter-Pence about the Year 720. being in Pilgrimage at Rome Matthew Westminster insinuates that these being Kings of several Kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy each of them might be the first Donor within their respective Dominions Upon reasonable Compute the Peter-pence could amount to no less then 7500. pounds a Year which payment continued till the reign of Henry the Eighth who totally took it away Sleiden Pope Paul the fourth receiving the English Ambassadors which came from Queen Mary urged to them the necessity of the Restitution of all Revenues that her Father Henry the eighth had taken away from Rome further pressing That they could not hope that Saint Peter would open the Gates of Heaven to them so long as they usurped his Goods on Earth Strange Doctrine As though Peter being dead in the fruition of Eternal Joy should regard Money which while upon Earth he was redeemed from the love of Hunting Milton Sleiden Matth. West Now you Protestants that pretend Reformation do not you in your Words deny the Pope and his Supremacy Yes Why then do your Ministers Vicars and Parsons receive his Tribute of every House that kindles a Fire viz. a Penny called a Reek-penny Smoke penny or Hearth-penny and Persecute such as deny to give them the same 't is one of their covetous Practices occasioned by Murther in the gloomy Night of Apostacy Popery through love of Money continued a Dreg of the Cup of Babylon Further King Edgar enacted that Peter-pence called commonly Hearth-penny imposed on every House should be paid before the Feast of St Peter and he that paid not the same should carry that Penny and Thirty other Pennies to Rome and pay one Hundred and twenty Shillings to the King Further if any should not give the Peter-penny upon the second demand he enacted that he should carry that penny and thirty other pennies to Rome and pay two Hundred Shillings to the King Upon refusal after the third demand he was to suffer the loss of all he had Here was Zeal but without Knowledge and though this annual payment was from Papists to the Pope to expiate the horrid act of Murther yet such as pretend Reformation are not ashamed of it shewing themselves to be such as Peter spoke of who should have Hearts exercised with Covetous practices 'T was a noble saying and resolution of Abraham that he would not take as much as a Shoe-lachet of the King of Sodom lest he should say he had made Abraham Rich. So you that profess Reformation keep not a Rag of the Whore's Garment not one Patch of her Earthly Traditional groundless Ornament that the Beast Law-giver in spiritual Sodom the apostatized Church nor any of the Locusts that arise out of the Smoke of the Pit may not boast that you are enriched by their Merehandize and groundless Traditions relating to Doctrine Worship or Maintenance as you would be accounted the Children of Abraham do the Works of Abram shew forth the Faith of Abram which led him from Vz of the Caldees by Interpretation Fire to the Land of Canaan Gen. 11. Sons of Abram Witnesses of purifying and Victory giving Faith they read this thing CAP. XII How Tythes came into Lay-mens Hands Impropriators YOu that are or would be accounted Gospel-Ministers and plead that Christ hath granted you Tythes for your Maintenance yet can neither tell where nor when Let me tell you if you have Christ's Ordinance and Institution for Tythe then no Custom Usage Prescription priviledge or Popish Dispensation can justly acquit any from the payment of the utmost penny of the tenth part for Ordinances and Doctrines of Christ are not to be made void by the Injunctions of men How comes Lay-men Impropriators to be such sharers in Tythe which is your right as Gospel-Ministers as you pretend Are they not Sacrilegious therein And how come so many to be exempted from the payment of Tythe But all this is but a Covetous pretence Christ put an End to that Law which gave Tythe to the Levites and established a Free and Voluntary Maintenance for Gospel-Ministers without Tythe And Tythes came into Christian Churches by the Pope and all Exemptions from the payment of Tythes were by the Pope's Indulgence And now I shall declare what I have read concerning Tythes in the possession of Lay-men The Hunnes Gothes and Vandals invaded Italy under the Emperor Justinian and greatly persecuted all Religious men overturned Churches burnt Libraries overthrew Schools of Learning these fierce and barbarous People about the Year 650. set their Faces against France upon this Charles Martell the Father of Pipin after King of France would not oppose himself against them unless the under Clergy of France would resign every man his Tythes into his Hands that thereby he might reward the Souldiers and support the Charges of the War then present he solemnly promised that these Tythes should be restored to them at the end of the War with a further Gratuity for their good Will the Clergy driven thereto by the Exigences of that Age and eminent Dangers complyed with these motions This Charles Martell
having driven out and overthrown these barbarous Nations performed not his promise with the Clergy but divided their Benefices to such of the Nobility as had done Valiantly in that Enterprize and assured the same to them and their Heirs forever in Fee The Example hereof passed over the Alpes into Italy and mounted above the Pyrenean Hills into Spain and shortly failed over into England Thus Tythes came out of the Hands of the Clergy and became the possession of the Laity This Fact of Martellus was committed about the Year 660. and for it is confidently Damn'd in the Legend the Story of his Damnation is fastened upon Euchere Bishop of Orleance who is said to have seen in a Vision this Martellus in Hells Torment and that Euchere might believe what he saw an Angel instructed him to seek for Martell in his Sepulchre so he did but found him not but the place he found all black and instead of Martell a direful Serpent This Story is to be read in the Legend and the whole passage is Recorded by Sr. Thomas Ridley in his view of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Law Further how it came to pass that Tythes appointed by man for the Maintenance of the Clergy for the use of the Poor for the building and repairing of places of publick Worship came into the Hands of Lay-men as they are called Albius Krantzius relates Carolus Magnus the Son of Pipin and King of France through his compliance with the See of Rome he first got the Title of Most Christian-King he Conquered the Saxons and drew them from Gentilism to the Profession of Christianity and made Provision for the Clergy But 't is said saith this Krantzius that Tythe at first was not assigned to the Saxon Clergy but to the King's Lievetenants that out of the same they might pay their Souldiers and answer the Charge of the frequent expeditions against that Nation For this end saith his Chronicle in Saxony and other places much Tythes were in the Hands of Lay-men This same Krantzius renders anothers Cause the Clergy fearing that Princes would not secure them in their Possession of Tythes he supposes the Clergy gave them part of Tythe thereby to obliege them to secure them in their Possession of their respective parts chusing rather to lose part thereof then the whole and that the things are true which Krantzius relates 't is evident from that Oration which Frederick the first Emperor made saying As touching you O Bishops the Pope judges it an unfitting thing that Tythes which are dedicated to Altars and Church-men should be in the possession of Lay-men neither will he understand that Churches of Old suffering great afflictions were defended by Lay-men than Church-men as a recompence to Lay-men gave them part of their large Possessions of Tythes Kran Lib. 1. and Lib. 6. Novissima Polyanthea And in our Nation King Henry the eighth shaking off the Pope denying his Supremacy he dissolved many Monasteries which had many Tythes and Rectories appropriated unto them so kept part in his own Hands part he sold to others to be held as Lay-Possesssions thus they dropt into Lay-mens hands and these Lay-men having no Law to recover them the Popes Law not reaching to Lay-persons so called this Henry made new Laws in behalf of Lay-men that they might be capacitated to enforce the aforesaid payment of Tythes Thus it appears what jumbling and Confusion hath been in the Night of Apostacy to introduce and continue Tythes granted only to the Levites for their Service under that Ministration which Law which Service and which Maintenance Christ the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah put an end unto and such as introduce what he put an end unto notwithstanding their gilded Colours and specious Pretences being seen in Gods Eye and weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary they are found Antichristian Now you Teachers of what Denomination soever who strive struggle and wrestle to maintain a property in your delicate and dainty Morsell Tythes and that jure divino aut humano by divine or humane Right give me leave soberly and modestly to make tryal of your Right to or Property in the same in your most Foundamental pretences and to the end I may Methodize the ensuing discourse let me lay the Ax to the Root of the Tree try your pretended Tenure of right unto the exaction of Tythes and that from a four-fold Authority Patriarchal Mosaical Evangelical and Humane for all Grounds Reasons and Arguments that are or can be alledged for the exaction of Tythes are naturally reducible to one or other of these four Sourses or Springings and if these main Pillars Cathedral props cannot bear up that Building of the exaction of Tythes in Gospel Dayes and that by Divine right it will and ought to tumble down as the Reformation of the great Gospel-Reformer prevails in Churches professing Christianity and as you learn the sound wholsom and savoury Lesson of Self-denyal you will be glad and rejoyce for the Reformation of Christ and for the increase of his Government notwithstanding your loss of Antichristian Provision CAP. XIII The Clergies Patriarchal Claim of Tythes considered NOw you that say That the Divine Right of Tythes is derived from Melchizedec and not from Levi. To this I Answer 'T is then inquirable whether or no Tythes were ever the due and property of Melchizedec that which could make them his Property must be a Command they were no more the property of the Levites then of any other of the Tribes till there was an Assignation of them to the Levites after the command issued from the Court of Heaven they became due and while the command stood in force and the Law was unrepealed 't was a transgression of the divine Law to be found in non-payment thereof Now where is the Command that Tythes should be paid to Melchizedec Where is the Law of the Assignation of them to him 'T is not groundless Conjectures and Suppositions will serve the turn positive Precept is called for No right could be derived from Melchizedec to another which was not first in Melchizedec himself Vlpians Judgment is found Nemo plus juris ad alium transferre potest quam ipse haberet that is No man can make a better Title to another then he himself hath Obj. Tythes were paid to Melchizedec after whose Order Christ was High Priest forever therefore due unto the Evangelical Order Answ 'T is neither said by Moses nor by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews that Abram paid him Tythes but that he gave him Tythes and betwixt a Payment and a Gift there is a difference the one imports a Due or Debt the other a free and Voluntary Act. Now if Tythes had been properly due from Abram to Melchizedec 't is not probable that both these holy men who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divinely inspired would have said he gave but he paid Tythes The Geneva notes on Heb. 7.5 say The Levites had Commandment to receive
not Protestant Writers say That the Beast and his ten Horns is the Pope and Popish Kings And by what hath been spoken it may appear how Tythes came into Churches professing Christianity and a Compulsary Maintenance Now is it honourable for or besseming such as pretend to be Ministers of Christ to have no Command nor Example from Christ for what they act but from the Beast and his Horns the Pope and his Auxilliaries Do they not offer great affront to Christ who establish that which he dissanulled Now if every Ordinance of man of what Nature so ever must be submitted to strange Consequences might follow then if one and the same Individual Person should remove into twenty several Nations of different Religions he is bound to hoist up his Sails to all these Winds to comply with the Worship of every respective Nation if the Supream Authority command it Having touched that no Patriarchal Act nor the Levitical nor Evangelical Dispensations nor Ordinances of man can assure Tythes to Gospel Ministers as truly such I may subjoyn a few Testimonies of men eminent in the Church since the Apostles dayes who in their Respective Ages bare Testimony against the grand Oppression of Tythes and other things The Teachers of the Waldenses saith a certain Inquisitor are Weavers Taylors they encrease not Riches but are content with Necessaries Vsher de Succes Eeclesia These Waldenses were a People of great Sincerity and Godly Simplicity in their day and endured fiery Tryals storms of Persecutions for their Testimony against the Romish Faith Gildas speaking of the Brittish Clergy being Locusts come out of the Smoke said They are Pastors in name but indeed Wolves not called to but seizing on the Ministry as a Trade not as a spiritual Charge seeking after Preferments and Degrees in the Church more than after Heaven and so gain'd make it their whole study to keep them by any Tyranny And what sufferings are in this our day for the Denyal of Tythe what Imprisonments what Havock and Spoil is and hath been made I need say nothing the Statute of Tâ—ible Damage hath been leaned to as if it were from Heaven and not of men The Waldenses saith Bishop Vsher gave Testimony That Ministers ought to be poor content with the free Benevolence of the People The Papists saith this Vsher judged this a pestilent and damnable Opinion And many that would be accounted Reformed Churches approve not of it Primitive Christianity had other thoughts of it their Maintenance being free and voluntary These Waldenses on a certain account testified saying We are not ashamed of our Ministers in that they labour with their hands seeking a Maintenance according to their Ability because the Doctrine and Example of the Apostles allows of this thing Vsher de Succes Ecclesiae Further this Vsher affirms That these Waldenses condemned all the Clergy because of their Idleness saying They ought to labour with their Hands as the Apostles did Robert Abbot of Molisme in Burgundy perswaded his own Disciples To live with their handy Labour and to forsake Tythes and Oblations The Bohemians descended from the Waldenses professed That all Ministers ought to be poor and to be content with the Free Gift of the People Aen. Syl. in his Bohemian History The Dominicans and Franciscans taught That Tythe was not due by Divine Right nor a necessary duty to Gospel Ministers but that they might be detained and disposed of at the Owners pleasure especially if the Pastor did not well perform his Office 'T was generally the judgment of the Wickliffians as of the Waldenses and Bohemians being all Protéstants That Ministers ought to be poor and content with the free Gifts of the People Aen. Syl. his Bohemian History John Wickliff whose works are much esteemed by Protestants in England and Bohemia whose Bones were taken up and burnt by Papists forty one years after his Death gave Testimony in this manner That Tythes were and are a free Gift as among the Christians and only pure Alms and that Parish oners might for the Offence of their Curates detain and keep them back and bestow them upon others at their own Will and Pleasures Fox Acts and Mon. John Hus burnt at Constance for his Testimony said thus The Clergy are not Lords and Possessors of Tythes and other Ecclesiastical Goods which are freely given but only Stewards and after the necessity of the Clergy is once satisfied they ought to be bestowed on the Poor and if the Clergy do abuse the same they are Thieves and Robbers and Sacriledges Persons and except they do Repent by the just judgment of God they are to be condemned Fox Acts and Mon. At the Reformed Church in Geneva they live upon free Gifts and Tythes of all sorts are taken up for the use of the State and said up for the publick Treasury William Thorp Martyr being complained of by the Popish Clergy was brought to Examination in the year 1407. being accused before Thomas Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of England as against divers other abuses crept into the Church so also against Tythes he gave faithful Testimony saying In the New Law neither Christ nor his Apostles ever took Tythe of the People neither commanded they the People to pay Tythe And Christ and his Apostles preached the Word of God to the People and lived of pure Alms or free Gifts and after Christ's Assention when the Apostles had received the Holy Spirit they travelled labouring with their Hands not to be Chargeable Further saith he Tythes were given in the old Law to Levites and Priests but our Priests come not of Levi ergo by the Law our Priests cannot challenge Tythes for as the Priesthood is changed so is the Law but since Christ in the time of his Ministry and also his Apostles lived by pure Alms or else by the Labours of their Hands for the Servant is not greater than his Lord. At which words the Bishop said unto him God's Curse have you and mine for thus teaching Further William Thorp said Those Priests that do take Tythes they deny Christ to be come in the Flesh Further bearing Testimony against the Covetousness and Pride of the Priests The Bishop answered By God I deem him more meek that goes every day arrayed in his Scarlet Gewn than thou in thy Thred-bare blew Gown Language not savouring of a primitive Bishop but of an Apostate Lording Bishop Fox Acts and Mon. William Swinderby testified to this purpose If Parishioners pay Tythes to wicked Priests or Curats they are guilty before God of upholding them in their Sins and Evil Deeds Further saith he Christs Law commands to minister freely to the People the Pope with his Law â—ells or Money Christs Law teaches his Priests to be Poor the Pope justifies and maintains Priests to be Lords Fox Acts and Mon. Walter Brute testified as appears by the Articles charged against him 1st That no man is bound to pay Tythes in Gospel times 2dly If any Priest