despised the day of small things says the Lord in the 1 Zach. 4. 1. Prophet Or who can deny but small things may be of great use and consideration in the greatest sith by Divine appointment Badgers skin and Goats hair 2 Exod. 25 4 5. were offered acceptably to the building of a holy Tabernacle whereby was intended the great God of All should be honoured and sanctified That Lord Dominus 3 Psal 24. 1. cujus est terra plenitudo ejus who 4 Matth. 21. 3. despised not a convoy of the meanest and simplest of beasts for his person on earth seems Still to Need the vile things of this lower world to set forth his glory in this vile and lower world and if any one say ought to the contrary or in froward opposition say still as then the Lord not onely useth but hath need of them His servants though His live yet by bread if men as well as by every word that proceedeth out of His mouth their Lord and God And sith Though Jehovah could not be pulled out of Heaven by extinguishing any of those Lamps that burned to his honour in the Temple of the Lord at Ierusalem yet his wise old servants knew that unless their care cost and love did procure profane oile from Syria and Arabia Those Lampes with his honour would go out on Earth which made them contrive purpose and do accordingly Even so sith the nature of things is still the same unless there be left such loving and discreet followers of his now by whose vigilance industry and care some constant supply may be apportioned and issued forth for the maintenance of the outward part of his honour and support of his Gospel and those servants of his that do his pleasure in holding it forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13. 6. Ministers that attend this very Thing It is not without the compass of manly and Christian fear to be jealous lest the light and brightness of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ now shining in the faces of all men though not reaching to their hearts it is much to be doubted much less returning fruit in their answering upright lives should which God forbid be extinguished upon Earth by our negligence and parcimony though his Deity we trust shine now in Heaven and shall and ever above the brightness of the Sun and beyond all Eternity Wee hold God to be the end of the soul Truth the way leading to it and Him The Church the pillar and ground of truth to hold it out in view to the world this we are sure of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 3. 16. the Apostle tels it us and the publick Ministers are the Churches servants If then these servant shall do that work in holding forth this truth to guide to that end They being Men must not have their daily allowance of Bread withheld from them which keeps them hayl and strong that they may live and be Able to follow their business or if it be the bottome foundation fails and the whole frame must be left to sink and ruine with it for want of sustenance or undersustentation Unless by an unhallowed presumption we dare go on Tempting God in stead of Trusting him still urging him to do and expecting he should do even ordinary miracles for our extraordinary preservation and then daily miracles would scarce be any wonders putting him upon more work yet after his Consummatum est to multiply loaves for his improvident Disciples and leading him once more out of the way into the Wilderness to lead us out of the path of his ordinary course of Providence to expect food from Heaven when there is plenty enough upon Earth Which if and the boldness of our unreasonable presumption rather then well-instructed Christian faith could be content to put upon Him Whether yet his servants who are to do the work and being party to the whole had need of some liberty of choice for refusal of the conditions could be content to accept for enough for their parts and hardy enough to trust to as their sufficient Viaticum for this convoy and their journey may not considering their humane frailty be without some doubt I have led you forty years in the Wildernesse your cloathes are not waxen old upon you and thy shooe is not waxen old upon thy foot Deu. 29. 5 As in the space of forty years to hope for no reparation of cloaths nor to put on a new shooe in half an age and go provided with nothing but naked poverty to carry them through a dry and barren Wilderness where no water is Hungry and Thirsty their souls fainting in them Yes They will questionless This and more if they be called and compelled thereto See Chap. 8. 4 Ne. hem 9. 21. if the enemies of God will deny them the way and the condition of things in an orderly Dispensation of Providence lead them to want as well as to abound But all the friends of God will rather guide and help them in the direct right way to their Canaan Neither denying them bread and water for their money as 1 Deut. 2. 27 28. 30. the cursed Amorites did but were after sufficiently plagued for it nor money if needfull to buy them what they want for their comfort in the way It being one of the most reasonable things in the world that they that give Heaven should not want Earth and They that sow to us Spiritual Things should not but reap our Carnall To all which things answering and well agreeing it was therefore religiously piously and prudently as well as justly resolved by those Councels guided Hen. 8. to diminish nothing here but to keep this settled and ancient Revenue of Gods honour free from the touch of sacrilegious profane and imprudent as well as unjust hands That no covetous Gehezi that loved his gain more then godliness should meddle with that belonged not to him nor greedy unconscionable Israelite with this portion of his Brother Levi due 2 Numb 18. 21. for his service he serves in the Tabernacle of the Congregation and as necessary for the Common-wealth of Israel as Judahs Simeons or Benjamins but when every one has enough he should be free from want and by as good security as any other claims his Right by his Tribe have its Own also not by benevolence but by Right and so have occasion to bless the Lord his God for the good land he has given him with the rest of his Brethren It being among our Divine Oracles agreeable to the Laws of Nature Equity Reason and Civill Commutative Justice that He that gives should receive 1 Matth. 10. 10. Luk. 10. 7. 1 Tim. 5. 18. The labourer is worthy of his reward 2 1 Cor. 9. 7. No one going on warfare is to march at his own charge He that feedeth a flock should eat of the milk of the flock And as He 3 Ver. 14.
by process of bâ—re command And 5. By vertue of the late Stat. of 32 Hen 8. and 2 Edw. 6. No more And these were but some scattering exceptions from the generall rule neither He prefaces that inquiry with 3 Pa. 411. these words It is clear saith he by the practised Common Law both of this day and also of the ancientest times that we have in our Year-Books that regularly the Jurisdiction of Spirituall Tythes that is of the direct and original question of their right belongs I think as in all other states of Christendom properly to the Ecclesiastical Court And the latter Staâ—utes that have given remedy for Tythes infeâ—dated from the Crown after the dissolution leave also the Ancient right of Jurisdiction of Tythes to the same He inserts 4 Pa. 421. after that since about K. Johns time Original suits in Tâ—mporall Courts for Tythes have been rare Adding 〈…〉 discourse of the Indicavit and changing the proportion of the dues of a Church to be the ground of it by the Statute of West 2. cap. 5. 5 Pa. 427. that long before Tythes were demandable of the owner detaining them of their own nature and pleadable in the Spiritual Court and there onely and concludes 6 Pa. 447. that since 22 Edw. 3. there have been no Original Suits for Tythes in Temporal Courts saving onely upon Prohibitions at second instance and by the Stat. of 32 Hen. 8. and 2. Edw. 6. It is some difficulty to understand learned men but the consent these things seem to have with the truth and have both among themselves and with other of like nature abroad renders it hoped there hath been here no mistake which if Then hath been gained 1. The erection of the Court Christian by Will 1. 2. The transaction of Spiritual things there even though formerly under the cognizance of the Common Law and Lawyer immediatly 3. Tythes as Spiritualibus annexa and evidently belonging to Religion and thence within the compass of the Canons To move here as in their proper sphere Remember their Right was well enough provided for before Here were onely to be some emergent decisions for their regulation or Recovery of stated dues 4. The Lay Jurisdiction outed as to cognizance immediate direct and ordinary 5. In practice things have been no doubt according 6. And therefore we must now chiefly for a while attend the Church CHAP. XIX WHich we shall in two parts as well to the Jus dare as Ius dicere to what we finde in this Interval to have been Legislative as what was Executive Giving more largely what belongs to the former wherein was used the allowed power given in Regulating the Rule framing Canons or setting or keeping to right that Law was here the rule of Right but more sparingly touching at the later which concerned known practise For that such Courts were kept is a thing vulgarly and to all known That a discussion was there and a sentence the ground of Right and Own the Lawyers of the other Gown will not deny That things were there disposed transposed and settled to full property the event did shew Of this therefore the more sparingly which is known and did but help to Recover Right That which Gave it being more proper for us and both fitly ranged under that generall head of what was done by that power we are now confined to which is Ecclesiastick And here first If the Synod at Westminster whereof 1 Pag. 111. before were but a Synod remembred be it and granted hence what authority it must then have had And likewise another more clearly a Synod under the Conquerour but written in Saxon where divers laws preceding of fasting alms penance c. we have 2 Selden Hist of Tythes chap. 8. sect 14. Leâ— Tythes be paid of all that is possessed by the Lords bounty In a Councel at Clevemount in France one 3 Matth. Par. ad an 10â—5 pa. 21. in Will 2. Canon was Vnaquaque Ecclesia decimas suas habeat 〈◊〉 ad aâ—â—am transferantur Let every Church have its own Tythes without confusion Which would not likely have been taken notice of in our authentique story if it had not concerned us as indeed it did and was no doubt 4 Haec quae sequuntur caâ—itulâ— constituit Yrâ—â—nus universali Ecclesiae tradiâ—â—it observanda Id pa. 20. of Catholique observation In 5 Tildesly Anâ—madvers on M. Seldâ—â—s Hist pa. 164. Hen. 1. time I finde it decreed in a Councel held under William the Archbishop about the year 1129. Deâ—imas â—icut Dei summi Dominicas ex integro reddi pracipimus We command they be fully allowed aâ— the Lords Demoâ—â—es In 6 Selden Vbi Sup sect 15. another at Windsore about then is this Canon Vt Laici decimas reddanâ— sicâ—t praeceptum est That Lay-men pay as is commanded I am now transcribing and so hastening It will not be long ere we get on our own wings again 7 Id. sect 18. Alberique Bishop of 〈◊〉 was â—egate here under Innocent the second in K. Seâ— vâ—nt 〈◊〉 and He held a Synod in Anno 3. where is this Canon De omnibus Primitiis rectas decimaâ— dari Apostolicâ— aâ—tlâ—â—ritate praecipimus quas qui râ—ddere noâ—â—â—rit Anathemaâ—is in enm sententia proferatâ—â—s Let him that pays not be Excommunicate where it seems Primiâ—iâ—â— must be understood for every new years encrease 8 Mss. in the publique Library at Oxford cited in the 〈◊〉 ofâ— D. Ridleys View of the Laws pa. 1â—5 In Eugen. 2. time about the year 1147 under the same King was held a Synod at Westmiuster wherein tythes are disposed of It has no more then a supposition of them and that the Church disposed which may yet crave place here as not of no consideration Nullus Abbas Nullus Prior Nullus omnino Monachus aut Clericus Ecclesiam sive decimam sine Episcopi Consensu c. And 1 Ib. two years after in another Synod there to the same purpose Vt nulla persona Ecclesias vel decimas accipiat sine authoritate Episcopi By the way we may not about these times much look for set and purposed binding Laws about Tythes They needed not For Such had passed before sufficient to raise and assure a Due But onely to Regulate dispose or determine about emergent controversies concerning them and these not wanting In Hen. 2. time I finde Alexander the third directing severall Constitutions for that force his Orders had here to the Bishops of Canterbury Winchester and Excester They are taken by Gregor 9. into 2 Lib. 3. tit 30. de decimis the body of the Decretals and no doubt had their power and found obedience here for 3 Vid. Selden Review pa. 489. where the Kingdome did not crosse the Canons were and it seemes by the Proviso of 25 Hen. 8. 19. are binding Laws And let no man object here the usurpation or allay of credit from forain authority
domicilia Si autem incertū fuerit habeat illa Ecclesia totam decimam infra cujus limites tempore tonsionis inveniantur De lacte vero volumus quod decima solvatur dum durat videlicet de Caseo tempore suo de lacte in Autumno hyeme Nisi parochiani velint pro talibus facere competentem redemptionem hoc ad valorem decimae ad commodum Ecclesiae De proventibus autem molendinorum volumus quod decimae fideliter integrè solvantur De pasturis autem pascuis tam non communibus quam communibus statuimus quod decimae fideliter persolvantur hoc per numerū animalium dierum ut expedit Ecclesiae De piscationibus apibus sicut de omnibus aliis Bonis juste acquisitis quae renovantur per annū statuimus quod decimae solvantur exigantur debito modo Statuimus etiam quod decimae personales solvantur de artificibus mercatoribus sc de lucro negotiationis Similiter de Carpentariis Fabris Cementariis Textoribus Pandoxatricibus omnibus aliis Stipendiariis Operariis ut videlicet dent decimas de Stipendiis suis nisi Stipendiarii ipsi aliquid certum velint dare ad opus vel ad lumen Ecclesiae si rectori ipsius Ecclesiae placuerit Sed quoniam inveniuntur multi decimas sponte dare nolentes statuimus quod parochiani moneantur primo secundo tertio ut decimas Deo Ecclesiae fideliter solvant Quod si se non emendaverint primò ab ingressu Ecclesiae suspendantur sic demum ad solutionem decimarum per censuram Ecclesiasticam si necesse fuerit compellantur Si autem dictae suspensionis relaxationem vel absolutionem petierint ad Ordinarium loci mittentur absolvendi debito modo puniendi Rectores autem Ecclesiarum seu Vicarii aut Capellani annui qui praedictas decimas praedicto modo propter formidinem hominum seu favorem timore Dei postposito ut praedictum est cum effectu non petierint poena suspensionis innodentur donec dimidiam marcam argenti Archi-Diacono loci persolvant Whereas by reason of divers ways of tything in divers Churches strife and contention are wont to arise between the Church-Governour and his people we will and appoint that through the Province of Canterbury there be this uniform way of Tything First wee will that Tythes be paid of Fruit without any deduction of charge intirely and without diminution so reaching in an order about the charge of Fermage spoken of before and preventing that exception and of fruit of trees likewise and of all seeds and garden hearbs unless the Parishioners will make some competent exception for them Also we will and appoint that Tythes be required of hay or green grass if it be cut to spend says Lyndewood in his Glosse wherever it grow in greater Meadows or lesser or in the High-ways and that it be paid as is best for the Church For breed of Cattle as touching Lambs we appoint that for sixe and below so many half pence if there be seven the seventh shall be tythe yet so that the Church-Govenour receiving the seventh shall pay 3 half-pence to the Parishioner He that takes one of eight a penny one of nine a half-penny or let the Rector stay for the tenth if he had rather to the following year And he that so stays let him alwayes have the second or third best of the following yeare and this for his stay And so is it to be understood of the tenth of Wooll But if the Sheep depasture one where in Winter another where in Summer the tythe is to be divided In like manner if any one shall buy them in the middle of the year and it be known from what Parish the sheep come the tythe is to be divided as of a thing belonging to several places but if it be not known let the Church have the benefit where they are at shear-time Concerning Milk we will that the tythe be paid as it ariseth that is of Cheese so long as it is made and of milk in Autumn and Winter unless the Parishioners will make due compensation according to the value of the tythe and to the Churches advantage As concerning the profits of Mils we will that tythes be faithfully intirely paid As for pasture and feeding grounds as well Common as other we appoint the tythe be fully paid and this with regard to the Beasts and time of going as shall be best for the Church For Fishings and Bees as of any other goods honestly gotten which renew yearly we appoint that the tythe be paid and required duly We decree also that personal tythes be paid by Handy-crafts-men and Merchants that is of the gain of their trading the like of Carpenters Smiths Masons Weavers and all other hired Labourers that they give the tythe of their wages unless they will give any thing certain toward the Light in the Church and this at the Church-governors choice Then after some words of Mortuaries But because there are many that refuse to pay their tythes we will that Parishioners be warned once twice and thrice which was the number of essoyns allowed in the Conquerours Charter as before to pay their tythes to God and the Church truly Or if they refuse they be first suspended from entring into the Church and so bee compelled by Ecclesiasticall censure if need be to pay Or if they require release or absolution from suspension let them be sent to the Ordinary of the place for it and duly punished And as to the Church-Governors themselves or Vicars or Chaplains by the year who for fear or favour of men setting a side their awe to Heaven do not effectually require their tythes aforesaid let themselves be suspended till they pay a mark to the Archdeacon of the place for their disobedience I have both transcribed at length and translated this as I said because it is the chief Law whereupon immediatly the dueness of tythes is grounded and known by the Canon as to the Regulation of the manner of collecting this prevailing though not as to the dueness it self for this as hath been shewed was secured before and therefore the law begins with supposition and blame that men did not Pay as they ought which was here intended to be remedied And for the sufficient authority hereof we need not much doubt for Lawyers and Men were awaked both then and ever since would not through ages and generations have been frighted or cheated with meer empty shews of Paper Canons into a foolish childish awe of what was but terrible They knew no doubt from time to time there was strength enough with help of former grounds to carry things on and force them if any rub of opposition were laid in the way which made them pick a vertue out of that was indeed a kinde of necessity and doe with seeming willingness what if they would not they must and might have
Mr. Seldens Hist of Tythes whom this large extent satisfies not and therefore he undertakes the higher dark times of much further and would not but that universall right and possession of these dues has been here Coaevall with the Christian law and of the same date for beginning as Baptisme and the ten Commandements He endeavours to reply to the exception and answer the plea for the broken payment till about Hen. 2. As from the secundum Antiquam legem debemus in K. Knouts Epistle sicut praedecessores nostri concesserunt an ancient grant Then from the grave testimony of Austine our first preachers time inserted into K. Edwards so famous law from a likely fair interpretation of those soant returns of Tythes in * I have retained this word all along in difference from the usuall representation thereof As well because it seems most reasonable giving something of the boâ—k not usually heeded sc that it was kepâ— In the Church As also because I had information from the most Reverend and Learned L. Primate of Ireland that it is the same he hath seen in mâ—ny ancient Manuscripts Afterwards I found the same also in the Latin preface to the third book of the L. Cooks Reports The co-incidence of Both which to mine own conjecture before did not a little erect and stablish my wavering and doubting confidence Domus-Dei Book that it might be but according to the opinion of the Inquisitors prevailing as to the affirmative or negative in the question of Expediency or Duty Whether it were fit or meant they shoâ—ld be returned c But I examine not the validity of eithers arguments or answers and as little minde the seen possibility of more strength on one part or reply on the other let their arguments fight their mindes being in Charity which ever prevail I have in the mean time gained a certain doubtfulness of those times under contention and as much certainty of enough beside since on This side over and over sufficient for prescription Beyond that which May yet afford more store and this from those were able and are famous for their purposed disquisitions Now after this abundance together it may be no doubt superfluous to look abroad for more What is within the reach of common observation could hardly escape their views especially His who had examined that and more What might be had from history pleas writs statutes and other information of best but common credit would be but to light a candle before His Sun or as the gleaning of a little after full heaps and therefore may well here be spared In short The clear evidence of Things abroad is such and the light of Truth concerning them so common beating in every ones eys that no one that is fit to speak but must have knowledge enough to say that for Centuries upon Centuries ages and generations and the repeated revolutions of many hundred years to create prescription by continuance of paying and receiving There hath been time enough and enough and enough and spare and if twice five times sufficient to raise it in another case may here serve set aside the otherwise sufficient pleas of Donation and Possession none of this will be wanting with either greatest assurance or faire probability It is said there could be none without possession whereon 't is founded and every one knows where the dues are kept all the year This was prevented before for both a Possession and through coutinuance of time is for that Right is made use of but once a year or when there is occasion Let the truth represented in a few more lines of Master Selden be the Coronis of this part He observes 1 Chap. 6. Sect. 2. p. 72. that out of any continuance alone of voluntary payment a kinde of Parochial right was then created speaking of about the ninth Century though a voluntary consecration might do the same and 2 Pa. 78. afterwards as this wars the cause of Right to a Church whereto they had been so conveighed so Continuall Payment of many years did so settle the perpetuall Right of the Tythes of any Family then that whither soever it transplanted it self it must still send whither it had used as if this continuance had for ever so bound it that it might not pay them otherwise This then and it was about seven or eight hundred years ago How much more strength then must an usage that has its force and being from time and so according to nature should as it does tractu temporis convalescere get vigour in its age and be more fat and well liking How much more strength I say must this use have Now that how much the older it is is still always so much the stronger And if in some Countries there may be a prescription De non decimando totally and with us it usually prevails for a Modus decimandi which is against the Church compared in matter of Right or Wrong to an Orphan before How much more reason 1 Meritò summa habetur Ratio quae pro Regione facit Hobards Reports in Slades Case pag. 295. is there that the Church The Pillar and Ground of Truth should prescribe for her self then others against it that that prevail which tends visibly and likely to the support of the Gospel then what may prove the ruine and suppressing of it whereby the service of God may be upheld then whereby it may cease Shall Time be of force to say A Right shall Not be paid and shall it not settle more firmly that A Right shall It must not Rather then it must In other things prescription is generally a good Plea for Rights and things and so Doubless it is in This. CHAP. XXXIII JAmque opus exegi and hope I have not failed in either part of my undertaking that if either Title of three and All good be Good if either string of three will hold and all usually strong enough I have not fallen short of the proof of a Civil Right and that by that Law by which here All things are possessed Is that any ones is Given him We have shewed plainly this Donation Can this gift be confirmed by confirmation This hath been offered and largely diffused all abroad abundantly Is that I have Mine Sure 't is naturally and none shall deprive me without wrong for Possessions sake Now where is the Possession Here the World sees May this Right founded in God in Heaven Originally on Man but derivatively and by consequent substitution fright boldest men from laying on their hands and scambling with their Maker What even the Law hath said in this behalf hath been heard and may be remembred Ought I still have what I Have had I challenge a liberty a way a right a power to present meerly because I have had and so used And this is not here wanting for Ages and Generations The result of all questionless A CIVIL TITLE firmly and by these three distinct ways by which
extraordinary of those other who in private condition Dare venture to tamper with the Foundation of all Distances medling with that in Politicks does as much as the grace of God in Religion making one Man to differ froÌ„ another in wheresoever he does differ 1 Cor. 4 7 For what hast thou thou hast not received hereby 1 Tim. 6. 17. and that gives us all things plentifully and ichly sol ely only to enjoy But now some one May say These are but Logical Arguments humane Reasonings fallible and liable to Mistake Whereunto I answer as readily assuredly Even so and there is no doubt of it None so far out of the way as he that thinks he cannot err and incurably too for as much as this perswasioâ— in his minde is as bad as poyson in his soul hindring all possibility of healing his errour If then replied what farther probability It is not so here and This is right Have Others thought the same Hath any thing been done accordingly How have the fruit of such perswasions or Actions been exhibited in view and in things existent I answer Well enough And this leads inquiry into two things yet behinde fitly and to this place reserved and they are 1. What the Lawyers have given in as their Opinion upon the former or like Grounds 2. And what has been Dâ—ne What the one have thought and has been the fruit of the other seen in the World And first Ask the learned in their profession It uses to be so and prudence thinks it has had especiall work in such obeyed directions To the Physitian in doubt of a disease To the Artificer in a point of skill To the Divine in a Case of Conscience To the Husbandman or Artist in that their callings or conversations fit them to direct about Every one of these is wise in his work as the wise man says and we use to rely on the Practised and Experienced Go then to the Student Ask the Counsellor Move the Judge Apply to a whole Jury of Judges or the Corporation of Learned Men dispersed through the Land There is never a one will set his hand or his thought to the Contrary or deny it to This That Tythes are as due to their due Receivers as any thing else to whomsoever it is due He cannot go against his own light He must know This and he ought and will subscribe and do accordingly 'T were strange to finde one of a Kinde singular from all the rest He were a Monster of his profession that had the protuberation of a strange opinion excessive and swelling out of his bosome different from all other of his sort And as such they would look upon him at Westminster that should peep out into the world with this new discovery that Tythes are any longer Alms or a Voluntary Benevolence for the support of Christian truth not Duty and a Due by strict retributive Justice Have they not councelled Have they not practised Have they not judged Do they not Judge and still commit sentence to execution accordingly And manage the whole series of their most honourable studies and imployments Still as upon such a Supposition Unwilling men have not Given but Paid Could they ever relieve them They have complained Their goods upon this pretence have been taken from them Where was their remedy Their Neighbour Bench had Ordered Appointed Given It should be so Whence any Comfort Nay They the Secular Courts themselves have assisted For if the Consistory appointed and the convicted denyed to pay The sentence of Excommunication was Orderly and Leisurely but Certainly backed with the Writ De Excommunicato Capiendo to take him that refused as a Rebellious Son of the Church into safe Custody of the State as contumacious and refractory to allowed orders Ridley View of the Laws par 3. chap. 2. sect 2 3 5 6. and No relief but still and more assistance and farther prosequution by whatsoever Ployden and Littleton could do that one sword might help another Nay themselves have interposed some say Too far the Statute never meant it at the first instance and drave on the Statute of treble damages for Justice to Execution in their Court And were they not Just even when they were Judging as the King Ahashuerus desired the Queen should be Vashti according to Law Esth 1. 15. But to instance in some particulars Of which those that offer themselves are too many therefore I content to take up my self with a few Beginning with that right worshipfull and learned Benefactor even to the Learning of an University the most deserving of Religion Vertue Learning and all Goodness Sir Henry Spelman He was not indeed a Lawyer but More Himself bewails the mis-guiding of his tender years 1 In praefat ad Glossar pa. 1. and in his Treatise of Tythes pa. 161. too soon out of the direct way to graduated and professing in that most excellent knowledge But he that shall heed the demonstration he gives the world of his Sufficiency in those Noble Studies by his Glossary and sundry other exact pieces extant will be forced to confess him above even measure for a Professour and not unworthy to teach some Masters As having digged down to the foundation of our Fundamentals and not unworthy to sit in the highest Chair of the Learned Now he tells us in one piece as I remember for I have not the Book by me that although Tythes and other Rights of the Clergy had not been primarily due unto God by the immediate rule of his Word yet Are they Now His and separate from us by the voluntary gift and dedication of our ancient Kings and Predecessours and who shall violate the will of the dead whose impiety shall dare alter change invert divert the streams of their pious bounty and heavenly inspired charity out of those channels their wills set them in to move toward and end in the advancement of Gods glory If it be but a Mans Testament Gal. 3. 15. saith Saint Paul who disannulleth or addeth thereto being once confirmed and shall not religious indowments be yet more safe and from violation being Given Legacies and having all possible humane confirmation And in a Treatise published since his death he is yet more express T is fully and solely of the Right of Tythes and taking the subject at large He begins That God will have a part not onely of our Time but Goods That Christ released not Levi's part in them That there is something in nature for That duenesse and proportion That they are due by the Ecclesiastical Laws of Councels by the imprinted Laws of Nature by the written Laws of God by the received Ordinances of Nations and lastly screwing it up to the equall heighth of our proposition to a syllable That they are due with us by the Law of our Land Chap. 27. pa. 111 c. By what Law the very Secular Temporal All-ruling All-giving which settles all men in their possessions
and inheritances and he alledges for it divers of those principles which before as not borrowing of him we alledged to this purpose whence also we hope We have not been mistaken because we finde his vote consenting and strengthning ours As K. Edwards Law K. Aethelstanes Law K. Edmonds Law K. Edgar Knout and the Confessour beside the Conquerours Heu tot sancitas per plurima saecula leges Hauserit una dies hora una perfidus error as he exclaims Shall one mans days change all so many and the fruit of best humane wisdome so ripened by time and grown as an Oak by leisurely degrees to greatest Maturity of strength be pulled down by sudden revocation If the things were lawfully conferred as none can doubt but they were so lawfully Then let us consider says he how fearfull a thing it is to pull them from God! to rend them from the Church to violate the dedications of our Fathers the Oaths of our Ancestours the Decrees of so many Parliaments and finally to throw our selves into those horrible curses that the whole Kingdome hath contracted with God as Nehemiah and the Jews did Nehem. 10. should fall upon them if they transgress herein Say then that Tythes were not Originally due unto God c. yeâ— are we in the case of Nehemiah and the Jews Nehem. 10. 32. They made Statutes by themselves to give every year the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of God And so our Fathers made Laws among themselves to give a portion of their Land and the tenth part of their substance that is the Parsonages for the service of the house of God Deut 23. 20. If they were not due before they are now due For When thou vowest a vow unto the Lord thy God thou shalt not be slack to pay it for Jehovah thy God will surely require it of thee and â—o it should be sin unto thee Therefore see Act. 5. 4. If the King give a gift of his inheritance to his son Ezek. 46. 17. his son shall have it If he give it to his servant his servant shall have it their times If the King then give a gift to his Father that is God Almighty shall not he have it or the servant to his Master and Maker shall not he enjoy it Who hath power to take that from God which was given unto him if not by vertue of any command from yet according to his word c. Thus far that learned and pious Knight Which yet I have not transcribed so fully as I meant because the words of the Laws alledged by him in the sense we doe and for proof of the same conclusion were represented in words at length before upon occasion And yet thus much too was needful to shew consent that we vent not nor invent of our own but of the same words make construction to the same purpose and have the same apprehension of things upon the same grounds he both had and gave Premises and Conclusion the same from the same for singularity either of opinion or proof brings always with it some suspition We see he saith here proveth that beside Canonical Natural Moral and as it seems unto him Divine Law our Civil Laws have added whatever of strength they can give to create a Topical and English Political home-right of Dominion Power Jure Soli as they use to speak as well as Jure Poli to settle these Dues where they are The former may have been our Ancestory Principles and Rules which guided them at first in settling as they did and with these many things else But now we little need to go so far unless ex abundanti for Surplusage of strength for however it may have been disputable at first of the Natural or Moral right as of sundry other things Manours Honours Inheritances c. which concerneth also the Indians yet or other Infidel Nations in state that ours once was of To be converted where nothing publick hath been done or passed for them Yet as when Ananias and Sapphira had given the state of things was altered and their Duty or Danger So here the Pactional and Civil having made chains of continual and successive binding Ordinances to hold retain and keep these things fast and thus Now the principles may stand by the inference being justly made stablished and of force and without further inquiry the Stated Made Right must be here enough or None have with us any thing This worthy and Worshipful Knight whose degree gave him not so much title to those honouring Epithetes as his Worth and true Worthiness as we would call it Worthy-ship and who honoured his Titles as much as They Him was a man singularly Learned profoundly Judicious of most tender conscience and lively quick zeal and love of his God and Christ and that his flock which we call the Church no way interessed save to his own prejudice and by his lay condition rendred incapable to reap any fruit of this Harvest hee here so earnestly strives to defend from spoile nor like to eat a bit of that bread he here so zealously defends in behalf of the true owners Memoria justi in benedictionibus yet it pleased God to stir up his heart and he that touched the Prophet Esays lips Es 6. 7. with a coal from the Altar no doubt touched his heart and quickned and directed his minde to indite and his pen to write and set down many profound and unanswerable arguments for truth against sacriledge kept secret from those that stand always in the house of the Lord in the Courts of the house of our God as the Psalmist speaks Psal 135. 2. the professed and dedicated servants and Votaries of the Temple and because uninteressed to make him the fitter and more likely to be successful Champion of Justice Truth and true Religion in their outward visible supports then those whose known interesses would always have taken of and diminished from the worth or effect of their sufficient or never so well-meant undertakings and performances Which outward supports let them be stirred when they will men may dream and think they prophesie but an ordinary Humane eye can in reason probably fore-see nothing but very soon too sure the decay of Religion the fall of the Church as to outward frame order and support and Christian piety it self I speak in humane consideration still ready to falâ—flat down to the ground or degenerate into Natural God can sustain it miraculously feed his servants waiting on the Ministery thereof now as he did his people in the Wilderness 1 Kings 17. 6. or the Prophet Elijah by a Raven or yet more miraculously without any meat at all or perhaps in as equally strange and wonderful way by the men of this world their voluntary Benevolence But speak according to inferiour probabilities as things depend here on their causes or in humane expectation which is to be our lower rule and