and Ambassadour of the Lord Jesus and your Honours Servant in Christ and for Christ Immanuel Bourne TO ALL THE Reverend Godly and Faithfull Ministers Ambassadours OF JESUS CHRIST in ENGLAND Whether moderate Presbyterians Independents or of different Judgments The Blessings of Truth Peace and Love with onenesse of Spirit and Protection in the Lord Jesus Reverend Fathers Brethren IT is a sacred and certain Truth witnessed by the Spirit of God in holy Scripture and manifested in the various turnings of the wheels of Gods Providence in all ages that the Lord Jehovah the Omnipotent all-sufficient and only wise God doth and will order all things for his own eternal Glory and the everlasting happiness of his Church and Children beloved in the Lord Jesus But yet the dispensations of God and the foot-steps of his infinite wisdom are somtimes so obscure and dark that our blind and weak eyes are not able to see the cloud of his Gracious protection walking with us by day nor his pillar of fire to give us light in the night So that a troubled and trembling soul is somtimes amazed and constrained to cry out with that great Apostle Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his waies past finding out And somtimes with the Prophet to reason the case with God in a time of trouble fear and danger O Lord how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear even cry out of violence and thou wilt not save Why dost thou shew me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance for spoyling and violence are before me and there are that raise up strife and contention It is apparent that since the fallen Angels left their first habitation and by the subtilty of the Serpent tempted and overcame our first Parents to break that first Covenant and to sin against God and lose that happy estate wherein they were created and since God was pleased to publish the second Covenant in that Gospel-promise the seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head that old Serpent the Devil Satan and the seed of that Serpent the wicked of the world discovered at full that enmity that is in them against the seed of the woman the servants of the most high God the sons and daughters of the King of Glory in Christ the Redeemer The Lord hath prosecuted his design according to his eternal councel for the salvation of his people and to this end as he himself preached the Gospel at first and revealed his mind and will to our first Parents in Paradise so he constituted Christ his only begotten Son to be the Anointed the eternal High Priest and Prophet and King of his Church And this Prophetical Office as Christ did exercise and execute himself somtimes before and somtimes since his coming in the flesh so did he call and ordain his holy Prophets and Apostles part before and part after his resurrection yea after he ascended up on high and led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men he gave some to be Apostles and some Prophets and some Pastors and teachers for the work of the Ministry for the edification of the body of Christ untill we all come in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man and unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ and hath promised to be with them to the end of the world And for their comfortable maintenance and encouragement although the great God his Father Lord of Heaven and earth after he had created the world and gave to Adam and his posterity the Lordship and dominion over the creatures to hold upon his and their good behaviour of the Lord himself their Creator as chief Lord of all yet the Lord did never give all to Adam or to his posterity but hath reserved a special part to himself as he did the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Paradise this special part to be for his worship and service and the maintenance of his Ministers and Ambassadors to the end of the world as is fully proved to my understanding in this following Treatise But as God hath prosecuted his design to further the salvation of his people and maintenance of the Gospel and Gospel-Ministry so hath the Devil and his Angels and servants had their design to hinder the Lords great work by all subtill frauds and open hostility to their power the wicked to this end have laboured to get and keep in their hands Gods reserved part They robbed God of old before the coming of Christ and they have robbed God since and their plots and designs still are to rob the Lord Christ and his faithful Godly Ministers and Ambassadors to the utmost of their abilities both in these Nations and other Parts where the Gospel of Christ is or hath been preached It was the policy and practise of Julian that Apostate Emperour that he might more easily destroy the Gospel and Gospel-Ministry to destroy and take away their Maintenance And this certainly is and hath been the design of those who are enemies of us the Godly and Faithful Ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and under the name of Antichristian Ministers seek to destroy us and our Maintenance and perswade many godly people against us and labour to stir up the godly Magistrate yea the Parliaments and powers of the Nation to take away our Tithes and to allow us no setled Maintenance but that we should live of the Charity and almes of the people that we might be starved as anti-Christian Ministers as some of them have expressed themselves to me although it is evident none are more zealous and laborious to bring down the Kingdom of Antichrist and to set King Jesus upon his Throne than we are not by blood as some dream we would have it but by the powerful preaching of the Gospel of peace and our winning of souls to God not by blood I say for this is and hath been the nature and design and practise of Antichrist that whore of Babylon to be drunk with the blood of the Saints Martyrs of Jesus Christ fulfilling the Prophecy of our Saviour that the time should come that whosoever of the blind wicked world should kill his Ministers and Disciples should think they did God good service these things shall they do unto you saith Christ because they have not known the Father nor yet me This is that which divers seduced souls have lately discovered to be their desire and design not only that the faithful witnesses may prophesie in sâ—ckcloath by taking away their Maintenance but be slain lie dead and unburied in the streets to the rejoycing of the wicked damnable world But the Lord hath wonderfully preserved us to this day blessed be his Name The many Pamphlets lately written and printed against Tithes or any setled Maintenance to the Ministers of
that Christ gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastort and Teachers Ephes 4.11 and therefore this office of teaching the people was not meerly Leviticall and to be abolished by Christ we see the holy Scripture doth plainly witness the contrary Fourthly Reward and wages for Levi's service was not ceremonial but Moral according to the Law of God and Nature not to end in Christ or at Christ's coming but to continue to God to his Minister laborers and Servants for their labor in the work of the Gospel unto the end of the world for Christ himself appointed wages for his Apostles and Ministers and this not of charity or Alms at mens pleasure whether they will pay or not but of due debt for their labor When he sent them to preach the Gospel he gave them direction to expect wages and maintenance from them to whom he sends them Provide saith he neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses neither scrip for your journey neither two coats neither shooes nor yet staves for the workman is worthy of his meat Mat. 10. Mat. 10.11 and Luk. 10.7 for the laborer is worthy of his hire or reward it is due to him and the people to whom he preacheth the Gospel are bound by the Law of God and Nature to pay him for his labor And hence the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 9.14 Christ hath ordained that those that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel of their due reward and maintenance for their labor in preaching the Gospel And the Elders that tule well saith the Apostle are worthy of double honor 1 Tim. 5.17 18. especially they that labor in the word and doctrine And he gives the reason from the Law of God and Nature For the Scripture saith thou shalt not mussel the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the corn and the laborer is worthy of his reward Therefore maintenance of Ministers was not Levitical but Moral as wages and reward for their labor as all other mens labor is and will be to the end of the world But doth not our Savior say Objection Freely you have received freely give what wages then can Christs Ministers require I answer read that Text Matth. 10.8 Answer Christ gave them a miraculous power to heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead and to cast out Devils and to this he adds freely ye have received freely give But for preaching of the Gospel he doth not say so for he directs them to receive meat drink and wages as if you compare those Scriptures Mat. 10. and Luk. 10. you may see the Apostles of Christ then might and the Ministers of Christ may lawfully expect and require Gods reward or wages for their labor in preaching of the Gospel and that was the Tenths as we have proved already they may lawfully look every man for his just gain from his quarter Fourthly Judicial were the Givil laws of the Jews Lev. 17.30 c. Tythes holy to the Lord. The Tythes which were given to Levi for his service were not Levitical ceremonial nor typical nor Judicial which were the Jews Civil Laws whatsoever the Quakers or Anabaptists or any other have dreamed to the contrary no holy things are Judicial but Tythes were holy things and Tythes were not shadows and figures of holy things not ceremonies to be abolished by Christ but the Lords own portion declared to be Gods part in every mans estate long before Levi or the Levitical Law was instituted though given to the Levites by Gods appointment for their service during the life of that Priesthood and Gods part still Christ's inheritance and the inheritance of his Ministers to the worlds end for there is a morality in them and they are Gods part for which he will call men to a reckoning at the great day of Judgement when all the sacrilegious wretches in the world shall tremble except God in time give them to see their sin and repent For although Levi's Priesthood be dead Heb. 7. yet Christ liveth who receiveth Tythes as the Apostle witnesses and Christ's Ministers live and receive Tythe not by any right from Levi or Aaron's Priesthood but from Christ who is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec That Tythes were ceremonial was an opinion devised by Alexander de Hales an Englishman Dr. Carleton in his Tythes examined and divine right proved fol. 20 who lived about twelve hundred years after Christ as that learned Dr. Carleton well observes and this indeed to please the Pope that he might better appropriate Tythes to his Monasteries his Abbots Monks and Fryars as after we shall touch A ceremony is well described to be a carnal type of a holy thing which for the service of the Tabernacle was enjoyned only until the time of Reformation as the Apostle Heb. 9.10 holds them forth unto us but Tythes are no such ceremonies they have a morality in them and whatsoever arguments may be brought against the morality and perpetuity of Tythes the same may be brought against the morality and continuance of the Sabath or Lords Day as that learned acute and solid Dr. Sclater in his sevenfold parallel of Arguments against the morality of Tything Dr. Sclater in his Qâ—estion of Tythâ—s revâ—sâ—â— and proved moral pag. 224 A book I never read till I had almost ended the Answer of this Question and the morality of the Sabbath or Lords Day doth manifest These opinions that Tythes and Sabbath are ceremonial have run parallel in the hands of those who would destroy both the time and maintenance of the Worship and service of God in the Gospel as if since Christ there was no Lords Day to be kept holy as a time appointed in special for the glorifying of God and good of poor souls And as if there were no maintenance due to Christ's Ministers since Christ's ascension into Heaven an opinion well agreeing to the prophane Atheists of the world who like those fools in the Psalm say in their hearts there is no God Psa 14.1 and those high conceited Familists and quaking spirits who boast their are equal with God or those who deny the souls immortality or dream that it dieth with the body or is turned into they know not what But one day they shall be awakened when the trumpet shall sound and the voyce of the Arch-angel shall cry out Arise yet dead and come to Judgement And then they will find that there is a God that is greater then they that he hath appointed a Sabbath or rest day the Lords Day for his special service and appointed Maintenance for his Ministers yea that their souls are immortal and the Lord Jesus is Judge of quick and dead The Lord open their eyes in time to see their errors and repent if it be his blessed will and pleasure And thus I have sufficiently answered that Objection Where there is a change of the Priesthood there
Ministers of Christ are worthy of 1 Tim. 5.17 This truth we may find witnessed in antient Histories and in the primitive Fathers of the Church First for History we will begin with our own British Antiquities remembred by that learned Mr. Pryn in his Gospel-plea proving that the present opposition against Tythes proceeds not from any real grounds of conscience but base covetousness Mr. Prynne his Gospel plea p. 123. cites John Capgrave in vila Joseph Christ Glastoniens Vincent spect Hist lib. 23 cap. 147. cited by Doctor Vsher Brit Eccles Antiq cap. 2. pag. 973. c. carnal policie c. and a Jesuitical and Anabaptistical design to subvert our Ministers Church and Religion Now Mr. Pryn out of that godly learned and worthy Dr. Vsher relates that Ioseph of Arimathea who with Nicodemus took care for the burial of our Saviour in a new sepulchre where never man was laid as S. John witnesseth Joh. 19 21. This Joseph came with some others into England about the year of Christ Forty eight and preached the Gospel to Arniragus a British King a valiant Prince Dr. Prideaun in Rom. Tribun pag. 289. called Hector of Britain who embraced the Christian faith and understanding the purity of their doctrine and holiness of their conversation he gave as the History relates twelve Hides of land in the Isles of Avalon since called Glastenbury in Somersetshire where they built the first Church made as the Historian speaks of Wattle and Reeds and there they continued together preaching the Gospel and living upon this their Glebe now of great value saith Mr. Pryn which was afterwards confirmed to them and the Ministers of the Gospel there succeeding them both by Marius and Coilus next successors to Arniragus whom also they instructed in the Christian religion Thus was Ministers maintenance taken care of by that Christian King here about forty eight years after Christ Dr. Vsher Brit. Eccles Antiq. Spelmanni Conc. pag. 12. cited by Mr. Prynne his Gospel plea. pag. 124 The Poet thus Lucius in Christum credit Christoque dicatos Ecclesias dotat distinctas ordinat urbes c. Again about the year of Christ One hundred seventy six within two hundred years after Christ we read of Lucius our King of Britain that being converted to the Christian faith by Faganus and Damianus Preachers of the Gospel sent to him at his request by Elutherius Bishop of Rome he builded and endowed Churches through his Dominions with Glebe-lands and Tythes and this for the maintenance of the Ministers of Christ long before Pope or Popery was set up in the world And this afterwards the British and Saxon Kings confirmed and enacted more fully I may tell you that about three hundred years after Christ the Christians being here and elswhere restored to peace Gildâ—s Dr. Vshers Brit. Eccles Antiq. pag. 193. SpelConc p. 36. 45. Cited by Mr. Prynne and freed from persecution by Constantine the Great who was born in England the first Christan Emperor they began to build and repair those Churches or Meeting-places the Emperor Dioclesian and other persecutors had rased to the ground And then were Churches endowed and Ministers maintained by Tythes as well as Glebe-lands witness the antient Writers and Fathers of the Church then and before those times And this long before Pope or Popery and Antichrist of Rome was stiled Universal Bishop and declared Antichrist in the Church I might give you a catalogue of Godly men from those times almost to these very days who witnessed Tythes to be Gods right and due by Divine right to the Ministers of the Gospel I will name but a few And first I begin with Irenaeus Iren. lib. 4. cap. 20. who lived about one hundred and eighty years after Christ and he tells us that the Apostles and so the Ministers of Christ are the Lords Priests that serve at the Altar 1 Cor. 9.13 14. that must eat the Lords part that must have the substance of the Levites not of gift but of right Of them spake Moses And what was the principal substance of which the Levites did live but the Tythes which God gave to Levi for his fervice in the tabernacle Num. i8 2i Therefore certainly Irenaeus witnesseth what was due of right to the Ministers of the Gospel in his time and this was Tythes Again Origen who lived about two hundred years after Christ Sed in novo Testa mento similiter venerabilis est decas c. in his Homilies upon Genesis as in other places he declareth his judgment concerning Tythes But also in the New Testament saith he the Tenth is venerable And because there is one Author of all one fountain one beginning even Christ therefore the people pay Tythes to the Ministers of Christ Thus you see in Origen's time within two hundred years after Christ Tythes were esteemed venerable in the New Testament as well as in the Old and the Christians paid Tythes as of old And this was four hundred years before the Antichrist of Rome was risen up in the Church or made himself manifest in the world Tythes were not then Antichristian nor Popish as the Quakers Anabaptistical Can and others would make men believe Thirdly Cyprian de unit eccles Cyprian who lived about two hundred and fifty years after Christ They did then viz. in the primitive times sell their houses and lands and laid the money down at the Apostles feet for the use of the Church laying up treasure in heaven But now saith he De patrimonio nec decimas damus We do not so much as give the Tenth of our patrimony to God The Father reproveth the Christians for coming short of the Jews in giving God his right But some Quaker or Anabaptist will object Object This sheweth rather that Tythes were not due or not paid in those times of Cyprian I answer Answ Mal. 3.6 7. That is not so For you may read Mal. 3. that the Lord reproveth the Jews for not paying of their tythes and tells them they were robbers of God guilty of that odious sin of sacrilege Ye have robbed me saith the Lord and ye say wherein In tythes and offerings but ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this whole nation Doth this prove that Tythes were not due then by the law of God or that none were then paid in that Nation Certainly no but rather the contrary that they were due by Gods law yea that they were the Lords and that those whosoever kept them back they were thieves and robbers then as they are now in the times of the Gospel Tythes certainly were due by Divine right in S. Cyprian's judgment which was long before the days of the Pope or Papacie or that Antichrist of Rome in the world Fourthly Hilar lib. explan in Mat. c. 24. Hilary who lived about three hundred and fifty years after that in his book of Explanation upon Matthew Because the
Ages but this was still a time when the Church was subject to persecution and dangers and many poor and so a necessity to live in Societies as the people of God did in those dayes a full answer you have in my Justification of Tythes to belong to Christ and his Ministers Hom. 23. ad Epist 1. a Cor. â— in cap. 16 Ambros Tom. 5. Serm. in Ascenti Domini by Divine right and yet all places were not in like condition even in those times Now Sir you proceed forward and bring in Hierom and Chrysostome who you say did press payment of Tythes and Ambrose Bishop of Millan about the year 400 after Christ pressed the payment of Tythes Anthony Peirson's case And page 5. Augustine say you in Sermon de tempore in Tom. 10. This is the just custome of the Lord that if thou dost not give the Tenth to him thou shall be called to the Tenth thy self And after Decimae ex debito requiruntur tythes are required as due debt you add Leo Severine and Gregory Mr. Bourn's answer Thus you have now alledged divers Antients who do not only declare for payment of tythes but for payment of them by Divine right or as a duty Gregory's judgement was that the tenth of all was to be given to God as many others and truly any man that rightly considers the Histories of the Church and what is written by the Antients may see clearly that howsoever in the beginning and dangerous times tythes were not pressed for weighty Reasons as I have shewed in my Defence page 44 yet so soon as ever the Church came to a settlement and they were more free from persecution tythes were preached and pressed and payed as a duty not as alms or liberal devotions as you would make men believe Anthony Peirson's case Again page 6. he affirms that from the opinions of these and other antient Fathers who took their ground as he thinks from the Law tythes were brought into the Church but not received as a general Doctrine that Tythes ought to be payed till about 800 years after Christ Mr. Bourn's answer First how know you that these antient Fathers took their ground out of the Law that Tythes ought to be pay'd as if it had been the Levitical Law only why might they not take their ground long before that Law even from that payment of Tythes by Abraham to Melchizedeck the Priest of the most high God and from Jacobs Vow and what Christ spake and his Apostles writ in the Gospel and Epistles especially that to the Hebrews chap. 7. I am sure some of the Fathers do alledge arguments from divers of these See my Book pag. 59 60 61 62 c. and so it might be from a light to the conscience that Tythes are Gods part and Christs right for maintenance of his worship and service hence might press the payment of them For what you say that the Doctrine was not received till the 800 year certain it doth not appear but the contrary for many Writers before that time did assert the payment of Tythes and that as a due yea by Divine right as I have declared in my Defence of Tythes read my Book with Doctor Slater and Doctor Tilseley his Animadversions on Mr. Seldens History and others Anthony Peirson's case In his 7. page and following he endeavours to prove That Tythes belonged to the Poor above 800 900 1000 years after Christ and that the Clergy was not to use them as their own and people had more willing mind to give them for the poor than the Priests but after in the year 1274. there was a Law that people should not give them at their pleasures but to the Church this by Pope Gregory Mr. Bourn's answer I answer that before that time there were amongst the people divers things out of order it was some reason till Ministers of the Gospel were setled people should have more liberty to pay their Tythes where they pleased but yet they were paid and due to be paid long before that time and that Law was good by whomsoever it was made That Tythes should be payed to the Church where Ministers were setled to preach the Gospel or to be pay'd to them for their labour in the Word and Doctrine which was most agreeable to the Divine Institution Peirson's Case Now page 8 9. c. Peirson brings History to witness payment of Tythes I shall not trouble the Reader saith he with a relation of Joseph of Arimathea coming into Brittain sent by Phillip the Apostle in the Reign of Arviragus as History reports he about the year 600 of Augustine the Monk who came and preached the Gospel in this Land and when they had brought a great part of the Nation to the Faith they began to preach up the old Romish Doctrine that Tythes ought to be paid c. Mr. Bourn's answer For answer I desire the Reader to observe he relates indeed the story of Joseph Arimathea coming into Brittain to preach the Gospel but he leaveth out the History of that gift of Gleab lands in those dayes at Glassenbury for the maintenance of them that preached the Gospel yet he confesseth that when the people were converted to the Faith then they pressed the payment of Tythes this saith he about 600 years after Christ and yet he saith they began to preach the old Romish Doctrine that Tythes ought to be pay'd I would ask first how old the doctrine of payment of Tythes was at Rome 600 years after Christ if it was an old doctrine within 600 years after Christ certain then it was in or near the Primitive times as indeed it was in some places long before the Pope or the universal Bishop of Rome was born for Origen speaks of the payment of Tythes who lived near the Primitive times about 200 after Christ as I have shewed in my Justification of Tythes read page 59 60. Secondly I demand why old Romish Doctrine for Hierom was not Bishop of Rome and yet he approveth of Tythes and Augustine Bishop of Hippo in Alexandria and divers in other places in those times writ of Tythes as due to be paid and due by divine Right but he would fain make Tythes Romish that he might make them odious though they were thought by the Lord the best way to maintain his servants for his worship and service and indeed are Gods right and Christs right for the maintenance of his Ministers to the end of the world Anthony Peirson's case Anthony Peirson goeth on page 9. c. As concerning Laws saith he for Tythes in the year 786. of a King of Merceland and Elswolph King of Northumberland made Decrees that those two Kingdoms should pay Tythes And Ethelwolf King of the West Saxons in the year 855. made a Law that the Tythe of all his own Land should be given to God and he tells us out of the History that at that time the Nation being under heavy pressure by
was the Levites portion might but at Jerusalem Thus you may read Deut. 14. Deut. 14.22 23 c. Tything thou shalt tythe or thou shalt truly tythe all the increase of thy seed which thy field bringeth forth and thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place he shall chuse to place his name there and if the place be too far thou shalt turn it into money and buy what thy soul liketh and shalt eat there before the Lord thy God and thou shalt rejoice thou and thy houshold and the Levite within thy gates Ainsworth in Deu. 14. This second Tythe might not be eaten any where but before the Lord in Jerusalem as the Hebrew Doctors affirm and is evident from the text This might be Levitical and to end with that Temple-worship Thirdly besides these two Tythes there was in the place or stead of this second Tythe a third Tythe every third year Amos 4.4 Tythes after three years c. which was for the Levite the stranger the fatherless and the widow within their gates as you may read Deut. 14.28 29. This may cease in part as a Tenth but the substance is moral But the first Tythe was wholly for the Levites for their maintenance as the Lords wages or reward the Lord alloweth them for their service in the Sanctuary to continue in the Gospel as after will appear Yea besides the Tythes the Lords portion the Lord commanded that the Levites should have their Cities to dwell in Num. 35.3 4 5 6 c. and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattel and for their goods and for all their beasts and the suburbs of the city shall reach from the wall of the city two thousand cubits round about Num 35. Rich conveniences besides extraordinaries which were very many This was the Levites lawful gain due unto them by Divine right by the law of God and law of Nature as a reward for their labor in the Lords service And this gain they might lawfully seek after every one for his gain from his quarter And this they did when their just portion and maintenance was not brought them by the people Nehem 13.10 11 12. The Levites went every one to his field for his just gain or portion as you may find Neh. 13. Thus did the Levites seek every one for his gain from his quarter to live of his portion of land and tythes at his field when the second tythe was not brought into the treasury as it ought to have been And this was just and lawful for them to do as the Ministers of Christ may lawfully do at this day There is another Objection Object 3 Though the Lord had a part in every mans estate the tenth of every increase which the Lord did give to the Levites the Lords Ministers before the coming of Christ yet now since Christ is come and is not only dead as the High-Priest of our profession having offered himself to God for us once for all Heb. 3.1 2. and is not only risen again and ascended into heaven and liveth for evermore Rev. 1.18 but maketh intercession for us to God his Father and the Levitical Priesthood is ended Now what evidence is there that God hath any part or portion in mens estates or the increases of them for himself or to be disposed of as his own or that the Ministers of Christ have either Tythes or any Maintenance due unto them by Divine right since Christ And then how can it be lawful for them to seek after every one his gain as they do For answer Answer First if it be granted that the Lord had a reserved part of the earth and increase thereof for himself yea that the Tythes or Tenths were the Lords excepted and reserved portion which he had not given to the sons of Adam or to Noah's posterity and that this was the Lords for his service until Christs coming in the flesh Gen. 3.17 c. which I conceive none will deny that truly believeth there is a God that created the world and gave part only not all to Adam or that truly believes the Holy Scriptures to be the written word of God Question Then I desire to know by what Deed of gift the Lord hath given these Tythes his own portion from himself or from his Ministers and servants who once had them Whether he hath released his right and title which in a special manner he had in the earth and the increases thereof to any man and to whom Hath God released his special right in the tenth part the Tythes of all which were once yea which are the Lords own if none can shew a better title to them Let us search the Records in the New Testament and first see if we can find any such Release or Deed of gift from God and his servants and to whom Secondly see what is registred for the maintenance and continuance of Gods right unto them That so we may better answer the Anabaptists who call Tythes the wages of unrighteousness or the Quakers who accuse the Ministers of Christ as if they did seek for unlawful gain the gain of Tythes of that which is neither God's nor theirs every one for his gain from his quarter or people I have searched the New Testament and can find Tythes mentioned but only in four places and in none of these doth Christ deny or give away or release his right to his tenth part or forbid his Minfsters to receive Tythes yea rather Tythes are approved by Christ and his Apostles that speak of them First place The first place is that of our Saviour Mat 23.23 where he pronounceth that woe against the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisie Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye pay tythe of mint and annise and cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith These things ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone It is evident our Saviour doth not reprove them for their paiment of Tythes but for their omission and neglect of the weightier matters of the Law judgment mercy and saith For he tells them plainly it was their duty to pay their tythes even of the smallest things mint and annise and cummin these things ought not to be left undone Thus both the payment of tythes even in the time of Christ and Christs approbation of tythes is witnessed at full in this place No prohibition of tythes evidenced no cessation of tythes declared no denying of Christs Ministers to receive tythes 2. Again a second place we find Tythes spoken of in the New Testament is that of our Saviour recorded Luke 11.42 to the same effect with the former Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees for ye tythe Mint and Rue and all manner of Herbs and pass over judgement and the love of God these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone You see our
Law saith he prescribes the tything of Mint and Annis the tything of every herb was not to be omitted for the example of future times For this cause in Hilary's judgment Christ doth not forbid but approve of tythes in the New Testament Fifthly Gregory Nazianzen Greg Naz. Orat 5. who lived about three hundred and seventy years after Christ Christ saith he is called Melchisedec as receiving tythes And if Christ receive tythes it must be by his Ministers and this must be by right from Christ Thus doth this Father declare tythes as due to Christ and his Ministers in the New Testament Sixthly Amb. ser 34 in Feria 3. post prim dominicam quadrages Holy Ambrose that famous Bishop of Millaine who lived about three hundred years after Christ Quia de omni substantia quam Deus hominibus donat decimam partem sibi servavit c. Because of all the substance which God hath given to man he hath reserved a tenth part to himself therefore it is not lawful for man to retain that which he hath reserved God saith he hath given to thee nine parts and if thou shalt not give to God the Tenth part God may take away from thee the nine parts And he concludes He that payeth not the tenth doth not yet fear God nor know what is true repentance This doth witness it was St Ambrose's judgement that in his time Tythes were due by Divine Right and this was not four hundred years after Christ and two hundred years before the Antichrist of Rome did lift up his head above his brethren Tythes then were not Antichristian nor popish as the ignorant Anabaptists or popish Quakers teach their Proselytes Seventhly St. Hierom who lived three hundred and ninety years after Christ two hundred year In Ecclesia quoque populis intelligite quibus praeceprum est non solum decimas dare sed vendere omnia dare pauperibus c. Quod qui non fecerit Deum fraudare Dominum supplantare convincitur c. Hierom. in Mal. 3. before the rise of the Romish Antichrist That which we have spoken saith he of the Tythes and first fruits which long ago were given to the Priests and Levites understand ye also in the people of the Church to whom it is commanded not onely to give their Tythes and First fruits but to sell all they have and give it to the poor c. which he that shall not do he is convinced to deceive and rob or defraud God and is subject to the curse c. Thus doth this Father also testifie the Divine right of Tythes or that Tythes are due in the Church of Christ amongst the Gentiles Jure Divino by Divine right Eighthly Chrysostom Si tunc periculum erat decimas negligere perpende quanti nunc istud fuerit Chrysost hom Eph. cap. 2. who lived about three hundred ninety eight years after Christ in his Homilies or Sermons upon Genesis speaking of the Jews paying their Tythes by Gods command They did freely and willingly pay one Tythe to the Priests and another Tythe to the poor but Christians saith he are scarce willing to pay one Tythe But if it were a danger then to the Jews not to pay their Tythes consider what it is now if we neglect it Thus doth St. Chrysostom plainly witnesse that Tythes are to be paid jure Divino by Divine right Ninthly in a word St. August Hom. 40. inter 50. Hom. blessed Augustine that holy and laborious Father in the Church who lived about four hundred years after Christ and two hundred years before Boniface the third took upon him to be universal Bishop and so Antichrist apparent This holy man who was a valiant Champion of Christ to defend the Faith of the Gospel Jud. v. 4 the old Faith that was once delivered to the Saints In his forty eighth Sermon Majores nostri ideo copiis abundant quia Deo decimas dabant c. Mal. 3.6 7 8 9. Our Ancestors saith he did therefore abound with plenty because they gave their Tythe to God God did bless the nine parts when they gave the tenth But now saith the Father Because Devotions decrease Exactions have increased we will not give the tenth part to God and now all is taken away that which Christ cannot have Caesar will have what was hoped to be saved in Tythes is lost in Taxes Yea the nine parts are almost gone and tenths and all This was the sad condition of those times I may add That we have many now murmure at the payment of Taxes but they do not lay to heart the non payment of Tythes if we rob God of his due how can we expect God should bless us If Achan sacrilegious Achan be in the Camp how should we not flie before our enemies as Israel once did before the men of Ai Josh 7.1 2 3 4 c. Let men consider and enquire whether diminishing of Tythes hath not brought increase of Taxes whether it may not in Gods just judgement be with us now as it was in Gods just judgement with the people of whom St. Augustine complaines for their negligent payment of Tythes Again Aug. serm de tempore 219. the same Augustine in his 219 Sermon De tempore he presseth this duty of paying Tythes by divers arguments If thou wilt not give God the tenth God will turn thee to the tenth by his curses and judgements Havock and spoil saith he shall be in your treasuries and in your houses thus shalt thou give that to the unmerciful Souldier which thou wouldest not give to Gods Ministers And in another place he argueth the case from Mal 3. Mal. 3.10 God is always ready to give his blessings but the perverseness of man opposeth for he would have God give him all things and he will offer unto God nothing of that whereof God himself is the owner But what if God should say The man that I made is mine the ground that thou tillest is mine the seed that thou sowest is mine the cattel that thou weariest in thy work are mine the showers the rain and the gentle winds are mine the heat or warmth of the sun is mine and since all the Elements whereby thou livest are mine thou that lendest onely thy hand deservest onely the Tythe or Tenth part Yet because Almighty God doth mercifully feed us he bestoweth upon the labourer a most liberal reward for his pains he giveth him nine parts and reserveth only the tenth unto himself for his service and the maintenance of his servants And I may add to this What is it but base ingratitude yea flat robbery and sacriledge to deny God the tenth or that the tenth is due to Christ and his Ministers by Divine right since God so freely giveth the nine parts and reserveth only the tenth for himself whatsoever the Quakers or Anabaptists dare deny Thus you have St. Augustine's judgement that Tythes are Gods and so due to Christ
and his Ministers by Divine right and this was two hundred years before the Pope or Antichrist of Rome was born But I might go on with a long Catalogue of antient Writers to the rising of Antichrist yea and since that Antichrist of Rome did exalt himself and give evidence from many godly men in several ages who have witnessed and confirmed by divers arguments the Divine right of Tythes as due to Christ's faithful Ministers in the Gospel by Divine right But I commend those that desire to see many more testimonies D. Tillesley in his Animad on M. Seldens hist of Tythes to that excellent Catalogue composed by learned Dr. Tillesley wherein he produceth about Threescore witnesses that assert the Divine right of Tythes or give arguments to that purpose That they have been and ought to be so paid And I might add the judgement of the godly learned of later times But these before Antichrist's time are sufficient to witness Tythes are not Antichristian nor any popish invention whatsoever the Quakers or Anabaptists or others imagine to the contrary But when did Antichrist arise Object 1 Joh. 2.18 may some demand Doth not St. John say there were many Antichrists in his time 1 John 2.18 I answer It is true the Apostle doth witness that there were then many Antichrists and so there are now many Antichrists many adversaries to Christ and his Ministers now in the world Those malignant Quakers who plot and labor the overthrow of the Gospel established Ministery what are they but the spawn of Antichrist Rev. 16.13 and creeping frogs out of the mouth of the Beast of the Dragon and the false Prophet But the Apostle in the same Chapter and the same verse 1 Joh. 2.18 he spake of another Antichrist that Antichrist that principal Antichrist whom St. Paul describes 2 Thess 2.3 4. The man of sin the son of perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God or as if he were God we may say suffering himself by his flatterers to be called God as some Popes have done that scarlet coloured Beast full of names of Blasphemy As Jewel against Harding proveth to whom the ten Kings give their power and strength to fight against the Lamb Christ as Antichrist and the whore of Babylon is decyphered Rev. 17. Rev. 17.1 2 c. This Antichrist did not arise until about six hundred years after Christ Gregory the Great 600 years after Christ We read of Gregory the Great who was Bishop of Rome about the year six hundred that he foretold whosoever he was that should take unto him the name and title of Universal Bishop he was either Antichristus or praecursor Antichristi Antichrist or the forerunner of Antichrist and this was fulfilled in his next Successor Boniface the Third For when that peremptory proud Centurion Phocas Phocas killed Mauritius the Emperor about 600 years after Christ The papacy began as the great Autichrist had wickedly and treacherously killed his Lord and Master the Emperor Mauritius then Boniface the Third being Bishop of Rome by the countenance of the Murderer Phocas did take upon him that Antichristian name and title of Universal Bishop So fulfilling the the Prophesie of Gregory the Great his Predecessor And this pride of papal dignity his successors imbrace as well as he then laboring by all means to exalt the Papacy yet many hundred years after yea and to this day God preserved some holy men to preserve the Truth and to defend Gods right and the right of his servants As in the days of Ahab and Jezabel God had seven thousand in Israel which had not bowed the knee to Baal Divers Councils confirmed and good Laws were enacted to maintain the Divine right of tythes I shall omit the Councils and give you an antient Law or two for this purpose First King Ethelstan a King of this land about nine hundred and thirty years after Christ by the advice of his Council at that time I do command all my chief Officers saith he in all my Kingdom in the name of the Lord that first of my own proper estate they give the tenth to God as well in my living goods as in the dead fruits of the earth and the same he requires his Bishops Aldermen and others to do Thus he doth as out of conscience acknowledge Gods due And that Law of King Edward the Confessor The Laws of K. Edw. the Confescited pag. 224. 1050 years after Christ who lived about a thousand and fifty years after Christ six hundred years since De omni decima garba Deo debita est ideo reddenda c. Of all the corn the tenth sheaf is due to God and therefore to be paid And if any one hath a flock of Mares he is to give the tenth Foal and if he have but one or two he shall give for every one a penny and he that shall have many Kine he shall give the tenth Calf and he that hath but one or two he shall give for every one a half-penny And he that maketh cheese let him give God the tenth and if he make none then the milk the tenth day likewise the tenth Lamb the tenth Fleece and of Bees the tenth of the profit and so of lesser Tythes of Boss Gardens and other things And this Law you see doth witness Tythes due to God by divine right many hundred years since to let pass Statutes made of later years but I cannot pass over that of Sir Edward Coke that learned Judge and famous Oracle of the Law who affirms That in the very body of the antient Common Law of England Tythes are due Jure Divino by Divine Right and we have declared they were so judged for the first six hundred years after Christ and after that again until the time of King Edward the Confessor about a thousand and fifty years after Christ When the Pope would appropriate Tythes to Abbies ben began the opinion that Tythes were not due by Divine Right the same opinion continued in the Church But after that the Popes of Rome began to be more politick to maintain their own greatness by enlarging the maintenance of their Abbots Monks and Fryers in the Monasteries of several orders devised to maintain the Popes great ness not content with those Lands which out of fair pretence were given to them by men and women religiously Gratian c. 3 q. 2. Leo 4. Cited by D. Carleton in Tythes examined and some superstitiously affected but seeking also to get the Tythes from the particular Parish Ministers to whom they were antiently setled as their proper right which was done in part by Dionysius Bishop of Rome about two hundred and seventy years after Christ Mr. Hanmer his Cronography pag. 577. Jo Canne his second voice from the Temple which was many
them away from God and the right use and end the Donor gave them what can it be less then the sin of sacrilege And upon this ground and reason I believe was the gift of King Lucius Lucius king of Britain Dr. Vsher his British Antiq. and his endowment of Churches both with Glebe-lands and Tythes within or near two hundred years after Christ besides all the practice of holy men converted to the faith then and in succeeding ages And what other can we conceive of that Donation of Pipin King of France the son of Charls Martel that Church-robber certainly out of conscience they were Gods due and belonging to the Ministers of the Gospel he did restore those tythes which he and Charls his father had taken away Dr. Tilsley his Animadvers p. 64 65 66. So Dr. Tilsley in his Record of the History of Charls Martels Sacrilege and Animadversions upon Mr. Selden's History of Tythes observes This King Pipin lived about eight hundred years after Christ Molanus de sanctis Belgii In 18 Octo. bris in vita Monen and royally gave the tythe he had between Lesche and Ourt to Monon that blessed man who was slain for his profession of Christ But what need I travel beyond sea for proof That excellent example of King Ethelwolph the Son of King Egbert a King of this land of the Saxon race who brought the Heptarchie or Sevenfold Kingdom of the Saxons into a Monarchy this King Ethelwolph having received the Christian Faith he had by his conquest all the lands in England for his Demesn as is acknowledged by that learned Judge and judicious Lawyer Sir Edward Coke in his Commentary upon Littleton and conferred the Tythes of all his Kingdom upon the Church by his Royal Charter Sir Ed Coke his com on Littleâ—on Sir H. Spel. com 85. dated in the year of Christ Eight hundred fifty five related in these words King Ethelwolph by the consent of his Prelates and Princes which ruled in England under him in their several Provinces did enrich the Church of England with Tythes of all his lands and goods by his Charter Royal c. Adding in the end That whoso should increase that gift God would please to prosper and increase his days But if any should presume to diminish the same An item against Sacriledge or sundry Queries concerning Tythes printed 1653. that he should be called to an account for it at Gods Judgement seat c. And this he did not onely as Lord Paramount but as Proprietary of the whole land the Lord and great men having no propiety or estates of permanency but as accountants to the King whose the whole land was and yet they also gave their free consents which the King required that thereby they might be barred from pleading any Tenant right as also to oblige them to stand in the maintenance of Tythes against all pretenders that might come in after-time Here you see was a free and full donation of all the Tythes of England unto God and to the Church of Christ for the maintenance of the Gospel and Gospel-Ministery and this no doubt out of conscience informed by the word of God that they were due to them by Divine Right Now if all the Tythes of England be be God's First by reservation as his own proper right Secondly God's by dedication and consecration unto him for his service Rev. 20.12 Then I desire that men would enquire into the Book of Conscience which one day shall be opened and be fully resolved whether to take away Tythes from their proper use for which God and good men did give them be not horrid Sacriledge Mal. 3.8 that dreadful sin which subjects men to the wrath and curse of God To quicken your meditation upon this case of Conscience now consciene hath so much liberty and to move it to look within doors and truly to see if it know its own face let me mind you of some few examples of Gods direful Judgements against this sin of Sacriledge First Gen. 3.132 3 4 5 c. We have all cause to remember the sacriledge of our first parents in taking of Gods reserved part the forbidden tree for which they were driven out of Paradise and they and all their posterity subject to death and the curse of God yea Gen. 3.15 all miseries in this life and the life to come had not God given the seed of the woman Christ our Savior to break the serpents head and make our peace with the blood of his cross Col. 1.20 had not God in his unspeakable love in Christ reconciled us unto himself as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 5.19 yea by the death of his son Rom 5.10 without which we were all the children of wrath as well as others Ephes 2.3 Eph. 2.3 Secondly And what need I rehearse that judgement of God that fell upon sacrilegious Achan Josh 7.1 2 3 4 c. yea that great affliction that fell upon the Army of Israel for Achan's sin First the Army of Israel did flie before the men of Ai vers 4. And Achan his sons his daughters Jos 24 25 all he had were stoned with stones and burnt with fire for that sin Thirdly Sacrilegious Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar his son 2 Chro. 38.18 Dan. 5.1 2 3 c. the Father took away all the consecrated Vessels of the house of God and brought them to Babylon and the Son Belshazzar he repented nor of his Fathers sacriledge but prophaned those holy vessels in his drunken Feasts and what was his punishment God smites him on a sudden with trembling terror and amazement his knees smite one against another and the joynts of his loyns are loosed the hand-writing upon the wall witnesseth an end of his life and Kingdom he was weighed in the ballance and found wanting and that night was Belshazzar slain and Darius the Median took the Kingdom Dan. 5.31 Fourthly How sudden and fearful the death of Ananias and Saphira was Act. 5.1 2 3 4 c. I related before Fifthly King Herod committed Sacriledge in robbing God of his honor taking that glory to him him which was due to God and you may read both his sin and judgement The Angel of God did strike him that he was eaten of wormes and gave up the ghost Act. 12. Act. 12.23 Sixthly In particular the sin of Sacriledge in taking away of the Tythes the tenth part which is Gods part Mal. 3.8 it was to be cursed with a curse a fearful curse Mal. 3. Seventhly If we proceed to the antient History of the Church and Records of latter times wherein the acts of Gods providence and his works of Judgement are registred we may finde too great a number of sacrilegious persons and fearful judgements to be their portion 1. I shall onely name that wicked Emperor that Apostate Julian Socrat. Ecel Hist lib. 3. cap. 12 14 16 â—7â— â—8
a high estate Matth Paris 284. 684. to be Counsellor and Favorite to King Henry the Eighth and who for his Sacriledge which I here speak of did but turn Tythes out of the right channel and prospered not after lost the Kings favor whom he took care to serve more then God and lost all his estate and his life and all as most did judge poysoned himself at Leicester Martin 304 306. and died miserably lieth buried at Leicester Abby or Priory The great memory of his great Sacriledges is the most he left but what he lost before The Relator remembers divers more persons punished for Sacriledge But I pass them over onely let me not yea I cannot forget King Henry the Eighth who as the Relator speaks ingrossed Sacriledge and intailed it to his posterity For the first half of his reign whiles he was free from Sacriledge he was honored of his Allies abroad loved of his Subjects at home successful in his Actions and at peace as it were with God and man But after his Sacriledge as in disfavor with both his Subjects rebel first in Suffolk after in Lincoln Somerset York-shire and the Northern parts and now like Saul forsaken of God he falls from one sin to another I will not relate his sins nor the judgments of God that followed Speed 104. 1629. c. Sir Henry Spelman Printed 1646. 35 Hen. 8. but leave the Reader to that Preface to the Reader before mentioned in that Book of Sir Henry Spelman which is my Belator out of our own Chronicles He took divers Wives which were â—now to people a Canaan some of whom he used like a cruel Tyrant and in the end growing old entails his Crown upon his children and all successively swayed the Scepter but all died childless and his family extinct his name not mentioned but the memory of his Sacriledge and other crimes is revived to his dishonor His Sacriledge I apply to the taking away of Tythes and Impropriations from the particular Parishes and Ministers of the Gospel and not restoring them which the Pope had Sacrilegiously taken away For the Lands of Monasteries misapplied I speak not of them although it is a question if they were once given to a holy use whether it be not Sacriledge to take them from God if once they were given to God for a good end This I cannot observe but with sorrow That the Parliament then consented to King Henries Sacriledge hoping it seems that Tythes and Glebe-Lands would have been better bestowed but they being once in the Kings hands to prevent a restitution he distributes them to the Laity Speed 1086. some to Noblemen some to Gentlemen and others some he sells some he exchanges But as my Relator notes to little joy of him or his or of those that have since possessed them To many men they have been like the Ark amongst the Philistims bringing a curse instead of a blessing to the pretended owners Though they have enjoyed them by countenance and confirmation of Parliament yet I would some of them would truly lay to heart and examine and search for satisfaction in this Case of Conscience Whether they have not lost more of their estates by these late wars then ever they or their Ancestors have gained by these Impropriations and Impropriate Tythes which they possess especially in places where there is left no competent maintenance for a Minister of the Gospel to instruct poor souls in the way to Salvation and this in so many hundred Parishes where the Parsonages are Impropriate There are Parish Churches in England 9284. Cam b Brit. 162 whereof 3845 are Impropriate and in few of these places is there a sufficient maintenance for an able Godly Minister to preach to the people And who shall give account for so many Souls at the day of Judgment I pray God the Parliament and all others may lay it to heart I cannot think without grief of the Sacriledge continued and committed in the times of that good Prince Godwine 52. King Edward the Sixth and the sad and â—ore afflicting hand of God upon those that had their hand in it Sir Henry Spelman Some I hope otherwise good men I will not name them but leave the Reader to my Relator in the Book before-mentioned Nor will I mention the many examples of Gods afflicting hand at least if not fearful curse upon many others Some yea divers of whom I have known in my memory near Threescore years to have felt the smart of Gods hand in their Sacrilegious enjoyments though they had no hand in the Sacriledge but as they have come to them from their Ancestors or others who it may be bought them and it may be thought it lawful being so setled by Parliament I will say nothing of divers Sacrilegious Customs in many Parishes and places of robbing God and his Ministers of what is due to them I am sure the custom of sining in this respect hath taken away the conscience of sin I should have been glad to have read that the Reigns of King James and King Charls and the Parliaments in both their times had drawn no guilt upon them by neglecting Reformation in these as well as in other things I am sure one horrid act of Sacrilege was committed in the late Kings days by the plotting and power of the late Archbishop of Canterbury charged against him in the sixth Additional Article by the House of Commons then assembled in Parliament That whereas divers godly people who were truly accounted good old Puritans out of conscience and perswasion that Tythes were due to God for his worship and service and they were sacrilegiously taken away from the faithful Ministers of particular Parishes they endeavored by all good means the redeeming of them yea some religious Noble-minded men did freely give and restore Impropriations of great value to the Church again and others gave great sums of money towards the redeeming of them The Feoffees were Four Divines viz. Dr. Gouge Dr. Sibbs Mr. Offspring Mr. Davenport Four Lawyers Ralph Eyre Sam Brown C. Skirland John White Esqs John Geering Richard Davies George Harwood Francis Pridges Citizens See Canterbury's Doom by William Prynne Esq p. 386. This undone Feb. 13. 1632. and put the money into the hands of Honorable Feoffees in trust to buy in Impropriations and to allow a good allowance for present to a godly Minister and after a time when the money laid out was received in again by a yearly rent then to give the whole Impropriation to the Minister of that Parish and the rest of the money to go on to buy more Impropriations to be laid to the Church again And this I know was done in divers places which would in a short time have redeemed all the Impropriations in the land if it had been continued and have been a means to have setled a sufficient Maintenance and an able godly Minister in every Congregation But by the late