these times come farre short in their duties and may bee upbraided with these examples Which are here more largely insisted on to shew the impiety of many men in these last days who are more inexcusable then ever any people were because we have the rules and practice of all ages set before us for our direction as before the Law of Moses in Abraham and Jacob and likewise under the Law during the Priesthood of Aaron and since under the Gospel abundant light to guide us besides all the Records Histories and Monuments of Gods judgements in former times to instruct us All which saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. are written and recorded for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come If we therefore offend now we are greater sinners then any former people as sinning against conscience knowledge and examples of all ages and like to the servant that knew his Masters will but did it not who therefore must be beaten with many stripes CAP. XXVII That they are due by the Law of the Land AS they are due by the law of Nature and of Nations by the Law of God and of the Church so are they likewise due by the very Temporall Laws of the Land as well ancient as later therefore Edward the elder and Guthrun Saxon and Danish Kings punished the not payment of Tithes by their temporall Constitutions Lambard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 54. Tom. 1. Concil Britan. pag. 392. King Athelstan about the year of our Lord 924. not onely decreed them to be paid by himself his Bishops Aldermen and Officers but maintaineth that his Law by the example of Jacob saying Decimas meas hostiam pacificam offeram tibi and by other effectuall Authorities providing precisely that his owne Tithes should diligently be paid and appointing a time certain for doing thereof viz. the feast of the decollation of S. John Baptist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pa. 57. Tom. 1. Concil p. 402. King Edmund about the year 940. in a solemn Parliament as well of the Laity as Spiritualty ordained that every man upon pain of his christendome and being accursed should pay them truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 73. Tom. 1. Concil pag. 420. King Edgar in a great Parliament about the yeare 959. confirmed the payment of Tithes assigning certain times when every thing should be paid viz. the Tithe of all young things before Whitsontide of the fruits of the earth by the harvest aequinoctiall i. about the 12. Septemb. and of seed by Martimas and this to be done under the pain mentioned in the Book of the Lawes of the Land whereby it appeareth that the Laws of the Land had anciently provided for the payment hereof though the Book remaineth not to us at this day as well as the Laws of the Church And he further enacted that the Sheriffe as well as the Bishop and Priest should compell every man to pay their Tithes and should set it forth and deliver it if they would not leaving to the party offending onely the 9th part and that the other eight parts should be divided four to the Lord and four to the Bishop and that no man should herein be spared were hee the Kings Officer or any Gentleman whatsoever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 77. Tom. 1. Concil pa. 444. King Canutus about the yeare 1016. made the like Law with some little enlargement as appeareth in his Laws Tom. Con. pag. 44. ca. 8. and as Malmesbury testifieth strictly observed all the Laws of the ancient Kings de gestis Regum Angl. lib. 2. p. 55. And he wrote also about the 15. year of his reign from beyond the seas a long letter to all the Bishops and Nobility of England conjuring them by the faith that they ought both to himself and to God that they caused these Lawes touching Tithes and Rights of the Church to be duly executed and the Tithes to be paid as abovesaid Malmsb. p. 74. But King Edward the Confessor about the year 1042 made all certain namely that Tithe was due unto God and should be paid the tenth sheafe the tenth foal the tenth calf the tenth cheese where cheese was made or the tenth days milk where there was no cheese made the tenth lamb the tenth fleece the tenth part of butter the tenth pigge and that they that had but a calfe or two should pay for every of them a penny And to this price is the Parson generally holden at this day when ten of our pennies are scarcely worth one of that time He also ordained that Tithe should be paid of bees woods meadows waters mils parks warrens fishings coppises orchards and negotiations and out of all things saith the Law that the Lord giveth For the Sheriffe and Bishops were in those days the Kings Justices in every County and all matters were heard and decided before them Note the tenth is to be rendred unto him that giveth the nine parts with the tenth and bindeth the Sheriffe as well as the Bishop to see this executed And all these were granted saith the Book by the King Barons and Commonalty as appeareth in those his Laws cap. 8. and Hoveden Annal. part poster pag. 602. Long after the learned Author had written this he published the first Tome of our English Councels wherein not onely these Laws mentioned are recited but also many other Laws and Constitutions concerning Tithes by other Kings and Parliaments of that age It would have been an easie matter to have inserted them at large here being there set down in order of time successively but because I am unwilling to add any thing or alter in the text of his discourse and that the Tome of the Councels is obvious to every mans perusall I will onely adde some brief references to them as also to M. Selden in the eight chap. of his History who hath recited them all and some more then are here mentioned From both these learned Lawyers the studious Reader may be abundantly satisfied especially when the second Tome of the Synods shall be extant there will be full testimony of our own Laws to confirm this truth for 500. years after the Conquest as these are for 500. years before it When Gregory the great sent Augustine about the year 600. Chr. assisted with 40. Preachers to publish the Gospel to our forefathers in England it is testified by the Laws of Edward the Confessor among other things that he preached and commanded Tithes to be paid Haec beatus Augustinus praedicavit docuit haec concessa sunt à Rege Baronibus populo sed postea instinctu diaboli multi eam detinuerunt c. and all this was confirmed by the King and his Barons and the people Tom. 1. Concil Brit. pag. 619. § 8 9. Egbert Archbishop of York brother to Eadbert King of Northumberland published Canons about the yeare 750. which did binde all the Northern parts and Scotland in those days wherein he directeth all Ministers to
that Nicholas 2. doubted not to commit the government of all the Churches of England unto Edward the Confessor as by and by we shall more largely declare And the Kings of France being so likewise consecrated ever since the time of Clodoveus aliàs Ludovicus whom Saint Remigius Bishop of Rheimes both baptized and anointed about the year of our Lord 500. have from time to time in all ancient ages exercised the like Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction insomuch that Clodoveus himself being but newly entred into is doubted not to appoint a Councell at Orleans and to call thither the Bishops and Clergy of France but out of the motion of Priestly minde to use the very words of the Councell cōmanded the Priests meaning the Bishops to assemble there for debating necessary matters which in his own consideration he had advised upon and delivered to them in heads and titles and they having answered thereunto and framed the Canons of that Councell accordingly did submit them to his judgement and desiring if it approved them himself for greater authority would confirm them Tom. 2. Concil pag. 309. in rescripto Synodi The Kings of Jerusalem and Sicil were also anointed and endowed with Ecclesiasticall authority whereof we shall speak more anon for the right of both these Kingdomes resideth at this present upon the Kings of Spain who till the same came unto them were neither anointed nor crowned and though since that time they have been dignified with both these Prerogatives yet are they not so illustrious in them as in the Kings of England and France for that these are ancient Kingdomes raised by their own power and prowesse and those other of lesse continuance erected by the Pope and not absolute but Feodaries of his Sea And touching that of France also the meer right thereof resteth upon his Majesty of England though de facto another for the time possesseth it So that in this point of unction our Soveraign the King of England is amongst the rest of the Kings of Christendome at this day Peerlesse and transcendent and well therefore might William Rufus say that himself had all the liberties in his Kingdome which the Emperour challenged in his Empire Mat. Paris But I wonder why the Papists should so considently deny the Kings of England to be capable of spirituall jurisdiction when Pope Nicholas 2. of whom wee spake before in an Epistle to King Edward the Confessor hath upon the matter agreed that it may be so for amongst other priviledges that he there bestoweth upon the Church of Saint Peter of Westminster then newly founded by that vertuous King He granteth and absolutely confirmeth that it shall for ever be a place of Regall Constitution and Consecration and a perpetuall habitation of Monkes that shall be subject to no living creature but the King himself free from Episcopall service and authority and where no Bishop shall enter to give any orders c. Tom. Concil part 3. pa. 1129. a. In which words I note first that the Kings of England in those ancient days being before their Coronation meerly Lay persons were by their consecration made candidati Ecclesiasticae potestatis and admitted to the administration thereof for to what other purpose was Consecration ordained but to make secular things to belong unto the Temple and Lay persons to become sacred and Ecclesiasticall like Jacobs stone in the time of the Morall Law which presently upon the anointing thereof became appropriate to the House of God Secondly he plainly maketh the King head of this Monastery that is of the place it self and of all the persons and members therof which then by consequence he might likewise be of all other Ecclesiasticall persons and places through the whole Kingdome And even that also he granteth in a sort in the end of his Epistle Vobis posteris vestris regibus committimus advocationem tuitionem ejusdem loci omnium totius Angliae Ecclesiarum ut vice nostra cum concilio Episcoporum Abbatum constituatis ubique quae justa sunt So that if the Kings of England be pleased to execute this Ecclesiasticall authority as the Popes Vicar then by this his Charter they are invested therewith and peradventure the Clergy of Rome can never revoke it being granted posteris regibus and the Epistles of the Popes being as Barclayus saith of Nich. 1. to Michael the Emperour as an Ecclesiasticall Law Lib. de potest Papae ca. 2. pag. 13. But in the mean time it is hereby evident which I endeavour to prove that the Kings of England are justly capable of spirituall jurisdiction by the Popes own confession for which purpose onely I here alledge it And to give more life to the matter it appeareth by Baronius that Pope Vrbane the granted not onely as much in the Kingdome of Sicil to the King of Spain being the anointed King thereof but added also to that his Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction divers branches of spirituall power belonging meerly to the keys and not to the sword that is to the very function of a Bishop as namely that of Excommunication All which though Baronius impugneth mainly to be of no validity because that all things are void he saith that the Church doth against her self yet the King of Spain both holdeth and exerciseth this function and jurisdiction onely by the connivency of the Pope but defended therein by Cardinall Ascanius Colonna against Baronius But to leave forain examples and to goe on with our domesticall precedents It is manifest by other ancient Authorities Charters and Manuscripts that the Pope thereby granted no more to King Edward and his successors then the same King and his Predecessors before assumed to themselves For this Epistle could not be written to S. Edward before the end of his reign Nicholas not being Pope till then and in the Laws of the same King before that time published himself doth plainly declare himself to be Vicarius summi Regis not summi pontificis yea and that in the government of the Church For the words of his own Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 17. be these The King because he is the Vicar of the highest King is appointed to this purpose that he should rule his earthly Kingdome and the Lords people and should above all things worship his holy Church and govern it and defend it against them that would wrong it and to pull the evill doers out of it c. So that write the Pope what he will S. Edward here taketh upon him to have the rule and government of the Church of England committed to him from God and not from the Pope and to be Gods Vicar not the Popes wherein he imitated his predecessors for King Edgar speaking of the government of the Church saith in plain tearms that it belonged to himself ad nos saith he spectat And because Casaubon in citing this place out of the Manuscript is charged by Parsons to falsifie it and that it is or should be on the
His command to his disciples Not to take ought with them bindeth not Ministers now Sp. 44. His miracle of the loaves how to be imitated by his Ministers Sp. 55 56. His living upon almes tieth not Ministers to the same course Sp. 55 Church its etymology and signification Ap. 11 12. See 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There were Churches and Priests and Tithes before the Law Sp. 10. Church-maintenance in the Primitive times what and how imployed Sp. 16-24 No expresse command for the building of Churches Sp. 110. Of the holinesse of Churches Sp. 82. Churches and Ministers necessary Ap. 15. Whether the Church may possess lands and temporalties Sp. 24. c. Of the maintenance of the Church of Jerusalem Sp. 13. Alexandria Sp. 14 Rome Sp. 14. Africa Sp. 15. The Church of England a while ago the most flourishing in Christendome St. 20. Churches in England how many appropriate how many not Ap. 16. See Clergy The miserable condition of the Greek Church R. 26. Church-government why so long in settling Sp. 46-51 Circumcision and sacrifices intermitted in the wildernesse Sp. 47. Why seeing it was before the Leviticall law did it expire with it Sp. 147 Clergies immunities how large once how now infringed St. 13. English Clergy taxed with luxurie Ap. 16 17. How much the present Parliament hath already done in favour of the Clergie R. 1 That it is very probable it will continue their antient maintenance by Tithes R. 2 c. Clodoveus King of France Sp. 178 Committee-men deciphered R. 7.12 Communitie of goods among Christians for how long R. 22 Consecration of things and persons why ordained Sp. 180 Constantine the Great his pious munificence St. 6. Sp. 24 Cool of the day Gen. iii. 8. what Sp. 98. 1 Cor. xi 18 20 22. expounded Ap. 10. c. D DAlmaticae vestes in what reverence amongst the ancient Clergy Sp. 176 Why worn by Kings at their Coronations ibid. Deacons distributers of Church goods Sp. 23. Antienter then Bishops Sp. 50. Of women-Deacons Sp. 51 Decimae or decima whence derived Sp. 67 70 Decimus Decumanut Decimare Exdecimare Sp. 75 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence derived Sp. 67 70 Deodate's Testimonie concerning our Church St. 20 Sir William Dodington St. 22 Drusius put to hard shifts St. 19 E EAster Sp. 50. concerning the grounds and time of its observation Sp. 149 Edgar See Kings Edward the Confessor See Kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. xi 12. signifieth a materiall Church Sp. 84. Ap. 1 2. 6-11 Eleven This number signifieth sinne Sp. 73 Enoch's translation an Embleme of the Sabbath Sp. 99 Examples and sayings of wise men a law to posterity Sp. 110 Excommunication exercised by the King of Spain Sp. 181 Exod. xxii 29. Non tardabis expounded Sp. 103. 140 F FAsting practiced and allowed though not commanded Sp. 48. When it was first brought into the Church uncertain Sp. 87. First-fruits or Annates paid to Priests by the law of Nature Sp. 102.108 why then abrogated with the Law of Moses Sp. 144 c. When first imposed on the Clergy St. 12 The Floud a kind of tithing of the world Sp. 99 G GAvelkind what R. 14. Gen. xiv allegorically expounded and applied to the Church under the Gospel Sp. 104 c. Glastenbury-Abbey Sp. 183 Glebeland when letten must pay Tithe Sp. 79 Gods glory the end of all things Introd What duties we ow to him for his bounty Ibid. Ep. 1. He had a portion of Time Place Fruits even in Paradise Sp. 97 Why he requireth the tenth of our goods and but the seventh of our time Sp. 9 See Tenth The best part of every thing is his due Sp. 67 68. and that such a part as implieth the whole Sp. 72. Things offered to him how holy Sp. 82. 168. What may be known of God by the light of Nature Sp. 95. Trismegist's description of God Sp. 70. The Thoes destroyed for their neglect of the gods Sp. 123 Good things though abused by some may lawfully be used by others Sp. 84 c. Ms. Elen Goulston her beneficence to St. John's in Oxford St. 22 Greek Church poore every way R. 26 H Sir Ralph Hare a Benefactor to St. John's in Cambridge St. 21 23 Heathens how liberall to their gods Sp. 114 c. Their examples fit to be proposed to Christians Sp. 116. Their devotion will rise up in judgement against our sacriledge Sp. 117. 127 128 Henry the Eighth's speech concerning Abbey-lands c. Sp. 166. His virtues and acts especially his shaking off the Romish yoke highly commended B. 1 2 Hercules his offering how profuse Sp. 117. 124 Baptist L. Hicks a great friend to the Clergy St. 22 Holinesse of things dedicated to God Sp. 82 Hospitalers A question concerning them and the Templars Sp. 160 Hospitulity being the Ministers duty the people must afford him a certain maintenance Sp. 16 I J JAcobs vow concerning Tithes Sp. 109 Idolatry The rise of it Sp. 43 Jews paid for more to their Priests then Christians St. 9. How forward and chearefull they were in their payments St. 11. They received Priesthood from the Gentiles Sp. 44. 102. The chiefe Judges and Officers among them were Levites Sp. 38 39. Of their Courts of Justice Sp. 40. Their Ceremonies why so long permitted under the Gospel Sp. 48. c. Impropriations See Appropriations John iii. 23. Mystically expounded Sp. 105 Isa lvi 7. expounded Ap. 10 Just It is folly to say a thing is therefore just because the Law of the Land alloweth it Sp. 172 K KIngs Alured the first anointed King of England Sp. 177. His virtues and famous acts ibid. Clodoveus the first King of France that received unction Sp. 178. Kings of Spain neither anointed nor crowned till Jerusalem and Sicil fell to them Sp. 179. The King of England chief King of Christendome ibid. The Papists deny our Kings spirituall power yet was it granted by a Pope Sp. 178 179. The King of Spain hath and exerciseth the power of Excommunication Sp. 181. Kings of England antiently assumed and used Ecclesiasticall authority Sp. 181 c. as appeareth by the examples of Edward the Confessor Sp. 181. Edgar and nine of his predecessors Sp. 182 c. of the Kings of Mercia Sp. 185. Of William the Conqueror Sp. 186. and William Rufus Sp. 188. Kings were wont to seek confirmation of their Lawes from Popes and Councels of their Canons from Kings Sp. 184. Kings have an Ecclesiasticall as well as civill power Sp. 155. Otherwise they could not govern both Church and State Sp. 174. c. As the sword is an embleme of their temporall so are Oil vestis Dalmatica of their spirituall jurisdiction Sp. 175 c. What Kings were wont to bee be anointed Sp. 176. The Kings Chappell antiently under no Ordinary but himself onely Sp. 155. 186 188. Christians ought to be subject to their Kings though Heathen Sp. 174. What was granted to the King by the Statute of Dissolution Sp. 161
quarundum propositinum ex Ep. ad Rom. that they likewise should doe the same and thereupon S. Austin saith that in those things that concern this life wee must be subject to them that govern humane things But my meaning is that a temporall Prince cannot properly dispose the matters of the Church if he have not Ecclesiasticall function and ability as well as Temporall for I doubt not but that the government of the Church and of the Common-wealth are not only distinct members in this his Majesties kingdome but distinct bodies also under their peculiar heads united in the person of his Majesty yet without confusion of their faculties or without being subject the one to the other For the King as meerly a temporall Magistrate commandeth nothing in Ecclesiasticall causes neither as the supream Officer of the Church doth he interpose in the temporall government but like the common arch arising from both these pillars he protecteth and combineth them in perpetuall stability governing that of the Church by his Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction and that of the Common-wealth by his temporall For this cause as Moses was counted in sacerdotibus Psal 99.6 though he were the temporall Governour of the people of Israel so the Laws of the Land have of old armed the King persona mixta medium or rather commune quiddam inter laicos sacerdotes and have thereupon justly assigned to him a politique body composed as well of Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction as temporall like to that of David Jehosaphat Hezekias and other Kings of Juda who not onely in respect of their Crown led the Armies of the people against their enemies but as anointed with the holy oyle ordered and disposed the very function of the Levites of the Priests and of the Temple as you may read in their severall lives in the books of the Kings and Chronicles But the Kings of England have proceeded yet further in the gradations of Ecclesiasticall profession as thinking it with David more honourable to be a door-keeper in the House of God then to dwell in the tents of the ungodly that is to execute the meanest office in the service of God then those of greatest renowne among the Heathen and Infidels Therefore they have by ancient custome even before the Conquest amongst other the solemnities of their Coronation not only been girt with the regall sword of Justice by the Lay Peers of the Land as the embleme of their temporall authority but anointed also by the Bishops with the oyle of Priesthood as a mark unto us of their Ecclesiasticall profession and jurisdiction And as they have habenam regni put upon them to expresse the one so also have they stolam sacerdotii commonly called vestem dalmaticam as a Leviticall Ephod to expresse the other The reasons of which if we shall seek from the ancient Institutions of the Church it is apparent by the Epistle of Gregory the great unto Aregius Bishop of France Ep. l. 7. c. 111. that this vestis dalmatica was of that reverence amongst the Clergy of that time that the principall Church-men no not the Bishops themselves might wear it without licence of the Pope And when this Aregius a Bishop of France requested that he and his Archdeacon might use it Gregory took a long advisement upon the matter as a thing of weight and novelty before he granted it unto them But 22. years before the time of Edward the Confessor unto whom those hallowed vestures happily did belong with which his Majesty was at this day consecrated these dalmaticae Propter solennitatem Sp. S. Diaconi dalmaticis induantur Idem Decr. p. distinct 76. le Jejunio otherwise called albae stolae were by the Councell Salegunstadiens cap. 2. made common to all Deacons and permitted to them to be worn in great solemnities which the Kings of England also ever since Edward the Confessors time if not before have always been attired with in their Coronations And touching their unction the very books of the Law doe testifie to be done to the end to make them capable of spirituall jurisdiction for it is there said that Reges sacro oleo uncti sunt spiritualis jurisdictionis capaces the Kings being anointed with the holy oyle are now made capable of spirituall jurisdiction This ceremony of unction was not common to all Christian Kings for they being about Hen. 2. time 24. in number onely four of them besides the Emperor were thus anointed namely the Kings of England France Jerusalem and Sicil. The first English King as far as I can find that received this priviledge was Elfred or Alured the glorious son of noble and devout Ethelwolphus King of West-Saxony who about the year of our Lord 860. being sent to Rome was there by Leo 4. anointed and crowned King in the life of his father Witlasius Rex Merciorum subditus Ethelwolphi regis West-Sax Coronat Ingolf 856. l. 56. and happily was the first King of this Land that ever wore a Crown whatsoever our Chroniclers report for of the 24. Kings I speak of it is affirmed in ancient books that only four of them were in those days crowned But after this anointing Alured as if the Spirit of God had therewith come upon him as it did upon David being anointed by Samuel grew so potent and illustrious in all kindes of vertues as well divine as morall that in many ages the world afforded him no equall zealous towards God and his Church devout in prayer profuse in alms always in honourable action prudent in government victorious in wars glorious in peace affecting justice above all things and with a strong hand reducing his barbarous subjects to obedience of Law and to love equity the first learned King of our Saxon Nation the first that planted literature amongst them for himself doth testifie in his Preface to Gregories Pastorall that there were very few on the South-side Humber but he knew not one on the South-side of the Thames that when he began to reign understood the Latine Service or could make an Epistle out of Latine into English c. He fetched learned men from beyond the Seas and compelled the Nobles of his Land to set their sons to school and to apply themselves to learn the Laws and Customes of their Country admitting none to places of Justice without some learning nor sparing any that abused their places for unto such himself looked diligently He divided the Kingdome into Shires Hundreds Wapentakes and them again into Tithings and free Bourghs compelling every person in his Kingdome to be so setled in some of those free Bourghs that if he any way trespassed his fellows of that free Bourgh answered for him The memory of this admirable Prince carrieth me from my purpose but to return to it his successors have ever since been consecrated and thereby made capable of spirituall jurisdiction and have accordingly used the same in all ages and thought by the Pope to be so enabled unto it
Treatise which is here published for satisfaction to all that be truly pious and well-affected sons of the Church of England For his larger work of Tithes which he prepared long agoe it is also here added though in some few places imperfect and might have been better polished by his own hand if he had engaged himself upon it and desisted from his greater works so much desired by many eminently learned both at home and abroad yet rather then suffer the losse of such a testimony of his piety to God and good affection to uphold the setled maintenance of Gods House and Ministers to whom double honour is due Tim. 1.15 as the Apostle saith it is thought fit to publish it as he left it imperfect in some passages and defective of such ornaments and arguments as he could have added further out of his store and abundance though what he hath here delivered is so compleat as doth fully discover the ability of his judgement and that these reasons and illustrations produced by him could hardly have proceeded from any other Author being agreeable to his expressions style and arguments delivered in his other writings And at this instant it seems very necessary in regard the humour and displeasure of many in the world is now obstinately bent to beat down root up overthrow and destroy whatsoever the piety and wisdome of our forefathers built and contributed in the Primitive times of their faith and conversion to Christianity as if all they did were Popish and superstitious fit to be rooted up and as if themselves had a Commission as large as the great Prophet had from God and were set over the Nations and Kingdomes to root out and pull down to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant Jer. 1.10 But if men will rest satisfied either with proof from divine authority there wants not enough here to guide their consciences or with humane Laws and Statutes confirmed and fully enacted by many Parliaments whereby they are now become ancient and fundamentall as well as any other Laws together with the constant course and practice of above a thousand years in our Common-wealth there wants not here the testimony of all our ancient Monuments Statutes Deeds and Charters of our Kingdome Princes and Noble men which this learned Knight hath more fully and compleatly published in order of time and in their originall Saxon-language in his first Tome of our English Laws and Councels for the first five hundred years before the Conquest being his last work before his death Whereunto when the second Tome which he hath also finished shall be added for the next 500. years after the Conquest together with his learned Commentary upon all difficult and ancient rites and customes there will be abundant proof from all humane Laws and the authority of our Common Law together with the practice of our Kingdome in severall ages that no man can raise a doubt or exception that shall not receive satisfaction fully and clearly As for the Laws of Israel and the Heathens also in imitation of Gods own people the Decrees and Canons of generall Councels in succeeding times here is also such abundant testimony produced that no judicious Reader can refuse to yeeld his vote thereto and approbation for continuance There is another noble and religious Knight of Scotland Sir James Sempil who hath so accurately laboured in this argument and proved the divine right of Tithes from the holy Scriptures insisting thereupon onely and no other humane Authorities or Antiquities further then he finds theÌ„ to play upon the Text pro or contra as himself saith in his Preface that much satisfaction may be received from his pious endeavours having therein cleared some Texts of Scripture from sinister interpretations and exactly considered the first Institution and Laws for Tithes delivered by God himself both in the Old and New Testaments If both these godly and learned witnesses of the truth will not serve the turn to convince the judgement of some ill-affected they being both raised up by God out of both Nations Numb 11.26 like to Eldad and Medad among the people extraordinarily to prophecy and defend the truth being moved and inspired doubtlesse by God himself besides those that belong to the Tabernacle to uphold and maintain his own cause against the adversaries of his Church yet they may well stop the mouths of worldlings and Mammonists from clamour and inveighing and perswade them to acquiesce upon the known and fundamentall Laws of the Kingdome which are as ancient and fundamentall as any other or rather more because they concern especially the upholding and maintenance of the worship of God then which nothing can be more necessary or fundamentall and therefore the pious and good King Edward the Confessor doth begin his Laws with the recitall and confirmation of the Ecclesiasticall Lawes and particularly of Tithes Church-possessions and Liberties thereof â—l ad confess â—n Prooem A legibus igitur sanctae matris Ecclesiae sumentes exordium quoniam per eam Rex regnum solidum habent subsistendi fundamentum leges libertates pacem ipsius concionati sunt Because thereby the King and Kingdome have their solid foundation for subsistence therefore the laws liberties and peace thereof are first proclaimed and established And thus begins also Magna Charta Nos intuitu Dei pro salute animae nostrae ad exaltationem sanctae Ecclesiae c. and so also many other Statutes successively pour le common profit de Saint Esglise del Realm Westminst 1. c. The possessions tithes and rights of the Clergy being thus setled they may doubtlesse be enjoyed having been freely collated according as was foretold by the Prophets Esay and others by Kings Nobles and many good men Esay 49.23 fully confirmed by Law and Parliament If these things had not been primarily due unto God by the rule of his Word yet are they now his and separate from us by the voluntary gift and dedication of our ancient Kings and Predecessors established by the possession of many hundred years that although in the beginning perhaps things were not so commanded in particular as any man else may enjoy lands goods chattels gifts and grants whatsoever is freely collated purchased or obtained by industry or is freely given and bequeathed by Ancestors or other Benefactors although perhaps there be not divine right in speciall to prove and justifie so much land money rents or goods of any sort to be his due and right God did foretell and promise by the Prophet Esay Spelmans first Treatise § 5. cap. 28. inf cap. 49.23 that he would raise up in the Church of the redeemed Kings and Queens to be nursing fathers and nursing mothers to his Church that is saith Calvin upon the Text Magni Reges ac principes non solùm Christi jugum subierunt sed etiam facultates suas contulerunt ad erigendam fovendam Christi Ecclesiam
not one Altar breathed unto the Lord in 40 years Amos 5.26 Even Moses himself was buried in this sleep How the Passeover and other Feasts were celebrated appeareth not they are seldome mentioned and may seem therefore seldome kept One Passeover at the going out of Aegypt Exod. 12.11 Another in the wilderness of Sinai God then reviving that commandment Numb 9.1 c. After by Joshua at Gilgal beyond Jordan Jos 3.10 and from that day till the 18. year of Josias that is above 800. years all are passed over as obscure except one in the time of Solomon 2 Chron. 35.13 and 2 Kings 23.2 But I must not conceal that Moses omitteth the History of 36. years travail in the wildernesse reporting onely the punishment of him that gathered sticks on the Sabbath day Numb 15.32 and therefore in that time whether it were kept or not we can conclude nothing but it is plain that before Ezekias his days it was so utterly lost that when he came to renue it it seemed meerly a new thing 2 Chron. 29. and all this time also was both the Temple forlorn and shut up and all the holy rites almost extinguished till he renued them ib. For the point of Reformation the Levites were by Moses assigned to the Tabernacle the Priests to the Altar but both of them confusedly without distinction and yet so they continued till the time of David who to reform this confusion divided them into ranks allotted a part of the service to every rank and assigned to them of the ranks times of attendance and intermission 1 Chron. 23 24 25 26. cap. upon which it is said that Zacharias was of the course or rank of Abia and executed the Priests office as his course or turn came in order Luke 1.5 8. Some things also that were never commanded were brought into the old Law afterward and well accepted as the act of fasting and the habit thereof sackcloth and ashes The brazen Serpent was set up by Gods own commandement Numb 21.6 yet when the people burnt incense to it Ezekias brake it in pieces 2 Kings 18.4 without any commandement None might slay the burnt-offerings but the Priests but when they were too few and till more were sanctified the Levites did it 2 Chron. 29.34 Likewise in the New Testament the wheels of the Gospel were not by and by in their course The Apostles themselves are compelled to the same necessities First to admit many ceremonies abolished for if they struck at them all at once they drive all the Jews from the doctrine at once again if they imposed them upon the Gentiles the Gentiles repined at the burden to carry the matter therefore as even as they might they call a Councell and consulting upon it they write to the Gentiles that they purposed not to burden them but with these necessary things viz. to abstain from things offered unto idols and bloud and that that is strangled and from fornication Acts 15.29 by which the Gentiles could not complain of being burdened with ceremonies nor the Jews that their ceremonies were contemned In like sort Saint James and the Elders at Jerusalem seeing many thousand Jews to beleeve and yet to be zealous of the Law Act. 21.20 they not onely tolerated it for the present but perswaded Saint Paul comming thither to doe the like and further to make a shew also that himself observed the law whereupon as before he had circumcised Timothy in shew of keeping the law Acts 16.3 so now he also personateth a Nazarite Numb 6.8 he is purified and he is shaven as one already at Censhrea Act. 21.26 and 18.18 Thus the Apostles applied themselves to the necessity of the time the place and the persons thus Paul becommeth a Proteus a Jew to the Iews a Gentile to the Gentiles weak to the weak all to all and all this to gain all them to Christ 1 Cor 9.22 In the mean while many things required to the establishing of the Church must needs be omitted the main matters they uphold unto death but the secondary and remote dependances they refer to opportunity therefore they by and by pressed no man with keeping the Lords day and though themselves began by little and little to sanctifie it with breaking of bread and preaching Acts 20.9 1 Cor. 16.2 yet the first mention of it is above 22. years after the Passion of Christ in Acts 20.7 and I suppose it to be begun about that time because I finde that till that time the Apostles used the Iudaicall Sabbath but never after through all the New Testament and the reason why they then used it was for that the greatest Assemblies being on that day in the Temple and Synagogues of the Iews therefore they resorted thither there they preached the Gospel there they taught the people as if themselves had celebrated that Sabbath And as it was long ere they brought in the Lords day so in matters more remote and outward matters belonging to the body they were lesse curious therefore though they laboured hard in the Lords Vineyard yet they required no wages of any man And though Paul prescribed that Bishops should be good housekeepers yet few or none of them were owners of houses but rather as fugitives to escape persecution or as pilgrims to preach the Gospel If the law that was given in a solitary place to a people sequestred from all other and at union amongst themselves and having no publique nor potent adversary to hinder the course thereof if they I say could not preserve it in the originall integrity much more of necessity must the establishment of the Gospel be impeached and turned out of the course thereof it rising in the midst of the enemies in the flame of persecution and with the opposition of the greatest Potentates in every Region It must therefore have the greater need of sundry Reformations some of the first lineaments must be wiped out some altered some as occasion served must be added or amended the Iudaicall ceremonies that for many years together were permitted in the cradle time of the Church must be taken away Paul that then suffered them now suppresseth them Col. 3. Gal. 3. ca. 4. c. 5. and the holy Ghost throughout all the Epistle to the Hebrews beateth them down for ever Thus as old branches be cut off so some new be ingraffed the Lords day the Feasts of Easter and Whitsontide not spoken of in the beginning are brought in at length Deacons are ordained presently after Christ Act. 6.2 but no Bishops in 20. years after nor were they then particularly ascribed every one to his limit but many together over one City as at Ephesus Act. 20.28 So women at first were admitted to be Deacons Conc. Laodicen c. 11. but time afterwards wore them out Christ commanded his Disciples that they should not goe from house to house but Paul saith I have taught you openly and from house to house Acts 20.20 To conclude all could
called and wakened as he did in the ship with Peter but as he is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Multo post futurum Domini sacramentum ante signavit ac sacrificio panis vini mysterium corporis sanguinis expressit p. To. 4.14 c. he will come forth of himself and meet them and give them bread and wine as Melchisedek did to strengthen and confirm them that is the other sacrament of the body and bloud Then as a perpetuall high Priest and Mediator he doth blesse them and make intercession for them as Melchisedek did Abraham and his spirituall posterity in the person of Abraham as well Jews as Gentiles for in the person of Abraham Melchisedek blessed both the Jews as his children by Circumcision and the Gentiles as his children by faith Then must wee doe as Abraham did in his own and our person give tithe of all to Melchisedek and his Substitutes Melchisedek gave bread and wine really and we must also as Abraham did give him the tithe really And this tithe was not given to Melchisedek as a Leviticall duty but as a duty belonging to God both before the Law Ministravitist◠Melchisedek Abrahamo exercitui xenia multam abundantiam rerum optimarum simul exhibuit super epulas eum collaudare coepit benedicere Deum qui ei subdiderat inimicos Jos Antiquit. l. 1. c. 18. and in the time of the Gospel for Melchisedek met not Abraham with oblations and sacrifice like a Priest of the Law but with bread and wine the elements of the sacrament of the Gospel which in figure thereof are onely remembred in this place by the holy Ghost though Josephus mentioneth many other rich gifts at this very time plentifully given by Melchisedek to Abraham So that if Melchisedek in the person of Christ received tithe then doubtlesse is tithe due unto Christ and consequently to his Ministers This is the first place in Scripture wherein tithes be mentioned therefore some may think it the first time they were paid but that is no argument for so it is the first place where a Priest is mentioned yet no doubt Priests were before Noah performed the Priests office when he built an Altar No fish as though the curse extended not to the sea and offered of every cleane beast and fowl upon it Gen. 8.20 And it is very likely that Melchisedek himself had borne the office of a Priest many hundred years before he met Abraham though the Scripture doth not mention him till the meeting for if it be lawfull to enquire of that the holy Ghost revealeth not many great Divines are of opinion that he was Sem the son of Noah whom the Salemites had made their King and it may well be for it appeareth in Gen. 11. that Sem lived 600. years whereof 502. after the Floud and of them 209. in the life of Abraham So that to those of that new world that Abraham lived in I mean after the Floud he might well seem without father or mother or any beginning being born almost 100. years before the Floud and to have been a Priest for ever And then in like consequence he might have received tithes of divers other before he thus met Abraham for that use was common long before among the Heathen and likely it is that the Heathen rather learned it of the children of God then that the children of God should learn it of them as Hemmingius would have it who saith that Abraham gave these tithes of his own accord following therein without all doubt the manner of Conquerors which were wont to consecrate the tithe of the spoil unto their gods or to bestow it upon their Priests I read in Ovid that Bacchus who lived before this time having conquered the Indians and other Nations sent the first-fruits of the spoile magno Jovi to great Jupiter but whether Abraham either heard of it or took it for a Precedent that cannot I tell Te memor ant Gange totoque oriente subacto Primitial magno supposuisse Jovi Cinnama tu primus captivaque thura dedisti Deque triumphate viscera tosta bove Fastor li. 3. The next place of Scripture mentioning tithes is the 28. Gen. ver the last Jacob going upon his adventure voweth that if God will be with him in his journey and give him meat and cloth and so that he return safe then saith he the Lord shall be my God and this stone which I here set up as a pillar shall be Gods house and of all that thou shalt give me will I give the tenth unto thee Liv. l. 1. Romulus made the like vow for building the Temple to Jupiter Feretrius upon Mount Palatine Tatius and Tarquinius upon Tarpeius William the Conquerour for Battail Abbey But Hemmingius cannot say that Jacob did it by their example for they lived too too long after him I think rather that the law of nature and reason taught all Nations to render honour thanks and service unto God and that the children of God being more illuminate in the true course thereof then the Heathen by the light of reason could be first began the precedent and that then the Heathen dwelling round about them apprehended and dispersed it for the use of paying tithes even in those first ages of the world was generall as hereafter shall appear But Iacob doth not here bargain and condition with God that if God will doe thus and thus that then he shall be his God and that he will build him an house and pay him tithe and otherwise not but he alledgeth it as shewing by this means he shall bee the better enabled to perform those debts and duties that he oweth unto God and will therefore doe it the more readily The actions and answers of the Sages are in all Laws a law to their posterity Iustinian the Emperour doth therefore make them a part of the Civill Law The common Lawyers doe so alledge them and the Law of the holy Church hath always so received allowed them Non ideonobis proponi exempla justorum ut ab eis justificemur sed ut eos imitantes ab eorum justificatore nos quoque justificari sciamus Aug. lib. de Catechisand udibus Tom. 4. f. 218. And though Saint Augustine saith that the examples of the righteous are not set forth unto us that thereby we should be justified yet he addeth further that they are set forth to the end that we by imitating them may know our selves to be justified by him that justifieth them Why then should we now call tithes in question since we find them to be paid and confirmed by two such great Sages and Patriarchs Abraham Iacob Yea their payment practised generally by all the Nations of the world for 3000. years at least never abrogated by any Law but confirmed also by all the Fathers and Doctors of the Church and not impugned by a single Author as far as I can find during all the
Cyro l. 5. Alexander the great having conquered the Countries of sweet odours and frankincense sent a whole ship-loading thereof to Leonides in Greece that he might burn it bountifully unto the Gods Plin. li. 12. c. 24. Posthumius having overthrown the Latines paid the tithes of the spoil as before he had vowed Dionys Halicar li. 6. Livius Largissime nimis Nebuchodonosor did the like too bountifully as Josephus reporteth it to the Temple of Belus Ant. l. 10. C. 13. Rhodopis a Thracian woman before the time of Cyrus gave the tenth part of all her goods unto Delphos Herodot Euterpe pag. 139. The Crotoniati warring upon the Locrenses vowed the tenth part of the spoil to Apollo but the Locrians to exceed them in their vow vowed the ninth part Alex. ab Alex. 165. Agis King of Lacedaemon went to Delphos and there offered his Tithe unto God Xenephon de rebus gestis Grae. li. 3. Agesilaus conquered so much of his enemies Country that in two years he dedicated above an hundred talents to God for the Tithe Xenoph. de Agesil laud. The Liparians having overcome the Hetruscians in many sea battails sent the Tithe of the spoil to Delphos Diodor. 292. l. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The custome of the ancient Gauls and so likewise no doubt of our Brittish Ancestors was to give all in effect that they got by the wars unto their gods as Caesar witnesseth and to sacrifice the cattell so taken De Bell. Gal. lib. 6.132 And this use of Tithing the spoile obtained in war was every where so ordinary that Craesus the King of Lydia being overcome by Cyrus and taken into mercy told him as advising him for his good that he must of necessity render the Tithe of the spoil unto Jove and that he should therefore set a guard at every gate of the City to prevent the soldiers from embezling of it Herodot in Clio. li. 1. p. 36. I reckon up these particulars the more willingly to beget shame and remorse if it were possible in the soldiers of our time that having been exceedingly enriched in this kind have not I fear remembred God with so much as Craesus did when he sent no more but his iron shackles to Delphos Herodot ib. fo 37. Yet God had 7000. servants that Elias knew not of and therefore I will not judge them As Military men abounded thus with devotion so those of peaceable professions came not behinde them for Festus witnesseth lib. 4. p. 213. l. 67. That they of the old world offered every tenth thing unto God and Varro in his Book De re Rustica adviseth every man to pay his Tithes diligently of the fruits of his ground Therefore because the Sicilians were more happy in corn then other Nations they exceeded all other in thankfulnesse to Ceres as appeareth by Diodor. Sic. 288. in pede c. And for that the Athenians were next in that felicity they did the like and instituted further in her honour initia Eleusina i. the feast of the first-fruits which for the great antiquity and holinesse thereof were as Diodorus reporteth celebrated of all the people of the world Pliny saith the Arabians tithed their frankincense to their god Sabin not by weight as sparingly but by measure as a more bountifull manner Lib. 12. ca. 24. pag. 184. L. 57. The Aethiopians cut not their cinnamon but with prayers made first to their gods and a sacrifice of 44. Goats Rams and then the Priest dividing the cinnamon took that part belonging to their god and left them the rest to make merchandise of Plin. l 12. ca. 19. fol. â—86 in pede The Siphnians sent at one time so great a Tithe out of their silver and gold mines to Delphos as the richest man of that age was not more worth Herodot Thalia lib. 3. fol. 180. The Romans Neque Herculi quisquam decumam vâ—vit unquam si sapiens factus esset Cic. de Nat. Deor. and generally all Nations paid the Tithe of their fruits to Hercules and they held it the happyest thing to vow the payment of them faithfully and they thought that the cause that Lucullus abounded so much above other in wealth was that he paid his Tithe so faithfully Alex. ab Alex. lib. 3.165 As they paid their Tithes out of the fruits of the earth so did they likewise out of their privy gains and industry Herodotus writeth that the Samians a small people yeelded at one time six talents for the Tithe of their grain gotten by merchanchise Melpom. li. 4.267 And that nothing might goe untithed the Ancients paid a Tithe of the very beasts killed in hunting namely the skins thereof to Diana Et penet in Trivia Dives praedae tamen accipit omni Exuvias Diana tholo Papin So Hesodius offered the tripod he won at Amphidamas game as the prize of Poetry and upon the altar of the Muses Additions to the 26. Chapter of the Law of Nations These Laws of the Heathens are but few of many more that might have been collected If any Reader therefore desire to be further satisfied touching the practice and custome of the Gentiles in payment of tithes he may abundanly receive content from M. Selden in his History cap. 3. and Mountague in his Diatrib cap. 3. out of both some collections are here added Some perhaps will say it is lesse materiall to consider their doings seeing we Christians have the light of Israel to direct us and the assured Word of God to our guide as for the customes of the Gentiles they might in many things imitate Gods own people but we may have recourse to the fountain of all truth to him who is the way the truth and the light It is true but God himself hath been often pleased to upbraid and provoke his own people by the example of a foolish and ignorant people and to call heaven and earth to witnesse against his own when they have been obstinate and perverse in their ways And our Saviour saith that the men of Ninive shall rise up in judgement and also the Queen of Sheba against them who neglected so great means of salvation and instruction as the people enjoyed when he and his Disciples preached to them and that it shall be more tolerable for Sodome and Gomorrah at the last day then for Chorazin and Bethsaida who heard his doctrine and saw his works So doubtlesse we Christians in this last age in this light of learning and sun-shine of the Gospel may learn by the examples of the very Heathens who were so precisely observant both of the quantity the tenth and of the quality in giving the best of the encrease which must needs proceed out of some secret inclination unto that practice whereof as in many other remains of naturall notions they knew no reason but were secretly inclined thereto by that Providence which disposeth all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or at least from long continued practice and traditions as they had
instruct their people when and how to pay their Tithes Tom. 1. Con. pa. 258. Can. 5 c. About the year 786. in the time of Offa a great King of Mercia and Helfwood King of Northumberland and the two Archbishops there was a great Councell held by two Legates from Hadrian the first wherein Tithes were established and it was likewise confirmed in the South part by the King of West-Saxony And as M. Selden saith it is a most observable Law being made with great solemnity of both powers of both States History cap. 8. pag. 201. Tom. 1. Con. pag. 291. Can. 17. In the year 855. King Ethelwolph by the consent of all his Baronage and Bishops granted the perpetuall right of Tithes to the Church throughout his whole kingdome and that free from all taxes and exactions used then in the State and this statute is very remarkable and was confirmed by other Kings Brorredus and Edmundus of East-Angles Tom. 1. Con. pag. 384. For the Northern Clergy there was a Law made to punish the non-payment of Tithes Tom. 1. Con. pag. 501. In a great Parliament at Earham Anno 1009. by all the States assembled under King Ethelred Tithes are commanded and confirmed Tom. 1. Con. pag. 510 c. Maccabeus an ancient King of Scotland confirmeth Tithes in his Laws Con. pag. 571. Anno 1050. In the Canons of Aelfric Tithes are confirmed Anno 1052. Con. pag. 572. These and many other Constitutions and Laws are particularly and more fully recited in the first Tome of our Councels and in Mr Seldens History cap. 8. from whence the Reader may please to take satisfaction for the space of some 500. years before the Conquest William the Conquerour in the fourth year of his reign when he took a view of all the ancient Laws of the Land he first confirmed the liberties of the Church because that by it saith Hoveden the King and the kingdome have their solid foundation pag. 601. and herein amongst other Laws of King Edward these particularly touching Tithes which Hen. 1. also did Anno 1100. as appeareth by Mat. Par. pa. 53. The like did also Hen. 2. in the 26. year of his reign as Hoveden witnesseth pa. 600. And for a perclose of all that went before or should follow after King Hen. 3. in the ninth year of his reign by that sacred Charter made in the name of himself and his heirs for ever granted all this anew unto God We have granted saith he unto God and by this our present Charter have confirmed for us and for our heirs for evermore that the Church of England shall be free and shall have all her holy rights inviolable Magna Charta cap. 1. And that this Charter might be immortall and like the sanctified things of the Temple for ever inviolable it was not onely fortified by the Kings Seal the sacred Anchor of the kingdome but by his solemn oath and the oath of his sonne and the Nobility of the kingdome Yea the whole kingdome yeelded themselves to stand accursed if they should at any time after impeach this grant And therefore in the 25 Ed. 1. a speciall Statute was made for confirmation of this Charter V. Rastals Abridg destat tit Confirmat Sententia lata super chartas wherein amongst other things it is ordained that the Bishops shall excommunicate the breakers thereof and the very form of the sentence is there prescribed according to which upon the 13. Maii Anno 1304. Ed. 1.31 Boniface the Archbishop of Canterbury and five other Bishops solemnly denounced this curse in Westminster Hall the King himself with a great part of the Nobility being present Vid. Pupil oculi part 5. cap. 22. First against all them that should wittingly and maliciously deprive or spoil Churches of their rights Secondly against those that by any art or devise infringed the liberties of the Church or Kingdome granted by Magna Charta de Foresta Thirdly against all those that should make new Statutes against the Articles of these Charters or should keep them being made or bring in or keep other customes and against the writers of those Statutes Counsellors and Executioners thereof that should presume to give judgement according to them And lest this should seem a passion of some particular men for the present time rather then a perpetuall resolution of the whole kingdome in the succeeding ages the zeal and care thereof was continually propagated from posterity to posterity So that in 42 Ed. 3. cap. 1. it was further enacted that if any Statute were made contrary to Magna Charta it should be void And 15. times is this Charter confirmed by Parliament in Ed. 3. time eight times in Rich. 2. reign and six times in Hen. 4. Yea the frontispice of every Parliament almost is a confirmation of the rights and priviledges of the Church as having learned of the very Heathen Poet who had it from the law of Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we begin ever with God Neither was there any man found that ever would or durst with Nero lay hands upon his Mother the Church for he that smiteth his father or mother shall die the death Exod. 20.15 Heu tot sancitas per plurima secula leges Hauserit una dies hora una et persidus error My meaning is not to strain these Laws to the maintenance of such superstitious gifts as were made to the Church against the honour of God but to those onely that were for maintenance of his Word and Ministery which if they were lawfully conferred as no man I think doubteth but they were then let us consider how fearfull a thing it is to pull them from God to rend them from the Church to violate the dedications of our Fathers the Oaths of our Ancestors the Decrees of so many Parliaments and finally to throw our selves into those horrible curses that the whole body of the kingdome hath contracted with God as Nehomiah and the Jews did Nehem. 10. should fall upon them if they transgresse herein For as Levi paid Tithes in the loins of Abraham Heb. 7. so the lawfull vow of the fathers descendeth upon their children And as the posterity of Jonadab the sonne of Rechab were blessed in keeping it Jer. 35.18 so doubtlesse have we just cause to fear the dint of this curse in breaking this vow Say then that Tithes were not originally due unto God and that there belonged no portion of our Lands unto his Ministers yet are we in the case of Nehemiah and the Jews Nehem. 10.32 They made Statutes by themselves to give every year the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of God And our fathers made Laws amongst themselves to give a portion of their Land and the tenth part of their substance that is these Parsonages for the service of the house of God If they were not due before they are now due For when thou vowest a vow unto the Lord thy God thou shalt not
have them as the religious persons had them that is as spirituall Livings and consequently subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishops before had over them and then are they no otherwise in the hands of the Laity for testimony whereof they also carry at this day the badges and livery of their Lords and Masters of the Clergy for as Joseph was taxed in his own City so are they yet ranked amongst other spirituall Livings and as members of that body doe still pay their Synodals and Proxies to the Bishops and Archdeacons and if Tithes bee withholden from the Approprietary he still sueth for them as spirituall things in the Spirituall Court All which are by Gods Providence left upon them as marks of the Tribe they belong unto that when the Jubile commeth if ever it please God to send it they may thereby be distinguished and brought back again to their own Tribe § 2 That no man properly is capable of an Appropriation but spirituall men Spirituall things and spirituall men are correlatives and cannot in reason be divorced therefore was no man capable of Appropriations but spirituall persons before the laws of dissolution which first violated this holy marriage and like Abimelech Gen. 20.2 took the wife from the husband and made Lay men which before were the children of the Church now become spirituall Fathers The act of Appropriation is nothing but to make a body corporate or politique spirituall that hath succession perpetuall Incumbents in a Rectory or no more upon the matter then to entail the incumbency to one certain succession of spirituall men Therefore as a Patron saith my Lord Dyer Chief Justice and Plowden 496. must present a spirituall person to a Church and not a temporall so by the same reason an Appropriation must be made unto a spirituall person and not temporall for saith he the one hath cure of souls as well as the other and they differ in nothing but in this the one is Parson for his life and the other and his successours Parsons shall be for ever and for this in the beginning saith he were the Appropriations made to Abbots Priors Deans Prebends and such like as might in their own person minister the Sacraments and Sacramentals and to none other And for the same reason at the first it was holden that they could not grant their estates to any other no more then the Incumbent of a Parsonage presentative who though he may lease his Glebe and Tithes yet can he not grant his Incumbency to any other but must resign it and then the Patron and Bishop must make the new Incumbent And so the Incumbency which is a spirituall office cannot be granted nor by the same reason could the perpetuall Incumbent which is the Approprietary at the first grant his estate which contained the Incumbency and the Rectory which is the revenue of the Incumbent Therefore when the Order of the Templars to whom divers appropriate Parsonages were belonging was dissolved and their possessions granted to the Prior of S. John of Jerusalem in England Justice Herle in 3 Ed. 3. said that if the Templars had granted their estate in the Appropriations to the Hospitalers that is to them of S. Johns of Jerusalem the Hospitalers should not have it for it was granted onely to the Templars and they could not make an Appropriation thereof over unto others Therefore to make good the estate of the Prior and Hospitalers it was shewed there that by the grant of the Pope King and Parliament the Prior had the estate of the Templars And so by Herle an Appropriation cannot be transferred to another and with good reason saith the book for it hath in it a perpetuall Incumbency which is a spirituall function appropriate to a certain person spirituall and cannot be removed from them in whom it was first setled by any act of theirs Herle there also said that That which was appropropriate unto the Templars was disappropriate by the dissolution of their Order fo 497. B. So that as death is the dissolution of every ordinary Incumbent so the dissolution of a religious Order Monastery or Corporation is the death thereof and by that death according to this opinion of Justice Herle the Church appropriate that belonged thereunto is again become presentable as it was before the Appropriation whereunto my Lord Dyer and Manwood doe also agree Dier Plowd 497. Manwood ib. 501. l. 2. and therefore by the dissolution of religious houses all Appropriations had been presentable like other Churches if the Statute of dissolution had not given them to the King and by as good reason might the same Law-makers have given him the other also for any thing that I perceive to the contrary Yet let us see in what manner they are given unto the King for though I cannot examine the matter according unto the rules of Law being not so happy which I lament as to attain that profession yet under correction I will be so bold as to offer some points thereof to further consideration as first what is granted to the King secondly the manner how it is granted thirdly the ends why And herein I humbly beseech my Masters of the Law to censure me favourably for I take it by protestation that I doe it not as asserendo docere sed disserendo quaerere legitima illa vera that Littleton speaketh of § 3 What was granted to the King 1. The Statute saith That the King shall have all such Monasteries Priories and other such religious Houses of Monks c. as were not above 200l a year And the Sites and Circuits thereof and all Manours Granges Meases Lands c. Tithes Pensions Churches Chappels Advowsons Patronages Annuities Rights Conditions and other Hereditaments appertaining or belonging to every such Monastery 2. In as large and ample manner as the Governours of those and such other religious Houses have or ought to have the same in the right of their Houses 3. To have and to hold c. to his Majesty his Heirs and Assigns to doe and use therewith his and their own wils to the pleasure of God and to the honour and profit of this Realm The words have divers significations and therefore make the sense the more obscure Monasteries Priories and religious Houses are 1. Sometimes taken personally for the Heads and Members of the House that is for the men of the House as Church for the Congregation City for Citizens 2. Sometime they are taken locally for the soil of the House and in this sense one while extensively to all the Territory thereof another while restrictively to the site and building onely 3. They are taken civilly or locally for the whole rights of the House the lands the rents the possessions and inheritances whatsoever In which of these senses the Parliament hath given them to the King and whether in all of them or not it is not manifest but I conceive the words must be taken in the last sense which as the
contrary ad vos spectat scil Ecclesiasticos give me leave to defend that worthy man being now dead in whose behalf I must avow that the originall is plainly ad nos and not ad vos which lest it should seem either mistaken or questionable King Edgar himself doth manifestly clear it both by deeds and words for of his own authority he removed generally the Clerks of that time that were not professed out of the Monasteries and placed in their rooms Monks and regular persons as appeareth by his owne words in his Charter of Malmesbury Malmsb. pag. 58. l. 17. And also in the foundation Book of the Abbey of Winchester written all in golden letters wherein likewise he prescribeth the rules for the government of the religious persons there and saith that himself will look to the Monks and that his wife Aelfthryth shall look to the Nuns And lest it should seem that he had done this rather out of the will of a Prince then by just authority Hoveden and Historia Jornalensis doe testifie that he did it by the advice and means of Ethelwould Bishop of Winton and Oswald Bishop of Worcester So that the very Clergy of that time agnised executed and affirmed his jurisdiction herein which I will close up with a materiall sentence out of his Charter in Glastenberry extant in Malmsbury de gest Reg. li. 2. pag. 57. where the words be these Concessit etiam scil Edgarus ut sicut ipse in propria ita totius insulae causas in omnibus tam Ecclesiasticis quà m secularibus negotiis absque ulla ullius contradictione Abbas Conventus corrigeret that is King Edgar granted that the Abbot Covent of Glastenberry should correct or amend all causes as well Ecclesiasticall as secular within the whole Isle of Glastenberry as himself did within his own Isle namely of England So that the King here denounceth that himself hath the correction or ordering of all Ecclesiasticall causes within this his Isle And in further declaration thereof doth by that his Charter by and by after prohibit all Bishops from medling within the Isle of Glastenberry and lest he should seem to doe a new thing he closeth it up with this apology That his predecessors Cemwines Ines Ethelardus Cuthredus Elfredus Edwardus Ethelstanus Edmundus had all of them done the like and he might have added out of Bede l. 2. c. 7. that Cenwalch King of West-Saxon of his own authority divided the Sea of Agilbert his Bishop being a French man and of another language which he understood not and gave one part thereof unto Winus a man of his own Nation which though he were afterwards compelled by necessity and discontent of Agilbert to reunite yet his successor Inas divided them again and then they so continued Hen. Huntington l. 4. pa. 33. l. 49. It is true that ad majorem cautelam King Edgar required John 12. to confirme these priviledges lest any as he saith should in future time either take them away or throw out the Monks but himself had first done it of himself and the vigor that the Pope added to it was rather a fortifying of it with a curse against robbers and spoilers then an enlargement of the validity thereof as quickning thereby a livelesse body For so likewise may the Popes own authority be disputable insomuch as he also required the generall Synod then holden at Rome Anno 965. as Malmsbur saith to confirm it But the fashion of those times was that secular Princes sought sometimes to have their temporall Laws confirmed by the Pope with a curse against the breakers thereof as did Howell Dhae for those his Laws of Wales and in like manner was it usuall for Councels and Synods to seek the confirmation of their Canons from temporall Princes as did that of Orleans before spoken of from Clodoveus and the Councell of Toledo _____ from Euricus who made a speciall Law for establishing it as you may see in the Laws of the Wisegothes l. 12. tit 1. ca. 3. ut sic gladius gladium adjuvaret It may be objected that Edgar being the great King of this whole Isle for he styled himself totius Albionis basileus might usurp upon the Church and doe these things rather in the will of a Prince then by just authority It is manifest partly by that which I said before but plentifully by his Charters that the Clergy of that time were so far from denying or repining at this his jurisdiction that they affirmed and subscribed unto it as appeareth in his Charters And how large soever his Dominion was his humility was as great for though in matters of government he carried himself as the head Officer of the Church yet in matters of faith he was so obedient that to expiate his incontinency with a Nun he threw himself at the feet of Dunstan his Bishop submitted himself to seven years penance and presumed not to be consecrated till the 14. year of his reign But these things were no novelties either in the person of Edgar or in the Princes of those ages for the minor Kings themselves within the orbs of their own Dominion used the like jurisdiction as you may perceive by those cited by Edgar in the Charter of Glastenberry and by many other in particular Charters of their own Yea the Kings of Mercia that were but vassals and underlings to the Kings of West-Saxony within the limits of their little Kingdome used the same plenitude of authority as appeareth by the Charter of Kenulphus who lived about the year 850. made to the Abbot of Abingdon wherein he saith Sit autem praedict ' rus liberum ab omni regali obstaculo Episcopali jure in sempiternum aevum ut habitantes ejus nullius regis aut ministrorum suorum Episcopive aut suorum officialium jugo deprimantur sed in omnibus rerum eventibus ac defensionibus causarum Abbatis Abbindenensis Monasterii de caetero subjiciantur Term. Trinitat 1 H. 7. f. 18. b. And it is there said by the Judges fol. seq b. that many Abbeys in England had larger words then these in the Kings Charter as Omnimoda justitia quicquid regales potestates conferri possunt To leave the Saxon Kings and to come to the Normans that we may see by what channell this fluent of authority hath been deduced to his Majesty Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury in the Conquerours time would have given the Abbotship of S. Augustines but the new King saith the book i. William the Conquerour did deny it saying that he would conferre all Pastorall Staves in his Realm and would not conferre that power to any whatsoever Govern you saith he that which appertaineth to faith and Christianity among the Monks but for their outward service you shall let me alone with that You see here that the King doth not in covert manner or by little and little creep into Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction but with an absolute resolution whilest he yet stood as