Doctrine That Tythes ought to be paid and that Pardon of Sins might be merited the Torments of Hell avoided by such good Works Thus the Poor Depraved Deluded Seduced and Ignorant People through the Sorceries of their Pollitick Leaders the Priests were drawn to the Voluntary Contribution of theis Tythes or of what portion thereof they pleased to Monasteries Nunneries Abbeys Monks Nuns Abbots Priors Prioresses Hospitals Poor c. Which Donations at length were confirmed by the Canon Law and such as had not Voluntarily bestowed their Tythe they were forced thereunto by Laws and Statutes and a general Exaction thereof through the whole Kingdom was established upon the Clergy In this Mid-night of Popery Tythe or Tenths were accounted the Souls Ransome and preached so to be by the covetous Clergy so that in the Belief hereof People gave not only Tythes but Lands also to Religious Houses so called Who would deny the Soul's Ransom Endless Life if so to be purchased In the Belief of this Doctrine the Clergy had almost gotten the third part of the Land and but that the Law against Mortmain prevented might strangely have prevailed by further Encroachments Now in order to owe People to be devout and exact in the Payment of Tythe they tell us a Miracle thereto relating how that Austin at a certain time coming to a place called Cometon to preach the Priest of the place made complaint against the Lord of the Mannor for detaining his Tythe for which thing Austin Excommunicated him and saying Mass as the Altar forbad Excommunicated Persons to be present thereat Presently a dead Corps buried One Hundred and Seventy years before arose out of his Grave and stood afar off during the Celebrating of holy Mass Austin asked him what he was He said He was a man that in his Life-time would never pay Tythe to the Priest so was excommunicated and dying went to Hell for that Crime Austin raised the dead Priest who affirmed That that man would never pay his Tythe Austin sent the live dead Corps to his Grave again saying He had suffered long in Hell that is in Purgatory The Lord of the Mannor seeing all this was much terrified and fell at Austin 's feet confessing his Fault became a due Payer of his Tythe all his life-Life-time John de Grand sono Johan Anglici Historia Aurea Such Delusions as these as also the Doctrine of Merits and of Tythe being the Souls Ransom being received by the Credulous Deluded Saxons the Saxon Kings in their respective Kingdoms of the Heptarchy and in their respective Reigns made Laws and Decrees for the due Payment of Tythes Micah a Seer of the Lord in his day cryed out Will the Lord be pleased with Thousands of Rams or with ten Thousands of Rivers of Oyl Implying He would not where Justice Love of Mercy and Humility did not truly season and possess the Inwards Mic. 6. The true Church made up of living Stones Elect and Precious witnessed Christ the Amen the true and faithful Witness to be their Ransom their Redemption their Redeemer from Death Hell and the Grave But the Depraved and Mis-led Saxons through the spiritual Inchantments of their Teachers were brought to account Tythe-giving to be the Souls Ransom I could produce multitudes of their Donations confirming what I say In the dayes of Henry the second Nicholas Fitz Turold gave his Tythe in Chiltune to that Monastery The Form and Contents of his Donation was thus Be it known to those that are present and to those that shall succeed That I Nicholas the Son of Turold for the Salvation of my Soul and of my Parents c. have granted to the aforesaid Church to be held forever the Tythes of my Land which I possess in the Village of Chiltune c. I William de Albineio do grant unto God and to St Andrew of Rochester and to the Monks having Residence there all my Tythes c. for the Soul of King William and for the Soul of King Henry and for my own Soul and for the Souls of my Father and Mother and of my Wife and of my Brother Nigellus and of my Nephew Humphry and for the Souls of my other Parents alive and dead Know all men That I Payn Sheriff of Surrey do give and grant the Tythes of Geddings which my Ancestors gave to God and to the Church of St Andrew of Rochester for the Soul of my Father and of my Mother and for me and my Wife and the same Church bath granted unto me that after our Death the Anniversary of me and of my Wife shall yearly be performed forever Thus a former Grant was confirmed Richard Tresgoz confirmed to God and to the Church of blessed Mary of Boxgrave and to the Monks there serving God for the Salvation of his Soul and of his Wife and Predecessors and that Mass should be celebrated thrice a Week in the aforesaid Church for his Soul and his Wive's Soul and for the Souls of his Father and Mother and Ancestors all the Donations which this Father Philip had given as well in Lands as in Tythes Moreover he gave all the small Tythes of his Mannour of Lambs Calves Foals Chickins Piggs Wool Cheese Apples Fruit in a word of whatever was Tytheable Out of a Charter of King Stephen made to the Priory of Eye in Suffolk this following may be read I ✚ Stephen by the Grace of God King of England touched with the Love of God and for the Salvation of my Soul ✚ and of my Father's Soul and of my Mother's Soul and of my Ancestors Kings do give unto God and to the Church of St Peter of Eye and to the Monks there serving God that they may have all their Profits quiet and free from all Exaction in Lands Tythes Churches Possessions c. Thus he confirmed former Grants supposing them Due Pious of good Effects and Consequences Selden Thus for the obtaining of Masses Anniversaries Remission of Sins Salvation of Souls of the dead and of the living and other Reasons Papists gave Tythes to Papists these or what portion thereof they pleased were Voluntarily bestowed on Monks and Monasteries Nuns and Nunneries Abbots and Abbeys Priors and Priories Hospitals on the Poor at last all these Voluntary Grants to be held as pure and perpetual Alms were confirmed by civil Laws and Episcopal and such as had not Voluntarily bestowed them were forced thereto by Laws and Statutes About the Year 900. strict Examination was made at Shrifts that is Confessions in these words Hast thou at any time neglected to pay the Tenth to God If so restore to God four fold and then must thou suffer Pennance with Bread and Water Twenty Dayes Selden After it was determined by Laws Canons and Decrees of Kings Popes Councils and Bishops That every man ought to pay Tythes yet the Owner had Liberty to confer it where he pleased whereby Abbeys and Monasteries were wonderfully enriched till Pope Innocent the third in or about the Year
First By way of first Fruits paid antiently to the Pope but by a Statute of Henry the Eighth wrested from the Pope and given to the King his Heirs and Successors forever Secondly By Legative Levies the Pope having or pretending need vast sums of Money were exacted and levied through this whole Kingdom by Legats and Officers for that purpose deputed by the Pope Thirdly By Appeals to the Court of Rome incredible sums were out of this Nation exhausted Fourthly By Dispensations vast sums of Money were drawn to Rome Fifthly Indulgences and Pardons were of the like Magnetick faculty to draw Money to Rome Sixthly By Jubile's Pilgrimages and Vows c. both at stated and arbitrary times So that one Adam Merrymouth called the English the Popes Asses willing to bear unsufferable Burthens Mantuan a Carmelite Fryar touched Rome to the quick in this manner Heu Romae sola pecunia regnat Exilium virtus patitur Thus Englished Alas at Rome now Wealth bears sway And Virtue Chaste is chas'd away But to return to the Primitive practice though through Constantine and Sylvester much Unsoundness crept into the Church yet the Maintenance of indigent Ministers and the supply of the Churches-Necessities by free and voluntary Contribution according to the Institution of Christ and his chosen Vessel Paul was not lost Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea in the dayes of Constantine said If thou dost possess a Garment or any other thing more then extream necessity doth require and dost not help the Needy thou art a Thief and a Robber The Council at Antioch in the Year 340. finding the Deacons very faulty ordained that the Bishops should distribute the Goods of the â—hurch requiring that they took not any part to themselves nor to the Priests and Brethren that lived with them unless Necessity justly required it alledging the Apostles Words Having Food and Rayment be therewith content Conc. Ant. Cap. 25. Hitherto the Necessities of the Ministers as of others were supplied and relieved by Free and Voluntary Contributions and Offerings of Lands Moneys Goods and People were much pressed to bountiful Contribution for Holy and Christian uses Jerom eminent in his day about the Year 384. and Chrysostom Bishop of Constantinople about the year 398. laboured much in that point and alledged the Jewish payment of Tythe for an Example to Christians below which they would not have Christians to determine their Charity not binding them to this or that quantity but perswading and pressing that they might not come short of the Jews in point of Charity their Writings clearly and undeniably hold out this thing and this is the first mention of Tythe I read of produced only as an Example to stir up the Sparks of Christian Charity Ambrose Bishop of Milan and Augustin Bishop of Hippo soon after or about the Year 400. screwed a Peg higher from the Law given to the Israelites for the payment of Tythe which Christ abolished they imposed the payment thereof with heavy Penalties for Holy uses as the phrase then was Augustin taught that such as desired a Reward or Pardon of Sins they should pay Tythe yet consider to what end they required them that the Poor might not want saying God had reserved them for their use Ambr. de penitent August in Sermone de tempt Yet in the Sun-shine of Primitive Purity an Eternal reward and Remission of Sins was witnessed and the Poor were provided for without recourse to the Typical Levitical Maintenance by Tythe The Example of these two great Bishops Ambrose and Augustin and the sweetness of the Morsell fired Church-men into that Doctrine so that Leo the great Pope about the Year 440. Severin about the Year 470. Gregory also and others grounding their Doctrine on Moses's Law stirred men up to the payment of Tythe to offer the same to the Church Leo de jejun dec mens et eleemos Greg. Hom. 16. in Evangel Notwithstanding the Example Doctrine and Threats of the aforesaid and others it was not a generally received Doctrine that Tythe ought to be paid till about the Year 800. Agobard Bishop of Lyons Selden of Tythe The Bishop for the most part in these Ages lived in some Monastery and his Clergy with him from whence he sent them into the Country within his Diocess to Preach and they brought all the Offerings they received into the Common Treasury out of which the Necessities of the Bishops Priests Poor Distressed Sick Strangers were supplied and relieved places for publick Assemblies called Churches were built and repaired the Priests then had not such a particular Interest in the Free and Voluntary Offerings as after they usurped About the Year 800 900 1000. and after Tythes were called the Lord's Goods the Patrimony of the Poor Tributes of poor Souls Stipends of the Poor of Strangers Hereupon the Council at Nants declared That the Clergy was not to use them as their own but as commended to their trust And they were not then given particularly to the Clergy but for the use and relief of the Poor Bernard Abbot of Claravallis who lived in the Year 1127. Contemporary with Hugo de Sacro victore bare Testimony to this purpose in a Sermon upon Luke the 17th and inferred thus Truly the Goods of the Church are the Patrimony of the Poor and whatsoever thing the Ministers and Stewards of the same do take unto themselves more then is sufficient for a competent Living the same is taken away from the Poor by Sacrilegious Cruelty In these Dayes People being brought to believe that their Tythe ought to be given for the use of the Poor as the the first Preachers up of Tythe held out they were more desirous to give them to the Poor then to the Priest at length the foul and loathsome Leprosie of Covetousness so far infected the Clergy as that Priests through the Auxiliaries or Assistants of Popes and Councils quite shouldered out the Poor and Needy and seized upon the Whole as ravenous Vulters seize on their Prey The Doctrine of Pope Innocent the Third about the Year 1200. relating to pluck the Bread out of the Mouth of the Poor and to give it to the Priest sounded sweetly in the Priests Ears What was his Doctrine say some I Answer This Pope Innocent the third preaching on the Charity of Zacheus said Graviter peccant qui decimas et primitias non reddunt Sacerdotibus sed eas pro voluntate distribuunt indigentibus that is They are hainous Offenders who give Tythes and first Fruits to the Poor and not to the Priests Certainly this Doctrine could not but astonish and amaze the People concluding them Hainous Offenders for the observance of that which had for Generations been Preached up as Meritorious Is there not occasion given to cry out Quid non mortalia pectora cogis Auri sacra fames Golds Lustre mortal men doth so bewitch Leudly to act in order to be Rich. Further a General Council held at Lyons under Pope Gregory the Tenth in
or Maintenance introduced by man contrary to what Christ and the Apostles taught and appointed We forbid saith Cardinal Galo the Pope's Legate under the penalty of Excommunication that Priests and Clergy-men through the occasion of any Custom should presume to exact or extort any thing for Baptism Burial or any other Sacrament Sum. Concil Pontif. Whether the Pope be obeyed in this as in other of his Ordinances 't is well known but Ordinances of this Nature and Tenure savour not well to the minds of Man-made Ministers CAP. XI Of the Rise of Reek-penny called also Smoke-Money called also in the Saxon Tongue Romefeoh that is the Fee of Rome and Romescot that is Rome's-shor or Rekoning and Rome-penny and Denary sancti Petri that is Peter-Pence and Regis Eleemosyna that is the King 's Alms. EThelbert King of the East-Angles being perswaded by his Council to Marry against his own inclination went to Offa in design to obtain his Daughter Athelred to Wife King Offa's Wife being averse to the Match caused Ethelbert to be slain whereupon Offa King of the Mercians to expiate that horrid Act gave the Peter-Pence to St Peters Church in Rome This Peter-Pence was a Penny for every House in which was twenty penny-worth of Goods to be paid Yearly on Lammas-Day such strictness was required in the payment thereof that in time it was esteemed Consuetudo quasi Apostolica c. A Custom as it were derived from the Apostles from which neither the King nor the Arch-Bishop Abbot Prior or any in the Kingdom was free only the Monastery of St Albans in honour of Alban the Protomartyr was by the Indulgence of King Offa exempted from that Charge This Peter-Pence this Yearly Tribute Ethelwoulph ordained to be paid Yearly by every House in England that kindled a Fire Ina King of the West Saxons as some say was the first Donor of Peter-Pence about the Year 720. being in Pilgrimage at Rome Matthew Westminster insinuates that these being Kings of several Kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy each of them might be the first Donor within their respective Dominions Upon reasonable Compute the Peter-pence could amount to no less then 7500. pounds a Year which payment continued till the reign of Henry the Eighth who totally took it away Sleiden Pope Paul the fourth receiving the English Ambassadors which came from Queen Mary urged to them the necessity of the Restitution of all Revenues that her Father Henry the eighth had taken away from Rome further pressing That they could not hope that Saint Peter would open the Gates of Heaven to them so long as they usurped his Goods on Earth Strange Doctrine As though Peter being dead in the fruition of Eternal Joy should regard Money which while upon Earth he was redeemed from the love of Hunting Milton Sleiden Matth. West Now you Protestants that pretend Reformation do not you in your Words deny the Pope and his Supremacy Yes Why then do your Ministers Vicars and Parsons receive his Tribute of every House that kindles a Fire viz. a Penny called a Reek-penny Smoke penny or Hearth-penny and Persecute such as deny to give them the same 't is one of their covetous Practices occasioned by Murther in the gloomy Night of Apostacy Popery through love of Money continued a Dreg of the Cup of Babylon Further King Edgar enacted that Peter-pence called commonly Hearth-penny imposed on every House should be paid before the Feast of St Peter and he that paid not the same should carry that Penny and Thirty other Pennies to Rome and pay one Hundred and twenty Shillings to the King Further if any should not give the Peter-penny upon the second demand he enacted that he should carry that penny and thirty other pennies to Rome and pay two Hundred Shillings to the King Upon refusal after the third demand he was to suffer the loss of all he had Here was Zeal but without Knowledge and though this annual payment was from Papists to the Pope to expiate the horrid act of Murther yet such as pretend Reformation are not ashamed of it shewing themselves to be such as Peter spoke of who should have Hearts exercised with Covetous practices 'T was a noble saying and resolution of Abraham that he would not take as much as a Shoe-lachet of the King of Sodom lest he should say he had made Abraham Rich. So you that profess Reformation keep not a Rag of the Whore's Garment not one Patch of her Earthly Traditional groundless Ornament that the Beast Law-giver in spiritual Sodom the apostatized Church nor any of the Locusts that arise out of the Smoke of the Pit may not boast that you are enriched by their Merehandize and groundless Traditions relating to Doctrine Worship or Maintenance as you would be accounted the Children of Abraham do the Works of Abram shew forth the Faith of Abram which led him from Vz of the Caldees by Interpretation Fire to the Land of Canaan Gen. 11. Sons of Abram Witnesses of purifying and Victory giving Faith they read this thing CAP. XII How Tythes came into Lay-mens Hands Impropriators YOu that are or would be accounted Gospel-Ministers and plead that Christ hath granted you Tythes for your Maintenance yet can neither tell where nor when Let me tell you if you have Christ's Ordinance and Institution for Tythe then no Custom Usage Prescription priviledge or Popish Dispensation can justly acquit any from the payment of the utmost penny of the tenth part for Ordinances and Doctrines of Christ are not to be made void by the Injunctions of men How comes Lay-men Impropriators to be such sharers in Tythe which is your right as Gospel-Ministers as you pretend Are they not Sacrilegious therein And how come so many to be exempted from the payment of Tythe But all this is but a Covetous pretence Christ put an End to that Law which gave Tythe to the Levites and established a Free and Voluntary Maintenance for Gospel-Ministers without Tythe And Tythes came into Christian Churches by the Pope and all Exemptions from the payment of Tythes were by the Pope's Indulgence And now I shall declare what I have read concerning Tythes in the possession of Lay-men The Hunnes Gothes and Vandals invaded Italy under the Emperor Justinian and greatly persecuted all Religious men overturned Churches burnt Libraries overthrew Schools of Learning these fierce and barbarous People about the Year 650. set their Faces against France upon this Charles Martell the Father of Pipin after King of France would not oppose himself against them unless the under Clergy of France would resign every man his Tythes into his Hands that thereby he might reward the Souldiers and support the Charges of the War then present he solemnly promised that these Tythes should be restored to them at the end of the War with a further Gratuity for their good Will the Clergy driven thereto by the Exigences of that Age and eminent Dangers complyed with these motions This Charles Martell