Charters and Acts of Parliament are extant in the first Tome of our Councels by this Authour and many are also mentioned by the learned Selden in his History Now when Churches are built and grants of lands tithes and oblations are freely given by great Kings confirmed by severall Acts of Parliament oftentimes renued and reiterated as by the great Charter thirty times confirmed and many other Statutes since as also by the Text and body of the Common Law which doth affirm Tithes to be due Jure divino as is asserted by that ever honourable Judge and Oracle of Law the Lord Coke in the second part of his Reports Dismes sont choses spirituels due de jure divino Being thus setled and confirmed and thereby becomming fundamentall Laws of the Kingdome they may and ought to be enjoyed peaceably without grudging or repining alienation or spoil without casting an evill eye upon Gods allowance and because he hath given the floure of wheat to make bread for his Sanctuary whereof God himself giveth charge in the last vision of Ezekiel contained in the last four chapters where he appointeth a third part of the land to be set forth for his Temple Priests and servants besides the portions for the Prince and for the people which vision for performance concerneth the Christian Church and was never fulfilled in the Jewish State as this Author and many others doe shew and there God doth especially forbid alienation selling or exchanging of his Temples portion as being most holy unto the Lord Ezek. 48. 14. It concerns us therefore that live in these times of the Christian Church when we see the ancient prophesie fulfilled by Kings and Princes in giving much to the Church to preserve Gods portion entire without alienation spoil or violence The Primitive times of the Church as this Authour sheweth ch 6. as had not been since the very Creation times wherein God opened the windows of persecution and rained bloud upon his Church as hee did water upon the world in the days of Noah during the ten grievous persecutions in the first 300. years after Christ so that no man must expect then to finde setled Lawes for Tithes Lands or maintenance of the Clergy when the Emperors and Magistrates were Heathens persecuting the Church and made many furious edicts for rasing and ruinating of Churches which had been built by Christians in some times of intermission as appears by Eusebius when hee comes to the times of Dioclesian Every good Christian and almost every Clergy-man lost his life for religion no man did care or expect for preferment maintenance or dignity save onely the crown of martyrdome which many thousands did obtain The Church saith this Author did all that while expose the dugs of her piety unto others but did live her self on thistles and thorns in great want oftentimes necessity and professed poverty Now those men that would reform all according to the pattern of the Primitive Church and the Apostolicall times do not consider that the Clergy must be reduced again to the same condition of poverty want and misery as formerly they were if the pious and charitable gifts and donations of Kings and Nobles in the ages next succeeding the persecutions should be taken away and the ancient patrimony of Tithes abated or subverted by the worldly and covetous practices of them that esteem gaine to be godlinesse The kytes of Satan as this Author tearmeth them have already pulled away many a plume from the Church in severall ages yet thanks be to God there be some feathers left to keep her from shame and nakednesse if the sacrilegious humour of the times prevail not against her And there is the more reason to hope and expect that we may enjoy our portion and tithes quietly because we have so much lesse then the old Priests and Levites received from the people for they had severall tithes and oblations for themselves for the feasts and for the poor wherein they did share in a far greater proportion then is now required by the Clergy of the Gospel The learned Scaliger Selden and many others do prove apparently by instance of particulars that the Israelites did pay out of their increase of corn much more then a tenth even almost a fifth part for severall tithes and duties then commanded to them I will recite Mr Seldens example History ca. 2. § 4. The Husband-mā had growing 6000 Bushels in one year 100 Bushels was the least that could be paid by the husband-man to the Priests for the first-fruits of the threshing floore 5900 Bushels remained to the husband-man out of which he paid two tithes 590 Bushels were the first Tithe paid to the Levites 59 Bushels the Levites paid the Priests which was called the Tithe of the Tithes 5310 Bushels remained to the husband-man out of which he paid his second Tithe 531 Bushels were the second Tithe 4779 Bushels remained to the husband-man as his own all being paid 1121 Bushels are the sum of both Tithes joyned together which is above a sixt part of the whole namely nineteen out of an hundred So that of sixe thousand bushels the Levites had in all 1063. whole to themselves the Priests 159 and the husband-man onely 4779. He yearly thus paid more then a sixt part of his increase besides first-fruits almost a fifth many of no small name grossely skip in reckoning these kindes of their Tithes saith Mr Selden Observe how much faith Chrysostome speaking of the great maintenance of the Levites the Jews gave to their Priests and Levites as tenths first-fruits then tenths again then other tenths and again other thirtieths and the sicle and yet no man said they eat or had too much The Rabbins also reckon 24. gifts to the Priesthood according as they are set down both by Rabbi Bechai and R. Chaskoni on Numb 18. and so Jarchi on Gen. 29. 34. and in Talmud in the Massech Cholin 133. f. 2. pag. in this order i. The twenty four gifts of the Priesthood were given to the Priests twelve at Jerusalem and twelve in the borders the twelve that were given in Jerusalem are these the sin-offering the trespasse-offering the peace-offerings of the Congregation the skins of the holy things the shew-bread the two loaves the omer or sheaf the remainder of the meat-offerings the residue of the log or pinte of oyle for the Leper the oblation of the thanksgiving the oblation of the peace-offering the oblation of the Ramme of the Nazarite And these following are the twelve that were given in the borders the great heave-offering the heave-offering or oblation of the tithe the cake the first-fruits the first of the fleece the shoulder the two cheeks and the maw the first-born of man the first-born of the clean beast the firstling of the Asse the dedications or vows the field of possession the robbery of the stranger Lev. 6. 5. Numb 5. 7 8. These are the 24. gifts that belonged to the Priesthood
as Suetonius in his life cap. 7. reporteth sportulas publicas sustulit revocata coenarum rectarum consuetudine which Martial also remembreth in an Epigram to Domitian l. 8. Grandia pollicitus quanto major a dedisti Promissa est nobis sportula Recta data est Sportula nuptialis signified the wedding feast or provision Coelius Rhodiginus Antiq. lect l. 28. c. 24. apud Apuleium sportulas legimus nuptiales quippe inquit ita placuerat insuburbana villa potius ut conjungeremur ne cives denuò ad sportulam convolarent Sportula convivalis is described also by Coelius lib. 27. cap. 24. Eranon inquit est quod pluribus differtum occumbentibus sit sed ita ut ferat sibi unusquisque quod edat quod etiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicebatur id est sportula Sportula opipara I may tearm that which is mentioned by Tully in his Epistles Famil lib. 9. Ep. 20. Dediscendae tibi sunt sportellae artologani where some interpret sportellae for those meats quae secundis mensis numerantur dishes of the second course and greatest dainties So that sportula presbyteria was no base thing but an honourable congiary or portion of victuals distributed to the Clergy whether by the basket as the word signifieth or in vase nitido as Pius appointed it And thus much doth the very place alledged out of Cyprian intreat where he saith sportulis idem cum presbyter is honorentur What this sportula contained I cannot declare but Alexand ab Alexand. Genial dier lib. 5. cap. 24. speaking of the Roman sportula publica saith In qua frequens obsonium panis oleum porcina caro dari solita est absque vino and Domitius in his Comment on the first Satyr of Iuvenal much more fully ex sportula omnia sibi coemebant que ad victum ad cultum pertinerent So that sportula presbyteria seemeth to be then a Cornu copia that ministred unto the Clergy all things they had need of as well for cloathing and other necessaries as for sustenance For no doubt the people of God did at this time not onely according to the precept of the Apostle make the Ministers of the Word partakers of all their goods but as Abraham did also to Melchisedek present unto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very top and chiefest part thereof following Abraham in offering the fat and abhorring to give the carrion things unto God like the sacrifice of Cain And that it may be no disgrace to the honourable Ministers of the Church to live thus ex sportula let me note by the way that the Kings and Princes of the world are likewise said to live ex sportula for their Exchequer or Treasury hath thereupon the name of Fiscus which word as appeareth by Ascanius is all one with sportula Fisci fiscinae fiscellae saith he sportea sunt utensilia ad majoris summae pecunias capiendas unde quia major summa est pecuniae publicae quà m privatae factum est ut fiscus pro pecunia publica inde confiscare dicatur a little before he saith Sportae sportulae sportellae munerum sunt receptacula And let me also remember that in the Easterne Empire the Master of the Store-house and Wardrobe as well Palatine as Ecclesiastical was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Canistro vel Sportula Touching Lands though the Churches at this time had little yet were they not altogether without any as appeareth partly by that which Eusebius reporteth of Paulus Samosatenus that under Aurelian the Emperour i. e. about the yeare 274. he wrongfully invaded an house belonging to the Church of Antioch But more amply by the edict of Licinius and Constantine where it is expresly commanded that all Lands and places which belonged to the Christians as well for their publique use as in their private possession that had been taken from them in the persecution of Dioclesian should be restored to them Platina saith that Vrbane Bishop of Rome anno 227. first instituted that the Church might receive Lands and possessions offered by the faithfull and then sheweth to what end she might enjoy them namely that the Revenues thereof should be distributed by portions to every man and that no man should have them to his particular benefit Vrbane himself in the Decretall Epistle attributed unto him affirmeth this usage to be more ancient saying also that the Bishops within their Diocese and other faithfull persons appointed by them both did and ought to distribute these Revenues in manner before mentioned adding further that they were called the oblations of the faithfull for that they were offered unto God and that they ought not to be otherwise employed then to Ecclesiasticall uses the relief of Christian brethren living together in common and of the poor people for that they are the vows of the faithfull the price of sin the patrimony of the poor and delivered over unto the Lord for the performance of this work Many account this Epistle Apocryphall I will therefore strengthen it with the opinion of Origen a Father of those times who in his 16. Homily upon Genesis disputeth it to be utterly unlawfull for the Ministers of the Gospel to possesse any Lands to their own use for so I understand him confessing himself not to be faultlesse herein and therefore exhorting others to joyn with him in Reformation thereof he saith Festinemus transire à sacerdotibus Pharaonis let us make haste to depart from the Priests of Pharaoh who enjoy earthly possessions to the Priests of the Lord who have no portion in earth for that the Lord is their portion fol. 26. col 3. And to shew to what end the Church enjoyeth her goods and in what manner they ought to be divided amongst her Ministers and poor children in his 31. Homily upon Matthew he saith Opus habemus ut fideles simus pariter prudentes ad dispensandos ecclesiae reditus c. It behoveth us to be faithfull in disposing the rents of the Church Faithfull that we our selves devour not those things which belong unto the widows and that we be mindfull of the poor and because it is written The Lord hath appointed that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel that we therefore take not occasion to seek more for our selves then our simple diet and necessary apparell retaining a greater portion to our selves then that we give to the brethren that are hungry and thirsty and naked and which suffer necessity in secular affairs Discreet as to minister to every man his portion according to his rank and dignity remembring that which is said Blessed is he which considereth the poor and needy Psal. 41. for it is not sufficient for us simply to give away the goods of the Church so to keep our selves clear from devouring or stealing of them but we must wisely consider every mans necessity how he falleth
into it what his dignity is how he came by it how much he needeth and for what cause he needeth it We must not therefore deal alike with them which were pincht and hardly brought up in their infancy and with them who being nourished delicately and plentifully are now fallen into necessiâ—y Neither must we minister the same things to men and to women nor like quantity to old men and young men nor to sickly young men that are not able to earn their living and those 〈◊〉 have somwhat of their own to maintain themselves withall It must also be considered whether they have many children and whether those children be idle or industrious and how far forth they are insufficient to provide for themselves to bee short there is great wisdome required in him that would well dispose the Revenues of the Church and that by being a faithfull and discreet disposer hee may become an happy man Thus far Origen to which purpose Cyprian also in his Epistle to Eucratius lib. 1. Epist. 10. sheweth that the Church maintained many poor and that her own diet was frugalioribus innocentibus cibis sparing and plain and all her expence sumptibus parcioribus quidem sed salutaribus full of frugality but sufficient for health The persons by whom this distribution of Church goods was made were chiefly the Bishops as appeareth by the former Epistle of Vrbane and Deacons appointed under them as in the times of the Apostles Acts â— Therefore Origen in his 16. Homily upon Matthew fol. 31. col 4. taxing the unfaithfull Deacons saith Diaconi autem c. But the Deacons which govern not well the tables of the Ecclesiasticall money that is the goods and Revenues of the Church but doe always purloin them not distributing that which they give according unto judgement and so become rich by that which belongeth unto the poor they are the Exchangers whose Tables Christ will overthrow For the Apostles in their Acts teach us that the Deacons are Governours of the Tables of Ecclesiasticall moneys or Revenues c. and again after unusquisque diaconorum Every one of the Deacons which gather wealth to themselves by defrauding the poor let them now so understand this Scripture that they gather no more lest the Lord commeth upon them and overthrow the Tables of their distribution Thus much touching the use of Church goods in the first age of the Church or first 300. yeers of Christ whereby it plainly appeareth that no Ecclesiasticall person enjoyed any thing belonging to the Church to his own benefit but that the Church-men had out of the Revenues and goods of the Church so much onely as sufficed for their necessary maintenance in meat drink cloth and such like the surplusage being faithfully employed to the relief of the poor the needy the widows persons banished for Religion or imprisoned Captives and Christians any way distressed So that the Church exposing all this while the dugs of her piety unto others did live her self on thistles and thorns that is in want necessity and professed poverty When the flood of persecution had prevailed as many years against the Church in the time of the Gospel as that of waters did days against the wicked in the time of Noah and that Constantine like the Dove of the Ark had brought the olive branch of peace unto the people of God the Church then began to smell the sweet savour of rest and changing presently her disposition with her fortune changed also the very policy of her government before in poverty now in riches before a servant now a Mistresse before a Captive now a Conquerour For the noble Constantine being miraculously converted to the faith did not onely free her from persecution but setled her also in the very bosome of peace raised her to honours endowed her with possessions established her with immunities and to be short poured upon her the fulnesse of his regall munificence Insomuch that many prudent Fathers foreseeing then another evill likely to proceed from hence as namely that her plenty might make her wanton and forgetfull of her duty began now to dispute whether it were lawfull for her to accept lands and Temporalties or not Some alledged that the examples of our Saviour and his Apostles bound them to contemn the world and to live in a strict and Stoick kind of poverty Others conceived that course to be but temporall and like a medicinall diet prescribed by Physitians to their patients in sicknesse onely not in health affirming the time to be now come when it pleased God to crown the long-suffering of his Church with the blessings promised in the tenth of Mark v. 29. 31. That since they had forsaken house and brethren and sisters and father and mother and wife and children and lands for Christs sake and the Gospel they should receive an hundred fold now at this present with their persecutions and in the world to come eternall life I will not argue this point but letting passe the School-men will rest my self upon the determination of many ancient Councels Fathers and Doctors of the Church who with one consent conclude affirmatively that the Church may hold them And I think their opinion to be of God for that it hath prevailed these 1500. years against all the enemies thereof though the Kytes of Satan have pulled many a plume from it To return to Constantine though he and others by his example did abundantly enrich the Church yet did not the Church-men take these riches to the benefit of themselves and their families but employed them as before to workes of charity Yea Silvester himselfe though the sea of these things flowed into his bosome and were at his pleasure yet took he as sparingly of them as if he had been but a little pitcher suffering the whole streams thereof to run abundantly amongst the children of the church and poor people as did also the other Fathers Priests and Clergy of that time who reckoned not otherwise of riches then as dung which being spread and scattered in the fields of God might make them the more fertile For the resolution then was as in the age before that no Church-man might take Lands to his private use nor the Church her self otherwise then for works of charity and the necessary sustenance of her Ministers not to make stocks or portions for them in earth whose inheritance was in heaven and that had God himself fortheir portion Therefore Prosper a godly Father of that time whose authority is often used in the Councel of Aquisgrane disputing the point concludeth it thus If every Minister of the Church have not a Living the Church doth not provide one for him in this world but helpeth him with things necessary that he may receive the reward of his labour in the world to come resting in this life upon the promise of our Saviour To which purpose he applieth the place in the 1 Cor. 9. 14. What is it to live of the
Gospel but that the labourer should receive his necessaries from the place wherein he laboureth And a little before him Hierome also in his Book De vita Monach Cler. instituenda saith If I be the Lords part and the lot of his inheritance not having a part amongst the rest of the Tribes but as a Levite and Priest doe live of tithes and serving at the Altar am sustained by the offerings of the Altar having victuals and cloathing I will be contented herewith and being otherwise naked will follow the naked crosse So in his Book De Co. virginitatis having reproved the curiosity of some Clerks of that time he saith also Habentes victum vestitum his contenti sumus for as Ambrose saith upon Esay 1. Tom. 2. In officio clericatus lucrum non pecuniarum sed acquiritur animarum In the function of a Clegy-man the gain of mony is not to be sought but the gain of souls All these are but particular opinions of some Western Fathers hear now therefore the determination of the Eastern church assembled in the Councell of Antioch Anno 340. cap. 25. Episcopus Ecclesiasticarum rerum habeat potestatem ad dispensandum erga omnes qui indigent cum summa reverentia timore Dei participet autem ipse quibus indiget tam in suis quà m in fratrum qui ab eo suscipiuntur necessariis usibus profuturis ita ut in nullo qualibet occasione fraudentur juxta sanctum Apostolum sic dicentem Habentes victum tegumentum his contenti sumus Quòd si contentus istis minime fuerit convertat autem res ecclesiae in suos usus domesticos ejus commoda vel agrorum fructus non cum Presbyterorum conscientia diaconorumque pertractet sed horum potestatem domesticis suis aut propinquis aut fratribus filiisque committat ut per hujusmodi personas occultè caeterae laedantur ecclesiae Synodo provinciae poenas iste persolvat Si autem aliter accusetur Episcopus aut Presbyteri qui cum ipso sunt quòd ea quae pertinent ad ecclesiam vel ex agris vel ex alia qualibet Ecclesiastica facultate sibimet usurpent ita ut ex hoc afsligantur quidem pauperes criminationi verò blasphemiis tam sermo praedicationis quà m hi qui dispensant taliter exponantur hos oportet corrigi sancta Synodo id quod condecet approbante Prosper proceedeth further and will not suffer that a Minister able to live of himself should participate any thing of Church goods Nec illi qui sua possidentes c. For saith he They which have of their own and yet desire to have somewhat given them of that whereon the poor should live doe not receive it without great sinne The holy Ghost speaking of Clerks or Clergy-men saith They eat the sins of my people But as they which have nothing of their own receive the food they have need of and not the sins so they which have of their own receive not the food which they abound with but the sins of other men Therefore though the Councell of Antioch An. 340. Can. 25. ordained that the Bishops might distribute the Church goods yet would it not suffer them to take any portion thereof to the use of themselves or of the Priests and brethren that lived with them unlesse necessity did justly require it using the words of the Apostle 1 Tim. 6. 8. habentes victum tegumentum his contenti sumus having food and raiment let us be therewith contented And decreed further that if the Bishops should not be satisfied but did employ any goods of the Church to their kindred brethren or children they should answer it at the next Synod So likewise touching Priests as the words subsequent imply and as Achilles Statius expoundeth it pag. 14. for the Priests at that time had nothing but by the assignment of the Bishops and if the Bishops themselves might take no more then onely for their necessity we may easily judge what the inferiour Clergy might doe But Gregory looking upon 2 Thess. 3. 7 8. where it is said You ought to follow us we take no bread of any man for nought and that he which will not work should not eat applieth these to the Clergy and concludeth that though such kind of Ministers have never so much need yet they must not participate the food of their function or Church Revenues for saith he Pensemus cujus damnationis sit c. let us think with our selves how great damnation it is to receive the reward of labour without labour Behold we the Clergy live of the oblations of the faithfull but what doe we labour to get the goods and cattell of the faithfull doe we take those things for our wages which the faithfull have offered for the redemption of their sins and doe we not earnestly labour as we ought to doe against those sins by industry of prayer and preaching For the next Ages of the church what the Authour intended further will bee supplied by himselfe in the 20. chap. following collecting out of divers Councels severall canons touching tithes but for our owne church of England he doth abundantly expresse himself in his first Tome of our English Councels out of which see the collections here following cap. 27. and much also may be observed out of Mr Selden in his History c. 6. where he sheweth when Tithes began to be commanded by Laws and Synods and withall giveth the reason out of Agobardus a very learned Bishop of Lions as he truly saith of him why Councels did not at first make canons touching Tithes and gifts to the church which Agobardus speaketh touching generall Councels but Provinciall Councels did frequently command them as will appear by the collections following here cap. 20. Agobardus words are considerable in his Book De dispensatione contra sacrilegos p. 176. Jam verò de donandis rebus ordinandis ecclesiis nihil unquam in Synodis constitutum est nihil à sanctis patribus publicè praedicatum nulla enim compulit necessitas fervente ubique religiosa devotione amore illustrandi ecclesias ultro aestuante c. Concerning giving of goods and endowing of churches nothing hath ever been decreed in Councels nothing publickly promulgated by the holy Fathers for no necessity required it the religious devotion and love of beautifying the churches every where abounding of their owne accord At first religious christians sold all their lands goods houses and possessions laying down the money at the Apostles feet Acts 2. 45. and long after the Apostles time devotion and zeal in this kind was so fervent that there was no need of laws but when this zeal began to waxe cold in the next Ages following then laws and canons were made more carefully for Tithes and maintenance Many Kings and Princes also were so pious and carefull that the full tenth should be paid that they made severall lawes to pay
a ninth part that so they might bee sure to pay more rather then lesse then a tenth Ex propensiori in Deum animo ultra decimas nonas dabant pii As this Authour proveth by very many laws alledged in his learned Glossary which shall be produced in due place and time and cap. 11. here following prudently observeth How many things in the beginning both of the Law and Gospel were admitted and omitted for the present and reformed afterward for when the Law was given the wheels thereof could not presently fall into their course and so likewise in the New Testament the Apostles themselves are compelled to many necessities and to suffer many things which were reformed afterwards To which discourse I leave the Reader who may thence receive satisfaction why laws and canons for Tithes and maintenance were not made in the first Ages so exactly and carefully as afterwards they were enacted both by Temporall and Ecclesiasticall powers But as others also observe for succeeding times Churches and Tithes were both miserably overthrown and lost in most of these Western parts of the Empire by the Invasion of the barbarous people Hunnes Goths and Vandals upon the Christian world who first invading Italy under the Emperour Justinian did miserably spoil and harrow the Countrey persecuted the Clergy pulled down Churches robbed Bishops and Colledges overthrew schools of learning and committed all sorts of wickednesse and afterwards they set their face against France where to oppose them Charles Martell would not encounter unlesse the inferiour Clergy would yeeld up their Tithes into his hands to pay his Armies and Soldiers for which sacriledge hee is infamous in the publick Histories to this day especially because he did not restore the Tithes to the Clergy according to his solemn promise after God had blessed him with good successe killing many thousands in one great battail This fact of Martell was done about the year 660. Chr. and no redresse of it till the Councel of Lateran neer five hundred years after Anno 1189. under Alexander the third and this was the first violence that ever Tithes suffered in the Christian world after they left the Land of Jewry and came to inhabite among Christians But by that foot of Charles Martell it appears that the Clergy in his time did hold and receive Tithes and doubtlesse by vertue of laws and canons made in former times witnesse the Councell of Mascon Anno 586. and not so late as about the year 800. which some doe pretend For that Councell of Mascon Can. 5. doth affirm and take them as due by authority and laws of ancient times and also by the Word of God and that they were paid by the whole multitude of Christians So the words of the Canon are expresly Leges divinae consulentes sacerdotibus ac ministris ecclesiarum pro haereditaria portione omni populo praeceperunt decimas fructuum suorum quas leges Christianorum congeries long is temporibus custodivit intemeratas Here is no small testimony as well of ancient practice in paying of them as of great opinion for their being due saith M. Selden ca. 5. § 5. and so Spelman ca. 18. infra So also the phrase used in the fourth Councell of Arles Vt Ecclesiae antiquitus constitutae nec decimis nec ulla possessione priventur and other Provincials of that time and Laws of Charlemain agree with it saith Mr Selden and those phrases must needs refer back to ancient times So Boniface an Englishman Bishop of Ments in an Epistle to Cuthbert Archbishop of Canterbury Spelman Concil p. 241. speaketh of some negligent and unworthy Ministers that did receive Tithes and profits but did not carefully perform their duties wherby it appears that Tithes were then paid though some unworthy men received them And though the originall right be due to God himself yet because hee hath assigned over his right to the Priests in the old Law and now to the Ministers of the Gospel therefore they are to be paid to the Priest or Minister for hee is the Steward of Gods house and in this point no man must respect what condition he is of for the debt is due to his Master not to himself so that whether he be good or bad what condition soever he be of hee standeth or falleth to his own Master as Spelman sheweth Cap. 14. CAP. VII That the service of the Levites was clear altered from the first institution yet they enjoyed their Tithes THere be two sorts of Leviticall service the first instituted by Moses about the Tabernacle Num. 1. The second by David about the Temple In the first the Levites were appointed over the Tabernacle and the instruments thereof to bear it to take it downe and set it up Num. 50. 51. to serve Aaron and his sons and to do the service of the Tabernacle and keep the instruments thereof Numb 3. 6 7 8. The Levites that belonged to this service in generall were 8580. men between the age of 30. and 50. years and the chiefest occasion of their service was upon the removing of the host for better ordering whereof it was divided amongst them into three parts The 1. to the Kohathites Numb 3. The 2. to the Gershomites The 3. to the Merarites First the Kohathites were 2750. men and their office was about the Sanctuary Numb 4. 36. or Holiest of all Num. 4. 4. under the government of Eleazar the Priest Numb 3. 32. to bear the Ark of the testimony and all the instruments of the Sanctuary The covering vail which divided the Sanctuary and the Holiest of all the Table of shew-bread the dishes the incense the incesecups the goblets and coverings to cover it with and the bread that shall be thereon continually v. 7. the Candlestick with the Lamps Snuffers Snuffe-dishes and the oyl Vessels thereunto belonging v. 9. the golden Altar for incense v. 11. and the instruments wherewith they minister in the Sanctuary v. 12. The Altar of burnt-offering with the instruments thereof which they occupy about it viz. the censers the flesh-hooks and the basons even all the instruments of the Altar v. 14. But these being the holiest things were to bee taken down and trussed up by the Priests some of them in blew silk some in scarlet some in purple cloth all in badgers skins and the barres and carriages to be put to them by the Priests as is prescribed Numb 4. and then the Cohathites came and bare them away but touch them they might not lest they die v. 15. nor see them when they were folded up v. 20. and Aaron was to appoint what part every man should bear v. 19. The Gershomites were 2630. men Num. 4. 40. under the hand of Ithamar the Priest the other sonne of Aaron Their office was to bear the curtains of the Tabernacle and the Tabernacle of the congregation his covering and the covering of badgers skins that is on high upon it and the vail of the door of the Tabernacle
were appropriate Therefore in the year 1252. Robert Bishop of Lincoln by commission from Innocent 4. not onely enlarged the endowments that before were made to divers Vicarages as he thought good but endowed others out of those Appropriations that had no Vicarages endowed to the great discontentment of all the Approprietaries of that time as appeareth by Matth. Paris And therefore also the Statute of 15 R. 2. cap. 6. and that of 4 H. 4. cap. 12. that ordained that in Licences of Appropriation in the Chancery it should be contained That the Bishop of the Diocesse in every Church so appropriated should provide by his dissretion that the Vicar were convenably endowed Divine service performed and a convenient portion of the fruits thereof yearly distributed to the poor of the Parish did but agnise and affirm the spirituall end whereto these Parsonages were appointed and the authority the Church had still over them notwithstanding such Appropriation commanding the Bishops to see it executed Neither doe I yet finde where this power is taken from the Bishops for the Statute that giveth these appropriate Churches to the King saith not that the King shall have them as temporall lands or discharged of the Bishops jurisdiction but that he shall 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 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 Laymen 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 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 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 2001 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.
God for them as their great Patrons and benefactors for that manner of maintenance wherein they have done beyond and above any Parliament that were before them and they continue and persist in the making of such augmentations as occasion is offered to this very day 3. They have given the repulse to divers petitions against Tithes which by the instinct and instigation of men of unsound principles and unquiet spirits have been put up unto them For the second that they will not take them away in time to come I have these grounds if not of infallible certainty yet of very great probability Though they have resolved upon the sale of Bishops lands and revenues in their Ordinance of November 16. 1646. for that purpose they have made an especiall exception with respect to the maiutenance of Ministers in these words Except parsonages appropriate tithes tithes appropriate oblations obventions portions of tithes parsonages vicarages Churches Chappels advowsons donatives nomination rights of patronage and presentation In excepting the right of patronage they meane neither to leave it to the power of the people to choose what Minister they please and the practice of the Honourable Committee for plundred Ministers sheweth the same for they appoint and place Ministers very often without the petitions of the people and sometimes against them as their wisedome seeth cause and if it were not so many would choose such as deserved to be put out againe Nor to put the Ministers upon the voluntary pensions or contributions of the people for their subsistence but assigne them under such a title what belongeth unto them by the Laws of the Land viz. Tithes obventions c. which intimates their mind not onely for the present but for the future Their wisedome well knoweth that the Revenue of Tithes as it is most ancient for the originall of it and most generall in practice both for times and places so it hath the best warrant from the word of God not onely in the old Testament which none can deny but in the new which though it be denyed by some is averred by others as D. Carleton M. Roberts D. Sclater M. Bagshaw in their treatises of Tithes and yet unrefuted by any and from the Laws of many Christian States especially from the Statutes of our Kingdome whereof abundant evidence is given in the booke of the learned Antiquary Sr Henry Spelman 3. That notwithstanding all the authority that may be pleaded for them the people are backward enough to pay to their Ministers a competent maintenance and if Tithes should be put down by the Parliament it would be very much adoe to bring them up any other way to any reasonable proportion of allowance for their support and so in most places the Ministery would be reduced to extreame poverty and that poverty would produce contempt of their calling and that contempt atheisme 4. That it is evident that such as make the loudest noyse against the tenure of Tithes are as opposite to the office and calling of Ministers as to their maintenance and intend by their left-handed Logicke because as the saying is the Benefit or Benefice is allotted to the office to make way for the taking away of the Ministery by the taking away of Tithes and not to wait the leisure of consequentiall operation according to the craft of Julian who robbed the Church of meanes expecting the want of wages would in time bring after it a want of workmen but presently to beare down both as Relatives mutually inferre one another as well by a negative as a positive inference and so as the Parliament having put down the office of the Prelacy now makes sale of their lands they if they could prevaile for the discarding of Tithes would by the same argument clamour and slander presently and importunately presse for deposition of the Ministery And we see how they take upon them with equall confidence and diligence not onely to write but publikely to dispute against them both 5. That if rights so firmely set upon so many solid foundations should be supplanted it would much weaken the tenure or title that any man hath to his lands or goods and would be a ready plea for rash innovators and the rather because of the manner of the Anabaptists proceedings who began their claime of Christian liberty with a relaxation of Tithes and went on to take off the Interdict or restraint in hunting fishing and fowling wherein they would allow neither Nobility nor Gentry any more priviledge then the meanest peasant And as their principles were loose so were their practices licentious for they held a community of goods and equality of estates whereupon the Common people gave over their worke and whatsoever they wanted they tooke from the rich even against their good wills So that it was a breach of their Christian liberty belike to have a lock or a bolt on a doore to keep a peculiar possession of any thing from them And the liberty was more and more amplified according to the fancies of their dreaming doctors for their dreames were the oracles of their common people and every day they set forth their liberty in a new edition corrupted and augmented till all the partition walls of propriety were broken down and so not content to have other mens goods at their disposall and to be quit from payment of rents and debts having made a monopoly of Saintship to themselves they excommunicated all who were not of their faction both out of sacred society of the Church and out of common communion in the world as wicked and profane and unworthy not onely of livelyhood but of life also and usurped a power to depose Prince and other Civill Magistrates as they pretended they had commission to kill them and to constitute new ones in their stead as they should thinke fit Such seditious and sanguinary Doctors as Luther called them did Satan stirre up under the pretext of Euangelicall liberty a liberty which in them admitted of no bounds being like the c. oath without bankes or bottome of no rule or order being carried on with a wild and giddy violence such as the great and pernicious impostor of the world prompted them unto though they vented their diabolicall illusions under the Title of Divine Revelations as the Prince of darknesse made them believe when he put on his holy-day habit the appearance of an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11. 14. 6. That the payment of Tithes where there are the fruits of the earth and increase of cattell out of which they may be raised is the most equitable way and meanes of maintaining the Minister since such a gaine is not onely harmelesse and without sinne for the manner of acquisition which we cannot say of pensions and exhibitions made up out of trade or traffique but such as may be most permanent and constant since whether the Tithe be lesse or more it is still proportionable to the other
distribution of the revenues for Ministers regard must be had to the desert of the person his family and charge if so certainly there is a great disproportion in deserts and for charge it is considerable not onely for the greatnesse of a Ministers family but for the dearnesse of his education some have spent many yeares and a large patrimony in the University to make them fit for the Ministery and should not they be supplied with a more liberall allowance caeteris paribus then those who have been at little expence both of time estate to be duely qualified for such a calling If the proportion of parts and paines of charge both Academicall and Oeconomicall be duely weighed there will be many more livings found too little then too great for a Ministers maintenance especially if you will allow him a Library such as a learned Knight thought necessary for a Minister of 600. l. value But if the proportion be unreasonable must Tithes be supplanted and their ancient Tenure abolished for such a disproportion must the foundation be digged up because the building is too high may not a tree whose branches are too luxuriant be lopped and left entire in the bodie and roote when a mans beard is too long will you cut off his chinne that out of doubt were an unreasonable reformation 4. From this unreasonable proportion you say arise these unseparable evils 1 That most unworthy persons who by favour or friendship or any sinister wayes can get into the greatest livings being once invested with a legall right of freehold for their lives securely fleece the flocke and feed themselves without feare or care more then to keep themselves without the compasse of a sequestration whilst others both painfull and conscionable both serve starve This is not as you call it an unseparable evill from the proportion you speake of for there be some men who have had and at this present have great livings not by any sinister wayes but by such favour and friendship as is ingenuous and just and who keep as great a distance from desert of sequestration as any Committee man doth within the County wherein they live And if they carry themselves so as to be without feare and care and without the compasse of a sequestration in these inquisitive and accusative times they are more to be countenanced and encouraged then many of those who are professed adversaries to them But the matter it seemes that troubles you is that they are invested with a legall right of free hold for their lives and if they have such a right and walke so warily as to keep out of the reach of a just sequestration why should they not enjoy it would you have all to be betrusted to the discretion and conscience of your arbitrary Committees Truely Gentelemen we are afraid to trust you so farre as to give up such a certaine title as formerly and anciently established upon the Incumbent by the fundamentall Lawes of the Land as the right of any person to his Temporall estate and to stand to your arbitrary dispensations for our livelihood lest Laban-like you should change our wages ten times and if your petition should take place it might prove of very ill consequence in another generation were you never so well minded and it may be sooner in the next succession for if the Trustees should be either proud or covetous or prophane or licentious hereticall or schismaticall the best Mininisters might happily be the worst dealt withall and the right of receiving Tithes taken out of their hands might put them into the passive condition of silly and impotent wards under subtill and domineering Tutors or Guardians in name such but indeed nothing lesse then assertors and defenders of their rights as Tutors and Guardians ought to be And that our feare and jealousie is not without cause in respect of Trustees and Committee-men nor so much of you in particular of some of whom we have heard and beleeve much good as of such as may have as great authority without so good an intention we shall give you our ground out of the observation and complaint of witnesses above exception viz. the well affected freemen and covenant-engaged Citizens of the City of London in their humble representation to the right Honourable the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled in these words And here we may not omit to hint unto your Honours the exorbitant practises of many Committees and Committee-men who have such an influence by meanes of their authority upon the people they being at their wills and in their power to doe them a displeasure that they dare not doe otherwise then obey their unlawfull commands without the inevitable hazard of their peace and safety through which meanes tyranny is exercised by one fellow-subject upon another and justice and equity cannot enter The cryes of all sorts of people through the land are growne so loud against the people of this vocation and profession by reason of those grievous oppressions that are continually acted by them that in tendernesse of affection toward our brethren not being ignorant or insensible of our owne sufferings in this kind and the great dishonour accrewing to the Parliament thereby that we cannot but be earnest suitors to your mercy and justice that such may be dissolved 2. For obtainment of these livings we see such sordid compliances with such persons as have the fattest benefices as they count and call them in their dispose such artifices in contriving making and colouring over Simoniacall and sinfull bargaines compacts and matches such chopping of Churches and restlesse change of places till they get into the easiest and warmest and other such like practises not to be named nor yet to be prevented or removed otherwise then by flucking up the very roote which naturally brancheth out it selfe into these foresaid mischiefes so obstructive and destructive to all reformation Here is a great deale of aggravating rhetoricke against the greatnesse of Church-livings But why should all this evill be imagined rather of Ministers fat benefices as you say they are called then of great and gainfull offices in the State Is there not more care had and more strict triall taken of Ministers sincerity and integrity then of secular officers surely we are bound in charity to expect a more reformed Ministery then we have had who will rather say unto a Simoniacall patron as Peter to Simon Magus Thy monie perish with thee Acts 8. 20. then be Levies to such a Simeon in making a base and corrupt contract for a benefice And for that you say that such practises are not to be prevented or removed otherwise then by plucking up the very roote which naturally brancheth it selfe out into these foresaid mischiefes so obstructive and destructive to all religion Whether you meane Tithes to be this roote or the disproportion of Benefices or the right of patronage and protection I cannot tell but sure I am that the Apostle
allegoricall or anagogicall To retort his scoffe I might say it seemeth an Elephant of absurdity to the Gnat of his learning but I desire rather to satisfie him Si malitia non mutaverit intellectum then to disgrace him It cannot be denied if there be a correspondency betweene the body of our Church and Common wealth with the body of the Church and Common wealth of the Jewes the same must also hold proportionably amongst the members thereof and in consequence that the passages of state of government of peace warre liberty oppression prosperity adversity and other occurrents either active or passive must hold some aspect and analogy one unto the other And then also that whatsoever is denounced against the enemies of the one trencheth comparatively against the enemies of the other Come then unto the matter The prophet inveigheth against them that seeke to spoile oppresse or disturbe the Church of God seated in India be it openly by war or secretly by some stratagem of wit Doth not this thwart them also that attempt the like in our Church Yes saith he against them of the King of Spaines Armado in 88. and those of the Powder Treason wherein the universall desolation both of the King and Kingdome Church and Common-wealth were not onely projected but attempted by our enemies But shew me will he say what hath the appropriating of a pelting Parsonage or the pulling downe of a stone-house which you call a Church is unto this for the one is an Elephant the other but a Gnatt I answer Eadem est ratio partium quae est totius And out of this reason and analogy our Saviour Christ argueth him that casteth but a lascivious looke to be guilty of the great Commandement non maechaberis as well as him that committed the very heinous act it selfe and then also that whatsoever the Prophet denounceth against them that spoile the Church in generall the same descends upon every particular man that spoileth the same in any particular part as Omne genus praedicatur de omnibus singulis suis speciebus etiam infimis individuis Now that the taking up of these parsonages and defacing of places of publike prayer is a spoile of the Church of God appeareth in this that the meanes and maintenance of the seruice of God and of his ministers is thereby diminished and destroyed which subtraction of maintenance from the minister God in Malachi 3. 8. declareth to be a spoyling of himselfe for that his seruice is thereby hindred and his Church impaired And although this man affirmeth that although there were never a stone-Church or minister in the kingdome yet the Church and service of God might stand well enough for that every mans family is a Church and every master thereoftyed to instruct his servants every father his children yet by example of the Church in the time of the Apostles we ought to have places of publicke prayer and some to instruct these masters and fathers for the husbandman the artisan the day-labourer are not commanded to neglect their vocation and turne preachers as too many now adayes do And though perhaps some such good men out of their devotion would preach now and then to instruct their brethren yet who shall do it ordinarily and where shall the Assembly be entertained for every town hath not a Guild-hall a Sessions-house a Cock-pit or a Play-house fit for such a multitude And though they may as he saith serve God abroad with Paul in a dungeon with Ieremy or on a muckhill with Iob yet heat or cold wet or wind will hinder them at one time or other so that doubtlesse it were very necessary to have a man and a place publickly appointed for the service of God in every Congregation And then since this man cannot perform his office without maintenance and such a place as we speake of the taking of them away puts him from doing his duty deprives his parishioners of their instruction and then by consequence spoyles the Church of God and so the curse of the Psalme lyeth justly against them But let us now take a view of the gnat he speaketh of and which he contemneth so much in respect of the smalnesse thereof Had there been but three or foure of these livings taken from the Church his fancy might have had the more colour to use such fond applications but if it cometh to three or foure hundred it groweth now beyond the size of a Gnat what shall we then say of 3845. livings or appropriate Parsonages thus taken from the Church which is more by 1126. then the halfe of all those that remaine and within 897. as many as them all for the Churches not appropriate are but 5439. through all England and Wales So that the parishes of the Churches appropriate containe neare about the one halfe of the kingdome which is more if Hierome in his Epistle to Dardanus as I take it deceive me not then twice so much as all the land of Iudea though we reckon the kingdome of Israel into it but many times more then the kingdome of Iudea which conteined but the two tribes onely that stucke to God and of whose times this Psalme seemeth to be a prophecie And thus ye see both the gnat and the Elephant that he speaketh of though I mean not to propose them to you by way of comparison but discover his intemperance or want of judgement But to support his credit with a broken prop it may be he will say that upon the appropriating these Churches and transferring of them to the King there was a provision left in most of the parishes for a Vicar or Curate to do divine service there and that nothing was taken from them but superfluity so to keepe them in diet and bridle their immoderate luxurie which he proclaimeth to be so exorbitant as scarcely all England and Virginia to boot can satisfie Lord blesse us is it possible that our Church-men should become so monstrous or hath Shimei thus railed against the body of them without his perill I hope much better of their temperance then of his tongue But I leave them to make their own Apology for I have digressed beyond my purpose and therefore will spend no time in discoursing upon the provision made for Vicars and Curates in these Churches appropriate He seemeth to be of Micahs mind that ten shekels or a matter of foure nobles a year besides diet and a suite of apparell is a faire maintenance for one of our Ministers In which point I have else-where declared my selfe at large and will not therefore here insist upon it onely this I would know of him what surplusage or superfluity there could be to give unto the King or take from the Church when besides the maintenance of the Ministers much was to be disposed by them in relieving the poore and other pious uses Henricus Spelmannus Richardo suo Careo viro praestanti Sal. P. D. MAnsuctudinis tuae prorsus
Acts 4. 34 35. 1. Num. 4. 2. 3. Exod. 26. 15. * Praecepit eis â—â— unaquaeque generatio ministraret Deo per dies octo à Sabbatho usque ad Sabbathum Joseph Antiq. l. 7. cap. 15. p. 389. * Eos verò qui erant de germine Mosis eminentiùs honoravit fecit eos auteÌ„ custodes thesaurorum Dei atque vasorum quae reges Deo dicare contigerit Antiq. l. 7. c. 15. pag. 390. Iudices autem populi scribas eorum 6000. Antiq. l. 7. c. 15. p. 389. Note 1 Chron. 26. 14 1 Chron. 27. 5. 1 Chron. 11. 22 Gen. 49. 7. Erant niâ—ilominus ea tempestate sacrdotes nec dum adhuc à lege ordinati sed naturali sâ—pâ—entia hâ—s requirente perficienâ—e l. 11. in Iob p. 2. In Gen. 4. 3. Vâ— non Gentes ex Iudaeis sed Iudaei ex Gentibus sacerdotium acceperint Ep. ad Euagrium Tom. 3. p. 38. Tom. 4. 99. August de Consens Eu. Tom. 4. 100. a. 1. 2. 3. 1. Numb 6. 8. 2. 3. Conc. Laodicen c. 11. When there shall be a place which the Lord God shall chuse to cause his name to dwell there thither shall you bring all that I command you your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices your tithes and the offerings of your hands and all your speciall vows which you vow unto the Lord Deut. 12. 11. these things were not respited till then but appointed that then also they must bee performed for it is also said Exod. 12. 21. When yee shall come into the Land which the Lord shall give you then ye shall keep this service i. e. of the Passeover which was done Ios. 4. 6. but yet I take this to be discharge of it in the mean time Quaerc * Many affirm that he was at Rome Metaphrastes and some other that he was here in Britannia Petri igitur muneris erat ut qui jam complures orientis Provincias praedicando euangelium peragrasset jam quod reliquum esse videbatur lustraret orbem occidentalem usque ad Britannos quod tradunt Metaphrastes alii Christi sidem annuncians penetraret Baron Tom. 1. f. 5 97. l. 13. Metaph. die 29. Junii 3 Tim. 3. 2. Though the Levite be said 2 Chron. 25. 3. to teach all Israel yet it seemeth not that they expounded the Word of God unto the people or had it in charge so to doe but that they iÌ„nstructed them how to carry themselves in their sacrifices ceremonies therefore Jerome translateth this place Levitis quoque ad quorum eruditionem omnis Israel sanctificabatur Domino For which cause the Latines used the word decimare exdecimare to choose and cull out the principall things and our own English word Tithe importeth as much for it commeth of the Saxon Teoð i. e. the tenth which is a verball of Teo that signifieth to take out as if it should admonish us that the tithe or part given to God must bee a choice or principall part In sum de deci §. 1. V. Vocab Vtrius Jur. in verbo decima Raymundus 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. * Multis aliis atque aliis numerorum formis quaedam similitudinum in libris sanctis seponuntur quae propter imperitiam numeroruÌ„ legentibus clausa sunt De doâ—tri Christ. lib. 2. De Abraham Patriarch l. 2. Mat. 22. 21. Mat. 22. 21. Mar. 12. 17. Luke 10. 25. Joh. 13. 7. Decima omnia complectitur Bullinger in â— Heb. Lib. de 10. praecep sol 75 76. seq Quid si numero isto denario universitas reguÌ„ significata est De C. D. lib. 20. 23. Decima hora numerus iste legem significat quia in 10. praeceptis data est lex in cap. 1. Evang. Joh. Tract 7. To. 10. Serm. 15. de verb. Domini in Evang. Mal. Ser. 15. Tom. 10 Numb 18. 27. Tom. 10. fol. 15. 2 Chro. 31. 10. Lib. 4. Lib. 14. Pharsal 5. In Agamem Cic. in Verrem Satis amplum ex se ad librum conficiendum praebet argumentum Phil. de 10. praecep Quia omnia Dei sunt per quae vivit sive terra sive â—lumina sive semina vel omnia quae sub coelo â—unt aut super coelos De reâ—tiâ—ud Cath. convers Traâ—t Tom. 4. Antiq. Iud. l. 4. ca. 3. De rectitud Cath. Convers. Tom. 9. Sustulerunt dominum at non servum Gen. 14. 20. Heb. 7. V. 30. Nehem. 10. 37. Deut. 16. 16. The tenth of bullocks and sheep and all that goeth under the rod commanded Lev. 32. Herodot Clio. lib. 1. f. 36. Livy li. 5. Pliny l. 12. c. 24 Melpont l. 4. f. 267. Thalia l. 3. f. 1â—0 Note In Ranis Decimas nupeius extortas per papas Caal test ter primo impositas in Concil per Pelagium Papam Anno 588. Damas. pâ— patrim adiit An. 367. Hoc confirm Con. Hispalens Tom. 2. Et approbat pâ—r Gualter Hospinian de origin honorum ecclesiae ca. 3. p. 123. De nat Deo l. 2. Quis scribit in cordibus hominum naturalem â—egem nisi Deus Aug. desâ—rm Domini in monte l. 2. Instit. l. 1. c. 3. Calv. Iâ—st l. 1. c. 4. It seemeth this law of nature is tearmed by Moses the Law of God for he saith I declare the Ordinances of God and his Laws Exod. 18. 16. when as yet the Law was not given and before ca. 15. 26. If Israel will hearken to his Commandements and keep his Ordinances c. 19. 5. Exod. 16. 1â— In the Hebrew text it is indefinite which of them gave tiths to other therefore the Iews say Melchisedek gave it to Abraham but the holy Ghost in the 7. to the Hebrews explaineth it that Abraham gave them to Melchisedek Codomannus saith in the year 293. some other count it above 370. Melchised Dei sacerdos Solymorum quam civitatem postea Hierosolymam vocarunt Ios. Antiq. l. 1. c. 18. Hieron in Ep. ad Euagr. et in loc Heb. Lyra in Gen. 33. Joh. 3. 23. So that Melchisedek prefigurated the whole Priesthood of Christian Religion and Abraham the whole Laity therefore Chrysostome saith Considera quanta sit excellentia nostratis sacerdotii quandoquidem Abraham Patriartha Iudaeorum progenitor Levitarum comperitur benedictionem accipere à Melchisedec Orat 4. advers Iud. Sed ita Paulus ipse Superbia vitae Concupiscentia carnis Hypocrisis Avaâ—â—tia vel concupiscentia oculoruÌ„ Hugo Multo post futurum Domini sacramentum anâ—e signavit ac sacrificio panis vini mysterium corporis sanguinis expressit p. To. 4. 14. c. Ministravit iste Melchisedek Abrahamo exercitui xenia multam abundantiam rerum optimarum simul exhibuit super epulaâ— eum collaudare coepit benedicere Deum qui ei subdiderat inimicos Jos. Antiquit. l. 1. c. 18. No fisâ— as though the curse extended not to the sea Liv. â— â— Non ideo nobis proponi exempla justorum ut ab eis justificemur sed ut eos imitantes ab eorum justificatore nos quoque
cost 80l. Besides Legacies to severall Ministers The particulars are more fully recited in the Survay to which I referre pag. 761. Ms Ellen Goulston Relict of Theodore Goulston Dr of Physick a very learned man being possessed of the Impropriate Parsonage of Bardwell in Suffolk did first procure from the King leave to annexe the same to the Vicarage and to make it presentative and having formerly the donation of the Vicarage she gave them both thus annexed freely to St Johns Colledge in Oxon expressing many godly reasons in a pious letter of her grant to advance the glory of God to her power and give the world some testimony that she had not been a fruitlesse observer of those who taught her that knowledge without its fruit and that love of Christ without love to his Church was but an empty mask of an empty faith Thus with devout prayers for a blessing from God upon those which should be chosen Rectors there she commended the deeds and conveyances of the Parsenage for ever to the Colledge And this way doth justly seem the best manner of restitution it being a double benefit to the Church both in providing carefully for the Parish and selecting out of the Vniversities able and worthy Divines in due time and manner without any corruption which the Colledges are carefull to avoid and therefore that course was followed by Sir Ralph Hare already mentioned by the prudent advise of Sir Henry Spelman which course if it had been observed by them who lately were imployed in purchasing of Impropriations they had freed themselves from sinister suspitions by devesting themselves wholly of any profits reserved to their disposing and might have much advanced the glory of God by diligent preaching within the campasse of few years and many would have been perswaded easily to become contributers and benefactors to their purpose Divers Colledges in Oxon having been anciently possessed of Impropriations have of late years taken a course to reserve a good portion of the tithe corn from their tenents thereby to increase the Vicars maintenance so that the best learned Divines are willing to accept the Livings and yet the Colledge is not diminished in rents but loseth onely some part of their fine when the tenants come to renue their Leases Certain Bishops also have done the like as Dr Morton whiles he was Bishop of Lichfield did abate a good part of his fine to encrease the portion of the Minister in the Vicarage of Pitchley in Northamptonshire belonging to his Bishoprick and so did his successor Dr Wright for the Vicarage of Torcester also in the same shire which was very piously done considering what great Lands and Manours were taken away from that Bishoprick among others and some Impropriations given in lieu of them Besides this present Parliament hath taken singular care to augment the maintenance of many poor Vicarages and other small Livings wherein they have proceeded carefully and have made many additions to severall poor benefices for the better inabling of the incumbent Ministers to be faithfull and diligent in their callings And while Sir Hen. Sp. lived there came some unto him almost every Terme at London to consult with him how they might legally restore and dispose of their Impropriations to the benefit of the Church to whom he gave advice as he was best able according to their particular cases and inquiries and there wanted not others that thanked him for his book promising that they would never purchase any such appropriate Parsonages to augment their estates Whereby it appears how effectually the consciences of many men were moved with his moderate and pious perswasions and himself was much confirmed in his opinion of the right of Tithes which moved him to consign his works of this argument besides others to my care with direction to publish them as is also expressed in his last Will and Testament Whereupon I hold my self obliged in conscience and duty to God and to the memory of this excellent Knight to whom I was infinitely obliged for his instructions conferences and favours which I enjoyed in the course of my studies many years frequenting his house and company not to conceal these works any longer from the publique view but to publish them to the benefit of the Church and servants of God now especially when prophanenesse hath so licentiously overflowed and the covetous wretches and Mammonists of this world have begun to withdraw and deny their Tithes muttering that they are Popish and superstitious and therfore to be rooted out as their language is wherein yet the Parliament hath honourably discovered their zeal and care by their censure and check upon the Petition against Tithes exhibited in May 1646. and by their Ordinance providing for the true payment of all tithes rights and dues to the Church as more fully appears therein Wherein they have followed the moderne and ancient Lawes as that expression of the Act of Parliament 27 Hen. 8. cap. 20. That whereas numbers of ill disposed persons having no respect of their duty to Almighty God but against right and good conscience did withhold their Tithes due to God and holy Church as in that Statute is more at large expressed So in the 12. Tables Sacrum sacrove commendatum qui dempserit rapseritve parricida esto It being accounted sacriledge by all Laws to take away such things as have been formerly given to God for so they were given expresly to God as Magna Charta saith Concessimus Deo we have given to God for us and our heirs c. So Charles the great We know that the goods of the Church are the sacred indowments of God To the Lord our God we offer and dedicate whatsoever wee deliver to his Church Cap. Car. lib. 6. So Tully anciently Communi jure gentium sancitum est ut ne mortales quod Deorum immortalium cultui consecratum est usucapere possint So Calvin Sacrum Deo non sine insigni in eum injuria ad profanos usus applicatur Instit. li. 3. cap. 7. § 1. Tithes therefore being consecrated unto God ought carefully to be preserved in these days in regard the Church enjoyeth not the tithe of the tenth which formerly it had and hath also to this day among the Papists who doe not take away from the Church but are ready to restore as they have done in many Countries CONTENTS OF THE SEVERALL TREATISES AND CHAPTERS The larger Book of Tithes containing these particulars following The Introduction to it Cap. 1. VVHat things be due unto God first a portion of our time pag. 1 Cap. 2 The second sort of tribute that we are to render unto God that is a portion of our land pag. 2 Cap. 3 That the portion of land assigned to God must be sufficient for the habitation of the Ministers pag. 3 Cap. 4 That Christ released not the portion due to God out of our lands pag. 6 Cap. 5 What part in reason and by direction of nature might seem fittest for
God pag. 8 Cap. 6 Concerning the revenue and maintenance of the Church in her infancy first in Christs time then in the Apostles in the Churches of Jerusalem Alexandria Rome and Africa pag. 11 Cap. 7 That the service of the Levites was clean altered from the first Institution yet they enjoyed their Tithes pag. 33 § 1. Of Templar Levites § 2. Of Provinciall Levites Cap. 8 The great account made of Priests in the old Law and before pag. 42 Cap. 9 When our Saviour commanded the Disciples should take nothing with them but live of the charges of the faithfull this bound not the Disciples perpetually pag. 44 Cap. 10 That many things in the beginning both of the Law and the Gospel were admitted and omitted for the present or reformed afterward pag. 46 Cap. 11 That upon the reasons alledged and others here ensuing the use of Tithing was omitted in Christs and the Apostles time and these reasons are drawn ab expediente the other à necessitate pag. 51 Cap. 12 That Ministers must have plenty pag. 55 Cap. 13 Not to give lesse then the tenth pag. 57 Cap. 14 The Etymology and definition of Tithes and why a tenth part rather then any other is due pag. 67 Cap. 15 Who shall pay Tithe pag. 76 Cap. 16 Out of what things Tithe is to be paid pag. 79 Cap. 17 That things offered unto God be holy pag. 62 Cap. 18 Tithes must not be contemned because they were used by the Church of Rome pag. 64 Cap. 19 That the Tradition of ancient Fathers and Councels is not lightly to be regarded pag. 86 Cap. 20 Ancient Canons of Councels for payment of Tithes pag. 88 Cap. 21 In what right Tithes are due and first of the Law of Nature pag. 93 Cap. 22 How far forth they be due by the Law of Nature pag. 94 Cap. 23 Tithes in the Law of Nature first considered in Paradise pag. 97 Cap. 24 The time of Nature after the fall pag. 100 Cap. 25 That they are due by the Law of God pag. 104 Cap. 26 That they are due by the Law of Nations pag. 113 Cap. 27 That they are due by the Law of the Land pag. 129 Cap. 28 Tithe is not meerly Leviticall How it is and how not and wherein Iudaicall pag. 139 § 1. An Objection touching Sacrifice First-fruits and Circumcision § 2. Touching the Sabbath day Easter and Pentecost Cap. 29 How Appropriations began pag. 151 § 1. That after the Appropriation the Parsonage still continueth spirituall pag. 157 § 2. That no man properly is capable of an Appropriation but spirituall men pag. 159 § 3. What was granted to the King pag. 161 § 4. Whether Tithes and Appropriations belonged to the Monasteries or not pag. 163 § 5. In what sort they were granted to the King pag. 164 § 6. That the King might not take them pag. 165 § 7. Of the Statute of dissolution that took away Impropriations from the Church pag. 167 § 8. That the King may better hold Impropriations then his Lay Subjects pag. 169 An Apology of the Treatise De non temerandis Ecclesiis An Epistle to M. Rich Carew concerning Tithes A Treatise of Impropriations by Sir Francis Bigot Knight of Yorkshire An Epistle to the Church of Scotland prefixed to the second Edition of the first Treatise printed at Edinburgh Errata addenda IN the Introduction pa. 1. oweth r. onely Pag. 17. quinto r. quinque P. 18. Cities r. Citizens P. 20. Abraham r. Abel P. 67. Tâ—â—tum r. totum P. 68. quaestorum r. quaesitorum P. 75. caeduus r. arduus P. 78. guests r. gifts P. 82. N. F. r. ut ff P. 115. peret r. peâ—et P. 117. Therumatus r. Therumahs P. 166. even christian r. emne christen Some places and quotations are defective in the originall and could not easily be supplied which the Reader may please to excuse till further search can be made In the catalogue of Benefactors and Restorers of Impropriations there is omitted among others The Right honourable Lo Scudamore Viscount Slego who hath very piously restored much to some Vicarages in Herefordshire whereof yet I cannot relate particulars fully Dr Fell the worthy Dean of Christ-Church in Oxon with the consent of the Prebendaries hath for his short time since he was Dean been very carefull and pious in this kind besides great reparations of the decayed and imperfect buildings and other necessaries of the colledge in renuing and granting Leases to the Tenants of Impropriations he hath reserved a good increase of maintenance to the incumbent Ministers in divers places and hath put things into a course for the like increase in other Vicarages as Leases shall happen to be renewed And much more might have been done if King Hen. 8. had not taken away the goodly Lands provided for that colledge by Wolsey giving Impropriations for them by which exchange he was a great gainer New Colledge Magdalen Coll and Queens Coll have done the like upon their Impropriations and some others have made augmentations also whereof the particulars shall appear hereafter upon perfect information The Introduction GOD hath created all things for his glory and must be glorified by them all in generall and by every of them in particular The celebration of this his glory he hath committed in heaven to the Angels in Earth unto Man Yea the devils declare his glory and Hell it selfe roareth it forth For this purpose he hath assigned unto man the circuit of the whole earth to be the stage of this Action and the place of his habitation whilst it is in hand He hath delivered unto him the wealth and furniture thereof to be the materials for performing of it and the meanes of his maintenance in the meane season And lest he should want leisure and opportunity sufficient for so great a busines he hath commanded the heavens themselves the Sunne the Moone the Starres yea the whole frame of Nature to attend upon him to apply their sweet influence unto him to assist him in all his indeavours and to measure him out a large portion of time and life for the full accomplishing of this right noble most glorious Vocation It is a rule in Philosophy that Beneficium requirit officium And we are taught by the law of nature that he which receiveth a benefit oweth to his benefactor Honour Faith and Service according to the proportion of the benefit received Vpon this rule was the ancient law not onely of England but of other Nations also grounded that compelled every man that had Lands or tenements of the gift of another to hold them of his Donor and to doe him fealty and service for them that is to faithfull unto him and to yeeld him some kind of vassallage though no such matter were once mentioned betweene them Yea at this day if the King give Lands to any man without expressing a tenure the Donee shall not only hold them of him but he shall hold them by the