ita ut se patronos tutores ejus praestarent Kings and Princes should give much Lands Revenues and great maintenance for the worship of God and his Ministers attending thereon which promise God abundantly performed by many and great Emperours Kings and Princes in all Countries after their conversion to the faith The donations gifts and buildings of Constantine the first and great Christian Emperour born at York and Helena his mother an English Lady exceeding religious and devout are famous in History together with their buildings and endowing of many ample and beautifull Churches in severall Counties of the Empire Dominicum aureum Nobilissimum Antiochiae templum à Constantino M. inceptum sub Constantio verò absolutum hoc epitheto prae excellentia honoratum insigni Episcoporum populorumque confluentia ejus encaeniam cebrante Hieron in Chronico In Antiochia Dominicum quod vocatur aureum aedificari coeptum Et infra mox Antiochiae Dominicum aureum dedicatur Glossar Spelman pa. 224. Cyrill describing a Church of Constantines building in Jerusalem cals it Cat. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Church all adorned and embossed with silver and gold Eusebius reporting of the spacious and beautifull Church of Tyre which was built anew by the famous B. P. Paulinus says the lustre and splendour was such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as made beholders amazed to behold it Neither did he thus alone in his own persō but he also gave leave to his subjects to doe the like whereby the Church was greatly enriched in a short time C. L. 1. c. de sacrosanct Ecclesiis § Si quis authent de Ecclesia The gifts and buildings of divers other Emperours and Kings as Theodosius Justinian Pipin and Charles the great are endlesse to be repeated When as any doth the like now or repair old Churches formerly built he is by some ignorant people tearmed Popish or Popish affected The grants buildings and gifts of our own English Kings Noble men and Bishops ever since our first conversion are famous in our Histories especially of King Lucius and Ethelbert the two first of the British and Saxon Kings so also of Egbert Alured Ethelwolph Edgar Edward the Confessor and many others in times following after the Conquest no Princes or Nobles being more bountifull then ours in England Their 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 L'Evesque de Winchester case fol. 45. 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 Ezek. 45 c. 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 Cap. 6. 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 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 Six 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 fine insigni in eum injurin ad prosanos 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
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 Strigelius in leg lib. 2. pag. 307. 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Codin p. 5. Suidas 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 Apud Euseb l. 10. ca. 5. 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 1 Cor. 9.14 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 necessity 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 which 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 6. 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 un 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 for their portion Therefore Prosper a godly Father of that time Lib. 21. de vita Contemplativa 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 Epist ad Nepotianum 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 affligantur 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 there with 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 Note 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 sanctir 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 over 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 Acts 4.34 35. 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 incense-cups the goblets and coverings to cover it with and the bread that shall be thereon continually Num. 4. 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 of the Congregation v. 25. the curtain also of the Court which is neer the Tabernacle and neer the Altar round about with their cords and all the instruments for their service and all that is made for them v. 26. Aaron to appoint every man his charge v. 27. and watch v. 28. The Merarites were 3200. men v. 44. under Ithamar also Exod. 26.15 and they had in charge the boards of the Tabernacle with the barres thereof and his pillars and his sockets v. 31. And the pillars round about the Court with their sockets and their pins and their cords with all their instruments even for all their service to be reckoned by name or Inventory and the instruments of their office and charge v. 32. Exod. 4. and Exod. ca. 3. This was the office and charge of the Levites as they were simply Levites and not Priests also and for their service in this kind were they judged worthy of the Tithes of all Israel But when Solomon had builded the Temple and there setled the Ark the Altars and all the holy implements this businesse of theirs was meerly at an end for those holy things were now no more to be carried up and down David therefore foreseeing it transposed the Levites to new offices before they were Levites of the Tabernacle now he maketh some of them Levites of the Temple and other Provinciall Levites according to which is the speech that Josiah useth to the Levites Put the holy Ark in the house which Solomon the son of David King of Israel did build it shall be no more a burden upon your shoulders serve now the Lord your God and his people Israel 2 Chron. 35.3 § 1. Of the Levites of the Temple The Levites of the Temple were those that served about the Temple and were as I say instituted by David but inducted by Solomon Davids bloudy hands might not build the Temple of peace 1 Chron. 22.8 he prepared the treasure and stuffe for the building the men and the manner for the order of the service ib. v. 14. c.
not be suddainly done nor compendiously written that belonged to the government of the Church therefore the Apostles left much to the wisedome of the Church under this generall Commission Let all be done in order 1 Cor. 14.40 a few words but of great extent like that of the Dictators at Rome which being but two words providere reipub gave them authority over every thing CAP. XI That upon the reasons alledged and other here ensuing the use of tithing was omitted in Christs and the Apostles time and these reasons are drawn one ab expediente the other à necessitate THe greater matters thus quailing as aforesaid it could not bee chosen but things of lesse importance must also be neglected especially such as were outward and concerned onely the body amongst which the use of Tithing was likewise discontinued both in the Apostles time and in the first age of the Law when the great ceremonies of Circumcision Sacrifice and Oblations the Passeover c. and many other holy rites were suffered to sleep But some will say 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 Quaere God strictly exacted not these things till the place he had chosen was prepared for them that is till the building of the Temple as it is true in part touching the old Law so is it likewise true in the new Law and that therefore Christ and the Apostles exacted not the payment of Tithes in the first pilgrimage and warfare of the Gospel but referred them amongst some other things till the Church were established for as Solomon saith Every thing hath his time and the time was not yet come that the Church should demand her owne lest with Martha shee seemed curious about worldly things rather then as Mary to seek the spirituall When the Kindome was rent from Saul and given to David David by and by sought not the Crown but life and liberty so the Priesthood being rent from Levi and given to the Church the Church by and by required not her earthly duties but as David did life to grow up and liberty to spread abroad for love saith Saint Paul seeketh not her own 1 Cor. 13.5 and should then the mother of all love the Church be curious herein especially when her necessities were otherwise so abundantly supplied Saint Paul maketh it manifest 1 Cor. 9. throughout where he sheweth that very much liberty and great matters were due unto him in respect of his Ministry yet he concludeth I have not used this power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but on the contrary part suffered all things ibid. v. 12. and again v. 15. I have used none of all these things But why did he not use them since they were due unto him his reason is that we as though he spake in the name of all the Apostles should not hinder the Gospel of Christ ibid. v. 12. But why should the taking of that was due unto him hinder the Gospel because the malicious backbiters would thereupon report that he rather preached it for gain then of zeal and so abased his authority in the Gospel ib. 18. wheras by this course of taking nothing for his pains hee made it as he saith free ibid. and stopped their mouths Thus it is evident that the Apostles not onely neglected but absolutely refused even the things that they certainly knew to belong unto them Another reason why the Apostles received no Tithes drawn à necessitate The very condition of the Church in the time of the Apostles could not suffer them to receive Tithes for as the Levites received them not in their travell and ways but when they were setled and the Temple built so the Apostles being altogether in travel through all parts of the world and in continuall warfare with the enemies of the Gospel one while in prison another while in slight always in persecution much lesse could they look after Tithes which also were not to he paid as they needed them but at the times and places onely when and where they grow to be due and one that time came they that were to receive them were in another Countrey many hundred miles off for example the holy Ghost saith that Peter walked through all quarters Acts â— 32. one while at Lyddâ— ib. another while as Joppa ib. 〈◊〉 36. first at Jerusalem after at Antioch in Syria Gal. 2.11 then at Babylon in Aegypt * 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 accidentalem usque ad Britannos quod tradunt Metaphrastes alii Christi sidem annuncians penetraret Baron Tom. 1. f. 5 97. l. 13. Metaph. die 29. Junii 1 Pet. 5.13 Paul and Burnabas being at Antioch aforesaid or sent forth by the holy Ghost first to Seleucia in Syria then to Salamis and Paphus in the Isle of Cyprus after from thence to Berga in Bamphilia so to the other Antioch in Pisidia Acts 13. after to Iconiuâ—â— Lystria Derbe the parts of Lycaonia So again to Antioch in Syria thence to Jerusalem and presently back to the same Antioch where Paul and Barnabas breaking company Barnabas with Mark saileth to Cypras Paul taking Silas travelleth through Syria and Cilitâ—a confirming the Churches Then he commeth to the Countries of Phrygia Galatia Mysia from whence being called by the holy Ghost he leaveth Asia and passeth by Samothracia into Europe preacheth at Philippi a City of Macedonia furthest North-ward of all Greece then back again and up and down Asia to Jerusalem again and from thence at length to Rome Reade Acts 13.14 15 16. cap. I will not speak of that Theodoritus and Sâ—phroniâ—â— the Patriarch of Jerusalem affirm that after his first imprisonment at Rome he preached the Gospel to the Britaine 's our Countrymen for happily he might doe that at Rome But to come to the rest of the Apostles Bartholomew as Jerome witnesseth Catalog script Eccles Tom. 1. goeth to the Indians Thomas to the Medes Persians Hyrcanians and Bastrians Matthew up and down Aethiopia every one of them one way or other to carry one sound of the Gospel through all the world Psal 19. I ask now what these men should have done with their Tithes where
them lay or temporall Livings no the words of the Statute are That the King shall have them in as large and ample manner as the Governors of those houses had them c. So that though the Statute changed the owner of the thing yet it changed not the nature of the thing The Monasticall persons had them before as spirituall Livings and now the King must have them in as large manner but still as spirituall Livings and with much more reason might the King so have them then any other temporall men for as the Kingdome and Priesthood were united in the person of our Saviour Christ so the person of a King is not excluded from the function of a Priest though as Christ being a Priest medled not with the kingdome so they as Kings medle not with the Priesthood Yet by the Laws of the Land the King is composed as well of a spirituall body politique as of a temporall and by this his spirituall body he is said to be supream Ordinary that is chief Bishop over all the Bishops in England and in that his Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall authority doth many things which otherwise in his temporall he could not doe and therefore the Statute of 25 H. 8. cap. doth agnise the words In this part of his power W made Appropriations of Parsonages which otherwise he could not doe Coke p. 5. f. 10 authoritate nostra regia Suprema Ecclesiastica qua fungimur which the King useth in divers Charters touching spirituall causes doe testifie that he taketh upon him the execution thereof and therefore in this respect he may much better hold them then his lay subjects Neither is this authority of the King founded upon the Statute of H. 8. or any other puisne institution but deduced anciently from the very Saxon Kings as appeareth by many of their Laws and Charters wherein as supream Ordinary they dispose of the rights and jurisdiction of the Church delivering unto religious persons greater or lesser portion thereof according to their own pleasure and abridging and exempting other from the authority of the Bishops and Archbishops or any other Ecclesiasticall Prelate And in this respect it seemeth that the Chappell of the Kings house was in ancient time under no other Ordinary then the King himself for William the Conquerour granting all exemption to Battail Abbey granteth that it shall be as free from the command of any Bishops as his own Chappell Dominica Capella which as it thereby seemeth was under no other Bishop then the King himself But the Bishops agreed to the granting away of these Church Livings Object It is true that the Law accounteth the judgement of the major part to be the judgement of all but the Bishops cannot be said to have agreed unto it as being willing with it but as concluded by legall necessity and inference For though all the Bishops said nay yet the Lay Barons by reason of their number exceeding the Bishops were not able to hinder it and no man doubteth that in publique suffrages very many times major pars vincit meliorem therefore I neither accuse nor condemn the reverend Bishops herein for their voices though they had given them every one against the Bill were not able to hinder it Neither doe I think but that they being men of another profession unexercised in the elenchs of the Law were overtaken in the frame of words and thereby passed that away in a cloud which if they had perceived could never have been won from them with iron hooks But in this matter there being a question of Religion Whether Tithes be due jure divino or whether they could be separated from the Church it was not properly a question decidable by the Parliament being composed wholly of Lay persons except some twenty Bishops but the question should first have been moved amongst the Bishops by themselves and the Clergy in the Convocation house and then being there agreed of according to the Word of God brought into the Parliament For as the Temporall Lords exclude the Bishops when it commeth to the decision of a matter of bloud life and member so by the like reason the Bishops ought to exclude the Temporall Lords when it commeth to the decision of a question in Theology for God hath committed the Tabernacle to Levi as well as the kingdome to Juda and though Juda have power over Levi as touching the outward government even of the Temple it self yet Juda medled not with the Oracle the holy Ministery but received the will of God from the mouth of the Priest Therefore when Valentinian the Emperour required Ambrose to come and dispute a point of Arianisme at his Court he besought the Emperour that he might doe it in the Consistory amongst the Bishops and that the Emperour would bee pleased not to be present among them lest his presence should captivate their judgements or intangle their liberty § 1 That after the Appropriation the Parsonage still continueth spirituall It appeareth by that which is afore shewed and the circumstances thereof that the Appropriating of a Parsonage or the endowing of a Vicarage out of it doe not cut the Parsonage from the Church or make it temporall but leaveth it still spirituall as well in the eye of the Common Law as of the Canon Law for if it became temporall by the Appropriation then were it within the Statute of Mortmain and forfaited by that very Act. But it is agreed by the 21 Ed. 3. f. 5. and in Plowd Com. fo 499. that it is not Mortmain and therefore doth continue spirituall for which cause also the Ordinary and Ecclesiasticall Officers must have still the same authority over such appropriate Churches as they had before those Churches 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 discretion 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