ever paid him tithes either before or after or had then but for this accidental meeting and obligement or that els Melchisedec had demanded or exacted them or took them otherwise then as the voluntarie gift of Abram But our ministers though neither priests nor kings more then any other Christian greater in thir own esteem then Abraham and all his seed for the verbal labor of a seventh dayes preachment not bringing like Melchisedec bread or wine at thir own cost would not take only at the willing hand of liberality or gratitude but require and exact as due the tenth not of spoiles but of our whole estates and labors nor once but yearly We then it seems by the example of Abram must pay tithes to these melchisedecs but what if the person of Abram can either no way represent us or will oblige the ministers to pay tithes no less then other men Abram had not only a priest in his loines but was himself a priest and gave tithes to Melchisedec either as grandfather of Levi or as father of the faithful If as grandfather though he understood it not of Levi he oblig'd not us but Levi only the inferior priest by that homage as the apostle to the Hebrewes cleerly anough explanes to acknowledge the greater And they who by Melchisedec claim from Abram as Levi's grandfather have none to seek thir tithes of but the Levites where they can finde them If Abram as father of the faithful paid tithes to Melchisedec then certainly the ministers also if they be of that number paid in him equally with the rest Which may induce us to beleeve that as both Abram and Melchisedec so tithes also in that action typical and ceremonial signifi'd nothing els but that subjection which all the faithful both ministers and people owe to Christ our high priest and king In any literal sense from this example they never will be able to extort that the people in those dayes paid tithes to priests but this only that one priest once in his life of spoiles only and in requital partly of a liberal present partly of a benediction gave voluntary tithes not to a greater priest then himself as far as Abram could then understand but rather to a priest and king joind in one person They will reply perhaps that if one priest paid tithes to another it must needs be understood that the people did no less to the priest But I shall easily remove that necessitie by remembring them that in those dayes was no priest but the father or the first born of each familie and by consequence no people to pay him tithes but his own children and servants who had not wherewithall to pay him but of his own Yet grant that the people then paid tithes there will not yet be the like reason to enjoin us they being then under ceremonies a meer laitie we now under Christ a royal priesthood 1 Pet. 2. 9 as we are coheirs kings and priests with him a priest for ever after the order or manner of Melchisedec As therefor Abram paid tithes to Melchisedec because Levi was in him so we ought to pay none because the true Melchisedec is in us and we in him who can pay to none greater and hath freed us by our union with himself from all compulsive tributes and taxes in his church Neither doth the collateral place Heb. 7 make other use of this story then to prove Christ personated by Melchisedec a greater priest then Aaron Vers. 4. Now consider how great this man was c. and provâ— not in the least manner that tithes be of any right to ministers but the contrary first the Levites had a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law that is of thir brethren though they com out of the loines of Abraham Vers. 5. The commandment then was it seems to take tithes of the Jewes only and according to the law That law changing of necessity with the priesthood no other sort of ministers as they must needs be another sort under another priesthood can receive that tribute of tithes which fell with that law unless renu'd by another express command and according to another law no such law is extant Next Melchisedec not as a minister but as Christ himself in person blessd Abraham who had the promises Vers. 6 and in him blessd all both ministers and people both of the law and gospel that blessing declar'd him greater and better then whom he blessd Vers. 7 receiving tithes from them all not as a maintenance which Melchisedec needed not but as a signe of homage and subjection to thir king and priest wheras ministers bear not the person of Christ in his priesthood or kingship bless not as he blesses are not by their blessing greater then Abraham and all the faithful with themselves included in him cannot both give and take tithes in Abram cannot claim to themselves that signe of our allegiance due only to our eternal king and priest cannot therefor derive tithes from Melchisedec Lastly the eighth verse hath thus Here men that die receive tithes There he received them of whom it is witnesd that he liveth Which words intimate that as he offerd himself once for us so he received once of us in Abraham and in that place the typical acknowledgment of our redemption which had it bin a perpetual annuitie to Christ by him claimd as his due Levi must have paid it yearly as well as then Vers. 9. and our ministers ought still to som Melchisedec or other as well now as they did in Abraham But that Christ never claimd any such tenth as his annual due much less resign'd it to the ministers his so officious receivers without express commission or assignement will be yet cleerer as we proceed Thus much may at length assure us that this example of Abram Melchisedec though I see of late they build most upon it can so little be the ground of any law to us that it will not so much avail them as to the autoritie of an example Of like impertinence is that example of Jacob Gen. 28. 22 who of his free choise not enjoind by any law vowd the tenth of all that God should give him which for aught appeers to the contrarie he vowd as a thing no less indifferent before his vow then the foregoing part thereof That the stone which he had set there for a pillar should be God's house And to whom vowd he this tenth but to God not to any priest for we read of none to him greater then himself and to God no doubt but he paid what he vowd both in the building of that Bethel with other altars els where and the expence of his continual sacrifices which none but he had right to offer However therefor he paid his tenth it could in no likelihood unless by such an occasion as befell his grandfather be to any priest But say they All the tithe of the land whether of
moral but ceremonial only That Christians therefor should take them up when Jewes have laid them down must needs be very absurd and preposterous Next it is as cleer in the same chapter that the priests and Levites had not tithes for their labor only in the tabernacle but in regard they were to have no other part nor inheritance in the land Vers. 20 24. and by that means for a tenth lost a twelfth But our levites undergoing no such law of deprivement can have no right to any such compensation nay if by this law they will have tithes can have no inheritance of land but forfeit what they have Besides this tithes were of two sorts those of every year and those of every third year of the former every one that brought his tithes was to eat his share Deut. 14. 23. Thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall chuse to place his name there the tithe of thy corn of thy wine and of thine oyle c. Nay though he could not bring his tithe in kinde by reason of his distant dwelling from the tabernacle or temple but was thereby forc'd to turn it into monie he was to bestow that monie on whatsoever pleasd him oxen sheep wine or strong drink and to eat and drink therof there before the Lord both he and his houshold Ver. 24 25 26. As for the tithes of every third year they were not given only to the Levite but to the stranger the fatherles and the widdow Vers. 28 29. Chap. 26. 12 13. So that ours if they will have tithes must admitt of these sharers with them Nay these tithes were not paid in at all to the Levite but the Levite himself was to come with those his fellow guests and eat his share of them only at his house who provided them and this not in regard of his ministerial office but because he had no part nor inheritance in the land Lastly the priests and Levites a tribe were of a far different constitution from this of our ministers under the gospel in them were orders and degrees both by family dignity and office mainly distinguishd the high priest his brethren and his sons to whom the Levites themselves paid tithes and of the best were eminently superior Num. 18. 28 29. No Protestant I suppose will liken one of our ministers to a high priest but rather to a common Levite Unless then to keep their tithes they mean to bring back again bishops archbishops and the whole gang of prelatry to whom will they themselves pay tythes as by that law it was a sin to them if they did not v. 32. Certainly this must needs put them to a deep demurr while the desire of holding fast thir tithes without sin may tempt them to bring back again bishops as the likenes of that hierarchy that should receive tithes from them and the desire to pay none may advise them to keep out of the church all orders above them But if we have to do at present as I suppose we have with true reformed Protestants not with Papists or prelates it will not be deni'd that in the gospel there be but two ministerial degrees presbyters and deacons which if they contend to have any succession reference or conformity with those two degrees under the law priests Levites it must needs be such whereby our presbyters or ministers may be answerable to priests and our deacons to Levites by which rule of proportion it will follow that we must pay our tithes to the deacons only and they only to the ministers But if it be truer yet that the priesthood of Aaron typifi'd a better reality 1 Pet. 2. 5. signifying the Christian true and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice it follows hence that we are now justly exempt from paying tithes to any who claim from Aaron since that priesthood is in us now real which in him was but a shaddow Seeing then by all this which hath bin shewn that the law of tithes is partly ceremonial as the work was for which they were given partly judicial not of common but of particular right to the tribe of Levi nor to them alone but to the owner also and his houshold at the time of thir offering and every three year to the stranger the fatherles and the widdow thir appointed sharers and that they were a tribe of priests and deacons improperly compar'd to the constitution of our ministery and the tithes given by that people to those deacons only it follows that our ministers at this day being neither priests nor Levites nor fitly answering to either of them can have no just title or pretence to tithes by any consequence drawn from the law of Moses But they think they have yet a better plea in the example of Melchisedec who took tithes of Abram ere the law was given whence they would inferr tithes to be of moral right But they ought to know or to remember that not examples but express commands oblige our obedience to God or man next that whatsoever was don in religion before the law written is not presently to be counted moral when as so many things were then don both ceremonial and Judaically judicial that we need not doubt to conclude all times before Christ more or less under the ceremonial law To what end servd els those altars and sacrifices that distinction of clean and unclean entring into the ark circumcision and the raising up of seed to the elder brother Gen. 38. 8 If these things be not moral though before the law how are tithes though in the example of Abram and Melchisedec But this instance is so far from being the just ground of a law that after all circumstances duly waighd both from Gen. 14. and Heb. 7 it will not be allowd them so much as an example Melchisedec besides his priestly benediction brought with him bread and wine sufficient to refresh Abram and his whole armie incited to do so first by the secret providence of God intending him for a type of Christ and his priesthood next by his due thankfulnes and honor to Abram who had freed his borders of Salem from a potent enemie Abram on the other side honors him with the tenth of all that is to say for he took not sure his whole estate with him to that warr of the spoiles Heb. 7. 4. Incited he also by the same secret providence to signifie as grandfather of Levi that the Levitical priesthood was excelld by the priesthood of Christ For the giving of a tenth declar'd it seems in those countreys and times him the greater who receivd it That which next incited him was partly his gratitude to requite the present partly his reverence to the person and his benediction to his person as a king and priest greater therefor then Abram who was a priest also but not a king And who unhir'd will be so hardy as to say that Abram at any other time
Christians had then also lands and might give out of them what they pleasd and yet of tithes then given we finde no mention And the first Christian emperors who did all things as bishops advis'd them suppli'd what was wanting to the clergy not out of tithes which were never motiond but out of thir own imperial revenues as is manifest in Eusebius Theodorit and Sozomen from Constantine to Arcadius Hence those ancientest reformed churches of the Waldenses if they rather continu'd not pure since the apostles deni'd that tithes were to be given or that they were ever given in the primitive church as appeers by an ancient tractate inserted in the Bohemian historie Thus far hath the church bin alwaies whether in her prime or in her ancientest reformation from the approving of tithes nor without reason for they might easily perceive that tithes were fitted to the Jewes only a national church of many incomplete synagogues uniting the accomplishment of divine worship in one temple and the Levites there had thir tithes paid where they did thir bodilie work to which a particular tribe was set apart by divine appointment not by the peoples election but the Christian church is universal not ti'd to nation dioces or parish but consisting of many particular churches complete in themselves gatherd not by compulsion or the accident of dwelling nigh together but by free consent chusing both thir particular church and thir church-officers Wheras if tithes be set up all these Christian privileges will be disturbd and soone lost and with them Christian libertie The first autoritie which our adversaries bring after those fabulous apostolic canons which they dare not insist upon is a provincial councel held at Cullen where they voted tithes to be Gods rent in the year three hundred fifty six at the same time perhaps when the three kings reignd there and of like autoritie For to what purpose do they bring these trivial testimonies by which they might as well prove altars candles at noone and the greatest part of those superstitions fetchd from Paganism or Jewism which the Papist inveigl'd by this fond argument of antiquitie retains to this day to what purpose those decrees of I know not what bishops to a Parlament and people who have thrown out both bishops and altars and promisd all reformation by the word of God And that altars brought tithes hither as one corruption begott another is evident by one of those questions which the monk Austin propounded to the Pope Concerning those things which by offerings of the faithful came to the altar as Beda writes l. 1. c. 27. If then by these testimonies we must have tithes continu'd we must again have altars Of fathers by custom so calld they quote Ambrose Augustin and som other ceremonial doctors of the same leaven whose assertion without pertinent scripture no reformed church can admitt and what they vouch is founded on the law of Moses with which every where pitifully mistaken they again incorporate the gospel as did the rest also of those titular fathers perhaps an age or two before them by many rights and ceremonies both Jewish and Heathenish introduc'd whereby thinking to gain all they lost all and instead of winning Jewes and Pagans to be Christians by too much condescending they turnd Christians into Jewes and Pagans To heap such unconvincing citations as these in religion wherof the scripture only is our rule argues not much learning nor judgment but the lost labor of much unprofitable reading And yet a late hot Quaerist for tithes whom ye may know by his wits lying ever beside him in the margent to be ever beside his wits in the text a fierce reformer once now ranckl'd with a contrary heat would send us back very reformedly indeed to learn reformation from Tyndarus and Rebuffus two canonical Promooters They produce next the ancient constitutions of this land Saxon laws edicts of kings and thir counsels from Athelstan in the year nine hundred twenty eight that tithes by statute were paid and might produce from Ina above two hundred years before that Romescot or Peters penny was by as good statute law paid to the Pope from seven hundred twenty five and almost as long continu'd And who knows not that this law of tithes was enacted by those kings and barons upon the opinion they had of thir divine right as the very words import of Edward the Confessor in the close of that law For so blessed Austin preachd and taught meaning the monk who first brought the Romish religion into England from Gregory the Pope And by the way I add that by these laws imitating the law of Moses the third part 〈◊〉 tithes only was the priests due the other two were appointed for the poor and to adorne or repare churches as the canons of Ecbert and Elfric witnes Concil. Brit. If then these laws were founded upon the opinion of divine autoritie and that autoritie be found mistaken and erroneous as hath bin fully manifested it follows that these laws fall of themselves with thir fals foundation But with what face or conscience can they alleage Moses or these laws for tithes as they now enjoy or exact them wherof Moses ordains the owner as we heard before the stranger the fatherles and the widdow partakers with the Levite and these fathers which they cite and these though Romish rather then English laws allotted both to priest and bishop the third part only But these our Protestant these our new reformed English presbyterian divines against thir own cited authors and to the shame of thir pretended reformation would engross to themselves all tithes by statute and supported more by thir wilful obstinacie and desire of filthie lucre then by these both insufficient and impertinent autorities would perswade a Christian magistracie and parlament whom we trust God hath restor'd for a happier reformation to impose upon us a Judaical ceremonial law and yet from that law to be more irregular and unwarrantable more complying with a covetous clergie then any of those Popish kings and parlaments alleagd Another shift they have to plead that tithes may be moral as well as the sabbath a tenth of fruits as well as a seaventh of dayes I answer that the prelats who urge this argument have least reason to use it denying morality in the sabbath and therin better agreeing with reformed churches abroad then the rest of our divines As therefor the seaventh day is not moral but a convenient recourse of worship in fit season whether seaventh or other number so neither is the tenth of our goods but only a convenient subsistence morally due to ministers The last and lowest sort of thir arguments that men purchas'd not thir tithe with thir land and such like pettifoggerie I omitt as refuted sufficiently by others I omitt also thir violent and irreligious exactions related no less credibly thir seising of pots and pans from the poor who have as good right to tithes as they from som the very