nor to them alone but to the Owner also and his Houshold at the time of their Offering and every third year to the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow their appointed Sharers and that they were a Tribe of Priests and Deacons improperly compared to the constitution of our Ministry and the Tithes given by that People to those Deacons only It follows that our Ministers at this day being neither Priests nor Levites are not filthy 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 a better Plea in the Example of Melchisedec who took Tithes of Abram ere the Law was given whence they would infer them to be of moral right But they ought to know or to remember that not Examples but express Commands oblige our Obedince to God or Man Next that whatsoever was done in Religion before the Law written is not presently to be counted moral when as so many things were then done 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 served else 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 weighed both from Gen. 14. and Heb. 7. it will not be allowed them so much as an example Melchisedec besides his Priestly Benediction brought with him Bread and Wine sufficient to refresh Abram and his whole Army 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 thankfulness and honour to Abram who had freed his Borders of Salem from a Potent Enemy Abram on the other side honours him with the tenth of all that is to say for he took not sure his whole Estate with him to that War of the Spoils Heb. 7. 4. Incited also by the same secret Providence to signifie as Grandfather of Levi that the Levitical Priesthood was excelled by the Priesthood of Christ. For the giving of a tenth declared it seems in those Countrys and times him the greater who received it That which next incited him was partly his Gratitude to requiâ—e the Present partly his Reverence to the Person and his Benediction to his Person as a King and Priest also but not a King And who unhir'd will be so hardy as to say that Abram at any other time ever paid him Tithes either before or after or had then but for this accidental Meeting and Obligement or that else Melchisedec had demanded or exacted them or took them otherwise than as the voluntary Gift of Abram But our Ministers though neither Priests nor Kings more than any other Christian greater in their own esteem than Abrams and all his Seed for the Verbal Labour of a Seventh days Preachment not bringing like Melchisedec Bread or Wine at their own cost would not take only at the willing hand of Liberality or Gratitude but require and exact as due the tenth not of Spoils but of our whole Estates and Labours 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 Minister to pay Tithes no less than other Men Abram had not only a Preist in his Loins but was himself a Priest and gave Tithes to Melchisedeck 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 Inferiour Priest by that homage as the Apostle to the Hebrews clearly enough explains to acknowledg the greater And they who by Melchisedec claim from Abram as Levi's Grandfather have none to seek their Tithes of but the Levites where they can find 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 believe that as both Abram and Melchisedec so Tithes also in that action Typical and Ceremonial signifi'd nothing else 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 days paid Tithes to Priests but this only that one Priest once in his life of Spoils only and in requiâ—al partly of a liberal Present partly of a Benediction gave voluntary Tithes not to a greater Priest than himself as far as Abram could then understand but rather to a Priest and King joyned 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 necessity by remembring them that in those days was no Priest but the Father or the first born of every Family and by consequence no People to pay him Tithes but his own Children and Servants who had not wherewithal to pay him but of his own Yet grant that the People then paid Tithes there will not be the like reason to enjoyn 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 therefore 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 than to prove Christ personated by Melchisedec a greater Priest than Aaron ver 4. Now consider how great this man was c. and proves 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 their Brethren though they come out of the Loins of Abram ver 5. The Commandment then was it seems to take Tithes of the Iews only and according to the Law That Law changing of necessity with the Priesthood no other sort of Ministers as they must needs be no other sort under another Priesthood can receive that tribute of Tithes which sell with that Law unless renew'd by any other express command and according to no other Law no such Law is
impossibility to remove them quite unless every Minister were as St. Paul contented to teach gratis but few such are to be found As therefore we cannot justly take away all Hire in the Church because we cannot otherwise quite remove all Hirelings so are we not for the impossibility of removing them all to use therefore no endeavour that few may come in but rather in regard the evil do what we can will always be incumbent and unavoidable to use our utmost diligence how it may be left dangerous Which will be likeliest effected if we consider first what recompence God hath ordained should be given to Ministers of the Church for that a recompence ought to be given them and may by them justly be received our Saviour himself from the very light of reason and of equity hath declar'd Luke 10. 7. The Labourer is worthy of his Hire next by whom and lastly in what manner What recompence ought to be given to Church Ministers God hath answerably ordained according to that difference which he hath manifestly put between those his two great Dispensations the Law and the Gospel Under the Law he gave them Tithes under the Gospel having left all things in his Church to Charity and Christian freedom he hath given them only what is justly given them That as well under the Gospel as under the Law say our English Divines and they only of all Protestants is Tithes and they say true if any man be so minded to give them of his own tenth or twentieth but that the Law therefore of Tithes is in force under the Gospel all other Protestant Divines though equally concerned yet constantly deny For though Hire to the Labourer be of moral and perpetual right yet that special kind of Hire the tenth can be of no right or necessity but to that special Labour for which God ordained it That special Labour was the Levitical and Ceremonial Service of the Tabernacle Numb 18. 21. 31. wich is now abolished the right therefore of that special Hire must needs be withall abolished as being also ceremonial is plain not being given to the Levites till they had bin first offered a Heave-offering to the Lord ver 24. 28. He then who by that Law brings Tithes into the Gospel of necessity brings in withall a Sacrifice and an Altar without which Tithes by that Law were unsanctifi'd and polluted ver 32. and therefore never thought on in the first Christain times till Ceremonies Altars and Oblations by an ancienter corruption were brought back long before And yet the Iews ever since their Tample was destroyed though they have Rabbies and Teachers of their Law yet pay no Tithes as having no Levites to whom no Temple where to pay them no Altar whereon to hallow them which argues that the Iews themselves never thought Tithes moral but ceremonial only That Christians therefore should take them up when Iews have laid them down must needs be very absurd and preposterous Next it is as clear in the same Chapter that the Priests and Levites had not their Tithes for their Labour only in the Tabernacle but in regard they were to have no other part nor inheritance in the Land ver 20 24. and by that means for a tenth lost a twelfth But our Levites undergoing no such Law of Deprievement 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 Beside 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 choose to place his name there the Tithe of thy Corn of thy Wine and of thine Oyl c. Nay though he could not bring his Tithe in kind by reason of his distant dwelling from the Tabernacle or Temple but was thereby forc'd to turn it into mony he was to bestow that mony on whatsoever pleased him Oxen Sheep Wine or strong Drink and to eat and drink thereof there before the Lord both he and his Houshould ver 24 25 26. As for the Tithes of every third year they were not only given to the Levite but to the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow ver 28. 29. and Chap. 26 12 13. So that ours if they will have Tithes must admit 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 different constitution from this of our Ministers under the Gospel In them were Orders and Degrees both by Family Dignity and Office mainly distinguished 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 Tithes as by that Law it was sin to them if they did not ver 32 Certainly this must needs put them to a deep demurre while the desire of holding fast their Tithes without sin may tempt them to bring back again Bishops as the likeness 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 denied that in the Gospel there be but two Minesterial Degrees Presbyters and Deacons which if they contend to have any Succession Reference or Conformity with those two Degrees under the Law Priests and Levites it must needs be such whereby our Ministers may be answerable to Priests and our Deacons to Levites by which Ruâ—e of Proportion it will follow that we must pay our Tithes to the Deacons only and they only to their Ministers But if it 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 follow hence that we are now justly exempt from paying Tithes to any who claim from Aaron since that Preisthood is in us now Real which in him was but a shadow Seeing thâ—â— by all this which hath been shewn that the Law of Tithes is partly Ceremonial as the work was for the which they were given partly judicial not of common but of particular right to the Tribe of Levi
Law of Tithes was enacted by those Kings and Barons upon the Opinion they had of their Divine Right as the very words import of Edward the Confessor in the close of that Law for so Blessed Austin preached 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 Laws of Moses the third part of Tithes only was the Priests due the other two were appointed for the Poor and to adorn or repair Churches as the Canons of Echbert and Elphric witness Concil Brit. If then these Laws were founded upon the Opinion of Divine Autority and that Autority be found mistaken and erroneous as hach been fully manifested it follows that these Laws fall of themselves with their False Foundation But with what face or conscience can they alledge Moses or these Laws for Tithes as they now enjoy whereof Moses ordains the Owner as we heard before the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow partakers with with the Levite and these Fathers which they cite and these though Romish rather than English Laws allotted both to Priest and Bishop the third part only But these our Protestant these our new reformed English Presbyterian Divines against their own cited Authors and to the shame of their pretended Reformation would engross to themselves all Tithes by Statute and supported more by their wilful obstinacy and desire of filthy Lucre than by these both insufficient and impertinent Autorities would perswade a Christian Magistracy and Parliament whom we trust God hath restored 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 Clergy than any of those Popish Kings and Parliaments alledged 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 days I answer that the Prelates who urge this Argument have least reason to use it denying morality in the Sabbath and therein better agreeing with reformed Churches abroad than the rest of our Divines As therefore 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 subsistance morally due to Ministers The last and lowest sort of their Arguments that men purchas'd not their Tithe with their Land and such like Pertiforggery I omit as refuted suffoiently by others I omit also their violent and irreligious exactions related no less credibly their seising of Pots and Pans from the Poor who have as good Right to Tithes as they fromsome the very Beds their sueing and imprisoning worse than when the Canon Law was in force worse than when those Sons of Eli were Priests whose manner was thus to seise their pretended Priestly due by force 1 Sam. 2. 12 c. Whereby men abhorred the offering of the Lord and it may be feared that many will as much abhor the Gospel if such violence as this be suffered in her Ministers and in that which they also pretend to be the offering of the Lord. For those sons of Belial within some limits made seisure of what they knew was their own by an undoubted Law but these from whom there is no Sanctuary seise out of mens grounds out of mens houses their other goods of double sometimes of treble value for that which did not Covetousness and Rapine blind them they know to be not their own by the Gospel which they preach Of some more tolerable than these thus severely God hath spoken Isa 46. 10. c. They are greedy Dogs they all look to their own way every one for his gain from his quarter With what anger then will he judge them who stand not looking but under colour of a Divine Right fetch by force that which is not their own taking his name not in vain but in violence Nor content as Gehazi was to make a cunning but a constrained advantage of what their Master bids them give freely How can they but return smitten worse than that sharking Minister vvitha Spiritual Leprosie And yet they cry out Sacriledge that men vvill not be gull'd and hassl'd the Tenth of their Estates by giving credit to frivolous pretences of Divine Right Where did God ever clearly declare to all Nations or in all Lands and none but Fools part with their Estates without elearest of evidence on bare supposals and presumptions of them who are the gainers thereby that he required the tenth due to him or his son perpetually and in all places Where did he demand it that we might certainly know as in all claims of temporal right what is just and reasonable or if demanded where did he design it or by what evident conveyance to Ministersâ— Unless they can demonstrate this by more than conjectures their Title can be no better to Tithes than the Titles of Gohazi was to those things which by abusing his Masters name he rooked from Neemen Much less where did he command that Tithes should be fetcht by forâ—e where left not under the Gospel whatever his right was to the Free-will offerings of men Which is the greater Sacriledge to belie Divine Autoritie to make the name of Christ accessary to violence and robbing him of the very Honour which he aimed at in bestowing freely the Gospel to commit Simonie and Rapine both Secular and Ecclesiastical or on the other side not to give the tenth of civil right and propriety to the tricks and impostures of Clergy-men contriv'd with all the art and argument that their bellies can invent or suggest yet so ridiculous and presuming on the Peoples dulness or superstition as to think they prove the divine right of their maintainance by Abram paying Tithes to Melchisedec when as Melchisedec in that passage rather gave maintenance to Abram in whom all both Priests and Ministers as well as Lay-men paid Tithes not received them And because I affirm both beginning this first part of my Discourse that God hath given to Ministers of the Gospel that maintenance only which is justly given them let us see a little what hath been thought of that other maintenance besides Tithes which of all Protestants our English Divines either only or most apparently both require and take Those are Fees for Christnings Marriages and Burials whiâ—h though who so will may give freely yet being not of right but of free gift if they be exacted or established they become unjust to them who are otherwise maintained and of such evil note that even the Council of Trent l. 2. p. 240. makes them lyable to the Laws against Simonie who take or demand fees for the administring of any Sacrament Che la sinodo volendo levare oli abusi vntrodotti c. And in the next Page with like seâ—erity condemns the giving or taking for a Benefice and the celebrating