CAP. I. What things be due unto God.

THat that is to be rendred unto God for his honour, out of temporall things granted by him unto man, are by his word declared to be some particu­lar portions of the same things.

The things granted unto man be of three sorts, viz.

First, the time measured out unto him for this life.

Secondly, the place allotted to him for his habitation.

Thirdly, the benefits and blessings assigned to him for his sustenance. Out of every of these, God must have his honorary part, as by way of reservation and retribution, in right of his seignory. Let us then see what those parts are, and how they grow due unto him.

Touching the first, which is the Time of our life: he hath out thereof reserved to himselfe, the seaventh part; for it is written, six dayes shalt thou labour, and doe all that thou hast to doe, but the seaventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God. What other time soever we imploy privately and particularly in his worship, this must generally be perfor­med, and kept both by our selves and our very cattle, for if every creature groane with us, Rom. 8. 22. it is also just, that they rejoyce with us sometime. But though God be much wronged in this kind, as well as in other his rights, yet since it is confessed of all parts to be due unto him, by the expresse Canon of his word, I will not medle with it any farther: only I desire that the abusing of it were se­verely punished, or at least in such sort as the Lawes have appointed.

CAP. II. The second kind of tribute that we are to render unto God, i. a portion of our Land.

THe second thing that God hath given unto man is a place for his residence, and that is the earth in generall, and to every nation and family a part thereof in particu­lar. The earth hath he given to the children of men: Psal. 115. 16. But as he reserved a portion of the time of our life for the celebration of his honour, so hath he also re­served a portion out of the place of our residence. For in Ezek. 45. he commandeth the children of Israel, and in them all the nations of the world, that when they come to inhabite the land he giveth them, they must divide it in­to three parts, one for the people, another for the King, but the first for God himselfe. God must have Enetiam partem, as the Lawyers terme it, the part of the eldest, or first borne; for the tribe of the Levi (that is, his Priests and Ministers) are called to be the first borne of his peo­ple.

Therefore he saith, When ye shall divide the Land for in­heritance, ye shall offer an oblation to the Lord, an holy portion of the Land. Ezek. 45. And by and by he declareth how it shall be imployed, one part to the building of the house of God, and the other part for the Priests and Ministers to dwell on. And this is no Leviticall precept, but an in­stitution of the Law of nature; and in performance of the duty that he was tyed unto by this Law, Jacob when he was poore, and had not wherewithall to build God an house, yet he sanctified a portion of ground, (when God had blessed him) to that purpose, by erecting a stone and pouring oyle on the head thereof, calling the place Bethel, [Page 3] that is, the house of God, and vowing to build it, when God should blesse and make him able to doe it: Gen. 28. 22. which as Josephus testifieth, Antiq. lib. 1. cap. 27. he afterwards performed. And as God commanded the whole Nation of the Israelites in generall, that in laying out the chiefe City, they should first assigne a place unto God for his Temple & Priests: So likewise he commanded every Tribe thereof in particular, that after they had their portion in the division of the Land, they should likewise out of the same assigne unto the Levites Cities to dwell in, with a circuite, or suburbs of a thousand cubits round about to keepe their cattell in. Command the children of Isra­el that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their pos­sessions Cities to dwell in: yee shall also give unto the Levites the suburbs of the Cities round about: so they shall have the Cities to dwell in, and the suburbs shall be for their cattell, and for their substance, and for their beasts: And the suburbs of the City, which ye shall give unto the Levites from the wall out­ward shall be a thousand cubits round about. Numb. 35. 2, 3, 4.

In execution of this Commandement every Tribe of Israel allotted certaine Cities to the Levites, out of their portion, according to the quantity thereof: as appeareth, Jos. 21. 41. The whole Land of promise according as S ^t. Hierom layeth it out in his Epistle to Dardanus, Tom. 3. 68. containeth in length from Dan to Bersabe scarce 160. miles, and in breadth from Joppa to Bethlem 46. miles. A small portion of ground for a Kingdome so famous; and so small indeed, as S ^t. Hierom there saith, that he is ashamed to tell the breadth of it, lest it should give occasion to the heathen to blaspheme, or deride it: yet out of this small territory (not so much as the principality of Wales with the Marches) fourty eight walled Cities (more then are in all England, as I take it) were assigned [Page 4] onely for their Clergy to dwell upon: their maintenance, and revenues being otherwise provided generally through the whole Kingdome by Tithes, oblations, and other de­votions of their brethren. So that it is apparent both by the Law of God, and Nature, that God must have one por­tion of our Lands to build him an house on, that is, his Churches, and another portion thereof for the habitation of his Levites, that is, his Ministers.

CAP. III. That the portion of Land assigned to God must be sufficient for the habitation of the Minister.

THough the portion of Land, thus to be rendred to God for his Ministers, be not certaine, yet is it thus farre de­termined, that it must be answerable to the necessity of the service, and to the number of the Levites; that is, there must be Churches sufficient for the congregations; and habitations sufficient for the Ministers and their families to dwell upon, with pasture convenient for their dome­sticall cattell. They must not be pulled from God with se­cular care, and therefore their maintenance is appointed to arise by other meanes then by tilling the Earth; but their habitation as befitteth students, and men of contem­plative life must be under their owne command, and solita­ry. But what, should the portion of the fruites of the earth assigned them for their maintenance be certaine, as namely the tenth part; and not the portion of Land also al­lotted for their habitation? I answer, that as the people encrease, so also the fruite of the earth encreaseth with them, by their industry and labour; and therefore as the Levites encrease in number, so doe the rest of the Tribes; and by reason thereof there is a greater encrease of Tithe [Page 5] toward the maintenance of the Levite: for the labour of ten men yeeldeth more profit then the labour of five. But when the Levites were inclosed within walls, and confined with immutable bounds, this circuite in reason could not alwaies be sufficient for them; And therefore being so increased as their Cities might not containe them, they must of necessity have new places of habita­tion provided for them. For in such cases God gave a generall rule to the people, Deut. 12. 19. Beware that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest in the Land. And the people of the Jewes in this necessity did not forsake the Levites, for before the transmigration to Babylon, (which was about 840. yeares after) the Levi­ticall Cities (as appeareth, 1 Chron. cap. 6. and cap. 9. 1. were growne to be about sixty eight, viz. twenty more then were appointed by Josua. They might not enlarge the bounds prescribed to their Cities, but they might encrease the number of the Cities, as the number of the Levites encreased, and necessity required. The reason is, they might not adde house to house, and field to field, lest growing great in earthly possessions they should forget God, who had otherwise provided for them, then by manuring the earth; but if they wanted ha­bitations, they might then seeke for new Cities, and the care of the people was to provide them for them. One Levite might not have more then sufficient for his habi­tation, but if the Cities appointed were not sufficient to yeeld an habitation for every Levite, then might they as­signe new Cities to that purpose.

CAP. IV. That Christ released not the portion due to God out of our Lands.

THe possession of Lands is ex jure humano, but the earth is the Lords ex jure divino. Therefore when he granted the earth to the children of men, and reserved a portion thereof for his service and Ministers, this part thus reserved is in him and his Ministers ex jure divino. In this right Christ calleth the Temple the house of God, and saith also, My house shall be an house of prayer. And S ^t. Paul saith; Despise ye the house of God? So that, 1 Crr. 11. 22. doubtlesse, God must have houses for his service in all places where we inhabite. But Christ had not whereon to lay his head, Mat. 8. 20. Luke 9. 18. therefore the Mini­sters must have no houses provided for them: for the disciple is not above his master. Christ indeed had not whereon to lay his head: for he came to his owne, and his owne received him not. But doth this prove that Ministers should neither have nests in the ayre like birds, nor holes in the ground like foxes? Did not he that made the Vineyard in the Gospell, build a tower in it for them that dressed it? So likewise must the Ministers that at­tend upon the Vineyard of the Church, have their habi­tations in it. S ^t. Paul appointed it so, when he comman­deth us to render a portion unto them, [...], of all the good things, Gal. 5. 6. How have they a part in all, if they want it, in the chiefest of all, that is, in our habi­tations? Againe he commandeth that they should be Hospitales, Goodhouskeepers; how should they be so, if they have no houses to keep? John Baptist lived in the wildernesse; it is true, and he was commended for it. [Page 7] Christ did not so, though he frequented the fields, yet in that he gave no Commandement that his disciples should follow him; for he appointed them to remaine in other mens houses. What? that they should goe so­journe where they listed? The Commandement hath nothing to the contrary; but the meaning is thereby apparent, they must have habitations provided for them, or else, shake off the dust of your feet against them, Mat. 10. 14. as much as to say, let them be accursed. So then our Sa­viour hath not repealed the Law of providing for the Levites, unto his Ministers: He could not give them Cities to possesse, for his kingdome was not of this world. But he appointed them to such places, as them­selves should choose among the children of the Gospell. Doeth this differ from the Commandement of provi­ding Cities for the Levites? Doubtles, no: for as the Logi­tians say, Conveniunt in eodemtertio. They agree in this, that the Ministers must have habitations provided for them, as well in the Gospell, as the Levites had under the Law. Oh, but they must have no inheritance among their brethren, for the Lord is their portion. Numb. 18. 24. It is true, the Lord hath communicated with them his owne portion, viz. his tithes and his offerings, as he did with the Levites; therefore as the Levites had no share in the division of the Land, so our Ministers must have no share with us in tilling the Land, & matters of husban­dry, for they are called from secular cares to spirituall contemplation; but after the Israelites had their shares in the Land they yeelded portions to the Levites for their convenient residence, and so must wee for our Mi­nisters. And so still the conclusion is, they must be pro­vided for. Which, to shut up the matter, is invincibly ratified by our Saviour himselfe, who in sending forth [Page 8] his disciples would not suffer them to take the least im­plements of sustenance with them, because he would put them absolutely upon the care and charge of the con­gregation, alledging a Maxime of the morall Law for warranty thereof, that the labourer is worthy of his hire. Mat. 10. 10. And therefore into whose house soever yow en­ter, stay there. Mat. 10. 11.

CAP. V. What part in reason, and by direction of Nature might seeme fittest for God.

It being agreed that some part by the Law of Nature is due unto God out of all the time of our life, and the goods that we possesse, it is now to be examined how far this Law of nature or reason may lead us to the discovery of that part or portion. For which purpose we must for a while lay aside Canonicall Divinity, I mean the Scrip­tures, and suppose our selves to live in the ages before the Law was given, that is, in the time of nature. And then let us propose this question to the Sages of that world, and see what answer we are like to receive from them. And first touching this question, What portion of our time or goods were sittest for God.

It is like they would have considered the matter in this manner. That God hath not any need either of our time, or goods, and that therefore he requireth them not in tanto, that is, to have so much, and no lesse. But on our parts it is our duty to yeeld unto him as much in quanto as we can conveniently for beare over and besides our necessary maintenance. So that as Bracton saith of Hyde, that tenants are to yeeld unto their Lords, it must be honorarium Domino, and not grave tenenti, so much as [Page 9] the Lord may be honoured by it, and the tenant not oppressed; wherein if a second, third, or fourth part be too much, so a twentieth or thirtieth seem also too lit­tle. As God therefore desireth but an honourary part, not a pressory: so reason should direct us to give him that part, wherein his own nature with the respects aforesaid is most properly expressed; for the maxime, or axiome which our Saviour alledged, Date Deo quae Dei sunt, give unto God the things that are Gods, is grounded on the Morall law originally; and there­fore examining among numbers which of them are most proper, and resembling the nature of God, we shall finde that seven and ten above all other perform this mystery, and that therefore they are most especial­ly to be chosen thereunto; therefore God in the Crea­tion of the world following the light of nature, chused the seventh part of the age thereof, as Philo Judaeus in his Book De fabricatione mundi, pag. 36. hath with sin­gular and profound observations declared.

And because it may be demanded hereupon, why he should not by the same reason have the seventh part of our goods also; I answer, that as touching the time of our life, he giveth that unto us of his own bounty, meerly without any industry on our part: so that whe­ther we sleep, or wake, labour, or play, the allowance thereof that he maketh unto us, runneth on of its own accord; and therefore we owe him the greater retributi­on out thereof, as having it without labour or charge. But as for the fruits of the earth we have them partly by our own labour, though chiefly by his bounty; and therefore he therein requireth his part, as it were with deduction or allowance of our charges, seeking another number be fitting the same.

[Page 10]The first place in Scripture wherein a Priest is men­tioned is Gen. 14. 18. where Melchisedek is said to be the Priest of the most high God; there also are tithes spoken of, and paid unto him, v. 20. Abraham gave him tithes of all.

The first place also, where an House of God, or Church, is spoken of, is Gen. 28. 18, & 22. there also are tithes mentioned and vowed unto God, even by that very name whereby Parish Churches upon their first Institution in the Primitive Church were also styled, that is, by the name of Tituli, Gen. 28. 22. Lapis iste quem posui in titulum erit Domus Dei, & omne quod dederis mihi decimas prorsus dabo tibi; wherein it seemeth the Pri­mitive Church at that time followed the translation then in use: for Damasus in the life of Euaristus Bi­shop of Rome, Anno 112. saith, Hic titulos in urbe Roma divisit Presbyteris, Tom. Concil. 1. pag. 106. And speak­ing Edit. 1606. after of Dionysius, who lived Anno 260. he saith,— Presbyteris Ecclesias divisit, & coemeteria, Parochiasque & Dioeceses constituit. Tom. Concil. 1. pag. 206. Thus Church and Tithe went together in their first Institu­tion.

If there be no mention after of Tithes in the Scripture till the time of Moses, that is no reason to exclude them, for so also is there not of any House of God, or Priest: yet no man will deny, but both are necessary, and there­fore let them also say, whether they be ex Jure divino; I mean Churches and Priests before the Law and Gospel.

CAP. VI. Concerning the Revenue and maintenance of the Church in her infancy, first in Christs time, then in the Apostles, by a communion of all things, and submitting all to the Apo­stles; as in the Churches of Jerusalem, Alexandria, Rome, and Africa. How the Clergy had their allowance given them, weekly, or monethly, per sportulas, in bas­kets. De jure sportularum, concerning those baskets and the manner of them. When Lands were first given. The Church goods distributed by the Bishops and Officers under them. The liberality of Constantine and other Emperors. The piety and charity of the Clergy in spending their goods and means.

VVHilest the Church was in her foundation, shee had no other maintenance, then the poor pri­vate purse of our Saviour, supported onely by the almes and contribution of his poor Disciples and fol­lowers; for as himself had no house to live in, so had Joh. 12. 6. he no rents to live on: being therefore often in want, he was constrained sometimes to use the power of his Godhead to supply the necessities of his Manhood, and to call the fish of the sea to aid him with money mira­culously, Mat. 17. 27. while the beasts of the Land with­held their devotion from him unnaturally; but what­soever it was that his Godhead blessed his Manhood withall, he divided it, as appeareth in the Gospel of Saint John, 13. 29. into two parts; one for the suste­nance of his family, the other for relief of the poor. Touching the part assigned to his family, it was not cu­rious, nor superfluous, no not at the great feast of Easter, when others were so sumptuous, and profuse, his rule [Page 12] was then, to buy the things they had need of. And tou­ching the provision of his house at other times, we have twice an Inventory taken of it, once in Matth. 14. 17. where it was found to be but five loaves and two fishes; yea, barly loaves: another time, Mat. 15. 34. but seven Mar. 6. 38. Luk. 9. 13. Joh. 6. 9. loaves and a few little fishes, for himself and his whole houshold; twelve Apostles in ordinary, besides some servants, and a multitude of Disciples hanging upon him extraordinarily. All the beasts of the forest were his, and so were the cattell upon a thousand hils, yet read we not that he once killed so much as a Calfe, for the provision of his family: for flesh could not be had but for money, and money going always low with him, he used such kinde of victuals especially, as might always be supplyed unto him by the industry of his Disciples from the common storehouse of nature, the sea, without being beholding or burdensome to any man.

In this frugality lived our Saviour touching his houshold expence, that there might be the greater rema­net for the poor: and from this modell of the Church in his poor family, was the great frame of the Universall Church first devised, as well for raising, as disposing of her Revenues; the means of raising them, from the oblations and devotion of the people: the manner of employment of them, for the necessity onely of the Mi­nister and poor. Thus much doth Augustine also declare upon the place alledged out of Saint John, Tractat. 62. Habebat Dominus loculos, &c. Our Lord had his treasury Dist. 12. 9. 1. [...]abe [...]at. or bagge, wherein he kept the things that were offered by the faithfull, and did distribute them to his family and such other as had need: then first was the form of Church government instituted.

The Apostles following our Saviour exactly, would [Page 13] not be rich servants of a poor master, nor owners of any thing, when their Lord himself possessed nothing: hol­ding it therefore not fit for them, aut in imis consistere, sed nec in mediis, they reached at the highest garland of per [...]ection: and because their master had said, Let him that will be perfect, sell all that he hath, and give to the poor; whatsoever was their own, and whatsoever was given them by others, they cast it all into the common treasury, disposing it by their masters example to two uses onely, Hospitality and Alms, or works of charity; in their hospitality they provided for the whole family of the Church then living with them at Jerusalem, (out of which arose the great businesse of serving the Tables, spoken of in the Acts) all of them jointly caring for every man in particular, and every man particularly applying himself to support the generall. Their alms and part assigned to them in necessity, they dispersed fully and faithfully, not onely to the poor of their own Town, City, or Countrey, but wheresoever through the world the members of Christ had need.

And so carefull they were in employing these things to the highest benefit and honour of the church, that Paul chused rather to live in want, and earn his suste­nance with his fingers, then to diminish this blessed portion, by taking his due share out of it. Yea, the on­ly thing that the Apostles gave so precisely in charge one unto the other, was in every passage, that they should remember the poor, Gal. 2. 10. Act. 11. 36. 2 Cor. 9. 3. as the bowels of Christ, the darlings of the Church, and those whom God especially had chosen to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdome, Jam. 2. 5.

With this mortar (I mean this blessed theologicall work of charity, which S. Paul so highly extolleth above [Page 14] all other) did our Saviour lay the first stones in the foun­dation of his Church, and with it (to hold uniformity) did the Apostles build the second course, commending the pattern to be for ever after pursued throughout all ages: for whatsoever is built without it, is like stones laid without mortar, which cannot therefore couple to­gether, and grow into an holy Temple in the Lord, as is required, Eph. 2. 21.

In the succeeding Church founded by Saint Mark, (the Disciple of Saint Peter) at Alexandria in Egypt, the same rule (used before by the Apostles at Jerusalem) was Hi [...]ron. in vita Marci. so precisely established, that he thereby drew all Chri­stians to follow his example; insomuch that Philo Ju­daeus, a famous Author of that time, reporteth that not onely there, but in many other Provinces the Christi­ans lived together in societies, and he calleth even then their habitations [...], Monasteries: saying, that none among them possessed any thing to his private use; no man was rich, no man poor, but all divided their substance to them in necessity; disposing themselves [...] i. e. temperantia, continentia, mo­ [...]estia. wholly to Prayer, singing of Psalms, to matter of do­ctrine, and to temperance.

Come lower down. Dionysius Corinthius in an Epistle to Soter Bishop of Rome, in the year of Christ, 170. con­gratulateth with him, that the Church of Rome still con­tinued her ancient use in dispersing her goods in works of charity. It is now growne to be an ancient custome with you, to bestow many benefits upon all the brethren of the Church, and to send maintenance to the Churches in every City: so that thereby you doe not onely relieve the necessity of the poor, but of the brethren also which are condemned to the slavery of the metall Mynes, and by this benevolence of yours, which now you have used to send into all places, even from [Page 15] the first Plantation of your Church, your selves being Ro­mans, have diligently preserved the Romans custome insti­tuted by the Fathers; which also your Bishop, the blessed Soter, hath hitherto kept very diligently; and by his labori­ous industry wonderfully advanced: not onely in distribu­ting lovingly unto the Saints the goods ordained to their maintenance: but like a mercifull and milde father towards his children, in exhorting the brethren (which come unto him) to vertue by blessed and devout perswasions. I report this place at large, for that this use continued exactly in the Church, as Eusebius reciting it affirmeth, till the great persecution under Maximinian, and Dioclesian, which began about the year of our Lord, 304.) being the age wherein Eusebius himself lived, as he there also te­stifieth, lib. 4. cap. 22.

And that it was not thus in Rome onely, but in Africa and other Churches, it appeareth plainly by Tertullian in Apologet. cap. 39. where upbraiding the Gentiles with the piety and devotion of Christians, he saith, Etiam si quid arcae genus est, &c. whatsoever we have in the trea­sury of our Churches is not raised by taxation, as though we put men to ransome their Religion; but every man that will, once a moneth, or when it plea­seth himself, bestoweth what he things good, and not without he listeth; for no man is compelled, but left freely to his own discretion. That which is given, is accounted as Depositum pietatis, the pledge of devotion; for it is not bestowed in banqueting, quaffing, or glut­tony, but in nourishing and burying the poor, and upon children destitute both of parents and maintenance, aged and feeble persons, men wracked by sea, and such as are damned to the metall mines, banished into Islands, or cast into prison, professing the true God, and the Chri­stian faith.

[Page 16]I might thus passe over the first 300. years of the Church, but I desire to make it more apparent how the Clergy of those times lived as well for conversa­tion, as for maintenance. The times (to tell the truth) were such as had not been from the very creation: Times wherein God opened the windows of persecution, and rained bloud upon his Church, as he did water upon the world in the days of Noah; and as in the planting of the Law, he scourged the enemies of his people with ten famous plagues, so now in the founding of the Go­spel he tried his children with ten grievous persecuti­ons; by reason whereof the Clergy then aspired so generally to the crown of martyrdome, that they pre­pared their bodies to this sacrifice by the austerest rules of conversation that they could devise, contemning all worldly pleasure, all curiosity of meat, drinke, apparel, sustenance and necessities, wasting their flesh with ab­stinence, fasting, thin cloathing, going sometimes bare­foot, denying all things to every sense, that it particu­larly delighted in, applying themselves wholly to Pray­er and Preaching, to support and enlarge the Gospel; and to be short, to doe the work of Gods Vineyard faithfully in all things and laboriously, as appeareth a­bundantly in Eusebius, Nicephorus, Socrates, Ruffinus, and other ancient Ecclesiasticall Authors. These are they of whom the world was not worthy, these gained every man his ten talents, and sit now in the first seats of heaven, next unto the throne of the Lamb.

Touching their maintenance, the means thereof a­rise chiefly (as appeareth by Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, and others) out of the oblations of the people, benevo­lences, first-fruits, tithes, &c. which being continually offered at the Altar, or brought into the treasury of the [Page 17] Church, were one while employed in common to the diet and necessities of the brethren and Clergy, but at length distributed by portions, first, weekly, as it seemeth by a decree of Pius the first, Bishop of Rome, in the year of our Lord, 158. after monthly, as appeareth by an E­pistle of Cyprian ad clerum, lib. 4. Epist. 5. to every Priest particularly. The manner how this was performed, ap­peareth not sufficiently in the Authors of those times; but I will recite the places in their own obscurities; first, touching that assigned to Pius, Tom. Con. 1. pag. 125. In vita Pii. Col. 6. Vt de oblationibus quae offeruntur à populo, & con­secrationibus quae supersunt, vel de panibus, quos deferunt fideles ad ecclesiam, vel certè de suis: Presbyter convenienter partes incisas habeat in vase nitido, & convenienti, ut post missarum solennia, qui communicare non fuerunt parati, Eu­logias omni die Dominico, & in diebus festis exinde accipi­ant, quae cum benedictione prius faciat. Ex codice quin­to librorum, lib. 2. c. 117.

And Cyprian in the place above cited, p. 126. Caeterum Presbyterii honorem designasse nos illis jam sciatis, ut et spor­tulis iisdem cum Presbtyeris honorentur, & divisiones mensurae aequalis quantitatibus partiantur: whereby it appeareth that the Priests at this time (which was a­bout the year 240.) had every man his allowance delive­red monthly per sportulas; that is, by baskets, whereup­on they were called fratres sportulantes, basket-brethren, or brethren that lived on the basket; and it may be that some understanding the words, as we now use them for an alms basket, could be contented that the Ministers lived in like manner at this day. To deliver therefore that sacred and most honourable profession from such base imputation, I hold it necessary to say something of this jus sportularum.

[Page 18] Sportula, is sometimes used generally for every bas­ket, sometimes particularly for a Market basket, or pan­yer, and because the use among the Romans was to cast their Market money into this basket, therefore that ve­ry mony, and the Market meat it self also was called sportula.

Besides it is taken for a vessell, a place, a portion, or provision of victuals.

So Sportula Salutatoria, or Salutantium, was a basket, or messe of meat that the great men of Rome by way of congratulation doe give to the Cities which came to vi­sit them. Martial. lib. 1. Ep. ad Flaccum.

And these great men had at the entry of their houses a place of purpose for keeping this kind of provision, to bestow on their friends; which place was thereupon also called sportula, which Iuvenal seemeth to aim at un­der the name of limen primum, Satyr. 1.— Sportula primo

But expresly in his third Satyr.

Sportula publica, was a like distribution made upon some notable occasion by the Senate and Emperors of Rome, to the people in lieu of the solemn feastings formerly be­stowed on them: which allowances being afterwards too niggardly abridged, Domitian (as Suetonius in his life, cap. 7. reporteth) sportulas publicas sustulit, revocata coena­rum rectarum consuetudine, which Martial also remem­breth in an Epigram to Domitian l. 8.

Sportula nuptialis, signified the wedding feast or pro­vision; [Page 19] Coelius Rhodiginus Antiq. lect. l. 28. c. 24. apud A­puleium sportulas legimus nuptiales, quippe (inquit) ita placuerat, insuburbana villa potius ut conjungeremur, ne ci­ves denuò ad sportulam convolarent.

Sportula convivalis is described also by Coelius, lib. 27. cap. 24. Eranon (inquit est) quod pluribus differtum occum­bentibus sit; sed ita ut ferat sibi unusquisque quod edat, quod etiam [...], dicebatur, id est, sportula. Sportula opipara, I may tearm that which is mentioned by Tully in his Epistles, Famil. lib. 9. Ep. 20. Dediscendae tibi sunt sportellae & artologani, where some interpret sportellae, for those meats, quae secundis mensis numerantur, dishes of the second course, and greatest dainties.

So that sportula presbyteria was no base thing, but an honourable congiary, or portion of victuals distribu­ted to the Clergy, whether by the basket, as the word signifieth, or in vase nitido, as Pius appointed it; And thus much doth the very place alledged out of Cyprian intreat, where he saith, sportulis idem cum presbyter is ho­norentur.

What this sportula contained I cannot declare, but A­lexand. ab Alexand. Genial. dier. lib. 5. cap. 24. speaking of the Roman sportula publica saith, In qua frequens obso­nium panis, oleum, & porcina caro dari solita est, abs (que) vi­no; and Domitius in his Comment. on the first Satyr. of Iuvenal, much more fully, ex sportula omnia sibi coeme­bant, que & ad victum & ad cultum pertinerent. So that, sportula presbyteria, seemeth to be then a Cornu copia, that ministred unto the Clergy all things they had need of, as well for cloathing, and other necessaries, as for sustenance. For no doubt the people of God did at this time, not onely according to the precept of the Apostle, make the Ministers of the Word partakers of [Page 20] all their goods; but as Abraham did also to Melchisedek present unto them, [...], the very top and chiefest part thereof, following Abraham in offering the fat, and abhorring to give the carrion things unto God, like the sacrifice of Cain.

And that it may be no disgrace to the honourable Ministers of the Church to live thus, ex sportula, let me note by the way that the Kings and Princes of the world are likewise said to live ex sportula; for their Ex­chequer or Treasury hath thereupon the name of Fi­scus: which word as appeareth by Ascanius, is all one with sportula. Fisci, fiscinae, fiscellae (saith he) sportea sunt Strigelius in leg. lib. 2. pag. 307. utensilia ad majoris summae pecunias capiendas, unde quia major summa est pecuniae publicae quàm privatae, factum est ut fiscus pro pecunia publica & inde confiscare dicatur; a little before he saith, Sportae, sportulae, sportellae, munerum sunt receptacula; And let me also remember that in the Easterne Empire, the Master of the Store-house and Wardrobe, as well Palatine, as Ecclesiastical, was cal­led, [...], and [...], that is, a Canistro, Codin. p. 5. Suidas. vel Sportula.

Touching Lands, though the Churches at this time had little, yet were they not altogether without any, as appeareth partly by that which Eusebius reporteth of Paulus Samosatenus, that under Aurelian the Emperour ( i. e. about the yeare 274.) he wrongfully invaded an house belonging to the Church of Antioch. But more amply by the edict of Licinius, and Constantine, where it Apud Euseb. l. 10. ca. 5. 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 [Page 21] 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 [Page 22] Ministers and poor children, in his 31. Homily upon Matthew he saith— Opus habemus ut fideles simus pariter & prudentes ad dispensandos ecclesiae reditus, &c. It behoveth us to be faithfull in disposing the rents of the Church. Faithfull, that we our selves devour not those things which belong unto the widows, and that we be mind­full of the poor; and because it is written, The Lord hath appointed that they which preach the Gospel, should live 1 Cor. 9. 14. 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 necessi [...]y. Neither must we mi­nister the same things to men and to women, nor like quantity to old men, and young men; nor to sickly young men that are not able to earn their living, and those [...] have somwhat of their own to maintain them­selves withall. It must also be considered whether they have many children; and whether those children be idle, or industrious; and how far forth they are insufficient [Page 23] 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 [...]. 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: [Page 24] 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: [Page 25] 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 long­suffering of his Church, with the blessings promised in the tenth of Mark, v. 29. 31. That since they had forsaken house, and brethren, and sisters, and father, and mother, and wife, and children, and lands for Christs sake and the Go­spel; they should receive an hundred fold now at this present, with their persecutions, and in the world to come eternall life. I will not argue this point, but letting passe the School-men, will rest my self upon the determination of many ancient Councels, Fathers, and Doctors of the Church, who with one consent conclude affirmatively, that the Church may hold them.

And I think their opinion to be of God, for that it hath prevailed these 1500. years against all the ene­mies thereof, though the Kytes of Satan have pulled many a plume from it.

To return to Constantine; though he and others by his example did abundantly enrich the Church, yet did not the Church-men take these riches to the benefit of themselves, and their families, but employed them as before to workes of charity. Yea, Silvester himselfe, though the sea of these things flowed into his bosome, and were at his pleasure, yet took he as sparingly of them, as if he had been but a little pitcher, suffering the whole streams thereof to run abundantly amongst the children of the church, and poor people, as did also the other Fathers, Priests, and Clergy of that time, who [Page 26] reckoned not otherwise of riches then as dung, which being spread and scattered in the fields of God, might make them the more fertile. For the resolution then was (as in the age before) that no Church-man might take Lands to his private use, nor the Church her self otherwise then for works of charity, and the necessary sustenance of her Ministers, not to make stocks or por­tions for them in earth, whose inheritance was in hea­ven, and that had God himself fortheir portion. There­fore Prosper a godly Father of that time, whose authority Lib. 21. de vita Contemplativa. is often used in the Councel of Aquisgrane, disputing the point, concludeth it thus; If every Minister of the Church have not a Living, the Church doth not pro­vide one for him in this world, but helpeth him with things necessary, that he may receive the reward of his labour in the world to come, resting in this life upon the promise of our Saviour. To which purpose he ap­plieth the place in the 1 Cor. 9. 14. What is it to live of the Gospel, but that the labourer should receive his ne­cessaries from the place wherein he laboureth? And a little before him, Hierome also in his Book De vita Mo­nach. Cler. instituenda—saith, If I be the Lords part and Epist. ad Nepo­tianum. 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 [Page 27] 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, quàm in fratrum qui ab eo suscipiuntur, necessariis usibus, profuturis, ita ut in nullo qualibet occasione fraudentur, juxta sanctum Apo­stolum sic dicentem, Habentes victum & tegumentum his contenti sumus. Quòd si contentus istis minime fuerit, con­vertat autem res ecclesiae in suos usus domesticos, & ejus com­moda vel agrorum fructus, non cum Presbyterorum conscien­tia, diaconorumque pertractet, sed horum potestatem dome­sticis suis, aut propinquis, aut fratribus, filiisque committat, ut per hujusmodi personas occultè caeterae laedantur ecclesiae, Synodo provinciae poenas iste persolvat. Si autem & aliter accusetur Episcopus, aut Presbyteri, qui cum ipso sunt, quòd ea quae pertinent ad ecclesiam, vel ex agris, vel ex alia qua­libet Ecclesiastica facultate sibimet usurpent, ita ut ex hoc af­sligantur quidem pauperes, criminationi verò, & blasphemiis tam sermo praedicationis, quàm 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 [Page 28] the sins of my people. But as they which have nothing of their own, receive the food they have need of, and not the sins: so they which have of their own receive not the food (which they abound with) but the sins of other men.

Therefore though the Councell of Antioch, An. 340. Can. 25. ordained that the Bishops might distribute the Church goods, yet would it not suffer them to take any portion thereof to the use of themselves, or of the Priests and brethren that lived with them, unlesse necessity did justly require it, using the words of the Apostle, 1 Tim. 6. 8. habentes victum & tegumentum his contenti su­mus; having food and raiment let us be therewith con­tented. And decreed further, that if the Bishops should not be satisfied, but did employ any goods of the Church, to their kindred, brethren, or children, they should answer it at the next Synod. So likewise tou­ching Priests, as the words subsequent imply: and as A­chilles Statius expoundeth it, pag. 14. for the Priests at that time had nothing but by the assignment of the Bi­shops: and if the Bishops themselves might take no more then onely for their necessity, we may easily judge what the inferiour Clergy might doe.

But Gregory looking upon 2 Thess. 3. 7, 8. where it is said, You ought to follow us, we take no bread of any man for nought; and that he which will not work, should not eat: ap­plieth these to the Clergy, and concludeth that though such kind of Ministers have never so much need, yet they must not participate the food of their function or Church Revenues; for saith he, Pensemus cujus damna­tionis sit, &c. let us think with our selves how great damnation it is to receive the reward of labour without labour. Behold, we (the Clergy) live of the oblations of the faithfull; but what? doe we labour to get the [Page 29] goods and cattell of the faithfull? doe we take those things for our wages which the faithfull have offered for the redemption of their sins; and doe we not ear­nestly labour as we ought to doe, against those sins, by industry of prayer and preaching?

For the next Ages of the church, what the Authour Note. 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 M ^r Selden in his Hi­story, c. 6. where he sheweth when Tithes began to be commanded by Laws and Synods, and withall giveth the reason out of Agobardus a very learned Bishop of Li­ons (as he truly saith of him) why Councels did not at first make canons touching Tithes and gifts to the church: which Agobardus speaketh touching generall Councels; but Provinciall Councels did frequently command them, as will appear by the collections fol­lowing here, cap. 20. Agobardus words are considerable, in his Book De dispensatione contra sacrilegos, p. 176. Jam verò de donandis rebus & ordinandis ecclesiis, nihil unquam in Synodis constitutum est, nihil à sanctis patribus publicè praedicatum: nulla enim compulit necessitas, fervente ubi­que religiosa devotione, & amore illustrandi ecclesias ultro aestuante, &c.

Concerning giving of goods, and endowing of churches, nothing hath ever been decreed in Coun­cels, nothing publickly promulgated by the holy Fa­thers, for no necessity required it, the religious devoti­on, and love of beautifying the churches every where [Page 30] abounding of their owne accord. At first religious Acts 4. 34, 35. christians sold all their lands, goods, houses, and pos­sessions, laying down the money at the Apostles feet, Acts 2. 45. and long after the Apostles time devotion and zeal in this kind was so fervent, that there was no need of laws, but when this zeal began to waxe cold in the next Ages following, then laws and canons were made more carefully for Tithes and maintenance.

Many Kings and Princes also were so pious and carefull, that the full tenth should be paid, that they made severall lawes to pay a ninth part, that so they might bee sure to pay more rather then lesse then a tenth: Ex propensiori in Deum animo ultra decimas, nonas dabant pii: As this Authour proveth by very many laws alledged in his learned Glossary, which shall be produced in due place and time: and cap. 11. here fol­lowing prudently observeth: How many things in the beginning both of the Law and Gospel, were admit­ted, and omitted for the present, and reformed afterward: for when the Law was given, the wheels thereof could not presently fall into their course; and so likewise in the New Testament, the Apostles themselves are com­pelled to many necessities, and to suffer many things which were reformed afterwards.

To which discourse I leave the Reader, who may thence receive satisfaction, why laws and canons for Tithes and maintenance were not made in the first A­ges so exactly and carefully as afterwards they were e­nacted both by Temporall and Ecclesiasticall powers.

But as others also observe for succeeding times; Churches and Tithes were both miserably overthrown and lost in most of these Western parts of the Empire, by the Invasion of the barbarous people, Hunnes, Goths, and [Page 31] 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 [Page 32] 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 M ^r 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 1. was about the Sanctuary, Numb. 4. 36. or Holiest of all, Num. 4. 4. under the government of Eleazar the Priest, Numb. 3. 32. to bear the Ark of the testimony, and all the instruments of the Sanctuary. The covering vail, (which divided the Sanctuary and the Holiest of all) the Table of shew-bread, the dishes, the incense, the incese­cups, the goblets, and coverings to cover it with, and the bread that shall be thereon continually, v. 7. the Num. 4. 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 [Page 34] 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 2. 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 3. also, and they had in charge the boards of the Taberna­cle Exod. 26. 15. 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 [Page 35] 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.

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. seq.) but Solomon performed the work. The Levites of the Temple were of two sorts, one Levites and Priests, the other Levites onely: In the function of the Priests, he changed little save the place of their service, not the manner; before they served in the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle, now he removeth them to the Sanctuary of the Temple.

But to avoid confusion (because the posterity of Aa­ron was by this time (that is, in 600. years) exceedingly multiplyed) he divided the Priests into 24. ranks or courses, according to the names of their families, as you [Page 36] may read, 1 Chron. 24. 7. appointing them their turns and times of attendance, which as it seemeth, 2 Chron. 23. 8. (and as Praecepit eis [...] unaquaeque generatio mini­straret Deo per dies octo, à Sab­batho usque ad Sabbathum. Jo­seph. Antiq. l. 7. cap. 15. p. 389. Josephus explaineth it) was from one sabbath to another, therefore the Greek translation calleth these turns or courses, [...] & [...], which Theophylact saith is, hebdomia, a week: Hereupon Zacha­rias is said to be of the rank or course of Abiah (which was the 8. rank) and to execute the Priests office, and burn incense as his turn came, Luke 1.

The other Levites of the Temple; that is, those that were simply Levites and not Priests; namely, such as descended not of the line of Aaron, he divided into 3. parts: one to be singers; another to be porters, and take the charge of the gates of the Temple; the third to be keepers of the Treasury.

The singers to be divided as the Priests, into 24. ranks or courses; The porters into 5. parts, one part to every of the 4. gates of the Temple, and the fifth to A­suppim, i. e. the Councell-house.

Their Treasury was generally committed to one as the chief, but under him, to 2. sorts of other officers, one to keep the Treasures of the house of the Lord, (that is, that were given to the maintenance of the Tem­ple) v. 22. and the other to keep the dedicate things, v. 26 & 28. But I finde that the Treasury was divi­ded into 3. parts: one called Mesark, wherein were laid up donaria principum, the gifts of Kings and Princes; the second Corban, in which were donaria sacerdotum, the offerings of the Priests; and the third Gazophylacium, pro donariis transeuntium, for the offerings of the people in generall, into which it seemeth the poor widow cast her mite. Eos verò qui erant de germine Mosis, eminen­tiùs honoravit; fecit eos autē cu­stodes thesauro­rum Dei, atque vasorum quae reges Deo di­care contigerit. Antiq. l. 7. c. 15. pag. 390. Josephus saith that with this office of the Treasury, as the most eminent, David honoured the off­spring of Moses.

The Provinciall Levites are those whom he severed from the Temple, and placed abroad in the Country to be rulers over the people, both in matters pertaining to God, and the affairs of the King, that is, spiritually and temporally; some to be Judges, some to be other Officers in the Common-wealth: 1700. of them he set on the West-side of Jordan, and 2700. on the East-side, chief Fathers, and all worthy men, Chron. 26. 30. & 32. Josephus counteth the Levites of this kinde with Iudices autem populi & scri­bas eorum 6000. Antiq. l. 7. c. 15. p. 389. their Scribes, as he calleth them, to be 6000. whereby it appeareth that the sect of the Scribes belonged to the Judges.

Thus David made a new form of the service of the Levites, far differing from the first: yet the Tithes ap­pointed to the first, remained over to the second sort: and those that medled not with the Temple and holy things, namely, the Provinciall Levites, had their part in the Tithe as well as the Templar Levites; and there­fore as the alteration of the service, whereto they were first ordained, took not away the wages allotted to them: so the second alteration of their service, name­ly, this of the Gospel, ought not to take from the Levites thereof, our Ministers, the Tithe before paid to the two former kind of Levites; I mean them of the Taberna­cle, and of the Temple. The Templar Levites were delivered from bearing the burden of the Tabernacle, and yet had the Tithes; therefore the Levites of the Gospel must have their Tithes, though they be deli­vered from bearing the burden of the Law, and ceremo­nies thereof.

Though this distinction of Templar and Provinci­all Note. Levites may seem new to some men, yet it is plain­ly [Page 38] grounded upon the Text, and is very materiall to be observed for many purposes. At first whiles the num­ber of the Levites and Priests was not very great, they all attended at the Tabernacle at Shilo, first, or else­where: But when the Temple was built by Solomon, and that Tribe greatly encreased, they attended by cour­ses, (which was before designed by David, 1 Chron. 23, &c.) and then it fell out but one week in an half yeer to each to attend at the Temple: for the Priests being divided into 24. courses, and so likewise the Levites in­to 24. no course could come oftner about, then once in 24. months, or a week in every half year, which indeed was their usage, as Josephus sheweth; and so Scaliger and Salianus, with other accurate Chronolo­gers.

Now the whole Tribe being so mightily encreased in Davids time, as that there were 38. thousand Levites besides the Priests, 1 Chron. 23. 3. Magnus sanè numerus pro isto populo, ut facilè intelligas multos ornatui magis serviisse quàm necessitati: as Grotius there saith.

Therefore God employed them for many uses more then to attend at the Temple: some were designed for other employments in the Common-wealth, and they applied other studies, as being the chief men for nobili­ty and dignity, and also for learning and knowledge in that Common-wealth.

Cum pingue haberent otium, non tantum omnia legis, sed & medicinae, aliarumque artium diligentes ediscebant, ut & Aegyptii s [...]erdotes, ideoque primis seculis, ex illis, ut eruditioribus Senatus 70. virûm legi maxime solebat. Gro­tius in Deut. 17.

There was no other Academy or School then in the whole world, but at the Temple among them, where [Page 39] the knowledge of Gods law, or learning in any kinde could bee gained: The administration of law and justice throughout the kingdome depended on them principally; for God made his covenant with Levi of life and peace. The law of truth was in his mouth. The Priests lips should preserve knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: Mal. 2. 5, 6, 7. and so Ezek. 44. 23. They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and prophane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean: and in con­troversie they shall stand in judgment, & they shal judg accor­ding to my judgements: and they shall keep my laws, and my statutes in all mine assemblies: they being the principall Judges and Lawyers in that Common-wealth of Gods own constitution. And whereas it is now granted on all hands, than there was 3. Courts of Justice in that king­dome; 1. the great Councel of 70. Elders; 2. the Court of Judgement consisting of 23. 3. the Court of three, or some few more: the Priests and Levites were prin­cipall men, both Judges and Officers in all Courts, Scophtim & Schoterim, as 1 Chron. 23. 4. both to give sentence and judgement, and also to execute the same: so the Divines doe affirm also in their late Annotations, upon 1 Chron. 26. 29, 30. and 2 Chron. 19. 8. 11. They did study the Judiciall and Politique laws, and had power to see the law of God, and injunctions of the King to be observed, and to order divine and humane affairs. And they held also other honourable offices: for we 1 Chron. 26. 14 read that Zechariah a Levite was a wise Counsellor. And Benaiah a Priest, son of Jehoiada, was one of Da­vids 1 Chron. 27. 5. twelve Captains, being the third Captain of the Host for the third month: and in his course consisting of 2400. was his son Amizabad: Benaiah was also one 1 Chron. 11. 22 of Davids principal Worthies, having the name among [Page 40] the three Mighties. He was also Captain of the guard to David, and after the death of Joab, hee was made Lord Generall of the Host, by King Solomon, in Joabs room, 1 Kings 2. 35.

And because some have doubted whether they were imployed in the administration of justice, it is more clearly of late evinced then formerly hath been: for be­sides Sigonius, Bertram, Casaubon, Moulin, and divers o­thers, the learned Hugo Grotius, in his Annotations up­on Matthew, cap. 5. 21. hath very accurately proved it out of the Text, Josephus, & Philo, and other monuments of the Jews (whose testimonies at large I cannot now recite) that there was no distinction, nor division of the Courts of Justice, the one Ecclesiasticall, the other Civill, but the Courts were united, and the Priests and Levites, the principall Judges and officers in every Court, to whom the people were to be obedient upon pain of death, Deut. 17. 12. they being appointed to hear every cause between bloud and bloud, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversie within thy gates; and as our Lawyers call them, Pleas of the Crown, and Common pleas, or whatsoever else did arise among them. The Provinciall Levites were especially appointed to the Courts of Justice, and also the Templar Levites, when they had performed their courses, (and went home to their own houses) being but one week in half a year, were at very good leisure to assist the people in every Tribe, where their Cities were al­lotted to them, in governing, ruling, and directing in all matters pertaining to God and the King, 1 Chron. 26. 30. 32. for which purpose God did scatter them in every Tribe, and turned the curse of Jacob into a sin­gular blessing, to be divided in Jacob, and scattered in Is­rael, Gen. 49. 7. [Page 41] appointing 1700. to be on the west-side Jordan, and 2700. on the East-side.

The ancient frame of our Common-wealth, for 500. years before the Conquest, was thus disposed and gover­ned, as this learned Authour sheweth fully in his Glos­sary and Councels; and happy had it been if things had so continued still: but now the law being otherwise setled, and the Courts divided, it is not safe, or easie to make alteration.

Comes praesidebat foro Comitatus, non solus, sed adjunctus Episcopo; hic ut jus divinum, ille ut humanum diceret; alterque alteri auxilio esset & consilio: praesertim Episco­pus Comiti, nam in hunc illi animadvertere saepe licuit & er­rantem cohibere: idem igitur utrique territorium, & ju­risdictionis terminus: Glossar. Spelman.

The Bishop and Earl of the County were joynt Ma­gistrates in every Shire, and did assist each other in all causes and Courts; and so M ^r Selden in his History, cap. 14. § 1. By this means there was great union and harmony between all Judges and Officers, whereas there is now great contention for jurisdiction, and in­tolerable clashing in all Courts, by injunctions, prohi­bitions, consultations, and crosse orders to the great vex­ation of the clients and subjects.

The division of Courts seems to have proceeded first from Pope Nicholas 1. as is mentioned in Gratian, Can. cum ad verum 96. dist. about 200. years before the Con­quest, which was imitated here by William the Conque­rour, whose statute is recited and illustrated by Spelman in his Glossary and Councels, and lately also publish­ed by Lord Cook, lib. 4. Institutes, cap. 52. But the further proof hereof will require more then this place, or occa­sion will bear: onely thus much was necessary to be [Page 42] mentioned and asserted in regard of explication and re­ference to many passages in this book, and also other parts of his works, which perhaps are not obvious, or well observed by every common Reader. Vide Glossar. Domini Spelman. in diatribis de Comite; de Gemottis; de Hun­dredo, &c. & Concilia passim.

CAP. VIII. The great account made of Priests in the old Law, and be­fore.

PRiesthood is of 3. sorts. 1. That before the Law. 2. That of the Law. 3. This of the Gospel. The first belonged to the Gentiles, the second to them of the Circumcision, the third to us under grace. The third came in lieu of the second, and the second rise out of the first, which was from the beginning, and the work of nature: for as Origen saith, naturall wisdome requi­red Erant ni [...]ilomi­nus ea tempe­state sacrdotes, nec dum adhuc à lege ordinati, sed naturali s [...]p [...]entia h [...]s requirente & perficien [...]e. l. 11. in Iob p. 2. and established it: Abel and Cain, before the Priests office, by the instinct of nature, not by commandement, when each of them sacrificed, or made an oblation unto the Lord, Gen. 4. 4. their outward senses reported to them continually the great mercies that God had shewed unto them: and their inward taught them presently, that they must be thankfull, and what course was fittest to expresse their thankfulnesse; namely, to honour him that gave all, with somewhat of his own; I say to ho­nour him with it, not to reward him: therefore both of them (as it is said in Gen.) offered of their fruits; Cain like a churle, his fruits simply, that is, his ordinary and lean stuffe: but Abel like a Prince, his first-fruits, that is, his best fruits, namely, the fat, &c. Gen. 4. 3, 4. Thus was Priesthood instituted, corrupted, and reformed e­ven [Page 43] in the beginning. Cain (for ought that here appea­reth to the contrary) began it, and likewise corrupted it; Abel continued, and reformed it: but some rather think (and so saith Hugo) that Adam taught it to his children: and this to me seemeth more likely, that the In Gen. 4. 3. better function should be derived from the better man, and not from the bloody mind of murdering Cain.

From this fountain it ran under ground (I mean un­spoken of) till the time of Noah, and then breaking forth again, did shew it self more perspicuously in his person, for he not onely offered an oblation, which he learned of his Ancestors, but offered it also upon an Altar, which he taught his successors.

By this example of Noah, the exercise of sacrificing grew common (no doubt) with the people of that time, and after in the confusion of languages to be dispersed through all Nations, who losing their originall faith with their originall tongue, and falling so to idolatry, applied this holy function to the worship of idols and devils. Amongst which, notwithstanding, (as here and there an ear of wh [...]at, in a field of thistles) God had his servants, who from time to time, and age to age, tradu­cing this holy mystery (as sacred fire) to posterity, kept it ever in the originall integrity. Besides the regall Priest Melchisedek, such were Abraham and Job, whom though the Scripture intituleth not with that name, yet it testifieth that they used the function, which seem­eth then to be ordinarily, though the Scripture men­tioneth it not; for young Isaac could talk of the fire, and wood, and ask where the Lamb was for the burnt­offering, Gen. 22. before Abraham had made the sacrifice there spoken of. But Abraham being first a Gentile, and after the Authour of Circumcision, brought the mystery [Page 44] of sacrificing, and thereby of Priesthood) from the V [...] non Gentes ex Iudaeis, sed Iudaei ex Genti­bus sacerdotium acceperint. Ep. ad Euagrium. Tom. 3. p. 38. Gentiles to them of the Circumcision; so that (saith Jerome) the Gentiles received not Priesthood from the Jews, but the Jews from the Gentiles.

CAP. IX. When our Saviour commanded that the Disciples should take nothing with them, but live on the charges of the faithfull; this bound not the Disciples perpetually.

VVHen our Saviour prescribed his Disciples to take nothing with them, but to live at the charge of them into whose houses they entred; this was a law to bind the faithfull to provide for the Mi­nister, but not to bind the Minister to live so, and no o­therwise; for though at this time he commanded them to take no scrip with them, (that is, no necessaries) yet after he saith; But now he that hath a scrip let him take it, Luke 22. 36. So likewise he willed them to salute no man, yet it was not his meaning, that afterwards they should be so uncourteous. If this had been a legall com­mandement to the Disciples, then might they not vary from it, nor live in any other sort without sinne. But Paul and Barnabas left this course of maintenance and lived upon the labour of their hands, therefore this was no binding commandement, but as a Charter of li­berty and power granted to the Disciples. They might both use and exact it, if they would, or they might dis­cedere de jure, and leave it if they listed. S. Paul, 1 Cor. 9. largely handleth this point, and concludeth it to the purpose we alledge: So (saith he) the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel, v. 14. But I (quoth he) have used none of these things, [Page 45] neither write I these things, that it should (thus) be done unto me, v. 15. By which words, saith S. Austin, it appea­reth that our Lord commanded not in such sort, as they Tom. 4. 99. which preached the Gospel, might not live otherwise then by that that was ministred unto them by them to whom they preached it: for then (saith he) the Apo­stle did against this commandement, that got his li­ving with the labour of his hands, lest he should be chargeable to any. But our Lord (saith he) gave them power to doe it (if they would) that thereby they might know that these things were due unto them. And again, a little after he addeth these words; therefore when the Apostle saith, That our Lord so ordained, but for his part he used it not, he sheweth manifestly, that power was given them to use it, (if they would) but no necessity imposed of doing it, (if they would not.)

And from this distinction is the reconcilement drawn of these two places in Scripture, which other­wise seem contrary, Mat. 10. 10. and Luke 9. 3. say both, that our Lord commanded that the Disciples should not take, no not a staffe with them: but Mark 6. 8. re­porteth it, Nothing save a staffe onely. Saint Augustine August. de Consens. Eu. Tom. 4. 100. a. therefore in the first place understandeth it literally, not so much as a staffe to stay or uphold them: but in the second place figuratively, for power and authori­ty, as if the speech had been, Take no kind of necessa­ries with you, no not so much as a staffe to stay you, save onely the staffe of authority that I now give you.

And in that our Saviour left these things to the choice of the Disciples and Ministers, he made them Lords and free-men, for necessity imposeth bondage; Therefore Paul and Barnabas shewed not onely their freedome in not using that that lay in their power, but the noble­nesse [Page 46] of their mind also that would depend upon no bo­dy; and hereby we must not judge them to have no right to tithes, because they omitted them also.

CAP. X. That many things in the beginning both of the Law and the Gospel were admitted, or omitted, for the present, or refor­med afterward.

AS Painters in the beginning of their work, use rude colours, and unperfect lines, for their present dire­ction; so in all great mutations, many things are for the present admitted, or omitted, which future time shall have just occasion to reform. This in humane actions is so common, as needeth no instance: but insomuch as the holy rites themselves are not free from it, neither in the old, nor new Testament, i [...] is necessary for the point in hand to shew some examples thereof.

I observe therefore three kinds of alterations, 1. Ad­mission of things prohibited. 2. Omission of things commanded; and 3. Reformation of things established.

Touching the first point; plurality of wives was for­bidden, 1. yet after Lamoch had broken this institution, the children of God were permitted also to doe it. So likewise was Divorcement: yet Moses tolerated it.

None might sacrifice in the high places, or under green trees, but onely in the Tabernacle, Deut. 12. 2. yet till the building of the Temple, God often accep­ted it, as of Gedeon.

The Priests onely might eat the shew-bread, yet David and his followers did eat it also upon necessity.

On the other side, things commanded were omitted 2. for a time; for when the Law was given, the wheeles [Page 47] thereof could not presently fall into their course. Cir­cumcision it self was not used during all the 40. years travell in the wildernesse, and happily had never been revived, if God had not commanded Joshua to circum­cise the children of Israel the second time, Jos. 5. 2. Yea, the great ceremonies of sacrifices and oblations slept all that while, the people offered to Idols, and Aaron with them, but from the first sacrifice that Aaron offe­red, at the entring into the wildernesse, Lev. 9. 8. &c. not one Altar breathed unto the Lord in 40. years, Amos 5. 26. Even Moses himself was buried in this sleep. How the Passeover and other Feasts were celebrated appeareth not, they are seldome mentioned, and may seem therefore seldome kept. One Passeover at the going out of Aegypt, Exod. 12. 11. Another in the wil­derness of Sinai, God then reviving that commandment, Numb. 9. 1. &c. After by Joshua at Gilgal beyond Jor­dan, Jos. 3. 10. and from that day till the 18. year of Josias, (that is, above 800. years) all are passed over as obscure, except one in the time of Solomon, 2 Chron. 35. 13. and 2 Kings 23. 2. But I must not conceal that Moses omitteth the History of 36. years travail in the wildernesse, reporting onely the punishment of him that gathered sticks on the Sabbath day, Numb. 15. 32. and therefore in that time whether it were kept or not, we can conclude nothing: but it is plain that before Ezekias his days it was so utterly lost, that when he came to renue it, it seemed meerly a new thing, 2 Chron. 29. and all this time also, was both the Temple forlorn and shut up, and all the holy rites almost extinguished till he renued them, ib.

For the point of Reformation; the Levites were 3. by Moses assigned to the Tabernacle; the Priests to [Page 48] the Altar, but both of them confusedly without distin­ction, and yet so they continued till the time of David: who to reform this confusion, divided them into ranks, allotted a part of the service to every rank, and assigned to them of the ranks times of attendance, and intermis­sion, 1 Chron. 23, 24, 25, 26. cap. upon which it is said that Zacharias was of the course (or rank of Abia) and executed the Priests office, as his course or turn came in order, Luke 1. 5, & 8.

Some things also that were never commanded were brought into the old Law afterward, and well accepted, as the act of fasting, and the habit thereof, sackcloth and ashes.

The brazen Serpent was set up by Gods own com­mandement, Numb. 21. 6. yet when the people burnt in­cense to it, Ezekias brake it in pieces, 2 Kings 18. 4. without any commandement.

None might slay the burnt-offerings but the Priests, but when they were too few, and till more were sanctifi­ed, the Levites did it, 2 Chron. 29. 34.

Likewise in the New Testament, the wheels of the Gospel were not by and by in their course. The Apo­stles themselves are compelled to the same necessities.

First, to admit many ceremonies abolished, for if they 1. struck at them all at once, they drive all the Jews from the doctrine at once; again, if they imposed them up­on the Gentiles, the Gentiles repined at the burden: to carry the matter therefore as even as they might, they call a Councell, and consulting upon it, they write to the Gentiles, that they purposed not to burden them but with these necessary things, viz. to abstain from things offered unto idols, and bloud, and that that is strang­led, and from fornication, Acts 15. 29. by which the [Page 49] Gentiles could not complain of being burdened with ceremonies, nor the Jews that their ceremonies were contemned. In like sort Saint James and the Elders at Jerusalem seeing many thousand Jews to beleeve, and yet to be zealous of the Law, ( Act. [...]1. 20.) they not onely tolerated it for the present, but perswaded Saint Paul (comming thither) to doe the like, and further to make a shew also that himself observed the law: whereupon as before he had circumcised Timothy in shew of keeping the law, Acts 16. 3. so now he also personateth a Naza­rite, Numb. 6. 8. he is purified, and he is shaven (as one already) at Cenchrea, Act. 21. 26. and 18. 18.

Thus the Apostles applied themselves to the necessi­ty of the time, the place, and the persons: thus Paul becommeth a Proteus, a Jew to the Iews, a Gentile to the Gentiles, weak to the weak, all to all, and all this to gain all them to Christ, 1 Cor. 9. 22.

In the mean while, many things required to the 2. establishing of the Church, must needs be omitted; the main matters they uphold unto death, but the seconda­ry and remote dependances they refer to opportunity: therefore they by and by pressed no man with keeping the Lords day, and though themselves began by little and little to sanctifie it with breaking of bread, and preaching, Acts 20. 9. 1 Cor. 16. 2. yet the first mention of it is above 22. years after the Passion of Christ in Acts 20. 7. and I suppose it to be begun about that time, because I finde that till that time the Apostles used the Iudaicall Sabbath, but never after, through all the New Testament; and the reason why they then used it was, for that the greatest Assemblies being on that day in the Temple and Synagogues of the Iews▪ therefore they re­sorted thither, there they preached the Gospel, there [Page 50] they taught the people, as if themselves had celebrated that Sabbath. And as it was long ere they brought in the Lords day, so in matters more remote and outward, matters belonging to the body, they were lesse curious; therefore though they laboured hard in the Lords Vine­yard, yet they required no wages of any man. And though Paul prescribed that Bishops should be good housekeepers, yet few or none of them were owners of houses, but rather as fugitives to escape persecution, or as pilgrims to preach the Gospel.

If the law that was given in a solitary place, to a peo­ple 3. sequestred from all other, and at union amongst themselves, and having no publique nor potent adver­sary to hinder the course thereof; if they I say, could not preserve it in the originall integrity, much more of necessity must the establishment of the Gospel be im­peached and turned out of the course thereof, it rising in the midst of the enemies, in the flame of persecution, and with the opposition of the greatest Potentates in e­very Region. It must therefore have the greater need of sundry Reformations: some of the first lineaments must be wiped out, some altered, & some as occasion ser­ved must be added or amended; the Iudaicall ceremonies that for many years together were permitted in the cra­dle time of the Church, must be taken away: Paul that then suffered them, now suppresseth them, Col. 3. Gal. 3. ca. 4. c. 5. and the holy Ghost throughout all the E­pistle to the Hebrews, beateth them down for ever.

Thus as old branches be cut off, so some new be in­graffed; the Lords day, the Feasts of Easter and Whit­sontide, not spoken of in the beginning, are brought in at length. Deacons are ordained presently after Christ, Act. 6. 2. but no Bishops in 20. years after, nor were [Page 51] they then particularly ascribed every one to his limit, but many together over one City, as at Ephesus, Act. 20. 28. So women at first were admitted to be Deacons, Conc. Laodicen. c. 11. but time afterwards wore them out. Christ commanded his Disciples that they should not goe from house to house, but Paul saith, I have taught you openly, and from house to house, Acts 20. 20.

To conclude, all could 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.

[Page 52]But some will say, God strictly exacted When there shall be a place which the Lord God shall chuse to cause his name to dwell there, thither shall you bring all that I command you; your burnt-of­ferings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the offerings of your hands and all your speciall vows, which you vow unto the Lord, Deut. 12. 11. these things were not respited till then, but ap­pointed that then also they must bee performed; for it is also said, Exod. 12. 21. When yee shall come into the Land which the Lord shall give you,—then ye shall keep this service, i. e. of the Passeover; which was done, Ios. 4. 6. but yet I take this to be discharge of it in the mean time. Quaerc. 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 Kingdome 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; [Page 53] 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.

CAP. XII. That Ministers must have plenty.

THose that would have Ministers live of alms and benevolence, make their reason, that they must fol­low the example of Christ and the Apostles; but by the example of Christ and the Apostles they are taught to abound in all works of charity themselves, to feed the hungry, to cloath the naked, lodge the harbourlesse, &c. and how shall they perform this, living in want? 5000. did Christ feed at one time, Joh. 6. 10. Mat. 14. 21. above 4000. at another time, Mat. 15. 38. and even herein are his Ministers bound to follow him, not in the miracle, but in shewing like mercy and compassion: for he saith not, I desire to doe a miracle, but I have compassion on this people, Mat. 15. 32. and therefore lest his mercifull disposition toward them should be unprofitable (wan­ting then other means) he chose rather to perform it by a miracle, then to leave it undone; yet to shew that all ordinary means must first therein be used, as far as it may be, he neither called for Manna from heaven, nor quailes from the sea, ( Exo. 16. 13. Numb. 11. 31.) but beginneth the feasts by ordinary means, the one with 5. loaves and 2. fishes, the other with 7. and a few little fishes. In which example of charity and hospitality, the Mini­sters [Page 56] I say are bound to follow him as far as they can; for the commandement is, Sequere me, Follow thou me, Mark 10. 21. & cap. 5. 27. Ioh. 21. 19. and if the Minister be not able to follow him for worldly wants (as the Galatians would have given Paul their eyes, so) the Congregati­on must give him their legs, that is, means and faculty to doe it: for the arm of working of miracles is now taken from our mother the Church, and therefore her children must now strengthen her hand the more abun­dantly to work by ordinary means, that is, they must furnish her with worldly necessaries, whereby she may be inabled to perform these great works of charity re­quired of her.

Paul commandeth that the Bishops should be [...], 3 Tim. 3. 2. hospitales, good housekeepers, and how should they be so, if they have not provision and means to maintain it, and that in a certain manner? for if themselves be fed at the trencher of benevolence, what assurance have they of a dish of meat for their poor brethren? The hea­vens themselves are unstable; now it raineth, and wee have abundance, then commeth drought, and all is in scarcity. The humour of man is as variable; the peo­ple of Lystra that made a god of Paul on the one day, stoned him on the other, Acts 14. and in the fiery time it self, when zeal was most inflamed, our Saviour as it seemeth found even then a cooling blast; when for want of ordinary supply he was fain to fetch 20 ^d. by a miracle out of a fishes mouth to serve his need with­all, Mat. 17. 27.

It is meerly therefore unfit that Ministers should live upon benevolence and uncertainty: therefore though Christ and the Apostles lived so for the present, yet it is not prescribed as a perpetuall law to the succeeding Mi­nisters.

CAP. XIII. Not to give lesse then the Tenth.

IF those that ministred without the vail of the Tem­ple were worthy of the tenth part, how much more deserved they that minister in the Sanctuary? the Le­vites might not come within the vail, that is, into the first Tabernacle, or holy place, Heb. 9. 2. nor meddle with the ceremonies, but did onely the outward work and drudgery of the Lords house, as to bear the bur­thens, prepare the wood, the water, fire, vessels, and in­struments for the sacrifice and holy rites, kill, dresse, and flea the bullocks and beasts for the burnt sacrifice, yet even in this by the rules of equity they deserved a tenth part of the increase of the Land; yea, the Ministry of the Priests themselves was but in earthly and transi­tory things, as in types and ceremonies to foreshew a better Testament, yet because their vocation was more honourable then the rest of the Levites, as being called into the Sanctuary, and to perform the holy ceremo­nies, therefore they received a more honourable porti­on; for first, they had the Tithe of their brethren the Levites part, that is, the tenth part of the tithe of all the land, which because they were but few in respect of the whole Tribe of the Levites, as not the 40. part perhaps, therefore the allowance of every one of them was much greater then of any other Levite, and yet to encrease it, they had the first-fruits, and their portions and fees out of the sacrifice and other offerings, and all these great allowances had they for their service about the earthly Sanctuary, or as it is called in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 9. 1. the worldly Tabernacle.

[Page 58]Come then unto the Ministers and Clergy of our Church, look upon them with the eye of common equi­ty, compare them with the Leviticall Ministery, what proportion their deserts hold one to the other: surely though it be an axiome of Philosophy, yet it holdeth also in Divinity, that Eadem [...] partium quae est to­tius, there is the same reason of the parts that is of the whole; therefore if the Priesthood of our Saviour be much more excellent then that of Aaeron, & the Ministra­tion of the Gospel, then that of the Law, then much more excellent must the members be of the Gospel, then of the Law. And as their calling is more honourable, so is their charge, as having the care of souls committed to them, for which they must give a stract account: the Levite and the Leviticall Priest were free thereof, and stood onely charged with the performing the ordina­ry ceremonies, and no further. Their paines much more laborious then the Levites, who neither Though the Levite be said, 2 Chron. 25. 3. to teach all Isra­el, yet it seemeth not that they expounded the Word of God unto the people, or had it in charge so to doe, but that they īnstructed them how to carry themselves in their sacrifices & ceremonies: therefore Jerome translateth this place, Levitis quoque ad quorum eruditionem omnis Israel sanctificabatur Do­mino. were burthened with preaching, nor ser­ved any where, but in the Temple at Je­rusalem, and not above a week at a time, and notwithstanding had their corrodary, or allowance in the vacation. If then the Levite and Priest of the Law had the tenth part for his entertainment, how much ra­ther is it to be conferred and enlarged upon the Ministers that invest us with spirituall and heavenly blessings; that as I say are called to a more excellent function, and consequently deserve a more excellent reward; that have a great charge com­mitted to them, and consequently much great travell and labour in performance thereof? The Levite travel­led onely in body, but the Minister of the Gospel [...]oth [Page 59] in body and minde: he must not onely doe the part of the Leviticall Priest, which is to perform the ordinary service, sacraments, and rites of the Church, like the oxe that treadeth out the corn that is brought home, but he must be also like the Dove of the Ark, he must flie about to seek and fetch home to his Parishoners the blessed olive branch of peace. He must be like Solomons Eagle, whose way is in heaven, there seeking food for his Parishoners: and like that Eagle (that God compareth himself unto, Deut. 32. 11.) that dresseth up her nest, floteth over her birds, stretcheth out her wings, taketh and beareth them upon her wings, (the feeble and sick souls of his Parishoners) always teach­ing, comforting, strengthning, and confirming them committed to his charge; and thus shall he dearly earn the portion assigned to him.

Some then will say, this is like Simon Magus, to sell the grace of the holy Ghost. No, Ministers must be no Merchants, they must in no case sell Doves, i. e. the holy Ghost▪ (Christ did drive them out of the Temple) but the people must be just; piety, justice, and the law of nature requireth that every man render a reward to the labourer, not onely according to his labour, but with respect of his function, and the quality of his person; the Minister must not sell the breath of his mouth, but he may sell the sweat of his brows, hee may not sell his doctrine, but hee may take reward for his travell. It is Gods commandement to Adams posterity, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, Gen. 3. 19. much precious sweat doe many worthy Mini­sters distill for us in their function, which God no doubt putteth up in his bottle, and therefore they must have bread for it: much labour in reading, writing, [Page 60] watching, studying, preaching, and praying, many pi­ned and wasted herewith; for much reading (the holy Ghost saith it) is awearinesse to the flesh, and willeth man to take heed of it, Eccles. 12. 12. and therefore if there were no more in it but so, a worthy reward is due unto them; but besides this, they minister unto us spi­rituall things, that is, things inestimable: and is it much then if we return them temporall things? And though sometimes there may be found amongst them, such as Judas among the twelve Apostles, and in all ages some unworthy of that sacred calling, they being subject to humane frailties, yet tithes are not to be de­nyed, because they are due originally to God, who assigned them over to the Levites in the old Testa­ment; for he saith, I have given them to them, Num. 18. 24. the tithes of the children of Israel I have given to the Levites; and in the new Testament to the Ministers of the Gospel, for they that preach the Gospel, must live of the Gospel; they are therefore to be paid to the Priest, or Minister, for he is the steward of Gods house, and in this point we are not to 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, he standeth or falleth to his own Master.

CAP. XIV. The Etymology, and definition of Tithe; and why a tenth rather then any other part is to be paid.

DEcimae, and decumae, in the plurall number; or decima, and decuma, in the singular, (which Tully most useth) in Greek, [...], quasi [...], i. capacem, saith Philo: [...], à capiendo, because it comprehendeth all other kind of numbers, as more largely hereafter shall appear: and because this part should of all the rest be the best and the largest which in our English we commonly call, Tithe: of the Saxon word Teoða, i. e. the tenth: and Teoðan sceattas, tithes: of the verb Teo, i. traho, extraho, & Tiehð, Subtrahit, as if we should say, the choice part, or the part that is taken and chosen from the rest for God himself, which whether it be the tenth or not, yet it is generally comprehended in Latine under decimae, and in English under the name Tithe. For which cause the Latines used the word decimare & exde­cimare, to choose and cull out the principall things; and our own English word, Tithe, im­porteth as much: for it commeth of the Saxon Teoð, i. e. the tenth, which is a verball of Teo, that signifieth to take out, as if it should admonish us that the tithe or part given to God must bee a choice or principall part. Omnia sua decimabant (saith Augustine) & de omnibus fructibus suis decimam partem detrahebant & ipsam dabant. & paulo post. Tectum decimabant, id est, decimam partem detrahebant, & eleemosynas dabant, Augustin. Tom. 10. p. 27. D.

Before I proceed further in this Treatise of Tithes, I hold it fit first, to propose a definition thereof, that my discourse may be the more certain. I define it therefore.

Tithe is the tenth part of that we lawfully possesse, rendred by us unto God, by way of thanksgiving for his blessings bestowed on us.

[Page 68]Or according to Hostiensis; In sum. de deci. §. 1. V. Vocab. V­trius. Jur. in verbo decima.

Decima est omnium bonorum mobilium licitè quaestorum pars decima Deo data, divina constitutione debita, (quae for­te addit author vocabularii) ut colligitur de decim. Ca. 1. & ca. Parochianos, C. nonest. Ca. tua nobis § verum. C. non sit ab homine—vel, Decima est omnium bonorum justè ad­quisitorum Raymundus. talis pars Deo debita.

This definition leads us first to examine why the 1. tenth part, rather then any other should be yeelded un­to God.

Secondly, out of what it is to be yeelded: all that we 2. lawfully possesse.

Thirdly, unto whom it is to be rendred; unto God. 3.

Fourthly, in what manner it is to be rendred, viz. by 4. way of thanksgiving.

Fifthly and lastly, upon what consideration it is to 5. be rendred; and that is for his blessings bestowed upon us.

I have not read why in this matter of Tithing the tenth in number should be rather allotted unto God, then any other: and therefore wanting a guide to direct me, I will walk this way the more respectively; but ac­cording to mine own apprehension I observe two rea­sons thereof, one Mysticall, the other Politicall. Tou­ching the first, as Plato and the Pythagoreans attributed great mysteries and observations unto numbers: so doe likewise all the greatest Doctors of the Church, and the very books of God themselves, and therefore it is not to be thought that in this point of rendring Tithes, but the number of 10. is also respectively chosen. Multis aliis at­que aliis nume­rorum formis (quaedam simi­litudinum) in libris sanctis seponuntur▪ quae propter imperi­tiam numerorū legentibus clau­sa sunt. De do­ [...]tri. Christ. lib. 2. S. Au­gustine saith, that many things are not yet understood in Scripture, for that we cannot attain unto the knowledge of the vertue or power of numbers. And both he and [Page 69] Saint Jerome through their whole works continually observe great secrets therein: so doe the rest of the Fa­thers, and not onely in the Old Testament and Ceremo­niall Law, but in the New Testament also: Insomuch that I think there is not almost any number there men­tioned, out of which some particular observation is not made. But to come to this we are in hand with. Let us see why this was allotted to God above others, and what part in reason is due unto him: Reason tels us certainly, the best, and the choicest: therefore he re­fused the unclean beasts; the lame and the blemished things: for as he is best worthy, so he requireth the best of every thing, the bloud of the sacrifice, because it was the life: the fat, because it was the perfection of it: to be short, the number it self allotted to him, (the tenths I mean) if the mysteries thereof be opened, tels us, both why it was yeelded, and why above other he should re­quire it.

It is said to signifie the first and the last, the begin­ning and the end; it is finis simplicium numerorum, ini­tium compositorum; the end of simple numbers, and the beginning of compound: the first articular number, & the last number of single denomination. The number wherewith the progresse of numeration running as it were circularly, always endeth and beginneth again. Repraesentat (saith Bartholomeus) merito ipsum Christum qui est A, & Ω▪ principium & finis; that is, it worthily representeth Christ who is Alpha and Omega, the begin­ning and the end. In these and such other respects it is also said to be like a circle, the greatest and the perfectest body in Geometry, having neither beginning nor ending, (as other Attributes of God.) Hermes justly named Tris­megist, labouring to describe God by the most significa­tive [Page 70] resemblance that mans wit could attain unto, said; God is like an imaginary circle, or sphere, whose center is every where, and whose circumference no where: mea­ning infinite and beyond extent. And as the circle a sphere, of all forms and bodies is most spacious and of greatest capacity, comprehending all other, and it selfe comprehended of none: so the number of 10. compre­hendeth all numbers, and is it selfe comprehended in none of them, neither is there any number beyond it, but that riseth out of it. Decas (saith Saint Ambrose) De Abraham Patriarch. l. 2. numerum omnem complectitur. It is the foot and base whereon all of them are founded, and it containeth not only all dimensions, but to be short, all the reasons of A­rithmetick, Geometry and Musick. Therefore Philo Ju­daeus saith, they that first gave names unto things (for they were wise) seem to me to have named decadem, that is, the number of 10. quasi [...], i. capacem, [...], à capiendo, quod capiat & amplectatur omnia genera nume­rorum, rationum ex numeris collectarum, proportionum, har­moniarum, rursus & concentuum, proprie appellasse, i. e. of taking or comprehending, for that it taketh or compre­hendeth all kindes of numbers, of reasons gathered out of numbers, of proportions, harmonies and concordan­ces. In this manner the number of 10. representeth un­to us (as such things may) the nature of God, the per­fectest, the greatest, comprehending all, and comprehen­ded of none, the beginning and the end, yet infinite and without beginning or end. So that this number (10.) this tribute money in question hath (in the re­spects before alledged) the apparent image of God, and therefore let us see whether it hath his inscription or not; for sure if it hath his image or inscription, it is due unto him by his own words, his own argument. The [Page 71] Hebrews, & from them the Graecians expresse it by the let­ters Mat. 22. 21. that begin his greatest and essentiall name, Jehovah; that is, [...] & [...], jod & iota. The Romanes and wee of the Western parts of the world, one while by the letter X, & another while by the figures 10. All know that the letter X signifieth ten, and the learned also know, that it like­wise signifieth the name of Christ; for commonly in ancient times, and to this day in many books it is so written, X', or X•, Xi, Xo, Xm, for Christus, Christi, Christo, Christum: and in like manner for decimus, decimi, deci­mo, decimum, in the time of the Law it was marked with the letters of the Fathers name, in the time of grace with the Sons name. Yet the truth is, that the letter X thus used for the name of Christ, is no Latine letter, but borrowed from the Greek, where it signifieth Ch, be­cause it represents not onely the name, but the Crosse of Christ, in which the Latin letter X, as the number and character of ten▪ hath also much hieroglyphicall signifi­tion. To come to the Arithmeticall figures that expresse it, which are the figure of 1, and the cyphero, 1 signifieth the same that Alpha doth in Greek, that is, one. The cypher o, presenteth to us, Omega, for Omega is no more but great O, and in ancient time was noted onely by cir­cle, or cypher, and in effect still is: so that 10. in figures expresseth A and Ω. As A is the first letter in the Greek Alphabet, and Ω the last: so in the Alphabet of Arith­metique, the figure of 1, is the first, and the cypher o, is the last; therefore in like respect the figures of this number of 10. signifieth the first and the last, the begin­ning and the end. But as the cypher o, in this respect signifieth the end, so we must mark that it is a circle, and hath no end. Being therefore joyned to the figure of 1, which signifieth the beginning, it sheweth unto us, [Page 72] that the beginning is without end, & the end it self with­out beginning or end, both infinite & without any limit. The first character in the figure of 10, viz. 1. begetteth al numbers (for it is semen numerorū) & is begotten of none: so that it is unus & omnis, one and all, and so do the very figures signifie in notis antiquorum, according to Valerius Probus & P. Diaconus. Therefore to conclude, it hath both the image of God, in signification of his nature, and the inscription of his name in the frame of the cha­racters and figures; In all languages and with all Na­tions after one manner or other, as though nature her self had taught them that this part belongeth to God, which by no wit, or any learning can be applied to, or found in any number between 2, and millions of thou­sands. Reddite ergo quae sunt Caesaris Caesari, & quae sunt Mat. 22. 21. Mar. 12. 17. Luke 10. 25. Joh. 13. 7. Dei Deo. Give unto Caesar the things which are Caesars, and unto God, the things that are Gods.

All that we have belongeth unto him, yet is he plea­sed to accept a part onely; but we must note further, Decima omnia complectitur. Bullinger in [...]. Heb. that it is such a part as implieth the whole, because the whole is his. He loves not to have a piece of us sim­ply, it must be such a piece as comprehendeth all in ef­fect; therefore when he said, Give me thy heart, it was as much as, give me all: for he will have all or none. Therefore in his sacrifice hee specially required the head, and the tail; the head as principium, the tail as finem; the beginning and the end of all our actions: for so the whole is his. And in the same sense the Law of the Land did anciently reckon those parts. For though the whole Fish Royall belongs to the King, yet Bracton saith, it sufficeth if he have the head and the tail; for that in those parts the whole is implied: and conse­quently when we give God the tithe, or tenth part, we [Page 73] put him in possession of all, yea, we put the nine parts remaining into his protection; for the number of ten Lib. de 10. prae­cep. sol. 75, 76. & seq. Quid si numero isto denario u­niversitas regū significata est? De C. D. lib. 20. 23. Decima hora: numerus iste le­gem significat quia in 10. prae­ceptis data est lex, in cap. 1. Evang. Joh. Tract. 7. To. 10. Serm. 15. de verb. Domini in Evang. Mal. Ser. 15. Tom. 10 in like respect implieth the whole, as Philo Judaeus dis­courseth it. And so also doth Saint Augustine expound it, and therefore thinketh that by the 10. horns in Dani­el is meant the whole succession of Kings in the Roman Empire.

The same Father yet further saith, that the number of 10. signifieth the Law of God, Quia in decem praeceptis lex data est. And in another place, Denarius legem (sig­nificat) undenarius peccatum: quia transgressio est dena­rii 1. The number of 10. signifieth the Law, and for that the number of 11. exceedeth it, the number of 11. signifieth sin. Therefore because God hateth sin, and hath made the number of 10. to be as it were the num­ber of perfection, and righteousnesse, (for so likewise doth Saint Augustine tearm it) when he requires the number of 10. of us, it puts us in mind, that he requireth also the fulfilling of his Laws, and the keeping of his Commandements.

That God accepted the tithe, or tenth, as, and for the whole of that whereof it is yeelded, is apparent by Gods own exposition, for when he had reserved it to himself, as his rent out of the Land of Can [...]an, given by him to the children of Israel, and assigned that rent over to the Levites for their maintenance, yet out of that as­signment, he reserved also a [...]ithe, or tenth part, to be laid up in the chambers of the treasure house, to be offe­red to himself, as it were thereby to hold his possession, and to keep seism of his inheritance, which in the 18. of Num. 20. is called an heave-offering: and this very heave-offering, which was as I say, but the tenth part of the tenth, that is, the 100. part of the whole, was ac­cepted [Page 74] and taken by God, as the full seisin and satisfa­ction for the whole; therefore he biddeth Moses say to the Levites,—Your heave-offering shall be reckoned unto Numb. 18. 27. you as the corn of the barn, or as the abundance of the wine­presse: that is, the tithe that you are to give, though it be the hundreth part, yet I will accept of it, as if it were all the corn of your barn, and of your fields, and as the whole profits, even as the abundance of your Vine­yards. In like manner also doth he accept the fat of such offerings, in the 29. v. to shew unto us, that since all is his, he will have perpetuall seisin of the whole, and will not be disinherited of the least part.

Doubtlesse he is well pleased with this tenth part, for when he threatned the destruction of the Land by Isaiah, he concludeth, yet there shall be a tenth part re­maining as to replenish it again, and as holy seed, Isa. 6. 13. he will save his own part. We have received all things of the fulnesse of God, therefore out of our ful­nesse it is fit that we render something back unto him, not by way of reward, but in honour of him. This num­ber is also said to be the number of fulnesse, and to sig­nifie the greatest things, wherein as numbers have their secreta and latebras, to use Saint Augustines words, so Tom. 10. fol. 15. hath this number above all other a peculiar secret and blessing given unto it, as if God had marked it for him­self; for as God in Hezekiah's time, blessed the offerings 2 Chro. 31. 10. and tithes in abundance, so it seemeth the word abun­dance, ( plenitudinem) Exod. 22. 29. is used for the tithe and first-fruits: and it hath of old been observed that in naturall things, the tenth is usually the fullest and the greatest: the tenth floud, and the tenth egge. Festus, Lib. 4. and many other Authors doe affirm it: and to that pur­pose Ovid saith,

[Page 75] Vastiùs insurgens decimae ruit impetus undae, i. e.

The whole force of the tenth floud, wave, or billow, rising up more hugely then all the rest, rushed into the the ship. And Valer. Flaccus tearmeth it,— Decimae tu­mor coeduus undae, the high swelling of the tenth wave: Lib. 14. Pharsal. 5. In Agamem. so likewise is it noted by Silius Ital. Lucan, Seneca.

And this observation amongst the Ancients hath been so notorious and remarkable, that they commonly used the word tenth in Latine, decimus, decumanus & decimanus, to expresse the greatest things; therefore in the division of their fields, they called the greatest ex­tent, decumanum limitem; the greatest or chief gate in their Camp, decumanam portam; the greatest shields, de­cumana scuta; and so likewise, decumanos fluctus, and de­cumanaova, decumanū acipenserem: & upon the like reason Cic. in Verrem. they used the word decimare, & exdecimare, for to choose and cull out the choice and principall things, as Perrot reporteth. And because in the procreation of men, and many other living creatures, the number of 10. is most happy and effectuall, as the tenth month in some, and the tenth week in others; the Romanes admired the se­cret vertues of this number so superstitiously, as they canonized it among their gods by the name of Decu­ma, as you may read in Tertullian, Gellius, and many o­ther. And for this cause Romulus closed up the year in the compasse of ten months, as the time of fulnesse and perfection.

I will prosecute the mysteries of this number no further, but conclude with Philo Judaeus, that he that Satis amplum ex se ad librum conficiendum praebet argu­mentum. Phil. de 10. praecep. should run into the Mathematicall powers and obser­vations thereof, hath work enough for a large Vo­lume. De ratione decimarum, & denario numero, pluribus [Page 76]agit Philo lib. de congress. quaer. ernd. gratia.

CAP. XV. Who shall pay Tithe.

THe Laws and Commandements of God, are com­monly given in the second person singular; as, thou shalt love the Lord thy God; thou shalt not steal. And so here, thou shalt not keep back thine abundance, that is, thy first-fruits and tithes; and, thou shalt give the tithe of all thy encrease, &c. a Pronoun of particularity, (thou) for the Adjectives of universality, Nullus & Omnis; as if he should say, None or no man shall keep back his abun­dance: Quia omnia Dei sunt▪ per quae vivit, sive terra, sive [...]lu­mina, sive semina, vel omnia quae sub coelo [...]unt, aut super coelos. De re [...]ti [...]ud. Cath. convers. Tra [...]t. Tom. 4. And all men shall give the tithe of all the en­crease. For it is an axiome in Logick, that, Indefinitum aequipollet universali, Indefinite propositions are equi­valent with universall: And so every man must pay tithe; Every man, saith Saint Augustine, Quia omnia Dei sunt, per quae vivit, &c. because all things whereby he liveth are Gods, whether it be the Earth, or Rivers, or Seas, or all the things that are under, or above the hea­vens. [Page 77] Abraham and Jacob paid tithes, and therein bound all whosoever bee of their posterity to doe it. Even Levi himself, who after received tithes of his brethren, was bound thereby, and paid them in the loins of Abra­ham, (as it is said in the 7. Heb.) 400. years before he was born, and we also as Abrahams children. For if the Levites themselves, that (as the mean Lord, to use the Lawyers tearm) received tithes of their brethren, were not freed from paying them over to the Lord Para­mount, God Almighty, how much more are all wee bound of what sort and condition soever to pay them likewise? But some happily will ask, if the Levites paid tithes? yea, they did pay the tenth part of their living to God, as well as their brethren, as before wee have touched it in speaking of the heave-offering, and as it is manifest in the 18. of Numbers, v. 26. Speak unto the Levites (saith God to Moses) and say unto them, when ye shall take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you, of them, for your inheritance, then shall you take (elevationem) an heave-offering of the same for the Lord, even the tenth part of the tithe: which in the next verse save one, they are commanded to deliver to Aaron, Gods generall Vicar in spirituall function. And in the 10. of Nehem. it is further said, The Priest the sonne of Aaron shall bee with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tenth part of the tithes unto the house of our God, unto the chambers of the treasure house. So then the Levites themselves paid tithes, and by their example the Clergy of our time must doe it likewise; but the question will be then, to whom? First, let us see what became of these tithes Pa­ramount, thus laid up in the treasury. We must under­stand that the Treasury of the Temple was not particu­larly [Page 78] for that purpose, but for the guests and offerings also whatsoever dedicated and given to God: and I find that of this Treasury there were 3. sorts: Mesack, where the munificent gifts of Kings and Princes were laid up: Corban, where those of the Priests: and Gazophylacium, whereinto the people and all passengers brought their offerings, and into which the poor widow, as it seemeth, cast her two mites. I find not any particular limitati­on of these Treasuries, but the common end of them all was to be employed upon things necessary for the house and service of God, and for relief of the poor, and of orphans, widows, and strangers. Josephus expoundeth Antiq. Iud. l. 4. ca. 3. Corban, for the very gift it self offered by them that de­dicated themselves to God, as the Nazaraei, and sheweth that the Priests disposed it to the needy. And to these ends must our Clergy give and pay over their owne Tithes unto God, first, in repairing and maintaining the house and service of God, as 2 Kings 12. 4. then in alms and charitable devotion to the poor: for the poor are Gods Publicans, and by him appointed to gather and collect this rent or custome due to him, and to carry it into his Treasury of heaven, as the Porters thereof, there to be laid up for our use and benefit in the world to come. Decimā Deo in pauperibus vel in ecclesiis donet, saith De rectitud. Cath. Convers. Tom. 9. S. Augustine. Let him give it to God either in bestowing it upon the poor, or in the Churches. Though Christ be ascended into heaven in his person, he is still upon earth by his Proctors and Substitutes, the poor and needy; and therefore a Father ( Jerome I take it) answereth Mary when she complained, that they had taken away the Lord; Oh, saith he, but they have not taken away his Sustulerunt do­minum, at non servum. servants, meaning the poor and needy, on whom shee might abundantly expresse her charity. As the Law of [Page 79] God enjoyned the Levite to pay tithe to the high Priest: so also the old Law of the Land bindeth our Bishops themselves to pay Tithes, yea, the King himself. I com­mand my Sheriffes (saith Ethelstane) through my King­dome in the name of the Lord, and of all the Saints, and upon my love, that they presently pay my own Tithes to the uttermost, both of living things, and of the fruits of the earth; and that the Bishops doe the same of their own goods, and also my Aldermen and Sheriffes.

And the very glebe Land of the Parson himself, if it be letten to another, must pay tithe, as was adjudged in the Kings Bench this Term Sancti Hillarii. Quaere.

CAP. XVI. Out of what things Tithe is to be paid.

IT is recorded in Genesis, that Abraham before his name Gen. 14. 20. Heb. 7. was changed, Gave him tithe of all. And Jacob in the 28. ca. saith: Of all that thou shalt give me will I give the tenth unto thee. In the 27. Lev. All the tithe of the Land V. 30. of the seed of the ground, & the fruits of the trees is the Lords, it [...] is holy unto the Lord: and in the 14. Deut. 22. Thou shalt give the tithe of all the encrease of thy seed that cometh forth of thy field year by year: that we should bring the tithes of our Land unto the Levites, that the Levites might have the tithes (in all the Cities) of our travell or labour. So in the 2 Chro. 31. 5▪ they brought the tithes of all things abun­dantly; & v. 6. they brought the tithes of bullocks, and sheep, and the holy tithes, which were consecrated unto the Lord their God, i. by a vow.

In these general precepts there needeth no particular e­numeratiō of what should be paid, they run upō the word [Page 80] All; & without exceptiō, all whatsoever the ground yeel­deth either by industry, or naturally, corn, wine, oyl, the fruits & increase of every thing, whether living or vege­lative. And more then so, for even those things that are gotten by labour and travell; for therein we have our part of his mercy and blessing, as well as in his other gifts & bounty. And the words in Nehe. [in all the Ci­ties] Nehem. 10. 37. seem to extend to the handy-crafts-men, for Citizens commonly occupy not fields, or husbandry, which is ra­ther proper unto the Villages & Country people: So that if Citizens should not yeeld the tithe of their travel, most of them should yeeld nothing at al, and no man must appear before the Lord empty, Exod. 23. 15. for he hath shewed Deut. 16. 16. mercy upon all, and he will have some acknowledge­ment from all. This upholdeth the custome of many places of England, where the very servants pay a tithe out of their wages, some deduction being made for appa­rell: and by like reason I think, that those that have Annuities and fees, as Officers and such like, ought to yeeld a tithe thereof; for out of those the King hath his Subsidies and tenths, and by like, yea better reason should God have his portion: Of all that thou shalt give me, saith Jacob, will I give the tenth unto thee; and in the Gospel, the Pharisee, though braggingly, yet accor­ding to the use of the righteous of that time, saith, I give tithe of all that I possesse; as it seemeth, even of his goods, and dead commodities, as of the fruits of the earth. For I suppose that the Ancients paid tithes in two sorts, some ex praecepto, others, ex arbitrio, or placito; some by commandement of the Law, others out of their The tenth of bullocks and sheep, and all that goeth un­der the rod commanded, Lev. 32. free-will and benevolence. In the 31. of the 2 Chron. v. 6. it is said, They brought the tithes Boum & pecudum, of oxen and sheep, things tithed before whilest they were [Page 81] young, as I conceive, and not now again to bee tithed, when they were grown to their full ages. So in the 10. of Nehe. 37. they brought first-fruits of their dough, yet no doubt, their dough was tithed before in the corn it was made of: therefore I take these tithes to be tithes ad placitum, in the election of the party, whether he will give them or not; but if he doe allot them to God, he is tyed like Ananias and Sapphira to perform them faithfully, for they then become due ex praecepto; for he that voweth unto the Lord, is commanded not to break his promise, Numb. 30. 3. And these kind of tithes no doubt were often paid by the godly, sometime upon generall occasion, as that of Hezekiah, sometime of particular, as that pretended by the Pharisee.

Military spoil, and the prey gotten in war is also tith­able, for Abraham tithed it to Melchisedek, and thereof, if we may depart a little out of the circle of holy Scri­pture into the Histories of the Gentiles, (who even by instinct of nature found this duty to belong unto God) we abound with examples thereof: as paid by Cyrus Herodot. Clio. lib. 1. f. 36. Livy li. 5. Pliny l. 12. c. 24▪ at the taking of Sardis; by Furius Camillus, upon the o­verthrow of the Veians; by Alexander the great, upon his conquest of Arabia, when he sent a whole ship la­den with frankincense for the Altars of his gods. But occasion to speak of these shall serve me better after­ward, and therefore to return to that is more materiall. The example of Abraham in this point of tithing the prey, teacheth us also, that we give God a tithe out of every accession of wealth, that he sendeth to us in any course whatsoever: so that the gains of buying and sel­ling, and the great improvement arising by merchan­dise, is under this title both registred and commanded. I know not what the rich City of London doth in this [Page 82] kind, but I read in Herodotus, that the poor Samians Melpont. l. 4. f. 267. yeelded at one time sixe talents to that purpose, and that the Siphnians out of their silver and gold Mines sent Thalia l. 3. f. 1 [...]0. so great a tithe to Delphos, as the richest man of that age was not more worth.

S ^t Augustine saith, Vnusquisque de quali ingenio aut artificio vivit de ipso decimam Deo in pauperibus vel in ecclesiis donet. Let every man out of the trade or craft whatsoever he liveth by, give God the Tithe.

De rectitud. Cathol. conversat. Tractat. Tom. 9 f. 250.

CAP. XVII. That things offered to God be holy.

I Must first explain what I mean by holy, and that is, not that they are divine things, or like those of the Sanctuary, which none might touch save the anointed Priests. But like the lands and possessions of the Levites mentioned in Leviticus,—that were said to be holy and separate from common use, and separate from man, Levit. 27. 28, 29. that is, from the injury of secular persons, and to be onely disposed to and for the service and ser­vants of God, defensum & munitum ab injuria hominum, N. F. de rer. divis. L. sanctum, as the persons of Emperors and Kings are said to be holy and sacred: for as the Altar sanctifieth the offering, Mat▪ 23. 19. so these things being offered to God, are by this very act of oblation made holy, and taken so into his own tuition, as they may not after be divorced. Wo be therfore to the Scribes and Pharisees that devour widows houses, Mat. 23. 14. how much more wo then unto those that destroy the house of God, and by divorcing Christ from his Spouse the Church, make him also a widower, and his Church [Page 83] a widow, and so devour both the widows house, and the widow her self.

But some are of opinion, that the Church it selfe is no longer holy, then while the service of God is in hand therein: as the Mount and the Bush were no lon­ger holy then while God was there: and by that reason a Church and an Ale-house are of like san­ctity, for a man may preach in an Ale-house, and mini­ster the Sacraments in an Ale-house, and occasion some­times doth necessarily require it: And what is their rea­son hereof? why, their reason is, that consecration of places, and of the implements belonging to the service of God were Leviticall ceremonies, and therefore end­ed with the Leviticall Law. These men reason, as if be­fore the Leviticall Law there had been no rules of Gods honour: and as though the Morall Law, and the Law of nature taught us nothing therein: Doth not God him­self leave the precepts of the Leviticall Law, and rea­son with the Israelites out of the Law of nature, Mal. 3. when he saith, will any man spoil his goddesse? as if he should say, that the Law of nature hath sanctified those things that are offered unto God, and therefore will any man violate the Law of nature? Doth not Saint Paul reason also in the same sort, when he saith, Despise ye the Church of God? 1 Cor. 11. 22. If I should apply the places of Scripture that are spoken of the great reve­rence of the Temple, it would be said, that that were Leviticall: but the office of the Temple was Morall, as well as Leviticall, and therefore though these be ended, yet the other, the Morall remaineth.

When Christ had cast the oxen & doves that were for the Leviticall service out of the Temple, yet he said, that it was an house of Prayer, as figurating that after the ce­remonies [Page 84] were ended and gone, yet the Morall office of the Temple to be an house of Prayer still remained. Saint Paul, 1 Cor. 11. 22. when he saith, Despise yee the Church of God? speaking it as if he wondred that any should be so irreligious, or rather sacrilegious to de­spise the Church; and no man I think doubteth but that this was spoken of the materiall Church, for he blameth them that did use unseemly drinking in the Church.

See the first Treatise, of the rights and respect due. § 10. Note. Of the three severall places, and three functions of the Tem­ple: and how the last continueth holy, for Prayer, Doctrine, and instruction of the people: which therefore had in it no Ceremoniall implement at all.

CAP. XVIII. Tithes must not be contemned because they were used by the Church of Rome.

IF we should reject Tithes because they were used by the Church of Rome, by the same reason we must also reject our Churches; but the Apostles used both the Synagogues and the Temple it self after Christs Ascen­sion, though they were polluted with the doctrine and ceremonies of the Jews; and therefore we are not to reject Tithes and other things profitable to Gods ser­vice, because the Papists used or misused them. The Censors ordained for Gods honour were impiously abused by Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, yet God rejected them not, but commanded them to be still employed in some better course of his service, namely, in ma­king plates for the Altar, Numb. 16. 38.

[Page 85]And by this Scripture doth Huge and Origen reprove them that judge the works of an heretique to be bur­ned without preserving the good things in them: and the Altar to be pulled down whereat a Schismatique hath ministred. Hugo in Genes. 16. fol. 136. a. and Origen in Homil. 9. sup. Num. fol. 104.

God refused not the burnt-offering of Gedeon, though he made it with the idolatrous wood of Baals grove, yea, himself commanded it so, Judg. 6. 26. and in the Go­spel the offerings of the proud Pharisees were as well received into the Treasury of the Temple as the mite of the poor widow. When Jericho was destroyed and accursed, yet God required the gold and silver for his holy utensils, Jos. 6. 19. For though filthy gains are forbidden to be offered unto God, yet good things because they have been abused, are not forbidden to be offered unto him. When the pottage provided for sustenance of the children of the Prophets was infect­ed by him that threw in the wilde gourdes, or collo­quintida, Elisha the Prophet commanded them not to be cast away, but cleansing them from their infecti­ous venome used them still for food of the children, 2 Kings 4. 38. So if the pottage of the Ministers have been abused with Roman Colloquintida, purge the infe­ction, but take not their pottage (I mean their Tithes) from them.

Aristophanes bringeth in Hercules laughing to see effe­minate In Ranis. Bacchus clad in the Lions skin: but we may well lament to see a spruce Castilio, and his masking mistresse trickt and trimmed up with those Church-livings that godly and grave men in times past gave for main­tenance of Gods service, and the Ministers thereof.

I can but wonder, what should move Flacius Illyri­cus [Page 86] (a man so conversant in the history of the Church) to affirm, that Tithes were lately extorted by the Popes; Decimas nupe­ius extortas per papas. Ca­al. test. ter primo impositas in Concil. per Pelagium Pa­pam Anno 588. and that they were first imposed by Pope Pelagius in the Councell, Anno 588. unlesse his meaning be, that in elder times they were paid at pleasure, and now first commanded to be paid of duty: which construction (though contrary to the understanding of a common Reader) if we doe allow him, yet is it untrue also; for that Councell reciteth that they had been paid before of long time, and that by the whole multitude of Christians, and as due by the Word of God, and con­sequently not at pleasure. ( Concil. Matisconense. 2. c. 5. Anno 588. Tom. 2.) So that this Councell did but re­vive and quicken the cold devotion of that time, and not inferre new matters unheard of before.

CAP. XIX. That the Tradition of ancient Fathers and Councels is not lightly to be regarded.

IT appeareth by divers ancient Fathers and Councels, that Tithes were paid long before their times in the Primitive Church, and were unto the age of the A­postles, though little memory thereof remaineth in the Authors of those times. And shall we not beleeve the Fathers received such instruction from their el­ders? Doth not God bid us ask after the days of old, and the years of so many generations, saying, Ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thine elders, and they will tell thee? Deut. 32. 7. If we shall not beleeve them, why should we ask them? and why did the children of Israel complain, that their Fathers heard not the words of the book of the Law, 2 Kings 22. 13. but [Page 87] because they therefore could not report it to them their children?

Shall we think nothing to be done, but what is writ­ten? doth not the Evangelist tell us, that if all were written that Christ did, he supposed the world could not contain the books, Joh. 21. 25? are not many acti­ons of elder time alledged in latter Scriptures, and yet no testimony of them in the former? it is said, 1 Chro. 26. 18. that Samuel, Abner, and Joab, dedicated many things unto God, yet their story reporteth no such matter. Solomon is noted, 1 Chron. 10. to have kept a famous Passeover: yet is there not a word of it in the history of his time. Fasting was brought into the Church before Christ, and the use also of building of Synagogues, but it appeareth not when, or how. Paul alledgeth, that our Saviour said, It is better to give, then to take, Act. 20. 35. yet no Evangelist doth men­tion it. Jude saith, v. 9. that Michael and the Devil strove for the body of Moses, yet the Old Testament noteth no such thing; how then came they by these instructions? Surely by books that are perished, or by inspiration, or by relation of others: and doubtlesse the ancient Fathers came to the knowledge of many things by all these ways. First, by books that be perished, for it is manifest by Eusebius, Jerome, Gennadius, and others, that the ancient Fathers saw many thousands, which are not now extant. If by inspiration, the holy Ghost, that was sent down upon the Apostles, and passed from one to another, returned not by and by to heaven, but remained actually amongst the Fathers of the Primi­tive Church; and therefore what they generally taught is carefully to be kept. But if they received these things by Tradition, the very Tradition of those first [Page 88] ages of the Church are much to be received; for all that time, no doubt, infinite speeches and actions of Christ and the Apostles (whereof many were collected by Ig­natius and Papias, as Jerome reporteth, but now lost) were then fresh in the mouths of every man, as not onely the Fathers of that time doe abundantly testifie, but our own experience also induceth us to conceive; for doe not we our selves hear and beleeve many things to be done in the time of King Hen. 8. that never yet were written, nor like to be?

CAP. XX. Ancient Councels and Canons for payment of Tithes.

THe Canons attributed to the Apostles, come first in rank to be mentioned, yet I will not insist upon them. Neither doth Bellarmine (as they are now published) maintain them to be the children of those Fathers. Yet can it not be denyed that the first 35. of them are very ancient and neer the time of the Apostles; for Dio­nysius Exigu. that lived within 400. yeares of the A­postles, translated them out of Greek as received long before in the Eastern Church.

The fifth of those Canons ordaineth, that all other fruit should be sent as first-fruit (and tithe) home to the house of the Bishop and Priests, and not to be of­fered upon the Altar; adding further, that it was ma­nifest that the Bishops and Priests did divide it to the Deacons, and the rest of the Clerks. And though the Greek copy in this place, calleth not these fruits [...], Tithes, yet the Canon seemeth to bee meant thereof, for other fruit none was to be carried to the house of the Bishop, or to bee divided amongst the [Page 89] Priests, and the Deacons, save offerings, tithes, and first-fruits; therefore the old Translation of the Ca­nons out of Zonaras, expresseth it tithe and first-fruits. And this fashion here received of sending these things to the house of the Bishop, and his dividing of them among the Priests and Deacons, sheweth the great an­tiquity of this Canon; for it appeareth, that the first usage was so, and that the Ministers had menstruam spor­tulam, every month a basket of the offerings and tithes for their maintenance▪ whereupon they were called Clerici sportulantes, i. basket Clerks.

Vid. Cyprian. Epist. 34. & 66. Baron. anno Ch. 57. Num. 72. & 145. & anno 58. Num. 89. And the people then offered accustomably to the Altar, and for the maintenance of the Priests.

Concilium Agrippinense, cap. 6. Anno 356. first de­creeth, that Tithes shall be called Dei Census, Gods rent: and reciting that the third part thereof, as was decla­red in the Toletan Councell, belonged to the Bishops, yet according to the Roman use, they agreed to take but every year the fourth part, which upon excommu­nication they commanded to be paid. Burchand. lib. 3. ca. 135.

Concil. Romanum 4. sub Damaso, about the year 375. Damas. p [...] ▪ pa­trim. adiit, An. 367. amongst the Decrees thereof it is ordained, ut decimae at (que) primiti [...] à fidelibus darentur, qui detrectant anathemate feriantur; that tithes and first-fruits should be paid by the faithful.

Concil. Aurelianense 1. sub Symmacho, An. 507. Can. 17. decreeth, that the Bishops shal have every year the fourth part, or every fourth year the whole tithe Tom. 2. Con.

Concilium Tarraconense sub Hormisda, An. 517. Can. 8. juxta Burchandum, 9. juxta Bin. saith, that it was an Or­der, [Page 90] antiquae consuetudinis, that the Bishop should have the third part of all things yeerly, and therefore willed it still to be kept. Burchard lib. 3. Ca. 33. Bin. Tom. 2. Conc.

Concilium Mediomatricis, Anno willeth the Bishops to reprove ( prohibeant) them that would not pay Tithe without some reward be given them. Bur. l. 3. C. 134.

Concilium Toletanum, Anno 533. divideth all Church rights into two sorts of oblations, one to be those that are offered ( i. e. given) to the Parish Churches, as Lands, Vineyards, bond-men, &c. and willeth that these should be wholly in the ordering of the Bishops. The other to be those of the Altar, whereof it commanded [...]e third part to be carried to the Bishop, and two parts to be for the Clerks. And of Tithes it saith, that accor­ding to some, the third part yearly, or every third year the whole was so paid. But that they following the manner of the Roman Church, decreed, that the Bi­shops should have every year the fourth part, or every fourth year the whole tithe. Burchard lib. 3. C. 136. & Bin. paulo aliter Tom. 1.

In a collection of Canons of an uncertain Author, in the Vatican Library, this is attributed to Sylvester, who was Bishop of Rome 315. Binnius in a note upon this Canon somewhat differeth in words.

Concilium Matisconense 2. sub Pelagio 2. Anno 588. affirmeth Tithes to be due by the Laws of God; that Hoc. confirm. Con. Hispalens. Tom. 2. Et approbat. p [...]r Gualter. & Ho­spinian. de o­rigin. honorum ecclesiae, ca. 3. p. 123. the whole multitude of Christians kept those Laws very warily of long time, that by little and little they were in those days almost wholly neglected. And this Councell decreeth, that the ancient usage of the faithfull should bee revived, and that all the people should bring in their Tithes to them that ministred [Page 91] the ceremonies of the Church, &c. otherwise to bee excommunicated. Tom. 2. Con.

Concilium Hispalense sub Gregorio 1. Anno 590. con­cludeth thus: That if any mantithe not all these things ( viz. before named) he is a spoiler of God, a thief, and a robber, and the cursings that God put upon Cain for his deceitfull dividing, are cast likewise upon him. Ivo. p. 2. & 174. Tom. 2. Concil.

Concil. Valentinum sub Leone 4. Anno 858. ca. 10. That all faithfull men should with all readinesse offer their ninths, and tithes to God of all that they possesse, &c. upon perill of excommunication. Tom. 3. Con.

Concil. Rothoma. cap. 3. nameth particularly what ought to be tithed, and commandeth to doe it upon pain of excommunication. Burchard li. 3. ca. 130. and annexeth the Councell, Mogunt. ca. 38.

Concil. Cavallon. ca 18. Anno 8 [...]3. That Bishops, Ab­bots, and religious persons should pay them to Chur­ches out of their possessions, and families where they baptized and received. Burch. lib. 3. ca. 132.

And Concil. Cavallon. c. 1. decreeth, that all Chur­ches with their whole livings and tithes should bee wholly in the power of the Bishops, and to be ordered [...]d disposed by him: Burchard lib. 3. ca. 146.

Concil. Moguntin. 1. ca. 8. recited by Burchard, who lived about 6 [...]0. years since, saith, that Abraham by his action, and Jacob by his promise declared unto us, that tithe was to be given to God; The Law hath since con­firmed it, and all the holy Doctors are mindfull of it, &c. Hereof the venerable Doctor Saint Augustine saith, Tithes are required as a debt: What if God should say (quoth he) thy self a man art mine, and so forth as followeth in that Sermon of his that hereafter we [Page 92] exhibit. The Councell proceedeth further, shewing reasons why Tithes should be paid. That if the Jews were so carefull in executing this commandement, as they would not omit it in the least things, mint, and rue, &c. as our Saviour testifieth; how much more ought the people of the Gospel to perform it, that hath a greater number of Priests, and a more sincere manner of Sacraments? They are therefore to be given unto God, that being better pleased with this devoti­on, he may give more liberally the things we have need of. That this kind of maintenance is fittest for the Clergy, that they otherwise be not troubled with worldly businesse, but may attend their calling.

That the daily offerings of the people, and that Tithes are to be divided into four parts, according to the Canons; The first to the Bishop, another to the Mi­nister or Priest, ( Clericorum) the third to the poor, the fourth to repairing of Churches. Burchard li. 3. c. 133.

Concil. Moguntin. 1. cap. 10. tempore Appae 4. & 4. Lo­thar. Imp. Anno 847. sub Rabano Archiepiscopo qui scribit Ludovico. This Councell admonisheth men to pay their Tithe carefully, because God himself appointed it to be paid to himself. And that it is to be feared, that if any man take Gods right from him, God for his sins will take things necessary from him also. Tom. 3. Conc.

Roman. Con [...]il. 5. Anno 1078. Tom. 3. saith, that Lay­men upon pain of sacriledge, excommunication, and damnation, might not possesse Tithes, and Church li­vings, though granted by Kings and Bishops, but must restore them.

CAP. XXI. In what right tithes are due: and first of the law of na­ture.

VVE have said in our definition, that they be due unto God: now we are to shew by what right, and to prove it. First, therefore, I divide Tithes into two sorts, Morall, and Leviticall; Morall, are those which were due to God before the Law given in the time of nature. Leviticall, are those nine parts assign­ed by God himself, (upon giving the Law) unto the Levites for their maintenance, the tenth part being still reserved to himself, and retained in his own hands. Mo­rall tithes were paid by man unto God, absque praecep­to, without any commandement; Leviticall tithes were paid by the Israelites unto the Levites, as transacted and set over by God unto them pro tempore for the time being, and that by an expresse Canon of the Ce­remoniall law. To speak in the phrase of Lawyers, and to make a case of it; God is originally seised of tithes to his own use, in dominico suo, ut de feodo, in his own demesne, as of fee-simple, or as I may say, Jure Coronae, and being so seised by his Charter dated, year after the Flood, he granted them over to the Levites, and the issue male of their body law­fully begotten, to hold of himself in Frank-Almoigne, by the service of his Altar and Tabernacle, rendring yearly unto him the tenth part thereof: So that the Levites are meerly Tenants in tail, the reversion expe­ctant to the Donor, and consequently their issue fai­ling, and the consideration and services being extinct and determined, the thing granted is to revert to the [Page 90] [...] [Page 91] [...] [Page 92] [...] [Page 93] [...] [Page 94] Donor, and then is God seised again as in his first estate, of all the ten parts in fee.

But we must prove the parts of the case: and first, the title, namely, that he was seised in fee of originall Tithes, that is, that originall Tithes doe for ever be­long unto him. Hear the evidence: which I will divide into three parts, as grounding it first upon the law of Nature; secondly, upon the Law of God; and thirdly, upon the Law of Nations.

CAP. XXII. How far forth they be due by the Law of Nature.

VVHen I said by the Law of Nature, my mean­ing is not to tiemy self to that same jus naturale, defined by Justinian, which is common to beasts, as well as to men. But to nature taken in the sense that Tully after the opinion of others, delivers it to be,— Vim rationis atquè ordinis participem, tanquam via pro­gredientem De nat. Deo. l. 2. declarantemque, quid, cujusque causa, res effi­ciat, quid sequatur, &c. the vertue and power of reason and order, that goeth before us as a guide in the way, and sheweth us, what it is that worketh all things, the end why, and what thereupon ensueth or dependeth. This by some is called the Law of Nature, secondary or speciall, because it belongeth onely to reasonable creatures, and not generally to all living things; in re­spect whereof it is also called the law of reason, and it is written in the heart of every man, by the instinct of Quis scribit in cordibus homi­num naturalem [...]egem nisi Deus? Aug. des [...]rm. Domini in monte l. 2. nature, as Isidor faith, (not by any legall constitution) teaching and instructing all Nations through the whole world todiscern between good and evill, and to affect the one as leading to the perfection of worldly felicity, [Page 95] and to eschew the other, as the opposite thereof. This is that law written in the hearts of the Heathen, made them to be a law unto themselves, as it is said, Rom. 2. 14. and by the instinct of nature, to doe the very works of the Law of God, with admirable integrity and resolution. This is that Law that led them to the knowledge of God that they had, whereby they con­fesse him to be the Creator, supporter, and preserver of all things, seeing all things, knowing all things, and doing whatsoever pleaseth himself, to be omnipo­tent, eternall, infinite, incomprehensible, without be­ginning or end, good, perfect, just, hating evill, and e­ver doing good, a blessed Spirit, and as Plato calleth him, [...], the greatest Spirit, that giveth all good things unto man, that guideth his actions, and blesseth his labours: All this and much more, did the very Heathen by this Law of Nature, conceive and pronounce of God, and therewithall confessed, that by reason thereof they were justly tyed to yeeld him all service, honour, obedience, praise, and thanksgi­ving; but wanting graceto direct them above nature in the right ways thereof, they first swarved on one hand, then on the other, and at length they fell into their innumerable superstitions and idolatries; yet as they concurred with us in these fundamentall points of Christian confession, touching the nature of God, so did they likewise in the fundamentall course of serving and worshipping him; as by prayer, to crave blessings, by hymnes, to celebrate his praise; by oblations, to shew their thankfulnesse to him; by sacrifice, to make atonement with him for their sins and trespasses; by honouring and maintaining his servants, Priests, & Mi­nisters, to expresse the honour, love, and reverence they [Page 96] bear unto himself. Some are of opinion that they learned much of this from the children of God. So Ambrose alledgeth, that Plato did of Jeremy the Prophet, meeting him in Aegypt; but it appeareth that Jeremy lived be­fore Plato almost 300. years: yet it is doubtlesse, that with their bloud and linage they deducted many par­ticular rites and ceremonies from Noah and his Ne­phews: but these notions I speak of, rise out of the very law of nature written in their hearts by the finger of God, as S. Augustine witnesseth, saying, Quis scri­bit in cordibus hominum naturalem legem nisi ipse Deus? who writeth the law of nature in the hearts of men but God himself? and Calvin agreeth, that the know­ledge Instit. l. 1. c. 3. of God is naturally planted in the mindes of all men; Do we not see at this day, the very barbarous, and (almost) savage Indians, agree in effect, most of them, aforesaid touching the nature of God, and the course of worshipping him also, yea, in the five ways we spake of, viz. by prayer, by songs, by offerings, by sacrifice, and by honouring and maintaining his Priests and ser­vants? who taught them this, if not the very law of nature? Me thinks I hear some answer me, the Devill; and I must answer them, that it is true, the Devil taught them to pervert these notions, but it is God that wrote them originally in their heart, though the Devil hath choaked and corrupted them. But say that the Heathen learned these of the children of God, whence did the Calv. I [...]st. l. 1. c. 4. children of God learn it themselves, before the Law was given? who taught Cain and Abel to offer their first­fruits, & to sacrifice? Abraham and Jacob to give tithes of all that they had? Lactantius saith, that the law of na­ture taught to give offerings to God, and the practice of all the Nations of the world, in all ages, and in all [Page 97] religions confirmeth it. As soon as Christ was born, the wise men that came afar off out of the East, brought offerings unto him, as directed onely by the law of na­ture, for they were Gentiles: and none used to visit the Temple of God but with some presents; not that God is delighted with such things, but that their affections It seemeth this law of nature is tearmed by Mo­ses the Law of God, for he saith, I declare the Ordinances of God, and his Laws, Exod. 18. 16. when as yet the Law was not given: and before, ca. 15. 26. If Israel will hearken to his Comman­dements and keep his Ordi­nances, c. 19. 5. by the fruits of their devotion were made manifest, the Church and service of God maintained, and those that were in need and necessity, orphanes, widows, stran­gers, and the poor people provided for and relieved▪ for these are Gods care, and are to him as the dearest kinde of his children, and though younger brothers as touching the worldly inheritance, yet those on whom he thinketh the fat Calf well bestowed. Donum (saith Lactantius) est integritas animi: the gifts we give unto God are a testimony of our frank and open heart to­wards him. An offering of a free heart (saith David) will I give unto thee: out of his abundance we have received all things, and out of ours let us render some.

CAP. XXIII. Tithes in the time of Nature: first considered in the time of Paradise.

I Would not be so curious as to seek the institution of tithes in Paradise: yet no man will deny but that Paradise was a modell of the Church, and that God had his honourary rights in all the three kindes, he now requireth them at our hands, namely, [...] portion of time, place, and of the fruits; of the fruits, as the tree of knowledge; of the place, as the midst of the Garden▪ the time, as the cool of the day, which fig­nifieth the time of rest, and so the Lords day: as more [Page 98] particularly wee shall shew by and by. Touching the fruit, it was the portion that God reserved from Adam when he gave him all the rest; and that portion also that justly and properly belongeth to God, knowledge. And therefore this part particularly was assigned by God unto his Priests, as the sacred keepers of this his sacred Treasure, and therefore no other man might in­vade this his right and inheritance, Knowledge (saith Malachi) belongeth to the Priest. Touching place, what should be assigned to the chiefest, but the chie­fest? and what is the best and chiefest, but the midst? for medium—and therefore the place here where Gods portion is assigned him, is the midst of the Garden; and therefore into this place doth Adam flye as into Sanctu­ary, and to the horns of the Altar, when he had offen­ded, for it is said, that Adam hid himself in the midst of the Garden: So Calvin, which is, the trees in the midst of the Garden.

And touching the time, it is by all expositors upon the matter, applied to the time of rest: for either they expound the cool of the day to be the evening, as Onca­lus, or the morning, as Calvin; and take it in either of these senses, it may aptly discover the Judaicall Sab­bath in the first sense, or the Christians Sabbath in the latter. And as these are the times when we are to make our publick reckonings, confessions, and prayers unto God, and thereupon to receive sentence of curse or absolution▪ so at this time, presently God calleth Adam and Eve, and the Serpent, that is, the whole congregation of Paradise to a publique recko­ning, confession, and account; and like the great Or­dinary and Bishop of his Church, denounceth against them the curse that their sins had demerited.

[Page 99]If occasion required, I could shew many other par­ticulars wherein Paradise exemplified the very Church of Christ.

Again, these rights of honour are likewise prefigu­red unto us in other examples, under the age of Na­ture, the time I mean before the floud: for we have therein three great examples of all these his three rights. First, in the creation of the earth he reserved a particular place for himself as the place of his own resort and pleasure, Paradise; which was the very lo­call place of his Church, and therefore out thereof he threw man, being accursed as a prophane and excom­municate person. And as touching his portion of time, he figuratively shewed the seventh part of our age to be­long unto him, as in respect of his Sabbath, when he took Enoch, being the seventh from Adam, to keep his perpetuall Sabbath.

And so likewise all the fruits of the tenth age▪ which was that of Noah (for he was the tenth from Adam) he took wholly to himself: making the evill parts as a sacrifice of his wrath, to honour him by their destruction, and the better parts, which were sa­ved in the Ark of his Church, to glorifie his name by their preservation: so that in this time of nature, the full tenth of all things was paid unto God as a propi­tiatory sacrifice, for of the ten ages from Adam hee had the fruits of one whole age, which is all one as if he had had the tenth part of every particular thing as it grew due in every particular age, and so the Church expoundeth in that Canon of the Councell of [...] where it is commanded that the—

CAP. XXIV. The time of Nature, after the fall.

LEt us take a view of the state of Religion before the Law, and from thence unto the calling of the Levites to the service of the Tabernacle. The time before the Law was the kingdome of sin and of death, having no means propounded whereby to escape, but what the light and law of nature taught unto men, who finding themselves fallen from the favour de­vised by invocation and beating of the heavens, with continuall odours and savours to seek for mercy at Gods hand, and by sacrificing of bullocks and brute beasts to ransome themselves as far as they might from his heavy displeasure. Therefore in those times though every man might offer oblations and sacrifices that would, yet because the order thereof might bee the more certain and reverent, both the children of God, and the Heathen also, ordained to themselves particu­lar persons of greatest worth, wisdome, and sanctity, which they called their Priests to take care of these things, to see them performed in such manner as might make them most acceptable to God. Hereby grew the reputation of Priesthood to be above all dignities, that in those days the Kings themselves in all Nations af­fected it as the greatest and immediate honour under God himself. Yet because necessity required so great a number of Priests for the service of God, as there could not be had Kings enough for that purpose, there­fore other inferiour persons were also called to that excellent function; yet such as in one respect or other were still the noblest that were to be found. Therefore [Page 101] even in that time (I mean before the Law was given) God promiseth the Israelites that if they will hear his voice indeed, and keep his covenant, they shall not on­ly be his chiefest treasure upon earth, but they shall be unto him also a kingdome of Priests, Exod. 29. 5, & 6.

Of these kingly Priests, two are mentioned in Scri­pture before the Law; Melchisedek Priest and King of Salem, and Revel or Jethro, Prince and Priest of Midian. Exod. 16. & 1 [...] Of other Priests it appeareth in Exod. 19. 22. & 24. that there were many. Let the Priests (saith God) that come to the Lord be sanctified; and again, Let not the Priests break their bounds, &c.

Touching these Priests we finde no mention either how they were called to their function, or how they were maintained in it; neither of them that executed that place after the Law was given till the calling of the Levites, which though it were a short time, as not above a year and some months, yet must they have some maintenance and means to live on even during that time. The Priests of Aegypt had not onely lands for their maintenance, but they also had a certain part appointed them by Pharaoh to live upon; and though it appeareth not by the Scripture what this part was, yet it is plain, that it was such, and so bountifull, as when all the other Egyptians sold their land to Joseph for Pharaoh to save their lives in the famine, they li­ved upon this part and kept their lands.

The children of God (no doubt) came not behinde the Heathen in devotion, and consequently not in their bounty to their Priests; therefore though we have no authority to demonstrate unto us the particular means wherein they were provided for, before the Law, yet [Page 102] we may very probably conceive it to be much after the manner of the Heathen Priests of that time, for that the Priests and children of God being then scat­tered amongst the Heathen, as Melchisedek among the Canaanites, Jethro amongst the Midianites, could use no rites nor ceremonies in the worship of the true God, but the Heathen would have the same in the service of their gods: insomuch as nothing is mentio­ned in the Scripture concerning the same before the Leviticall Institutions, but it is particularly found a­mong the Gentiles first, touching both their Priests and manner of sanctifying of them, as also touching their offerings, altars, and sacrifices, and the manner of fea­sting at the sacrifice of thanksgiving used by Jethro, Exod. 18. 12.

I infer therefore, that seeing the Heathen took their originall manner of holy rites from the children of God, that therefore what originall rites the Heathen had in their service of their religion, that the same were in use also among the children of God, though they be not mentioned in the Scripture: and conse­quently, that insomuch as the Heathen universally paid Tithes and first-fruits unto their Gods and Priests, that therefore the children of God did so likewise from the beginning to the true God. And to this agreeth Hugo Cardinalis, saying, It is thought that Adam taught his sons to offer first-fruits and tenths unto God: so that the children of God borrowed it not from the Heathen, or the Heathen from them, but both the one and the other from the law of nature; for as Ambrose saith, God therefore by Moses followed not the fashion of the Gentiles: Non ergo Deus per Mosem Gentilium for­mam sequutus est; sed ipsa naturalis ratio hoc habet, ut [Page 103] quis inde vivat ubi laborat, in Epist. 1 Cor. ca. 9. C. 41. Col. c.

And as the examples of Abraham and Jacob do plain­ly confirm it to be done by them, so doubtlesse was it also done by other of the Hebrews; even before the Leviticall Institutions, and even then holden and taken to be a duty belonging unto God, as plainly appea­reth by Gods own mouth in 22. Exod. 29. when hee saith, and that before the Leviticall Institutions: Thine abundance and thy liquor shalt thou not keep back: which all Interpreters agree to be spoken of the Tithe and first-fruits of corn, oyl, and wine, and therefore Jerome doubted not so to translate it, viz. Thy tithes and first­fruits shalt thou not keep back: wherein the word keep back, non tardabis, is very materially to be considered, as evidently shewing, that it was a custome of old to pay these tithes unto the Lord, and therefore that he now required them not as a new thing, but as due un­to him by an ancient usage. That the word non tardabis, thou shalt not keep back, or delay, implieth a thing formerly due, very reason telleth us, and the use of it in other parts of Scripture doth confirm it, for the very same word [...] is used in the same sense, Deut. 23. 21. When thou vowest a vow unto the Lord thy God, non tardabis, thou shalt not be slack to pay it, or shalt not keep it back: this is not a commandement to pay or give a new thing, but to pay that is already due, the thing vowed. In the same sense it is said, 2 Pet. 3. 9. non tardat Dominus promissa, the Lord is not slack in performing his promise, that is, not slacke, or holding that back which in his honour and justice he hath tied himself to pay or perform; the blessing he promised, which by his promise is made a debt.

CAP. XXV. That they are due by the Law of God.

IT is said in Genesis in the end of the 13. ca. and so on in the 14. and in the 7. to the Hebrews, That whilst Abraham dwelt at Hebron, in the Plain of Mamre, his brother Lot was carried away prisoner by the foure ( Assyrian, or Babylonian) Kings, with all that he had, and that Abraham confederate with Mamre the Amorite and his brethren, Escol and Aner, armed his houshold, even the bond-men as well as free, 318. in all, and pur­sued them unto Dan, where hee smote them in the night, and recovered Lot and the prey: And that as he returned, Melchisedek King of Salem, Priest of the most high God, met him, and gave him bread and wine, and blessed him, and prayed and praised God for him: In the Hebrew text it is inde­finite which of them gave tiths to other; there­fore the Iews say Melchisedek gave it to Abra­ham, but the holy Ghost in the 7. to the Hebrews ex­plaineth it, that Abraham gave them to Mel­chisedek. and that Abraham did thereupon give him the tithe of all. This place of Scripture is very materiall for our purpose, as portraiting unto us the whole modell or plat-form of the Church now under the Gospel, even as if the one were measured out by the other, with a line, or rod, as Moses measured the Tabernacle, and as if God had said as he did unto Moses, See that thou make it in all things like the pattern I have shewed thee, Exod. 25. 40. the last. We will therefore stay a while upon it, and consider the action, the time, the place, the persons, and some other circumstances. The acti­on, as having nothing in it belonging to the Leviti­call Law, and therefore a plain direction unto us how Codomannus saith in the year 293. some other count it above 370. to demean our selves under the Gospel. The time, as performed before the Law was given, namely, about 300. years after the flood, both according to the rites [Page 105] that time, and to be president for the time to come after the Law abolished. The places where this acti­on was performed, Hebron, Dan, and Salem; Hebron, a place in Judah where Abraham dwelt afterward, one of the Leviticall Cities, from whence Abraham depar­ted, when he went into this expedition. Dan, the ut­termost limit of the holy land, whither Abraham pur­sued his enemies, and there slew and chased them. Sa­lem, the place where Melchisedek was King, which by reason of Josephus his mistaking it, is commonly ta­ken Melchised. Dei sacerdos, Soly­morum quam civitatem postea: Hierosolymam vocarunt. Ios. Antiq. l. 1. c. 18. Hieron. in Ep. ad Euagr. et in loc. Heb. Lyra in Gen. 33. to be Jerusalem, but erroneously, as Jerome and Lyra explain it: for Saint Hierome out of the ancient Rabbins sheweth it to be a Town neer so called in his time, and men then shewing the ruines of Melchisedeks Palace in great magnificence. S. John also doth witnesse it to be Enon, a known Town in Jeromes time neer Jordan, where the spring was that John Baptist baptized in: John also (saith he) bapti­zed at Elim, besides Salem, because there was much Joh. 3. 23. water there: So that the first door that was opened into the Kingdome of heaven by the preaching of the Gospel, the first administration of the Sacrament of Baptisme, as S. John here reporteth it, was within the territories of the Kingdome of Salem, that is, by interpretation, the Kingdome of peace and righteous­nesse, which Baptisme bringeth by washing away ori­ginall sin.

The persons are, Melchisedek, Abraham and his con­federates, and family. Melchisedek is the image of Christ, King of righteousnesse and peace, the Priest of the high God, and a Priest for ever; for the Scri­pture neither sheweth his beginning, nor his ending. A Priest, not anointed with materiall oyle, after the ce­remony [Page 106] of the Leviticall▪ Law, not ordained for a time as Aaron, but established with an oath by God himself to be for ever: and sanctified with the spirituall oyle of gladnesse above all the ranks and orders of Leviticall Priesthood. Abraham an Hebrew and representing the rest of the Hebrews, Gods chosen people: Father of the Jews by Circumcision, and by faith the Father of the So that Mel­chisedek prefi­gurated the whole Priest­hood of Chri­stian Religion, and Abraham the whole Lai­ty; therefore Chrysostome saith, Considera quanta sit ex­cellentia nostra­tis sacerdotii quandoquidem Abraham Pa­triartha Iudae­orum progenitor Levitarum comperitur bene­dictionem acci­pere à Melchi­sedec. Orat 4. advers. Iud. Sed ita Paulus ipse. Gentiles. His confederates, Mamre, Escol, Aner, Amo­rites and Gentiles, representing the whole body of the Gentiles. The family of Abraham, as well bond-men as free-men, all mingled together, and all here march­ing as under one ensign, not of the Leviticall▪ Law, which onely belonged to the Jew, but of the New Testament, embracing both Jew and Gentile, bond­men and free-men, the children of Hagar as well as Sarah. Their enemies are the idolatrous▪ Assyrtans or Babylonians, who spoil the people of God, and these Abraham pursueth, killeth, and chaseth beyond Dan, that is, out of the Church.

To apply and morall this to the Church under the Gospel▪ They that are the true children and consorts of Abraham, whether Hebrews or Gentiles, free or bond, who now are all alike, they must depart out of the Le­viticall▪ [...]ities, that is, the Ordinances and Ceremo­nies of the Law: they must fight against the foure great Kings, the enemies of Lot, and of the children of God; Sin, Flesh, the World, and the Devill. So Hugo expoundeth them, they must chase and cast Superbia vitae, Concupiscentia carnis, Hypocri­sis, Ava [...]tia vel concupiscentia oculorū. Hugo. them not onely out of the temple of their heart, but out of the compasse and bounds of the Church of Christ, and so kill and subdue them by faith and re­pentance, even when they are asleep, and thereby seem to have surest possession of them. Having thus con­quered, [Page 107] Melchisedek, our Saviour Christ, will meet them in their return, but where? not till they come with­in the territories of Salem, into the bounds of the Church by the sacrament of Baptisme; And then he will not stay till he be called and wakened, as he did in the ship with Peter, but as he is our [...], he will Multo post fu­turum Domini sacramentum an [...]e signavit, ac sacrificio pa­nis & vini my­sterium corporis & sanguinis ex­pressit. p. To. 4. 14. c. come forth of himself and meet them, and give them bread and wine, as Melchisedek did, to strengthen and confirm them, that is, the other sacrament of the body and bloud. Then as a perpetuall high Priest and Me­diator he doth blesse them, and make intercession for them, as Melchisedek did Abraham, and his spirituall posterity in the person of Abraham, as well Jews as Gen­tiles; for in the person of Abraham, Melchisedek blessed both, the Jews as his children by Circumcision, and the Gentiles as his children by faith. Then must wee doe as Abraham did in his own and our person, give tithe of all to Melchisedek and his Substitutes. Melchi­sedek gave bread and wine really, and we must also as Abraham did, give him the tithe really. And this tithe was not given to Melchisedek as a Leviticall duty, but as a duty belonging to God both before the Law, and in Ministravit iste Melchisedek A­brahamo & ex­ercitui xenia, & multam a­bundantiam re­rum optimarum simul exhibuit, & super epula [...] eum collaudare coepit & benedi­cere Deum qui ei subdiderat inimicos. Jos. Antiquit. l. 1. c. 18. the time of the Gospel: for Melchisedek met not Abra­ham with oblations and sacrifice, like a Priest of the Law, but with bread and wine, the elements of the sa­crament of the Gospel, which in figure thereof are onely remembred in this place by the holy Ghost; though Josephus mentioneth many other rich gifts at this very time plentifully given by Melchisedek to Abra­ham: So that if Melchisedek in the person of Christ received tithe, then doubtlesse is tithe due unto Christ, and consequently to his Ministers.

This is the first place in Scripture wherein tithes be [Page 108] mentioned, therefore some may think it the first time they were paid, but that is no argument; for so it is the first place where a Priest is mentioned, yet no doubt Priests were before. Noah performed the Priests office when he built an Altar, and offered of every cleane No fis [...], as though the curse extended not to the sea. beast, and fowl upon it, Gen. 8. 20. And it is very likely that Melchisedek himself had borne the office of a Priest many hundred years before he met Abraham, though the Scripture doth not mention him till the meeting; for if it be lawfull to enquire of that the holy Ghost re­vealeth not, many great Divines are of opinion, that he was Sem the son of Noah; (whom the Salemites had made their King) and it may well be, for it appeareth in Gen. 11. that Sem lived 600. years, whereof 502. after the Floud, and of them 209. in the life of Abraham: So that to those of that new world that Abraham lived in, (I mean after the Floud) he might well seem without father or mother, or any beginning, being born almost 100. years before the Floud, and to have been a Priest for ever. And then in like consequence he might have received tithes of divers other before he thus met A­braham: for that use was common long before among the Heathen, and likely it is, that the Heathen rather learned it of the children of God, then that the children of God should learn it of them, as Hemmingius would have it, who saith, that Abraham gave these tithes of his own accord, following therein (without all doubt) the manner of Conquerors, which were wont to con­fecrate the tithe of the spoil unto their gods, or to be­stow it upon their Priests. I read in Ovid, that Bac­chus who lived before this time, having conquered the Indians, and other Nations, sent the first-fruits of the spoile magno Jovi, to great Jupiter: but whether A­braham [Page 109] either heard of it, or took it for a Precedent, that cannot I tell.

The next place of Scripture mentioning tithes is the 28. Gen. ver. the last. Jacob going upon his adventure, voweth, that if God will be with him in his journey, and give him meat and cloth, and so that he return safe, then (saith he) the Lord shall be my God, and this stone which I here set up as a pillar shall be Gods house, and of all that thou shalt give me, will I give the tenth unto thee. Romulus made the like vow for building the Liv. [...]. [...]. Temple to Jupiter Feretrius upon Mount Palatine. Ta­tius and Tarquinius upon Tarpeius. William the Con­querour for Battail Abbey. But Hemmingius cannot say that Jacob did it by their example, for they lived too too long after him. I think rather that the law of na­ture and reason taught all Nations to render honour, thanks, and service unto God, and that the children of God being more illuminate in the true course there­of, then the Heathen by the light of reason could be, first began the precedent, and that then the Heathen dwelling round about them apprehended and disper­sed it; for the use of paying tithes even in those first ages of the world was generall, as hereafter shall ap­pear. But Iacob doth not here bargain and conditi­on with God, that if God will doe thus and thus, that then he shall be his God, and that he will build him an house, and pay him tithe, and otherwise not; but he [Page 104] [...] [Page 105] [...] [Page 106] [...] [Page 107] [...] [Page 108] [...] [Page 109] [...] [Page 110] alledgeth it as shewing by this means he shall bee the better enabled to perform those debts and duties that he oweth unto God, and will therefore doe it the more readily.

The actions and answers of the Sages are in all Laws a law to their posterity. Iustinian the Emperour doth therefore make them a part of the Civill Law. The common Lawyers doe so alledge them, and the Law of the holy Church hath always so received & allowed them. And though Saint Augustine saith, that the ex­amples Non ideo nobis proponi exem­pla justorum, ut ab eis justi­ficemur; sed ut eos imitan­tes, ab eorum justificatore nos quoque justifi­cari sciamus. Aug. lib. de Catechisand. rudibus. Tom. 4. f. 218. of the righteous are not set forth unto us, that thereby we should be justified; yet he addeth further, that they are set forth to the end that we by imitating them may know our selves to be justified by him that justifieth them. Why then should we now call tithes in question, since we find them to be paid and confir­med by two such great Sages and Patriarchs, Abraham & Iacob? Yea, their payment practised generally by all the Nations of the world for 3000. years at least, never abro­gated by any Law, but confirmed also by all the Fa­thers and Doctors of the Church; and not impugned by a single Author, as far as I can find during all the time I speak of?

Well; It will be said, that all this is nothing, if the Word of God commandeth it not; for every thing must be weighed and valued by the shekel of the San­ctuary, Lev. 27. 25. They may by the same reason take away our Churches, for I finde not in all the Bible any Text wherein it is commanded that we should build us Churches: neither did the Christians either in the Apostles time, nor 100. yeares after, build themselves Perkins dem. Problem. 9. Churches like these of ours, but contented themselves at first to meet in houses, which thereupon were cal­led [Page 111] aedes sacrae. And to shew that they were comman­ded by the Leviticall Law, will not serve our turn, for it will be said, the Statute of repeal, even the two words spoken by our Saviour upon the Crosse, Consum­matum est, Iohn 19. 30. clearly abrogated that Law: but it is to be well examined, how far this repeal exten­deth: for though the letter of it be taken away, yet the spirituall sense thereof remaineth; for Ierome saith, that Singulae paen [...] syllabae, &c. spirant coele­stia sacramenta. Tom. 3. Paulin [...] Epist. almost every syllable thereof breatheth forth an hea­venly sacrament. Saint Augustine saith, the Christians doe keep it spiritually, so that if tithe be not given in the tenth, according to the Leviticall Institution, yet the spirituall meaning of providing for the Clergy our Levites remaineth. But with the precepts of the Leviticall and Ceremoniall Laws divers rules of the Mo­rall Law are also mingled: as the Laws against Witch­es, Userers, Oppressors, &c. the Laws that command Not to reap every corner of our field, nor to gather our fruit clean: not to keep the pledge that belongeth to the person of our brother. us to lend to our brother without interest, and to san­ctifie the Sabbath; for though the Institution of the Sabbath be changed, yet the spirituall observation re­maineth, and that not onely in the manner of sanctify­ing it, but as touching the time also, even the seventh day. Notwithstanding I find not, that the Apostles commanded us to change it, but because they did change it, we take their practice to be as a Law unto us: yet though they changed the time, they altered not the number, that is, the seventh day. I will then reason that God hath as good right to our goods of the world, as to the days of our life: and that a part of them belong unto him, as well as the other. And the action of Abraham and Jacob may as well be a prece­dent to us for the one, (in what proportion we are to render them) as that of the Apostles in the other; for [Page 112] both of them were out of the Law, the one after it, the other before it: And why may not the limitation of the day appointed to the Lord for his Sabbath be altered and changed, as well as the portion appoin­ted to him for the tenth? You will say, the seventh day was not due to him by the law of nature, for then Abraham and the Fathers should have kept it before the Law given, but it held the fittest analogy to that naturall duty, that we owe to the service of God; and therefore when that portion of time was once particu­larly chosen by God for his service, by reason himself had commanded it under the Law, the Apostles, after the Law was abolished, retained it in the Gospel: And so since the number of the tenth was both given to God before the Law, and required by him in the time of the Law, being also most consonant to all other re­spects, great reason it is to hold it in the age of the Gospel. Yet with this difference, that in the old Law the Sabbath was the last part of the seven days, and in the Gospel it is the first, because our Saviour rose from the dead the first day of the week, and not the seventh.

God is our Lord, and we owe him both rent and service: our service is appointed to bee due every se­venth day, our rent to be the tenth part of our encrease. He dealeth not like the hard Landlords, that will have their rent though their Tenants bee losers by their Land, but he requireth nothing save out of their gain, and but the tenth part thereof onely. These two re­tributions of rendring him the seventh day of our life, and the tenth part of our goods, are a plain demonstra­tion to us, of our spirituall and temporall duty to­wards God. Spiritually, in keeping the Sabbath▪ and temporally, in payment of tithes, that is, in providing [Page 113] for his Ministry, and them in necessity; the one be­ing the image of our faith, the other of our works: for seven is the number of spirituall sanctification, ten the number of legall justification. Therefore to pay all the nine parts was nothing, if we failed in the tenth; for the tenth is the number of perfection, and therefore re­quired above all other as the type of legall justificati­on. And as our faith is nothing without works, so neither is the Sabbath without tithes: for they that minister to us the spirituall blessings of the Sabbath, must receive from us the temporall gratuities of Ti­thing.

CAP. XXVI. That they are due by the Law of Nations.

THe Law of Nations is that which groundeth it self upon such manifest rules of reason, as all the Nati­ons of the world perceive them to be just, and do there­fore admit them as effectually by the instinct of nature as if they had been concluded of by an universall Par­liament. Therefore in truth, this is no other, but that which the Philosophers call the law of Nature; Ora­tours, the law of Reason; Divines, the Morall law; and Civilians, the Law of Nations. As far then as Tithe is due by one of these, so far likewise it is due by all the rest: and consequently the reasons that prove it in the one, doe in like manner prove it in all the other. I will not therefore insist here upon arguments, but remit you to that hath been formerly said touching the law of Nature, and demonstrate unto you by the practice of all Nations, what the resolution of the world hath been herein through all ages.

[Page 114]So ancient it is among the Heathens, that good Di­vines are of opinion, that Abraham took example there­of from the Heathen: but others with more reason con­ceive it to be practised even by the children of Adam as well as sacrificing and the offering of first-fruits, as by the opinion of Hugo Cardinalis I have shewed in another place.

Besides, I find not any mention of Tithe paid by the Gentiles, before the time of Dionysius commonly called Bacchus, who having conquered the Indians sent a Present of the spoil Magno Jovi, as Ovid witnesseth; and this was about 600. after that Abraham tithed to Melchisedek.

Cyrus having collected a great sum of mony amongst his captives, caused it to be divided, & delivered the tithe thereof to the Praetors, to be consecrated to Apollo, and Diana of Ephesus, as he had vowed. Xenophon in Cyro. l. 5.

Alexander the great having conquered the Countries of sweet odours and frankincense sent a whole ship-loa­ding thereof to Leonides in Greece, that he might burn it bountifully unto the Gods. Plin. li. 12. c. 24.

Posthumius having overthrown the Latines, paid the tithes of the spoil, as before he had vowed. Dionys. Halicar. li. 6. Livius.

Nebuchodonosor did the like (too bountifully as Jose­phus Largissime ni­mis. reporteth it) to the Temple of Belus. Ant. l. 10. C. 13.

Rhodopis a Thracian woman, before the time of Cyrus, gave the tenth part of all her goods unto Delphos. Herodot. Euterpe, pag. 139.

The Crotoniati warring upon the Locrenses, vowed the tenth part of the spoil to Apollo: but the Locrians, to exceed them in their vow, vowed the ninth part. Alex. ab Alex. 165.

Agis King of Lacedaemon went to Delphos, and there [Page 113] offered his Tithe unto God. Xenophon de rebus gestis Grae. li. 3.

Agesilaus conquered so much of his enemies Coun­try, that in two years he dedicated above an hundred talents to God for the Tithe. Xenoph. de Agesil. laud.

The Liparians having overcome the Hetruscians in many sea battails, sent the Tithe of the spoil to Del­phos. Diodor. 292. l. 40. [...].

The custome of the ancient Gauls (and so likewise, no doubt, of our Brittish Ancestors) was to give all (in effect) that they got by the wars unto their gods, as Caesar witnesseth, and to sacrifice the cattell so ta­ken. De Bell. Gal. lib. 6. 132.

And this use of Tithing the spoile obtained in war was every where so ordinary, that Croesus the King of Lydia being overcome by Cyrus, and taken into mercy told him, as advising him for his good, that he must of necessity render the Tithe of the spoil unto Jove, and that he should therefore set a guard at every gate of the City to prevent the soldiers from embez­ling of it. Herodot. in Clio. li. 1. p. 36.

I reckon up these particulars the more willingly to beget shame and remorse, if it were possible, in the sol­diers of our time, that having been exceedingly en­riched in this kind, have not I fear remembred God, with so much as Croesus did, when he sent no more but his iron shackles to Delphos. Herodot. ib. fo. 37. Yet God had 7000. servants that Elias knew not of, and therefore I will not judge them.

As Military men abounded thus with devotion, so those of peaceable professions came not behinde them; for Festus witnesseth, lib. 4. p. 213. l. 67. That they of the old world offered every tenth thing unto God; and [Page 114] Varro in his Book, De re Rustica, adviseth every man to pay his Tithes diligently of the fruits of his ground.

Therefore because the Sicilians were more happy in corn, then other Nations, they exceeded all other in thankfulnesse to Ceres, as appeareth by Diodor. Sic. 288. in pede, &c.

And for that the Athenians were next in that felici­ty, they did the like, and instituted further in her ho­nour, initia Eleusina, i. the feast of the first-fruits, which for the great antiquity and holinesse thereof were, as Diodorus reporteth, celebrated of all the people of the world.

Pliny saith, the Arabians tithed their frank incense to their god Sabin, not by weight, (as sparingly) but by measure, as a more bountifull manner. Lib. 12. ca. 24. pag. 184. L. 57.

The Aethiopians cut not their cinnamon, but with prayers made first to their gods, and a sacrifice of 44. Goats & Rams: and then the Priest dividing the cinna­mon, took that part belonging to their god, and left them the rest to make merchandise of. Plin. l. 12. ca. 19. fol. 286. in pede.

The Siphnians sent at one time so great a Tithe out of their silver and gold mines to Delphos, as the rich­est man of that age was not more worth. Herodot. Thalia, lib. 3. fol. 180.

The Romans, and generally all Nations, paid the Neque Herculi quisquam decu­mam vovit un­quam si sapiens factus esset. Cic. de Nat. Deor. Tithe of their fruits to Hercules, and they held it the happyest thing to vow the payment of them faithful­ly: and they thought that the cause that Lucullus a­bounded so much above other in wealth was, that he paid his Tithe so faithfully. Alex. ab Alex. lib. 3. 165.

[Page 115]As they paid their Tithes out of the fruits of the earth, so did they likewise out of their privy gains and industry.

Herodotus writeth, that the Samians (a small people) yeelded at one time six talents for the Tithe of their grain gotten by merchanchise. Melpom. li. 4. 267.

And that nothing might goe untithed, the Ancients paid a Tithe of the very beasts killed in hunting, namely, the skins thereof to Diana.

So Hesodius offered the tripod he won at Amphida­mas game, as the prize of Poetry, and upon the altar of the Muses.

CAP. XXVII. That they are due by the Law of the Land.

AS they are due by the law of Nature, and of Nati­ons, by the Law of God, and of the Church: so are they likewise due by the very Temporall Laws of the Land, as well ancient as later; therefore Edward the el­der, and Guthrun, Saxon and Danish Kings, punished the not payment of Tithes by their temporall Constituti­ons. Lambard. [...], pag. 54. Tom. 1. Concil. Britan. pag. 392.

King Athelstan about the year of our Lord 924. not onely decreed them to be paid, by himself, his Bishops, Aldermen, and Officers, but maintaineth that his Law by the example of Jacob, saying, Decimas meas, & ho­stiam pacificam offeram tibi; and by other effectuall Au­thorities: providing precisely, that his owne Tithes should diligently be paid, and appointing a time cer­tain for doing thereof, viz. the feast of the decollation of S. John Baptist. [...], pa. 57. Tom. 1. Concil. p. 402.

King Edmund about the year 940. in a solemn Par­liament, as well of the Laity, as Spiritualty, ordained that every man upon pain of his christendome, and be­ing accursed, should pay them truly. [...], pag. 73. Tom. 1. Concil. pag. 420.

King Edgar in a great Parliament about the yeare 959. confirmed the payment of Tithes, assigning cer­tain times when every thing should be paid, viz. the Tithe of all young things before Whitsontide, of the fruits of the earth by the harvest aequinoctiall, (i. about the 12. Septemb.) and of seed by Martimas; and this to be done under the pain mentioned in the Book of the [Page 130] Lawes of the Land: whereby it appeareth that the Laws of the Land had anciently provided for the pay­ment hereof (though the Book remaineth not to us at this day) as well as the Laws of the Church. And he further enacted, that the Sheriffe as well as the Bishop and Priest, should compell every man to pay their Tithes, and should set it forth, and deliver it, if they would not, leaving to the party offending onely the 9 ^th part: and that the other eight parts should be divided, four to the Lord, and four to the Bishop; and that no man should herein be spared, were hee the Kings Officer, or any Gentleman whatsoever. [...] pag. 77.

Tom. 1. Concil pa. 444.

King Canutus, about the yeare 1016. made the like Law, with some little enlargement, as appeareth in his Tom. Con. pag. 544. Laws, ca. 8. and as Malmesbury testifieth, strictly obser­ved all the Laws of the ancient Kings, de gestis Regum Angl. lib. 2. p. 55. And he wrote also about the 15. year of his reign from beyond the seas a long letter to all the Bishops and Nobility of England, conjuring them by the faith, that they ought both to himself, and to God, that they caused these Lawes touching Tithes and Rights of the Church to be duly executed, and the Tithes to be paid as abovesaid. Malmsb. p. 74.

But King Edward the Confessor, about the year 1042, made all certain; namely, that Tithe was due unto God, and should be paid, the tenth sheafe, the tenth foal, the tenth calf, the tenth cheese; where cheese was made, or the tenth days milk, where there was no cheese made; the tenth lamb, the tenth fleece, the tenth part of butter, the tenth pigge; and that they that had but a calfe or two, should pay for every of them a penny. [Page 131] And to this price is the Parson generally holden at this day, when ten of our pennies are scarcely worth one of that time. He also ordained, that Tithe should be paid of bees, woods, meadows, waters, mils, parks, warrens, fishings, coppises, orchards and negotiations: and out of all things, saith the Law, that the Lord giveth, the For the She­riffe and Bi­shops were in those days, the Kings Justices in every Coun­ty, and all matters were heard and decided before them. tenth is to be rendred unto him that giveth the nine parts with the tenth: and bindeth the Sheriffe, as well as the Bishop, to see this executed. And all these were granted, saith the Book, by the King, Barons, and Com­monalty, as appeareth in those his Laws, cap. 8. and Hoveden Annal. part. poster. pag. 602.

Long after the learned Author had written this, he pub­lished the first Tome of our English Councels, wherein not onely these Laws mentioned, are recited, but also many other Laws and Constitutions concerning Tithes, by other Kings and Parliaments of that age. It would have been an easie matter to have inserted them at large here, being there set down in order of time successively; but because I am un­willing to add any thing, or alter in the text of his discourse; and that the Tome of the Councels is obvious to every mans perusall, I will onely adde some brief references to them, as also to M. Selden, in the eight chap. of his History, who hath recited them all, and some more then are here mentioned. From both (these learned Lawyers) the studious Reader may be abundantly satisfied, especially when the second Tome of the Synods shall be extant, there will be full testimony of our own Laws, to confirm this truth, for 500. years after the Conquest, as these are for 500. years before it.

When Gregory the great sent Augustine, ( about the year 600. Chr.) assisted with 40. Preachers, to publish the Gospel to our forefathers in England, it is testified by the [Page 132] Laws of Edward the Confessor among other things, that he preached and commanded Tithes to be paid.—Haec beatus Augustinus praedicavit & docuit, & haec con­cessa sunt à Rege, Baronibus, & populo, sed postea instinctu diaboli multi eam detinuerunt, &c. and all this was confirmed by the King, and his Barons, and the people.

Tom. 1. Concil. Brit. pag. 619. § 8, 9.

Egbert Archbishop of York, brother to Eadbert King of Northumberland, published Canons about the yeare 750. (which did binde all the Northern parts, and Scot­land in those days) wherein he directeth all Ministers to instruct their people, when, and how to pay their Tithes.

Tom. 1. Con. pa. 258. Can. 5, &c.

About the year 786. in the time of Offa, a great King of Mercia, and Helfwood, King of Northumberland, and the two Archbishops, there was a great Councell held by two Legates from Hadrian the first, wherein Tithes were established; and it was likewise confirmed in the South part by the King of West-Saxony. And as M. Selden saith, it is a most observable Law, being made with great solemnity of both powers of both States. History cap. 8. pag. 201.

Tom. 1. Con. pag. 291. Can. 17.

In the year 855. King Ethelwolph by the consent of all his Baronage and Bishops, granted the perpetuall right of Tithes to the Church, throughout his whole kingdome, and that free from all taxes and exactions used then in the State; and this statute is very remarkable, and was con­firmed by other Kings, Brorredus, and Edmundus of East-Angles.

Tom. 1. Con. pag. 384.

For the Northern Clergy, there was a Law made to pu­nish the non-payment of Tithes.

Tom. 1. Con. pag. 501.

[Page 133] In a great Parliament at Earham, Anno 1009. by all the States assembled under King Ethelred, Tithes are comman­ded and confirmed.

Tom. 1. Con. pag. 510, &c.

Maccabeus, an ancient King of Scotland, confirmeth Tithes in his Laws. Con. pag. 571. Anno 1050.

In the Canons of Aelfric, Tithes are confirmed, Anno 1052. Con. pag. 572.

These and many other Constitutions and Laws are parti­cularly, and more fully recited in the first Tome of our Councels, and in Mr Seldens History, cap. 8. from whence the Reader may please to take satisfaction, for the space of some 500. years before the Conquest.

William the Conquerour in the fourth year of his reign, when he took a view of all the ancient Laws of the Land, he first confirmed the liberties of the Church, because that by it (saith Hoveden) the King and the kingdome have their solid foundation ( pag. 601.) and herein amongst other Laws of King Edward, these par­ticularly touching Tithes; which Hen. 1. also did Anno 1100. as appeareth by Mat. Par. pa. 53.

The like did also Hen. 2. in the 26. year of his reign, as Hoveden witnesseth, pa. 600.

And for a perclose of all that went before, or should follow after, King Hen. 3. in the ninth year of his reign, by that sacred Charter made in the name of himself, and his heirs for ever, granted all this a new unto God. We have granted (saith he) unto God, and by this our pre­sent Charter have confirmed for us, and for our heirs for evermore, that the Church of England shall be free, and shall have all her holy rights inviolable. Magna [Page 134] Charta cap. 1. And that this Charter might be immor­tall, and like the sanctified things of the Temple, for e­ver inviolable, it was not onely fortified by the Kings Seal, (the sacred Anchor of the kingdome) but by his solemn oath, and the oath of his sonne, and the Nobi­lity of the kingdome. Yea, the whole kingdome yeel­ded themselves to stand accursed, if they should at a­ny time after impeach this grant. And therefore in the V. Rastals A­bridg. de sta [...] ­tit. Confirm at. Sentenlia lata super chartas. 25 Ed. 1. a speciall Statute was made for confirmation of this Charter, wherein amongst other things it is or­dained, that the Bishops shall excommunicate the brea­kers thereof; and the very form of the sentence is there prescribed, according to which upon the 13. Maii, Anno 1304. Ed. 1. 31. Boniface the Archbishop of Canterbury, and five other Bishops solemnly denounced this curse in Westminster Hall, the King himself with a great part of the Nobility being present. First, against all them Vid. Pupil. oculi. part. 5. cap. 22. that should wittingly and maliciously deprive, or spoil Chur­ches of their rights.

Secondly, against those that by any art or devise infrin­ged the liberties of the Church or Kingdome, granted by Magna Charta & de Foresta.

Thirdly, against all those that should make new Statutes against the Articles of these Charters, or should keep them being made, or bring in, or keep other customes; and against the writers of those Statutes, Counsellors, and Executio­ners thereof, that should presume to give judgement accor­ding to them.

And lest this should seem a passion of some particular men for the present time, rather then a perpetuall reso­lution of the whole kingdome in the succeeding ages, the zeal and care thereof was continually propagated from posterity to posterity. So that in 42 Ed. 3. cap. 1. [Page 135] it was further enacted, that if any Statute were made contrary to Magna Charta, it should be void. And 15. times is this Charter confirmed by Parliament in Ed. 3. time; eight times in Rich. 2. reign; and six times in Hen. 4. Yea, the frontispice of every Parliament almost is a confirmation of the rights and priviledges of the Church; as having learned of the very Heathen Poet, who had it from the law of Nature, [...], we begin ever with God. Neither was there any man found, that ever would, or durst (with Nero) lay hands upon his Mother the Church; for he that smiteth his father or mother, shall die the death, Exod. 20. 15.

My meaning is not to strain these Laws to the mainte­nance of such superstitious gifts as were made to the Church against the honour of God, but to those onely that were for maintenance of his Word and Mini­stery, which if they were lawfully conferred (as no man I think doubteth but they were) then let us consider how fearfull a thing it is to pull them from God, to rend them from the Church, to violate the dedicati­ons of our Fathers, the Oaths of our Ancestors, the Decrees of so many Parliaments; and finally, to throw our selves into those horrible curses, that the whole body of the kingdome hath contracted with God (as Nehemiah and the Jews did, Nehem. 10.) should fall up­on them if they transgresse herein. For as Levi paid Tithes in the loins of Abraham, Heb. 7. so the lawfull vow of the fathers descendeth upon their children. And as the posterity of Jona [...]ab the sonne of Rechab were blessed in keeping it, ( Jer. 35▪ 18) so doubtlesse have we just cause to fear the dint of this curse in brea­king this vow.

[Page 136]Say then, that Tithes were not originally due unto God, and that there belonged no portion of our Lands unto his Ministers, yet are we in the case of Nehemiah and the Jews, (Nehem. 10. 32.) They made Statutes by themselves to give every year the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of God. And our fathers made Laws amongst themselves to give a portion of their Land, and the tenth part of their substance, that is, these Parsonages for the service of the house of God. If they were not due before, they are now due: For when Eccles. also 5. 3, 4. thou vowest a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not be slack to be pay it, for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee, and so it should be sin unto thee, Deut. 23. 20. Therefore S. Peter reasoning the matter with Ananias, telleth him, That whilest his land remained in his hands, it appertained unto him; and when it was sold, the money was his own, Act. 5. 4. he might have chosen whether he would give them God or not: but when his heart had vowed, his hands were tied to perform them; he vowed all, and all was due: not by the Levitical law, which now was ended, but by the Morall law which lasteth for e­ver; for Job being an Heathen man, and not a Jew, saith also, Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt render him thy vows, Job 22. 27.

If the King give a gift of his inheritance to his son, his son shall have it; if he give it to his servant, his servant shall have it, Ezek. 46. 16. If the King then give a gift to his Father, (that is, to God Almighty) shall not God have it? or the servant to his Master and Maker, shall not he enjoy it? Who hath power to take that from God, which was given unto him according to his Word? can the Bishops? can the [Page 139] Clergy give this away? no, they are but Vsufructuarii, they have but the use of it; the thing it self is Gods, for the words of the grant be, Concedimus Deo, we give it to God, not to the Bishops. Therefore when Valen­tinian the Emperor required the Church of Milan, of that noble Bishop S. Ambrose, O saith he, if any thing were required of me that were mine, as my land, my house, my gold, or my silver, whatsoever were mine, I would wil­lingly Orat. de basilic. tradend. p. 2. 38. offer it, but (saith he) I can take nothing from the Church, nor deliver that to others, which I my self recei­ved but to keep▪ and not to deliver.

CAP. XXVIII. Tithe is not meerly Leviticall: How it is, and how not; and wherein Judiciall.

TIthe is not simply a Leviticall duty, but respective­ly; not the naturall childe of Moses Law, but the a­doptive: Consider first the action, and then the end; the action, in payment of them; the end, in the employ­ment or disposing of them: The action of payment of them cannot be said to be properly Leviticall for divers reasons.

First, it is much more ancient then the Leviticall Law, as is already declared, and cannot therefore bee said to begin by it, or to be meerly Leviticall.

Secondly, the manner of establishing of it in the Leviticall Law, seemeth rather to be an annexion of a thing formerly in use, then the creating or erecting of a new custome; for in all the Leviticall Law, there is no originall commandement to pay Tithe, but in the place where first it is mentioned, Lev. 27. 30. it is positively declared to be the Lords, without any com­mandement [Page 140] precedent to yeeld it to him. Some hap­pily will affirm the commandement in the 22. Exod. that thou shalt not keep back thy Tithe, doth belong to the Leviticall Law, though it were given before the Levites were ascribed to the Tabernacle. Yet (if it were so) that is no fundamentall Law whereupon to ground the first erection of paying Tithe, but rather as a Law of revive, and confirmation, as of a thing for­merly in esse: for detaining and keeping back doe ap­parently imply a former right, and therefore Tithe was still the Lords, ex antiquiore jure, and not ex novi­tio praecepto, by a precedent right, and not by a new commandement.

Thirdly, it containeth no matter of ceremony; for if it did, then must it be a type and figure of some future thing, and by the passion of our Saviour Christ bee converted from a carnall rite into some spirituall obser­vation, (for so saith Jerome of the legall ceremonies) but no such thing appeareth in it, and therefore it cannot be said to be a ceremony. The whole body of the Fathers doe confirm this, who in all their works doe confidently affirm the doctrine that S. Paul so much beateth upon, that all legall ceremonies be a­bolished; and yet as many of them as speak of Tithes, doe without all controversie both conclude and teach, that still they ought to be paid, and therefore plainly not to be a ceremony.

Fourthly, the Tithing now used, is not after the manner of the Leviticall Law; for by the Leviticall Law nothing was tithed, but such things as renued and encreased out of the profits of the earth; but our man­ner of tiching is after that of Abrahams, who gave Heb. 7. 2. tithe of all. And this is a thing well to be considered, [Page 141] for therein as Abraham tithed to Melchisedek not being of the Tribe of Levi: so our Tithing is now to Christ being of Melchisedeks order, and not of the Tribe of Levi, but of that of Juda, whereunto the Tribe of Le­vi is also to pay their Tithe.

Fifthly and lastly, the end whereunto Tithe was ordained is plainly Morall, and that in three main points: Piety, Justice, and Gratitude. 1. Piety, as for the worship of God. 2. Justice, as for the wages and re­muneration of his Ministers. 3. Gratitude, as sacrifi­cium And to encou­rage them in the service of God. 2 Chron. 31. 4. laudis, an offering of thankfulnesse for his bene­fits received. All which were apparent in the use of Tithes before they were assigned over to the Levites, both in the examples of Abraham and Jacob, and by the practice of all Nations. For God was to be worship­ped before, in, and after the Law, and though the Law had never been given; but his worship could not be without Ministers, nor his Ministers without mainte­nance; and therefore the maintenance of his Ministers was the maintenance of his worship; and consequent­ly the tithes applied to the one extended to both. God himself doth so expound it, Mal. 3. 8▪ where he tearm­eth the not-payment of Tithes to bee his spoil: and wherein his spoil, but in his worship? and how in his worship, but by taking from him, the service of his Ministers, the Priests and Levites, who being de­prived thereof could neither perform his holy rites in matter of charge, nor give their attendance for want of maintenance?

So that herein the children of Israel were not onely guilty of that great sinne committed against piety, in hindering the worship of God; but of the crying fin also committed against equity, in withholding the wa­ges [Page 142] of the labourer, (his Ministers) and consequently of that monstrous and foul sin of Ingratitude, which Jacob in vowing of his Tithes so carefully avoided.

To come to the other point before spoken of, the disposing or employment of the Tithes after they were paid, (that is, when they were out of the power of them that paid them, and at the ordering of the Levites that received them) it cannot be denied; but therein were many ceremonies, as namely, in the sanctifying of them, in the eating them in the Tabernacle, the eating of them by the Levites onely and their family; and as they were otherwise applied to the ceremoniall habit of Gods service for that time: but yet notwithstan­ding, even then they still served in the main point to the Morall end of their originall Institution; that is, the worship of God in genere; the maintenance of his Ministers in genere; and for a token of thankfulnesse in genere. Against which the particular applying them to the particular form of worship, and ceremonies of the Leviticall Law, (for that time abolished) had no repugnancy. And therefore though that manner of dis­posing them were Ceremoniall, and did vanish away with the ceremonies themselves: yet did it nothing dimi­nish the Morall use, and validity of the Institution in genere; which notwithstanding still remained to be accepted and imitated by all posterity; and yet to be altered and changed accidentally in the particular orde­ring and disposing of them, as the present estate of Gods worship, and the necessity of the time should re­quire, viz. before the Law, at the pleasure of them be­fore the Law: under the Law, by the rules of the Law: and now in the time of the Gospel, as the Church of God either hath, or shall appoint them: [Page 143] keeping always (as I say) the Morall considerations of their Institution, for they may not be diverted from the Minister, though the course of Gods service be altered from that of the Levites, but both they and the Levites are labourers in the Lords Vineyard; and therefore what kind of work soever, either the one, or the other, be for the time there employed upon, the wages ap­pointed ( Denarius in diem, Mat. 20. 2.) is due unto each of them.

Therefore to take away the antithesis, or opposition that some make between the Ministers of the Gospel, and the Levites and Priests of the Law; God himself in the last of Esay, v. 21. calleth the Ministers of the Esay 66. 20. Gospel Priests and Levites, as though he had onely changed the course of their service, and not the main, or end of their Institution. I will take of them (viz. of the Gentiles) for Priests and Levites, that is, the gene­ration of Levi shall no longer be appropriate to my ser­vice, but I will communicate their function to the Gen­tiles, and out of them will I take Priests and Levites to perform the service of my charge.

God therefore brought no new thing into the Levi­ticall Law, neither changed he the nature of the for­mer Institution thereof, nor the course of the pay­ment, nor the quantity of the portion assigned, nor the end whereto it was; but looking generally into the equity of them all, and approving them all in the ge­nerall, (yea, though they were used by the Heathen) he descended into further particularities for order and government, whereof he prescribed divers rules, and observances, some Morall, some Judiciall, and some Ce­remoniall, according to the fashion of his Church at that time; which like old garments being wholly [Page 144] worn out with the old Law, the body whereupon they were put, remaineth still in the first shape and vigour. And whereas before the Law it seemeth to be some­what at randome and uncertain, God by his owne mouth in the Books of Moses, hath established, and confirmed. So that these things considered, it cannot be said to be Leviticall in substance, but respectively onely, and by way of accident.

CAP. XXIX. How Appropriations began.

MAny things are notoriously wicked in conclusion, whose beginnings are not suspected: so hath it hap­ned in Appropriations. The Livings that belong to them, were first given for the maintenance of the Church & her family, that is, Ministers and poor people. In the Primitive Church the Bishops disposed them accordingly, but the burden growing in time too great for them, the Parsons were themselves trusted to doe it every one in his own Parish. Then divers religious men, as Abbots, Priors, single Deans and Prebends, that had advowsons to them and their successors, per­ceiving this, began first to collate themselves to those Churches, and for lucres sake were contented in their own persons to doe the divine service thereof; and find­ing [Page 152] sweetnesse in it, as enjoying thereby the whole fruits of the Benefice. Every successor did the like, and by that means kept the Living perpetually in their owne hands, without any favour, or thanks of, or to the Or­dinary; at length to avoid the multiplicity of Institu­tions and Inductions, they easily obtained licence of the King and Ordinary (sometimes of the Pope him­self) that without these usuall ceremonies, they and their successors might be perpetuall Incumbents, and take the profits of those their Benefices. In old time whilest these Churches were in the Clergy-hand, they were called Appropriations, because they were appro­priate to a particular succession of Church-men; now they are called Impropriations, for they are improperly in the hands of Lay-men.

But thus Churches became first appropriate, yet onely unto such as were meerly spirituall, and might in their own person minister the sacraments and divine service. But shortly after Deans and Chapters obtain­ed like licenses to them and their successors, who being a Body corporate, consisting of a multitude, could not jointly perform this function, and in particular none of them was tied unto it. Then was it devised, that by their common seal (which is the tongue of their Corporation) they might appoint a Deputy or Vicar to doe it for them; which invention gave the wound un­to the Church, whereof she bleedeth at this day.

By these examples, Abbots, Priors, single Deans and Prebends, that before served God in their own persons, learned also to doe it now by Vicars and Substitutes, and so like faithlesse shepheards left their flocks to care­lesse pages, themselves minding nothing but the bene­fit of the Livings. And this device being once a foot, [Page 153] the very Nuns and Prioresses (that could by no means administer these holy rites) laid hold thereof, and be­ing religious persons obtained also the same Licences: all of them pretending that with great fidelity they would see that performed effectually to the Church and poor, that those Livings were at first ordained un­to, Divine service, and Hospitality. By this window crept the Vicars into Churches, who for the most part were some of the Monastery, whereunto the ap­propriation belonged; till the statute of 4 H. 4. cap. 12. provided, That in every Church so appropriate, a secular person be ordained Vicar perpetuall, Canonically institute and induct in the same, and convenably indowed by the discre­tion of the Ordinary, (1) to doe divine service, (2) and to inform the people, (3) and to keep hospitality there—and that no Religious be in any wise made Vicars, in any Church so appropriate, &c.

Thus came Vicars to get a lock out of the Parsons fleece, which though it were a very poor one, yet was it in some sort proportionable to the deserts and quality of such heardmen, insomuch as then they were single men, as well as simple Clerks; but yet not­withstanding they were thus indued before this Sta­tute, for in the Synod holden at [...] for the Pro­vince of Canterbury, Anno 1222. ca. 18. it was ordained, that lesse should not be assigned to a perpetuall Vicar then five marks a year in rent, which in the propor­tion that the rents of that time hold to this, cannot be lesse then 301 or 401 a year.

So that the Appropriation of a Parsonage was no more at the first, but a grant made by the Pope, &c. to an Abbot, Prior, Prebend, or some other spirituall person, being a Body politique and successive, that he [Page 154] and his successors might for ever be Parsons of that Church, that is, that as one of them died, his succes­sors might enter into the Rectory, and take the fruits and profits thereof, without further trouble of admis­sion, institution, or induction; which upon the mat­ter, Plowd. 500. was no more but to doe that briefly at one cut, that otherwise might and would in length of time be done at severall times, as to admit, institute, and induct the whole succession of a religious body po­litique at once, whereas otherwise every successour must have had a particular institution and induction; and therefore every such successour during his time, was as perfect an Incumbent, as if he had been particu­larly instituted and inducted: but when the succession failed, then it was again presentative as upon the death of an ordinary Incumbent: and by extinction of the House, dissolution, cession, or surrender of the House and Order, the appropriation is determined, and they are now again presentative: for the appropriation is Dier Howd. 497. Manwood 501 but as a stop in a run, which being taken away, the for­mer right renueth.

What alteration then did the Statute make of them? did it make 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 [Page 155] 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, au­thoritate In this part of his power W. 1. made Appro­priations of Parsonages, which other­wise he could not doe. Coke p. 5. f. 10. 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. [Page 156] 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 Object. Church Livings.

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 [Page 157] 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.