TITHE in old English or Saxon, signifieth to cull or choose out; and because the Priest might cull or choose his tenth out of the other nine parts, the word Tithe came to be used for the tenth, for Decima or Decimae, is the Tithe or tenth of that we lawfully possesse, rendered by us to God by way of thankfulness for the blessings bestowed on us, which is due by the Law of God, of Nature, and of this Nation.

The Law of God is conteined in the Old and New Testa­ments; in the Old Testament Tithes are fully and often com­manded (as all acknowledge) but some pretend that it obligeth not us, since there is no expresse place injoyning the payment of them in the New: Yet the same Argument is of the same force against keeping the Lords day, Baptizing of Infants, or womens receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper; and sufficient it is, that they are plainely commanded in the Old, and never fulfilled, abrogated or abolished in the New; and if the letter of the Leviticall Law, be fulfilled by Consummatum est, yet the Spirituall and Morall sence remaineth still, and that in three maine particulars.

• 1. Piety towards God, as being for his Worship and Service.
• 2. Gratitude, as being Sacri­ficium laudis, an offering of thankes for his benefits received.
• 3. Justice being appointed by him for the just remuneration, and wages of his Ministers, 1 Cor. 9.13, 14.

Doe you not know that they which waite at the Altar, are partakers with the Altar? so also hath the Lord ordained, that they which preach the Gospell [Page 2]should live of the Gospell: We owe to God our great Landlord, both Rent and Service, our Rent is the tenth of our increase, Mal. 3.8, 9, 10, &c. Will a man rob God? yet ye have robbed me, but ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? in Tithes and Offerings: ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole Nation: bring all the Tithes into the store-house, that there may be meate in mine house, and try me if I will not open the windows of Heaven, &c. Our service must be performed every seventh day, 7. is the number of Evangelicall Sanctification, 10. the number of Legall Justification: as Faith is nothing without Workes, so neither the Sabbath without Tithes; for they who administer to us the spirituall blessings of the Sabbath, must receive from us the temporall blessings of Tithes, 1 Cor. 9.11. if we sow unto you Spirituall things, is it a great thing if we reape your Temporall things? for by giving God the tenth part, we put the other nine parts in his protection: Much is said of the Figure and Number 10. by the Antient (as who please may reade in Sir Henry Spelman) the Romans so admired the secret vertue of the number 10. that they canonized it a­mongst their Gods by the name of Decima, the letter X. sig­nifieth commonly the number 10. and the Tithe, and Christ, and was and is commonly written, X ^s X ⁱ X ^um, Christus, Christi, Christum, and X ^s X ⁱ X ^um, Decimus, Decimi, Deci­mum.

And as for the Practique, the payment of Tithes by all pious men ever since there was a Church, Jewish or Christian, is un­deniable, 1 Cor. 11.16. but if any man seem contentious, let him [Page 3]know, that we have no such custome, neither the Churches of God. It seemes in Saint Pauls time, the customes of the Chur­ches were sufficient to stop the mouthes of any Gaine-sayers, the custome of paying Tithes, was not onely by, but before the establishment of the Jewish Church or Common-wealth; for Abraham paid Tithes to Melchisedeck, who is held to be Sem, Noahs Son (and it may well be, for he lived 600. yeares, whereof 502. were after the Flood, and 209. of them with Abraham) so as to those of the new World, he might well seeme without Father or Mother, being borne 100. yeares be­fore the Flood. So Jacob and Levi himselfe in the loynes of Abraham, paid Tythes 400. yeares before he was borne, and although after some robbed God of them, Mal. 3.13. and others sacrilegiously amongst the Christians, yet was the pay­ment of them never abrogated by any Law, but confirmed by all the Fathers and good Christians, and never gaine-sayed by any honest single Author, till our unconscionable dayes.

2. What God taught his people the Jewes, and Christians by his Word, that he taught the Gentiles by the Law of Nature: Aug: Quis scribit in cordibus hominum naturalem legem nisi ipse Deus, that is called the Law of Nature, which is writ by God in the hearts of all men by the pen of Nature; grounding it selfe upon such manifest rules of Reason, that all the Nations of the World perceive them to be just, and know they ought to practice them. As the Philosophers call this the Law of Na­ture, so the Logicians and Orators call it, the Law of Reason, the Civilians, the Law of Nations, and Divines, the Morall Law: All Nations, saith Lactantius, agree in this, that there is a God, that that God ought to be served, and that those who are set aside to performe that particular service, ought to be maintained, which generally hath been performed by the payment of Tithes: The first Tithe that we reade of paid by the Gentiles, was that of Dyonisius, commonly called Bacchus, after his Conquest over the Indians. Magno Jovi, 600. years after Abraham paid Tythes to Melchisedeck, which is as anci­ent as we have any History of the Gentiles; and before Moses his setling the Common-wealth of the Jewes, so the Sicilians, Athenians, Arabians, Aethiopians, and (as Paulus Diaconus [Page 4]saith) all the Gentiles, decimas veteres diis suis offerbaut, and Diodorus Siculus, who lived with Julius Cesar, saith it was the constant course of all people, and that not onely of the fruits of the Earth, but of that also which they got by labour and hazard of their lives; for he that giveth all, with have some acknowledgement of all, and from all, even from the Mi­litary men, out of the spoile they got by Warre: So Abraham, so Bacchus, so Cyrus, so Furius Camillus, so Alexander the great, and so doe the Turkes to this day. See Herodotus in Clio, fol 36. Livi. lib. 5. Plin. lib. 12. cap. 14. Diodorus Si­culus, &c.

3. Concerning the Law of this Nation, if it was not plaine and manifest, few I doubt in these times would pay them, many accounting them a great grievance and oppression, daily Pe­titioning against them, and although enough is said already to satisfie any honest rationall man, yet to shew how unreason­able their demands are, and how unjust it would be to take them away, or otherwayes employ them: I intend to shew how they first came to the Church in this Nation, and how by Law to be established: as Moses the temporall ruler of the people of Israel was counted amongst the Priests, Psal. 99.6. so the Law of this Land accounted the King, Personam mix­tam, medium & commune quiddam inter Sacerdotes & Laicos, and hath assign'd unto him a politick body composed of Eccle­siasticall and Civill Subjects, Cooke de Jur: Eccles. and as he was girt (at his Coronation) with a Sword by the Lay-Peers, so was he Anointed by the Bishops with Oyle, having jurisdi­ction severall over all, as well Ecclesiasticall as Civill, as head of the Common-wealth, so of the Church, being the supreame Bishop over all Bishops in England, whence his stile was, Vi­carius summi Regis, not summi Pontificis: This anoynting with Oyle was not common to all Christian Kings, for in King Henry the seconds time, of 24. Christian Kings in number, onely 4. of them besides the Emperour were anoynted and Crowned, namely the Kings of England, France, Jerusalem and Sicily: Famours Alfred or Allured about the yeare 860. was anoynted and Crowned at Rome by Leo 4. since which his successors have been ever anoynted and Crowned, and thereby [Page 5]with David, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekias, made capable of spi­rituall Jurisdiction, so also the Kings of France from Clodovius, so also the Kings of Jerusalem and Sicily, the right of which two Kingdomes now resideth in the King of Spaine, who be­fore he had their rights, was neither anointed nor Crowned; and for France, that right was in the King of England, though de facto, another hath it in possession; the King of Spain also holds in feudo, of the Sea of Rome, Jerusalem and Sicily, so that in this point of anoynting and spirituall jurisdiction, the Kings of England have been peerelesse: and for their Tem­porall power also, had more to say for themselves, then any King in Christendome, for Edward Son to Edmon Ironside, (surnamed the Outlaw, because he was banished all the raignes of Canutus and his Sons the Danes) yet recalled when Edward the Confessor yonger brother to Edmon Ironside obtained the Crowne; he Marryed Agatha, Daughter to Hen. 2. Empe­rour, by whom he had Edgar Etheling confirmed Heire, by his great Unkle Edward Confessor, but deprived by Herold his protector; his sole Heire Margaret was Marryed to Malcom, 3. King of Scotland, from and by whom, in a lineall descent, King James in his person united the Britains, Saxons, English, Normans, French and Scottish Crownes in one, though now possest of none; by whom and whose just power the Tithes came first to be legally invested in the Church, for though they were ever due by the Law of God, and Nature, and paid in England, as soone as Christianity was established here: for Anne 596. they were preached by our Concersioner Augu­stine, and granted by King Ethelbert, Leges Confessoris con­cessae à Rege & Baronibus & Populo (whence some would prove the antiquity of Parliament) yet he being King of Kent onely, doth not include all the rest of England; but as Cooke in Litleton, lib. 1. cap. 9. Sect. 73. It appeares by the Law, that the first Kings of England had all the Lands in Demesne, &c. now the first King of all England was Egbert, who reduced the Heptarchy into his sole Monarchy, and his Son Ethelwoolfe the second Monarch of England, conferred the Tithes of all this Kingdome with the Tenth part of all the Land in England for Glebe upon the Church; the Charter it selfe is extant in [Page 6] Ingulphus, Math: of Westminster, &c. The title of it is thus, Quomodo Ethelwolfus Rex dedit decimam partem regni sui Ec­clesiis, and concludes thus, Qui augere voluerit nostram dona­tionem, augeat omnipotens deus dies ejus prosperos, siquis vero mutare vel minuere praesumpserit, noscat se ad tribunal Christi rationem redditurum; reserving the chiefe Mannors and Roy­alties to himselfe, he gave the lesser Baronies and Lands to his Nobles and others, for defence of the Kingdome, reserving to himselfe and his successors, the Homages, Rents and Services due from them, with the tenths to the Church, so that Anno Dom. 855. saith Ingulphus, Ethelwolphus decimam omnis possessi­onis suae, & totius regni sui partem deo immolavit, this was con­firmed by King Ethelstone, An. 930. and after by Canutus the Son of Sweno, the Dane, as soon as he was setled in the Go­vernment of this Kingdome, and this we reade in our best most ancient and authentique stories of Ingulphus, Math: of West­minster, Rog: Hoveden, Hen: Huntington, &c. injoyning the true payment of them upon the paine of Excommunication, besides the losse of the other nine parts, and set downe when and how every Tithe of Corne, Hay, Woole, Lambe, &c. should be payed: and Edward the Confessor, 1042. if they had but one Calfe or two, then to pay for every of them a penny, and to this price is the Parson generally holden to this day, though ten of our pence now is not worth one of them, and so of Bees, Wood, Water, Mils, Parks, Fishings, Warrans, Negotiati­ons, &c. and the Law saith of all things that the Lord giveth, the Tenth: After William the Norman Conquering this King­dome, 1066. as Bacon, Cooke, and all our Chronicles affirme, led by the example of the former Conquerours, as well Saxons and Danes seized upon all the Lands in England (except the Church Lands and some in Kent) caused the Kingdome to be admeasured, reserving the chiefe Mannors and Royalties, with the Homages, Rents and Services to himselfe, and his succes­sors, and the Ecclesiasticall Lands, with the Tithe of all other Lands to the Church, he parted for the defence of the King­dome, with all the rest to his Nobles, Servants and Souldiers; and the Lands thus charged have beene transmitted and passed [Page 7]over from one to another, untill they came unto the possessi­on of the present owners, who have no other right to their Lands, but by tenure from the King, performing their injoyn­ed services to him, and paying the Tenth or Tithes to the Church. This was confirmed by Magna Charta, ninth of Hen: 3. and 30. severall Parliaments successively, and Bishops appointed to curse those who should dare to inact any thing a­gainst it, and all those people who would obey any such Sta­tutes being enacted, and in the 31. of Edward 3. May 13. Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury, and five other Bishops so­lemnly denounced the curse mentioned in the 25. of Edw: 1. in Westminster Hall, the King with his Peers being present a­gainst all them which should willingly or malitiously deprive the Church of her right. Secondly, against all those who by any act or device infringe the liberties of the Church or Kingdome, granted by Magna Charta, & de fore­sta. So that whatsoever right the owner hath to the nine parts, either of fee simple, Lease or Copy, yet hath he no pretence at all to the Tithe or Tenth, either by grant or purchase: by grant he hath no right to the other nine, but upon condition of payment of the Tenth to the Church, and as for the Purchase it could be no more then was in the Grant, wherein the Tenth was reserved to the Church; neither did the Purchaser buy any more then nine parts onely, for suppose a man purchase 100 l. per an. which at 20. yeares purchase, it will cost 2000 l. but if this 100 l. per annum had been Tithe free, it would have been worth 120 l. per annum, which at 20. yeares purchase would have cost 2400 l. so that he buying but nine parts of the Land, hath 400 l. abated him in lieu of the Tenth. Neither doth the Tithe cost the Farmer any labour or charge at all, for suppose the Farmer pay to the Landlord 100 l. per ann. if it were Tithe free his Landlord would make him pay 120 l. per annum for it, so that he hath 20 l. per annum abated in his Rent, in regard of his payment of Tithes, which fully recompenceth him for his labour and cost, up­on the tenth▪ part of the Land; in effect then no man in England payed any Tithes to the Parson, but the King [Page 8]onely or his successors, in acknowledgement whereof, eve­ry Parson payeth yearely his Tenths to the King and his successors. Seeing then the Parson hath as good right to the tenth part as the possessors to the other nine parts, and he no wayes obliged to the Landlord or Tenant for his tenth part, nor either of them indamaged by it, they ought as well to pay nine parts of all rates and charges, for the nine parts which they possesse, as he the tenth part for the Tithe which he possesseth, as may more manifestly appeare by these reasons,

1. Every Parson ought to be rated in the same man­ner with the Parishioners: If the rate be according to goods, then there is reason the Parson should pay (if there be no customes) the tenth part of the Rate, receiving the tenth part of the Commodities; and if the Rate be accor­ding to Lands, then the Parson is to be rated with the rest of the Parish according to the Glebe Land, proportionable to their Lands, but he cannot be rated for his Goods or Tithes, and his Gleabe Land too, unlesse the Parishioners be rated for their goods or other nine parts, and their lands besides. If it be objected, that then the Parson payes not proportionable to the Parishioners, that they pay either for their Lands or their goods, or commodities which grow on them; whereas the Parson neither payes for his Glebe Lands, nor the commodities which grow on them; I answer,

• 1. That if the Parson be rated the tenth part, by reason that he receives the Tenth or Tithe of the fruits, then the Parishioners ought to pay the other nine parts of the rate, because they receive the other nine parts of the commodi­ties: So that they paying nine parts of the rate, and the Parson the tenth, the whole rate is payed, and there re­maines nothing more to be payed, either for his Gleabe or their Lands.
• 2. In most Parishes there are customes for Cows, weaned Calves, &c. whereof the Parson receives not the thirtieth part, as Ob. for a weaned Calfe or Colt; he ought not then of those things to pay the tenth part, whereof he receives not the 30. part.
• [Page 9]3. No Parson receives the tenth of mens personall Estates, though personall Tithes are due, both by the Law of God and Man, as appeares by the Preface of the Statute for perso­nall Tithes.
• 4. No Parson receives the tenth part of mens personall Estates, Annuities, Moneys put out to use, or otherwise im­ployed in buying and selling, for Timber, Horses, Swine and other goods which are rateable, and therefore ought not to pay the tenth of that, whereof he receives no benefit at all. Some object that the Parson receives the sixth part of the Parish, but if they account this according to the Rent of their Farmes, then they are to consider that the Tenants livelyhood, as Meate, Drinke and Cloathes, is to be accounted into the valew of the Lands besides the Rent, which if the Parsons livelyhood be so deducted, there can­not remaine to him the tenth part of the Rent of the Pa­rish: and if they speake of goods or Tithe of the com­modities which he receives, then by reason of the severall customes, no Parson receives so much as the tenth part, and therefore ought not to pay above the tenth part of the rate of the whole Parish: This will appeare more plaine if we consider
  • 1. That the whole Taxe or Rate is laid upon the whole Parish, and the commodities therein, and not upon things Titheable onely, but upon untitheable also, as Rents, Annuities, Moneys, Goods, Timber, personall E­states, gaine by Trade, which pay no Tithe at all, there­fore for so much of the Rate, as is to be paid for them, the Parson is to be at no charge at all.
  • 2. If we consider things which are Tithable but in part by reason of customes, as 2 d. a Cows milke, worth 3 s. 1 d. for a Garden worth a Noble: Ob: for a weaned Calfe or Colt worth 2 s. wherein he receives not the tenth part, and therefore ought not to pay the tenth part of these things undervalued by Customes, and the other things rateable, yet not Titheable at all, be deducted from the Parsons Taxe, and added to the Parish charge, we shall finde that if the Parson pay the tenth of the rate, he is not recom­penced [Page 10]by the addition of his Glebe Land taxe-free: and if any Parish be of the contrary opinion, I believe their Parson will willingly pay the tenth part of the rates for his Tithe, and for his Glebe besides; so that they will pay him the Tithe of all rateable commodities, and for­beare their customes in Titheable commodities. For all men know that if the Rents of any Parish be worth 500 l. per annum, the fruits of that Parish are worth at least 1500 l. per ann. whereof the Parsonage Glebe and all, is not worth the tenth part, per annum. Therefore the determi­nation of the King and Counsell, in Doctor Belcanqueis Case, that no Parson should be rated above the tenth part of the Parish for Tithe and Glebe and all, was agreeable to reason and equity.

I conclude also Negatively for the first Proposition, viz. That no former Parliament consisting of King, Lords, and Commons, or future Representative (as I conceive) ever had, or can have just power to take away the Tithes from the Clergy.

• 1. Because they are due to them by the Law of God.
• 2. Because they are theirs by the Law of Nature.
• 3. Because the Law of the Land saith, Ab omnibus tra­ctari debet, quod tangit omnes, the Clergy having there no Representation nor voice in the Election of any of the Re­presentative in it, it cannot in Law or Reason be con­cluded by it. Lastly, because the taking away of the Cler­gies Tithes, is against Magna Charta, the ground of the Statute or Parliamentary Law confirmed by 36. succeeding Parliaments, whereby it was Enacted, that to Enact, or to obey any Act made against it, was to incurre the Sen­tence of Excommunication; by this great Charter, Chap­ter 1. And also the last, it was Enacted, that the Clergy or Church should be free and enjoy all her Im­munities, Liberties and Rights inviolable, and also Ch. 29. saith, That no Freeman shall be deprived of his Freehold, but by lawfull Indictment of his Peeres according to the Law of the Land, which Law of the Land makes every Parson a Free­holder for life admitted in perpetuum holding by Franke [Page 11]Almoyne, the surest Tenure (saith Littleton) because God the Feoffee cannot forfeit his Right, nor the Clergy its Right, though a particular Clergy-man may: and although a Par­liament have power to impose a Tax of foure pence an Acre more or lesse upon every Freeholders Lands for the Generall or Common good, yet can it not (I speake de jure, for id potest quod jure potest) take an Acre from One without Legall Triall, and give it to another, nor dispossesse any man of his Free-hold without a Crime and Triall by his Peeres. Therefore not justly deprive the Clergy of their Free­holds or Tithes.