The second generall part.

HItherto haue I shewed you (beloued in the Lord) our dutie to Caesar consisting in sixe things, viz. Feare, Honour, Obedience, Tribute, defence and Prayer. Now let [Page 16] vs consider also according to my promise, as God shall as­sist, and time permit me, some motiues and inducements to this duty. And to that purpose that we may neuer slide; either by the corruption of our owne heart, or the perswa­sion of men, or suggestion of the Diuell, I will (since the wisest either of Kings or men affirmeth that a threefold ca­ble is not easily broken) shew you a fourefolde corde, which may (well kept and obserued) euer hold the whole heart Eccles. 4. 12. and soule of euery subiect in loue and Allegiance to his Soueraigne; the seuerall twists whereof are these, viz.

• 1. The ordination of Caesar.
• 2. The haynousnesse of the crime of disloyalty against Caesar.
• 3. The punishments of that sinne.
• 4. The rewards of Loyalty and dutifulnesse to Caesar.

Motiue. 1 1. Concerning the former of these: neither any wicked spirit, nor mortal man, nor Heauenly Angell, but God him­selfe The Ordination of Caesar. is hee that ordaineth Caesar to bee Caesar, and setteth him vpon his throne. This is euident by many proofes of holy Scripture, generall and particular. Generall, partly negatiue and partly affirmatiue.

1. Negatiue, as where Christ saide vnto Pilate, Thou Ioh. 19. 11. couldest haue no power at all against mee, except it were giuen thee from aboue. And the Apostle vnto vs all, There is no Rom. 13. 1. power but of God. To whom agreeth the Psalmist when he singeth thus: Promotion commeth neither from the East, nor Psal. 75. 7. from the West, nor yet from the South. And why? For God is the Iudge: He putteth downe one, and setteth vp another.

2. Affirmatiue, for By mee (saith the vncreated wise­dome Prou. 8. 15. of God) doe Kings raigne, and Princes decree iustice. The name of God be praised, (saith Daniel the Prophet chap. Dan. 2. 21. 2.) for Wisedome and strength are his. He changeth times & seasons: he setteth vp Kings, and taketh them away. And the blessed Apostle in the place before alleaged telleth vs di­rectly, that. The powers that bee, are ordained of God. To Rom. 13. 1. these we may adde the words of the wiseman, speaking to all rulers in this sort, Giue eare ye that rule the nations, and Wisd. 6. 23. [Page 17] glory in the multitudes of people: for the Rule is giuen you of the Lord, and power by the most high.

Particular, which do consist in God his immediate de­signement of diuers vnto kingdomes, as of Saul, whom by the hand of Samuel he annointed to be Head ouer his 1. Sam. 10. 1. people: and whom by the same Prophets mouth he testifi­eth to the people, that he had chosen to be King ouer them. Of Hazael and of Iehu, appointing his seruant Elijah to Vers. 24. 1. Kin. 19. 15. 16 annoint the one of them King ouer Syria, the other ouer Israel. According wherunto Daniel telleth Nebuchad. that great King of Babel, which yet knew not God, That the Dan. 2. 37. God of Heauen had giuen him a Kingdome, power, & strength and glorie: and had deliuered not the men onely that dwel­led on the face of the earth, but also the very beasts of the field, and the foules of the heauen, into his hand, and made him ruler ouer them all. Likewise for Salomon the sonne of Da­uid, the Queene of Sheba can tell vs, that it was the Lord 2. Chron. 9. 8. God of Israel that had set him on his throne in his steed to be King ouer his people: and both for Salomon and Dauid his Father, Dauid himselfe the man after Gods owne heart, doth most plainely testifie in this sort; The Lord God chose mee 2. Chron. 28. 4. before all the house of my Father, to bee King ouer Israell for e­uer: among all the sonnes of my Father he delighted in mee, to make me King ouer his people: and euen so of all my sonnes hee hath chosen Salomon my sonne, to sitte vpon the throne of the Kingdome of the Lord. Thus it is most manifest that Caesar is ordained to be Caesar by God: and therefore vnto him, as vnto the ordinance of God, wee ought to yeeld whatso­euer is Caesars, lest in reiecting him, we reiect God.

Obiection. That this is so of all good Princes, all goodmen wil ea­sily grant. But since that an euill Prince, is a great euill, an extreame plague, it is a question with some, how such a one can be of God? or be said to be set in place by God, who is the spring from whence all goodnesse, and onely Iam. 1. goodnes doth flow?

Answere. Though the particulars before recited, doe sufficiently prooue, not onely the good, but euill Princes also to bee [Page 18] Gods ordinance; For who are euill, if Saul, if Hazael, if Nebuchadnezzar were not? and the generals extending to all, do necessarily comprehend both good & euill. Yet far­ther, and more fully to cleare this doubt, wee must vnder­stand (beloued in the Lord) that there is Malum culpae, and Malum Poenae, an euill of crime, and an euill of paine. The euill of crime is sinne, the euill of paine is the punish­ment of sinne: the euill of crime is not of God. God being all sufficient needs it not; beeing most holy commands it not; being most righteous approues it not: in a word, hee hateth & accurseth it in all in this world, and in all the im­penitent will condemne it eternally in the world to come. But the euill of paine, being the punishment of sin, is thrown from the throne of God vpon the heads of wicked men. In this sense, saith God, I the Lord forme light and create dark­nes: Isai. 45. 7. I make peace, and create euill: and the Prophet of God, Shall there be euill in a citie, that is, punishment for euill, Amos. 3. 6. and the Lord hath not done it? And in this sense wee must vnderstand, that as a good King commeth from the right hand of Gods mercy, so an euil from the left hand of Gods iustice. For the sinnes of the people, hee giueth an euill Prince, I gaue thee a King in mine anger: and hee maketh the hypocrite to raigne. For the sinnes of the people hee suffe­reth Hose. 13. 11. Iob. 34. 30. a good King to fall, as appeares by Dauid numbring the people. For the sinnes of the people he taketh a good 2. Sam. 24. 1. Prince cleane away, according to that of Salomon, For the transgressions of the land, there are many Princes thereof, and Prou. 28. 2. yet more is that which Samuel threatned, If yee do wickedly, ye shall perish, both ye and your King. According to these it 1. Sam. 12. is, as I take it, that Ashur is called the rod of Gods wrath and the staffe in their hands, his indignation: That God ter­meth Isai. 10. 5. Nebuchad. his seruant, & Cyrus his annointed: That Ier. 27. 6. Attila King of Gothes, and Vandales, that somewhiles sacked Rome, called himselfe Flagellum Dei, that is. The scourge of God, and Tamberlaine himselfe Iram Dei, that is the wrath of God.

Since therefore euery Prince, euery King both good [Page 19] and bad, is of God, either as a blessing or as a plague, as S. Peter commandeth seruants to be subiect to their masters, 1. Pet. 2. 18. not onely, If they be good and curteous, but also to the fro­ward: so I aduise, and so I acknowledge all subiects ought to bee subiect and obedient to their Princes with all feare and reuerence, not onely being good and gratious, but al­so though they be cruell and wicked, and in so doing they shall best make it appeare, that they obey, and doe their dutie in singlenes of heart and for the Lords sake.

Motiue. 2 2. The next consideration is of the hainousnes of dis­loyalty, of disobedience, rebellion, treason, &c. Against The hainousnes of disloyalty. Caesar. The greatnes of which crime, though but sleightlie considered, is of no small force to retaine euery man with­in the bounds of his dutie. For whereas a well gouerned & peaceable kingdom resembleth the frame of the world, yea the kingdome of heauen; where the holy Angels and blessed Saints glorifying God day and night, liue in blisse; a rebellious, seditious and disloyall people resemble not onely the Chaos, but euen hell it selfe, where is no order, but euerlasting horrour and confusion. So that well saide the Greeke Historiographer, In Rebellion is all kinde of euill. Thucidides. For it is not one sinne, but the sinke of all sinnes, and the sea of all mischiefes, would you see at once the seuen capi­tall sinnes? This is (as one obserueth very well) the verie channel whence they do flow. For is not ambitious Pride, or proud Ambition the first sparkle of that fire? Doth not Enuie blow the coale? Doth not Wrath daily encrease the flame? And come not at length all things thereby into the noisome ashes of Sloth, Gluttony and Drunkennes? Farther, Peacemakers are blessed, why? They shall be called (saith our Math. 5. 9. Sauiour) the children of God, Cursed therefore are Peace­breakers, and aboue all they that breake the publique peace, they are, and they must be called the Children of the Diuell. If it be sweet and comely to die for the country, a Seneca. Maxime among the very Heathen, what is it then but o­dious, but ignominious and loathsome to seeke the hurt and Exod. 20. ruine of the country? and if to honour and obey the Father [Page 20] of our flesh, the parents of our being, bee a thing commen­dable and gratefull with God and man: what may the di­shonour and disloyaltie done to the Father of the Country, and parents of our well beeing be, but abhominable and hatefull vnto all? The fact of the Gyants in the olde world, that attempted to fight against God, hath euer beene held a famous impiety, but that sinne doe all they commit, that either secretly as Traitors, or openly as Rebels, oppose against the Prince: for, saith the Apostle, hee that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.

In other sinnes among men, the purpose or intent, so Rom. 13. 1. The intent of euill in this case punishable. there doe no act follow, is nothing: but in this sinne not God onely, but also man takes such notice thereof, that the olde Prouerbe, Thought is free, hath no place. For as God expressely forbids euen such thoughts of heart, Eccl. 10. Curse not the King, no not in thy thought, for, (marke wel the reason) the foules of the Heauen shall carry thy voice, Eccles. 10. 20. Wisd. 20. 1. and that which hath wings shall declare the matter. By which we are taught, that hee who caused the dumbe beast spea­king with mans voice to forbid the foolishnes of the Pro­phet, 2. Pet. 2. 16. hee, who discouered Bessus his parricide by the chat­tering of swallows: euen hee can cause any foule of Heauen, Plutarch. and any creature vpon earth, to reueale and reuenge mu­tinous, seditious and trecherous thoughts against Caesar: so Wisd. 5. 17. euen the lawes of men, both ancient and moderne, both ciuill and common, punish it, as well as the fact, and that with death. Whereof (but that I may not forget the righ­teous and most deserued execution of them that laid the powder, and would haue lighted the match, in the late monstrous Gunpowder treason, who though they did but Gun-powder treason. 1605. intend the mischiefe, and it (as God would) touched not any yet died for it;) what hath beene practised or enacted at home, not to relate, wee may haue, besides that ancient story diuine related and approued by the spirit of God: I mean the attainder of the two Eunuches Hest. 2. That went about, and were contriuing how to lay hands on the King Ahashuerosh, in whose inditement though there was no Hest. 2. 21. [Page 21] fact found, but only a will, a purpose, a plot to haue done it, yet they died for it, and died as iustly as Mordecai was iustly honored and highly rewarded for the discouery: we may haue (I say) out of the French Annales a notable pre­sident French Annalls. or two. As, of that Norman Gentleman who con­fessed to a Fryer, that he had had a thought to kill Francis the first of that name. Who though hee had changed his mind, repented his intent, and asked pardon for the crime, yet the frier reporting it vnto the King, and the King re­ferring it to the Parliament of Paris, was by the graue se­nate of that high court condemned vnto death. And wher­as in most cases the law of nations excuseth mad men frō pu­nishment (madnes it selfe being so great a plague) yet when Capito, a man raging mad, drew his sword vpon Henry the son of Francis the King aforenamed, he was therfore exe­cuted. So great detestation is there in the harts of all good subiects of the least shew of violence to y ^e Lords anointed.

Motiue. 3 3. Which laid open, Let vs come to the third motiue, and marke the punishment of treason and disloyalty as ap­parant as any of the former: that there is punishment ready The punishment of such sinne. prepared for such it appeareth by that of the Apostle, They that resist shall receiue to themselues damnation. Of the gree­uousnes Rom. 13. 2. of y ^e iudgment we may be assured by the heynous­nes of the crime. Farther since the law requireth that offen­dors pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for Exo. 21. 23. 24. stripe, &c. What wounds, what burning is he worthy to en­dure that is guilty of this crime? How many feet, how many hands, how many eies, how many liues is he worthy to lose, which offendeth those feet of whom so many thousand feet; those hands of whom so many thousand hands; those eies of whom so many thousand eyes; that life whereon so many thousand liues depend? But because hee hath not so many feet, so many hands, so many eies, so many liues, therefore is he punished of God and man. 1. Of man, in house, in lands, in offices, in death, in buriall, in name, and in posterity. I neede not giue instances of these. Who [Page 22] knowes not, that houses, lands and preferments are taken from such? that paines and torments are laide vpon such? Hest 8. 1. 2. Sam. 16. 3. 1. King. 2. 26. Ier. 22. 18. Prou. 10 7. Bb. Ch. Ser. in Psal. 105. p. 60. that a violent and terrible kind of death is prepared for such? that buriall is denied vnto such? and their name is infamed, and their blood tainted? And, as one hath saide excellently well, well worthy are they to feel the full mea­sure of Vengeance vpon earth, and to incurre an vniuer­sall detestation among men, to haue all the hatred of the earth powred vpon them and theirs, to be the outcasts of the common wealth, and the Maranathaes of the Church, yea, and their names for euer to be an abhorring to al flesh, nothing in this kind is too much.

2. Of God such are also many times punished, howsoe­uer By God. for a time, they may or doe escape the hand of man, and that externally, internally, and eternally.

Externally by meanes which man cannot vse. The nati­on 1. Eternally. and kingdome, saith God by his Prophet Ieremy, which will not serue Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babel, the same Ier. 27. 8. nation will I visit with the sword, and with the famine, and with the Pestilence. So punished hee Miriam for murmu­ring Numb. 12. 10. against Moses with leprosie as white as snow: Corah, Dathan and Abiram for open rebellion, with the earths et. 16. totum. opening her mouth and swallowing vp quicke, them and all that they had: and Absalon with his owne mule to draw him, & his owne hear on a great thicke oake to hang him. 2. Sam. 18. 9.

Internally, hee punisheth such with the sting of a guilty conscience. A good Conscience (saith Salomon) is a con­tinuall feast. But such as will not obey for conscience sake, 2. Internally. Prou. 15. 15. Rom. 13. 5. 1. Pet. 2. 13. such as will not submit themselues for the Lords sake, are by the Lord depriued of this good, and tormented with an euill conscience. And that this is a fearefull punishment we may learne of the wise man, who saith, A fearefull thing Wisd. 17. 10. it is, when malice is condemned by her owne testimonie: which saith another, is more then a 1000. witnesses; and, a Consci­ence that is touched, doth euer forecast cruell things.

This sting of conscience bee those Furies whereof the Poets; those accusing thoughts whereof the Apostle, that Rom. 2. 15. [Page 23] neuer dying worme whereof the euangelicall prophet, and Christ himselfe in the Euangell, doe speake: that booke Isai. 66. 24. Mar. 9. 44. Reuel. 20. 21. whereof Saint Iohn saith, that it shall be opened when the earth and heauen shall flie away from his face that shall sit on the great throne. This when they are abroade, makes Leuit. 26 36. them shake at the fall of a leafe: This when they bee with­in, maketh them flie, though none pursue them. This writing Prou. 28. 1. Dan. 5. 5. in their hearts like the handwriting which Belshazzar saw vpon the wall, when they are in the height of their pride, will cause their countenance to be changed, and their knees to smite one against another. This if they cut but the lap of the Princes garment, will touch them at the heart; This as it 1. Sam. 24. 6. Gen. 4. 13. did Cain for his brothers blood, will much more for their lieges life, if it be annoyed or shortned by them, make their owne hearts to thinke, and their own mouthes to say, that Their sin is greater, then that it can be forgiuen them. This, as Math. 27. 34. it did Iudas, will make their soules to abhorre the reward of iniquitie, their hands to cast it downe, and their tongues to proclaime that they haue betrayed innocent blood. This, (though like Iudas, they had faith to worke miracles, or like Ahitophell, they can giue counsell, as if one had asked at the oracle of God) will make their owne hands to dis­patch Acts 1. 18. 2. Sam. 16. 23. them of their wicked life, and to end their sinfull and accursed daies.

These Iudgements of God are fearefull, and who trembles not to heare them? Yet know (beloued) there 3. Eternallie. is another more grieuous then any of these, yea, more intollerable then all these; and that is Gods eternall iudgement, the fire of hell, which such, without repen­tance, and great repentance, shall not escape. Lucifer for rebellion fell from heauen, Adam for disobedi­ence Genes. 3. 24. Ephes. 2. 3. was cast out of Paradise, and such for disloyalty shall be shut out of the kingdome of God. Yf it seemed gree­uous 2. Sam. 14. 32. vnto Absalon, lying in Ierusalem not once in two yeares tearme to see King Dauids face, how greeuous shal it be for all rebels, traytors: &c. (dying without repen­tance) neither to come into the new Ierusalem, nor to see [Page 24] the face of God for euer. And if it be a greeuous thing to lye fettered in a prison for a few daies, oh how greeuous will it be for the vngodly, of whom rebels, traitours, malig­nant subiects &c, be in the first rancke) to bee turned into hell, and there to lye bound hand and foote in euerlasting Iud. vers. 6. chaines vnder darkenes, world without end? Wouldest thou know the sharpnes of these paines? Christ telleth thee they goe into sire, and what paine more greeuous and intollera­ble, then of burning? Wouldest thou know what time it Math. 25. 41. doth last? Hee calleth it euerlasting: and in eternity what end? or what hope of any end? wouldest thou know the company they shall there haue? he foretelleth that too, that is, the Diuel and his Angels, and worse what can be? woul­dest thou haue it yet farther expressed vnto thee? assure thy selfe that as the ioyes of the godly purchased by the obe­dience of the sonne of God, are such as the eie of mortall man hath not seene, his eare hath not heard, nor can en­ter into his heart: so also, the paines and torments prepared 1. Cor. 2 9. for the wicked, and preordained for the children of diso­bedience.

Motiue. 4 4. Now remaineth the last motiue, the reward of loy­altie, which as it most concerneth vs, that studie to ap­proue The rewards of the loyall. our selues faithfull & loyall to our Caesar in thought word and deede: so haue I the rather deferred to the last place, in hope that your eares filled, dulled happely with the former; might be refreshed, and your minds and atten­tion quickned againe and stirred vp to the hearing of this point especially.

The reward of loyalty I distinguish as its contrary I haue done, into a twofold state, that is from man, from God, and generall and particular.

1. Generall to all, darkely signified in Nebuchadnez­zars 1. From Man. Dan. 4. 7. dreame vnder the parable of a tree. The Boughes wher­of were faire, and the fruit thereof much. In it was meat for all: the beasts of the field rested vnder the shadow of it, and the fowles of heauen dwelt in the boughes of it: more plainely ex­pressed by Isaiah, cap. 32. That man, viz. the Prince of the Isai. 32. 1. [Page 25] country, shall be as a hiding place from the winde, and as a re­fuge for the tempest, and as riuers of waters in a drye place, and as the shadow of a great rocke in a weary land. Wherefore as Ieremy willed the Israelites to seek the prosperity of the ci­tie, Ier. 29. 7. whether they were carried, so I beseech all subiects to seeke the prosperitie of the Caesar, vnder whom they are gouerned: and Ieremies reason may induce them for in the peace thereof, they shall haue peace, in his prosperitie they shall haue prosperitie: and in his glorie they shall haue glorie.

2. Particular, as safety, honour, preferment, riches, a good name both aliue and dead, &c. Wherein if euery par­ticular mans merit be not of that moment, or there is not that opportunity to haue euery well deseruing person knowne vnto Caesar, and therefore Caesar cannot say with Ahashuerosh (though Caesar be as bountifull and as grate­full as Ahashuerosh) what honour and dignity hath beene gi­uen to Mordecai for this? Yet the hope in which euery Hest. 6. 3. good subiect doth dwell to be well respected as time and place may serue: and the priuate good which euery parti­cular party to him and his duety may, and daily doth draw out of that large fountain and inestimable treasure last be­fore remembred, flowing and issuing vnto all, cannot be but a rich reward and an ample recompence of all seruice, honour, obedience and other duetie whatsoeuer loyally done, and faithfully performed to Caesar.

Besides all this, such shal be rewarded of God external­ly, 2. From God. internally, and eternally.

Externally, with the blessings in Gods law promised to Externally. such as shall obserue and keepe his commandements, whereof, Obedience, and Loyaltie to the higher powers is Deut. 28. 3. 4 [...]. &c. one of the cheefe. Blessed shalt thou be in the Citie, and bles­sed also in the field: Blessed shall bee the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground: the fruit of thy cattell, and increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheepe. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy dough. Blessed shalt thou be when thou commest in, and blessed also when thou goest out, & e.

Internally, with the peace and benefit of a good Consci­ence, which is a continuall feast, or most delicious banquet Internally. Prou. 15. 15. to the soule. What melody to this? and what comfort to be compared vnto it? when others wring their hands for greefe, this will make thee clap thine hands for ioy: when o­thers tremble thou shalt triumph. This will make thee to sleepe quietly, to wake cheerefully: to bee alone without Rom. 2. 15. et 8. 16. feare, and with others without distrust: in thine affaires confident, and in thy recreations cheerfull. If rebels should be behind thee, and traitors before thee, as the Ammonites and the Aramites were before Ioab and behind him, yet 2. Sam. 10. 9. by the benefit heere of mightest thou resolue with Ioab. Be strong, and let vs be valiant for our people, and for the cities of our God: and let the Lord doe that which seemeth him good in his eies: and incourage others as the man of God did his seruant saying; Feare them not: for they that be with vs, are 2. King. 6. 16. moe then they that be with them.

Eternally, when after our loyalty to our Soueraigne here on earth, the Soueraigne of all Princes shall aduance vs to Eternally. be, to dwell, to liue and to raigne for euer in that great ci­tie the holy Ierusalem, where of the Diuine eagle, or Egle of Diuines in the clearnes of his sight beholding the goodli­nesse Reuel. 21. 20. and the glory therof, hath said, that it is of pure gold like vnto cleare glasse: that the streetes thereof doe shine like vnto a stone most pretious, euen as a Iasper stone, cleare as christal: that the foundations are garnished with al man­ner of pretious stones: the 12. gates are 12. pearles: the 12. Porters are 12. Angels: that the glory of God, and the lambe is the light thereof: that so pure and vndefiled it is, that in it is nothing but holines: and there enters into it no vn­cleane thing, nor whatsoeuer worketh abhomination or maketh lyes. The Records whereof is the booke of life: the water whereof is a kind of Aqua vitae as cleere as christal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the lambe: and the immunities or priuiledges wherof are such, that by the benefit of them there shall be no more curse, no night no need of candle, nor of the light of the sunne or starres. [Page 27] Such, and so great are the things which God hath prepa­red for them that obey him, and in him, and for him the Lords annointed, their Caesar.

And now (beloued in the Lord) hauing according to The Conclusion. my purpose and promise for the former part of my text, shewed you what be the things, which as Caesars, we ought to giue to Caesar, namely Feare, Honour, Obedience, Tribute, Defence, and Praier, and hauing confirmed the same with speciall motiues and inducements, I doe for this present, Acts 20. 32. commend you to God, and to the worde of his grace, which is able to build you vp, and make you perfect, that you may in these and all other duties performe from time to time that which is wel-pleasing in his sight.

Beseeching the same God, through the merits of his dearest sonne, by the operation of his holy and all sancti­fying spirit, so to rule our hearts and worke in vs, that we being holy and acceptable in his sight, and our prayers fer­uent and faithfull; they may pierce the heauens, and so pre­uaile with God as they may thence bring iudgements, as fire vpon Caesars enemies, but as the dew of Diuine grace, blessings manifold vpon Caesar and his true subiects: That so his most sacred Maiesty may long, religiously, and hap­pily raigne ouer vs heere on earth: and that in the ende, and without all end, hee with vs and we with him, may liue and raigne together in the euer­lasting kingdome of Heauen.

Amen.

The second generall part of the Text.

FRom the things commanded, let vs come to the com­maundemēt, wherin I haue alreadie prescribed vnto my The comman­dement. selfe these three considerations, viz. The person comman­ding. 2. The persons commanded, and 3. the forme of the Commandement.

1. The person commanding is Christ, whose person, he being the Mat. 28. 20. author of the Gospell, the 1. Cor. 1. 24. Collos. 2. 3. very wisdome of the father, and Iohn 3. 2. a teacher come from God, may informe and confirme vs two things, the one is, that this comman­dement is the minde of God, the will of our heauenly fa­ther. The doctrine is infalliblie true. Worthie therefore and necessarie of all men to be cre­dited, receiued and obeyed, in as much as the father him­selfe, hauing from heauen proclaimed of him Luk. 9. 35. ipsum audi­te, heare him, hath sealed all his doctrine for heauenly, and his precepts for perfect and authenticall, wherefore as this verie doctrine, the words of my text, did, for the present, stop the mouthes of his verie aduersaries, and made them all, hauing nothing to say there against, Mat. 22. 22. much to wonder, such grace was in his lippes, such maiestie in the words of his mouth: so, & much more then so, ought the same words to settle & satisfie the mind and iudgement of all those that professe themselues his disciples, & fauourers of his Gospell.

The other is, that this precept pertaineth directly and This doctrine pertaineth di­rectly to the time of the Gospell. properly to the time of the Gospell, no lesse thē of the law, and is a part, if not a fundamentall part, and very Originall of that euangelicall ordinance of the Lords mentioned by [Page 10] Saint Paul. 1. Cor. 9. where he saith 1. Cor. 9. 14. Bulling. dec. 5. Serm. 10. Ita dominus constituit vt qui euangelium praedicant, ex euangelio viuant, that is, So hath the Lord (Iesus) ordained, and made it an euerlasting law for the time of the Gospell, that they which preach the Gospell, should liue of the Gospel. And therfore saith our Saui­our testifying it, God hath Sua, some temporal things euen now that be his, as wel as Caesar: some certain things where­of a man may say, These be Caesars, & These be Gods, let such as like not the particulars before named and claimed to be Gods, shew vs frō Christ his mouth, or frō his Apostles at the least, what those things be, wherto God may make claime.

For mine owne part, I giue more credit to Saint Augu­stine, who alleadging and so expounding this text, Aug. Tom. 10. Homil. 48. &. in Psal. 146. C. 16. qu. 1. C. Reuer­timini. saith, Caesari census, decimae deo, that is, Tribute belongs to Caesar, Tithes to God: and asketh If tithes be not paide, how God hath those things that be Gods: and to Saint Origen who writing vpon our Sauiours words. Matth. 23. These ought ye to haue done, and yet not to leaue the other vndone: Origen. in Math. 23. Abu­lens. ibid. quest. 56. ex­poundeth that to be a morall precept, no lesse for the vse of all Christians, then of the Iewes; and accounteth that by these words, our Sauiour gaue his approbation for paiment of tithes in time of the Gospell. Likewise vnto Saint Chrysostome vpon the same place, saying Chrysost. in Math. Hom. 41. Iustitiam, miserecordiam & fi­dem propter gloriam suam, mandauit Deus, sed decimas prop­ter sacerdotes, that is, Iustice, mercie and faith hath God com­maunded for his owne glory, but tithes for his priests sake. To Hier. in Ma­lac. 3. 11. Saint Hier. who vpon Malachiah 3. where God bids vs bring all the tithes into his barne, saith, Ecclesiae Populis prae­ceptum est dare decimas, that is, The payment of tithes is a precept that ought to hold in the people of the Christian Church no lesse then among the Iewes. And in a word, to Gualf. Strab. de reb. Eccles. capit. 87. Houend. part. 2. cap. de dec. all the auncient writers and Church, which (as otherwhere at large M. Min. c. 6. Carlt. Treatise of Tithes. I haue shewed) from the very time of the Apostles, euen vnto our present daies, no many vntill the time and depth too of all corruptions, for the saluing of the Popes sacrilegious attempts, gaine-saying, haue most constantly held. That they are Gods, and C. de dic. c. 14. Parochianos. Ridi. vicu. p. 164. non ab hominibus sed ab ipso [Page 11] domino insitutas esse, that is, haue not their institution from men, but from the Lord himselfe: then to thousands of such as without the authoritie of the word, and iudgement of the ancients, presume to obtrude vnto vs for the contrarie, ei­ther other mens late vpstart opiniōs, or their own bare asser­tions, improbable collections. More, for that no man can hitherto shew (as Gualt. Homil in Math. 23. Ze [...]per. de legib. lib. primo. Re­buff. de deo. qu. i. fig. 13. 14. faem Mon. n. i. b. Hooker. polit. Eccles. lib. 5. §. 7. 9. Carlt. ir. of tithes c. 5. pag. 25. others wel obserue) that the law of tithes was euer yet abrogated by God: and lastly, seeing the Church of God hath, for many ages past, consecrated them to God for the seruice of the Church, & so ^b bound her selfe to the payment of them, and inuested God with the possession of thē, I hould it to be a point altogether out of question, that they be Gods proper inheritance; so that it is vtterly vaine and superfluous, now to doubt and inquire whether they be a matter of diuine right? and, double sacriledge to take them away from God, whom God and man haue made his.

As for the gleebe of the Church, the offerings and vowes of the people, which with Tertul. in apo­log. Cap. 39. Semel Deo di­catum non est ad vsus huma­nos vlterius transferendum. Decet. de reg. Iuris. 6. Tertull. wee may call Deposita Pietatis, the very pledges and testimonies of pietie and deuotion, it is so out of all controuersie that * Things once consecrated to God, and dedicated to holy vses, may not returne to prophane vsage, nor be alienated from God to man any more; that no Hous. Serm. i. on Mat. 22. p. 20 Fent. Serm. on. prou. 20. 25. pag. 15. Down. Serm. on. 1. Tim. 3. 1. Diuine I thinke will contradict it. If the thing be abused, the vse is to be reformed, but the pro­pertie is still the Lords, and no man can take it from him. The law is plaine for it Leuit. 27. Leuit. 27. 28. Capit. Carul. lib. 6. cap. 285. Nothing separated from common vse, may be sould nor redeemed, which law being morall as well as iudiciall, in as much as it euer was, is, and shall be lawfull for man to offer, giue, and vow vnto the Lord his God, can be no lesse in force to vs since Christ, then it was to the Church of God before Christ. The prac­tise is as cleere. Num. 16. The Num. 16. 38. Censors once offered to the Lord might not bee put to common vse againe, but must bee reserued to the vse of the Tabernacle, as holy to the Lord by the oblation thereof. And when as wee doe reade Act. 5. Down. vbi. supra Anan. and Saphira his wife in the time of the Gos­pell to bee no lesse lyable to the speedie vengeance and [Page 12] dreadfull indignation of God for taking againe to them­selues a part of that themselues had consecrated to God, g Dan. 5. then was 2. Mac. 3. Belshazzar for polluting the holy vessels, or C. decimae. 16 qu. 1. 6. Tua. glos. C. Omnes. de. ma­iorit. & obed. C. cum quis. arg. l. assumptio. ff. ad municipia. Rebuff de dec. qu. 5. fig. 25. Andr. Hispan. reg. dec. [...]. 11. Corset. in tract. de pot. reg. q. 37. Heliodorus for inuading the treasure of the temple in time of the law, let vs assure our selues, that wee haue as little libertie now as then, to set fingers vpon the things of God: and are as nie vnto cursing. But heerof heereafter.

2. The persons commanded are indefinite, Giue ye. And The persons commanded. indeede the person commanding hauing authoritie ouer all, the commandement must by consequence extend vn­to None exemp­ted. all, ⁱ neither Iew nor Gentile, pagan nor Christian, can claime exemption. None so mightie that is greater, nor anie so meane that he is lesse, then a subiect to God and his ordinance. And therefore as euerie subiect Caesar hath must giue to Caesar, that which from him is or may be due, the things of Caesar: so euerie seruant God hath, must yeeld vnto God, that which from him to God is or may be due, the things of God. The citizen or townesman, hath no more freedome then the countriman; the tradesman or artificer then the plowman; the merchant or mariner then the land­man; the lawyer, phisitian or anie other like, then the hus­bandman: but as 1. Cor. 4. 7. all haue receiued of God, so must they all giue to God: and as they are all vnder God, so must they Orig. in Num. Homil. 11. De datis & muneribus, out of his owne gifts and benefits bestowed on them, honour God, for 1. Chr. 29. 14. Not townes­men, trades­men, artificers, &c. Vide the M. Min. p. 81. & 32 all is of him.

I know it well, that men of that fashion, I meane towns-men, trades-men, artificers, &c. presume much of their li­bertie & immunitie this way. But till they haue proued. 1. That they owe lesse subiection vnto God, thē the others. 2. That they haue not from God their worldly goods as well as the other: and 3. That they haue lesse neede and vse of the Church and minister then the others, they shall neuer be able to prooue any more exemption then others.

VVhich yet since such for the most part, will needes practise, and against all right and reason, law of God and man retaine, most iust and right it is, Math. 7. 2. that with what measure they meat to others, with the same they should be mea­sured [Page 13] vnto againe: which is very often For in townes generally are the weakest ministers, saue where by some extraordinary supply they are releeued. Nor yet the poorer sort. fulfilled vnto them by heape, while, as they defraud God of his carnall things, they also are defrauded of their spirituall: and as they leaue his ministers hungry and needy for the bodie, so they re­maine hungry and needy, and in a manner destitute of su­stenance for their soules.

If any wil pretend pouerty & plead want, let him know, that euen Luke 21. 3. Deut 16. 17. the widdowes mite was accepted and receiued too; and remember, that God will haue euery man, poore and rich, to giue to him Eccles. 35. 10. Leuit. 12. according to the gift of his hand, that is, as his ability is, be it much or little; and will haue none to appeare 1. Cor. 12. before the Lord empty: that so he may be honoured of all, without respect of persons, and he receiue his due frō all, who giues to all Pro vt vult, euen as he wil.

Wherfore all cauils, delaies, and excuses laid aside, Ambr. Ser. de Quadrag. c. quicunque. 1. in 16. q. 7. qui­cunque recognouerit in se, quod fideliter decimas non dederit, modò emendet quod minus fecit. First, whosoeuer shall remem­ber himselfe, that he hath not heeretofore paid his tithes and other duties faith fully, let him hence forward amend that wherein hee hath failed, and carefully performe vnto the Lord that which he, in this behalfe expecteth and exacteth at his hand.

And for so much as the Magistrate Rom. 13. 4. beareth not the sword for naught, nor fits in the seat of God in vaine, wee must obserue, that as it is his duetie, to be like a good cap­taine in the field formost in action; and as a good ruler in house, example to the rest; for the Magistrate should bee Lex animata, that is, the very law it selfe aliue, that men in him might see by deedes, what they heare and learne from him and his lawes by words; so it is his duety in this very point; First carefully to render for his owne part Andr. Hisp. reg. dec. 11. Cer­set. in tract. de potest. reg. q. 37. out of that he possesseth quae Dei, sunt Deo, that is, to God the things that are Gods. Secondly, then by good and whole­some Lawes and ordinances, hauing not only vim directi­uam a force directiue for all, (so they are rather counsells then Lawes) but also vim coactiuam, a force coactiue for the bridling and enforcing of some, to prouide (as farre as [Page 14] in him lyes) that such as be vnder his commaund may doe the same.

Wherefore let such as be in authority (as it becommeth the Isai. 49. 23. nursing Fathers of the Church, & Basil. Daron. pag. 43. them that count it An admoniti­on vnto Magi­strates. a principall part of their charge, to cherish good pastors) set before their eies the religious example of good king 2. Chro. 31. 4. Down. Serm. on 1. Tim. 3. 1. Hezekiah, who to the end the Priests and Leuites might be incouraged in the Law of the Lord, tooke a strict and due course that the tithes of all things, and other portions belon­ging to God and his Priests, might iustly be restored and duely paid vnto them: imitate the true zeale of that godly Ruler, Nehem. 13. 8. Nehemia, who would not indure the alienation of one chamber of the Priests, to the priuate vse of Thobijah, and that neuer rested, till he had Nehe. 10 34. restored to the Priests, and Leuites of the house of God all their tithes, offerings and other duties, that so, being duely prouided for, they might not forsake the house of God any more: and pace in the steps of that thrice renowmed and religious Emperour Constantine the great, which Herm. Gigas. confirmed vnto the Church the tithes of all things, and Zepper. de po­lit. eccles. lib. pri. capit. 21. Zozom. hist. eccl. lib. 2. c. 4. Euseb. de vit. Const. lib. 2. c. 36. et. lib. 10. c. 5. An Admoniti­on to the Par­liament. restored vnto it all such lands, fields, houses, &c. As in former times, the time of peace, had beene giuen to the Church, and in latter daies, daies of persecution, had beene taken from it againe.

And our Parliaments I would beseech in the name of God, to be careful to auoid that imputation which S. Paul layeth vpon the Iewes, Rom. 2. 21. Thou abhorrest idols (saith he) and dost thou commit sacriledge? And Down. serm. on. 1. Tim. 3. 1. let them consider, that if not to the full restitution of all impropriations, (which at the dissolution of Abbies iustly ought and View of. L. pag. 169. easily might haue beene made) they still remaine deepely obliged, and for the not restoring thereof the whole land standeth in an high degree obnoxious to the iudgement of God: yet their sinne cannot be little, which not restoring them, haue not prouided for euery such impropriated Church, a fit Vicaridge at the least, so sufficiently endowed; First, with part of the gleeb, secondly tithes as well great as small, & thirdly, other profits of the Church, that so the vicar might [Page 15] be able: first, to doe diuine seruice, secondly; to informe the people, and thirdly to keepe hospitality, according to the very tenour and letter of their owne lawes, enacted vp­on due and mature consideration of the equity and nece­ssity of such a course An. 15. Ric. 2. cap. 6. an. 4. Hen. 4. cap. 12. in time of Othobon. c. Quoniam de Appropriationi­bus Ecclesiarum palpable blindnes, as well An 1. Edu. 6. cap. 14. as of better eye sight, As appeareth in the commō formes of the Ordinations of Vicaridges. and intent and minde of e­uen such as at first attempted that euill: that so the people defrauded of their tithes, &c. might not with double sa­criledge be defrauded also of the food of their souls whilst left to the curtesie and conscience of the Constit. eccles. can. 45. &. 46. exempted Impropriator, which for the most part, is cruell, carelesse; and couetous, they are committed to the refuse of the Clergy, such as wil be hired for least, Reynold in O­bad. Ser. 2. as if the olde Pro­uerbe, best is best cheape were no longer true, but the new practise, best cheape is best, were the right rule. And that lit­tle is the Clergy of our land, specially the inferiour Mini­stery of our Church beholding vnto them, which after so many spoiles and iniuries done thereunto, cannot obtaine so much onely, as to haue that remainder which is left, to be paid in specie, or to be disburdened of those, or at least of some of those pretended Rid. view. p. 160. exemptions Carlet epist. dedic. Hous. on Math. 21. Serm. 1. pag. 44. hard customes, vnreasonable compositions, pernitious prescriptions, and Ridl. view of L. p. 113. 115. odious prohibitions, wherewith it is daily more and more depressed and impouerished, as if either that estate alone had already, & could not but haue, an Omnia benè, or we alone, that be of the ministery, aboue all other members of this common-wealth, were eyther no part of their charge, or not worthy to be respected, righted and relee­ued.

Lastly, let Lawyers and Iurors, vpon whose pleading and Ad admoniti­on to Lawyers and Iurors. verdict those things do too often much depend, take heed that they doe not rashly and partially giue away those things from God. The cause and right is Gods, and there­fore they must know, that in striking a poore Minister, and wresting from him his tithes, and other dues, through his side they strike, and wrong not the Church onely, but God also, of whom we hold originaly, and in Capite what­soeuer [Page 16] is the Churches. It will ill excuse the one, that they plead for their fee, and therefore must make candida de [...]i­gris, et de candentibus atra, Ouid. Metam. lib. 11. fab. 8. of nothing something, like the Heathen Orators, which counted it their glory Tull. de Orat. lib. primo. Erasm. Apotheg. lib. 8. Licost. Apoth. pag. 105. to cast a mist before mens eies, and make a bad cause seeme good: nor acquit and iustifie the other, that Foem. Monar. they do gratifie men of their owne fashion, & do for them as they would be done for in like case. These causes no lesse then any other should be handled sincerè et candidè with all sincerity and indiffe­rency. And reason it were Ridl. view of pag. 133. considering how much is al­ready by sundry sacriledges, by pretence of law, by altera­tion of times, and other vijs & modis iniuriously taken from God and the Church, they should fauourably inter­pret the Lawes to the good of the Church, and resto­ring vnto God, that which indeed is Gods, rather then, as adding affliction to the afflicted, and trampling vpon those that be already vnder foot, make our burden still more and more heauy, as if there were a continuall and ge­nerall conspiracy of the laity against the Clergie: they did all thirst for that little as yet left vs: held it a ruled case (the Foem. Monar. n. 4. a. Rid. View of pag. 185. moderne practise makes it seeme probable) that whatso­euer cause comes into the common Law for tithes, must goe against vs: and would teach vs by often and wofull experience, that Foem. Monar. n. 8. b. we were better loose all, then sue for any, where the matter must come through their hands. Howsoeuer, credible it is, that if those kind of persons were all, and alwaies as able and carefull to make demonstration of Science and conscience, as their place and charge re­quires they should be, it would go better on our side, then oft it doth, and the olde prouerbe Adag. Eras. pag. 161. ouem lupo, not be so often verified, as now it is.

I come now to the third thing in the commandement, the forme, which the very word Giue doth informe vs to be 3. The forme of the com­mandement. two-fold, that is first for matter, what wee must giue? se­condly; for manner, how we must giue?

For the matter, what must we giue to God? Quae Dei sunt, those things that be Gods, the very things themselues, [Page 17] euery thing in his kinde. And this I take to bee a point much to be respected, I meane, that men ought to giue to We must giue to God his things in their owne kind. M. Min. cap. 4. God, not what pleaseth themselues, a little som-what in steed of that is his, but they ought to lay him downe the ve­rie thing it selfe, as it doth arise, and pay him his due in spe­cie, that is, in its owne kinde.

In the Gen. 4. et 14. et. 28. et. 35. Israelies. time of nature, Godly people obserued it to the Examples of Patriarkes. true God, as is euident. Gen. 4. et. 14. et. 28. et. 35.

The Iewes in time of the Law continually did so, to the Priestes and Leuites of that time. Examples and proofes thereof abound, as may easily and at large, appeare to him that hath the leisure to peruse, which I haue not to recite, these places, Exod. 22. Num. 18. Nehem. 10. Mal. 3. &c. Ezod. 22. Numb. 18. 2. Chron. 31. Nehem. 10. Malachy 3. Matth. 23. Luke 18. 1. Corin. 9. and other more.

And it is most certaine Ridl. view of pag. 161. Heathens. that for some ages of the Chri­stian Christians. world, howsoeuer now as tares into corne, ruines in­to an house, and rents into a Garment, a very contrary pra­ctise be crept in, Christians generally obserued the like in time of the Gospell.

The heathen likewise, directed no doubt not onely by natures light, but Carl. treat. of tithes. cap. 2. fol. 10. also by direction and tradition from the ancient Patriarks Noah and others, performed the same vnto those they tooke to be Gods; witnes Plin. lib. 12. c. 14. e [...] 20. et lib. 18. cap. 2. Plinie spea­king of the Romanes, Sabeans and Ethiopians: and Festus. Festus generally of all nations.

And very reason may assure and teach vs this to be the best course that Rebuf. de. dec. qu. 1 fig. 2. 4. 5. Idem. de congr. port. pag. 385. fig. 81. C. i. de Prebend. in 6. Clem. [...]. de in. patron. Willet. in Synop. contr. [...]. qu. 6. can be, the speediest, surest, easiest and sa­fest manner of paiment that may be: and which is the thing of most speciall note, of all other courses, it is least subiect to alteration, because howsoeuer the prizes of things doe rise and fall, and daily change, yet the things them­selues change not. And therefore Hooker. pol. eccl. lib. 5. §. 56. nature which is Com­munis omnium pareus, one vnto all, must needes bee the most indifferent standart betwixt God and man, the mini­ster and people, that can be. This way we should not bee inforced A course very preposterous and vnreaso­nable. sore against our will, and to our great griefe [Page 18] and losse, to take for our goods, not, as al our parishoners may for theirs, that is, as things are now worth, but as they were worth an hundred yeares agoe: nor bee compelled, will we, nill we, to take money of others exceeding cheape for that, which presently for our owne necessaries, we must buye of others exceeding deare. A course so against all sense and conscience, that if it were vrged vpon anie but God and his ministers, would haue beene righted (as rea­son were) full long agoe; and such a course, as if they that vrge it and hold it most against vs Foem. Mā. [...]. 8. a should be tied vn­to but a little while, and inforced to indure in their owne lands, farmes, corne and cattell, they would soone cry out with open mouth to be intollerable, and not suffer their eies to sleep, or their eyelids to slumber, till they had found out a remedy for it.

Redemption of tithes in some cases may be tollerable. I deny not, but that if men be desirous to redeem their tithes, and to pay mony in steed thereof, this may lawful­ly be done. Prouided alwaies that it bee with the free wil, and vnconstrained consent of the present Incumbent. Se­condly, that the redemption be reasonable, that is, Carlt. treat. of tithes c. 5. fol. 26 Nouel. const. collat. 2. an­swerable at least to the present valew of the thing it selfe redeemed.

My Prouiso hath sufficient warrant. For it is grounded first vpon the law of God, by which no redemption of any thing consecrate, or of any tithe, was permitted, but so as the party would pay for it. How? Leuit. 27. 12. 20. 30. as the priest himselfe should valew it, and adding a fifth part of the price more for amends: secondly vpon our owne ecclesiasticall Law, which is Lind [...]. Pro­uinc. lib. 3. de dec. et ob. passim, Exigantur deci­mae, et prout ex­pedit, ecclesiae persoluantur, si Rector ita ma­luerit: Nisi pa­rochiani velint pro talib. compe­tentem facere redemptionem; id (que) ad valorem decima, modo ne in fraudem et damnum ea fiat ad commo­dum eccl. scili­cet ad iust. va­lorem, vel am­plius. full of clauses to this purpose: and in practise whereof, the Church being then the stronger side, we may easily conceiue would admit no other redemption of tithes but such, as it tooke to be beneficiall and profitable, not preiudiciall and hurtfull to it selfe. And to the same doe Rebuff. de dec. q. 13. f. 35. C. Veniens. de Transact. Trans­actio super dec. futur. quamdiu viuit Curatus valet, sed eo mor­tus extinguitur reg. iur. ant. 54. Duaren. de Be­nef. et minist. eccles. lib. 8. c. 1. others well agree, where they signifie and determine that the Act of the present Incumbent, as who hath but the vse, and not the ^m inheritance of that is Gods, ought not to preiudice the right & liberty of his successor.

This being the law of God before Christ, and of the Church since, grounded also vpon great reason and equi­ty, as Matth. 17. 12 That we doe to others, as we would others should do to vs, that we 1. Thes. 4. 6. defraud not, nor oppresse any man, much lesse not God nor his Churh. That we Reg. iur. ant. 206. take not from any man his goods against his will, or without, iust & compotent satisfacti­on, we may clearely conclude, that then onely do men giue God the things of God, what is his right and due, as they ought, when as we (his ministers) are free and at our owne choice, to take, as in ancient time we were, either money, or if that we dislike, our owne in kinde. No man, no man, I There is as great reason and cause wee shold improue our liuings, as other men doe their lands. am sure, is able to shew iust cause why we alone (the Cler­gye) ought not to haue our owne in kinde, or the full va­lew thereof, as well as first, our predecessors formerly haue had; secondly our selues in diuers things; and thirdly, our neighbours (the Laity) on euery side vs, rich and poore, in euery thing continually haue.

There be that wil tell vs of customes, compositions, pre­scriptions, Customes, Praescriptions, &c. in case of tithes prooued vnlawfull. &c, To the contrary.

The very name of Cicer. 2. Tuscul. Custome is of great force▪ and pre­scription hath a peculiar might: so that Galen. de sá­nit. t [...]end. lib. 1. pag. 33. et lib. 5. p. 336. Aug. ad Ian. lib. 1. as in mens bodies, hee that leaueth a thing accustomed doth many times hazard his health; so in mens estates, hee that brea­keth a custome, doth oftentimes preiudice their right. But yet I hope no wise man, much lesse any good Diuine will affirme, that in all things the very colour of a Custome is enough, and that all that must needs alwaies be lawfull and good, which can be proued to be a Custome. For then in vaine did God charge his people that Leuit. 18. 30. they should not doe any of these abominable customes which had bene done before Leu. 18. The sonne of God did not well Matth. 15. 3. to reprooue the Pharisies Matth. 15. for obseruing the Traditions, that is, the ancient customes of their elders: and the good Fathers of the Church haue greatly erred in teaching vs that Aug. de vnic. bapt. lib. 2. Cipr. ad Pomp. Isidor. in synon. lib. 2. Distinct. 8. ve­ritate. Ra­tio et veritas Consuetudini praeponenda: that is, Reason and veritie, are to be preferred before vse and custome.

Presuming therefore that wee shall easily thus farre a­gree, [Page 20] Andr. Hisp. de Dec. ca. 8. That against the word of God no custome can hold: That Concil. Sardi­cen. Canon. 1. Duaren. de Be­nef. lib. 5. cap. 3. Mala Consuetudo non minus quam pernitiosa cor­ruptela, funditus eradicanda est: that is, An euill custome in the body politique, no lesse then a pernitious corruption, or dangerous disease in the body naturall, ought vtterly and speedily to be rooted out. That custome Decret. lib. 1. tit. 4. de consu. cap. vltim. to the ende it may hold for a Law, ought to be agreeable to reason, and as our An. 32. H. 8. cap. 7. in praef. owne Law well giues the terme laudable and good: and that Aug. de Bap­tis. paruul. Tertul. de Ʋirg. velandis. Senec. de vera. vita. Veritate manifestata non est sequenda consuetudo, quia Dominus non Dixit, Ego sum consuetudo sed ego veritas, that is, The truth beeing manifested, we are not to follow the cu­stome but the truth, because the Lord said not, I am the cu­stome, but I am the truth: I doubt not to make it cleare, that these customes, prescriptions &c. Whereof now wee speake, in as much as by them the Church is abridged and debarred of a great part of the full valew of her tithes, are contrary to the worde of God, repugnant to reason, and equity, and nothing lesse then laudable and good. For,

1. The word of God requireth of vs expressely Num. 18. Mal. 3. 8. Deeimam 1. God requi­reth the full tenth. the tenth, and not any other part. Now it is most euident, in all true sense and naturall construction: that as hee goes not a iourney, that goes but a mile or two of the way, and not the whole: hee doth not doe a worke, that doth but a part thereof,, and not the whole: he payes not a sum of money, that paies but some halfe, or a quarter thereof, and not the whole: Andr. His. reg. Dec. 9. Ridl. view pag. 148. Foem. Mon. n. 7. b No example in the Bible to the contrary. Ridl. view of page 141. So hee paies not Decimam that paies but the 20. 40. or the hundreth part thereof, and not the whole.

2. There can no one instance be giuen out of the word of God, either that Gods people paid, or God accepted for the tenth some other thing, money or money-worth, lesse in valew then the tenth; and so any custome for the thing it selfe. And when as our Sauiour speaking of the Pharisies which Matth. 23. 23. Luke. 11. 42. tithed their mint, annis, cummin, rue, et omne olus, and euery other herbe, saith, This they ought not to haue left vndone, hee signifies not obscurely that this manner of Ti­thing, viz. in kind, and without Diminution, euen for those [Page 21] smaller things, much more then for the greater, was in vse vntill his time, and, was a manner of tithing iust and law­full.

How precise God was in this point, wee may not ob­scurely gather by this, that he prohibited any man so much Leuit. 27. 33. as to chaunge the tithe, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good, without a penall augmentation of it. This beeing Gods law then, seeing he Mal. 3. 6. is the same God still; the tithe is his right still, and the vse of them is like necessary still, how can it be probable, that he should now approoue such Martial. epigr. l. 5. Homer. Ili. 6 a Glaucus exchange or alteration, as taking away the thing in kinde, leaues in lieu thereof not the halfe, not the fourth, yea many times not the tenth part that it is worth. And when as hee pronounceth him directly ac­cursed Mal. 1. 13. that offereth (hauing better in store) the torne, the lame, the sicke, and denieth flatly to accept it, what like­lihood is there, hee can bee pleased to haue for his faire, goodly and sound portion the tenth, a modicum so bad, and so little, that in comparison thereof, the smallest, wea­kest, and worst in kinde were a rich oblation?

I will graunt (though with faire probability I may de­nye it, and Calu. in locum. as some iudicious writers doe restrain that law to vowes and oblations onely) that God permitted any of his people Deut. 14. Deut. 14. 24. in some one case to sell the tithe and make it in mony, and so to come with that mony in his hand vnto the house of the Lord. But that is so far frō ma­king against me, that it doth not a little confirme that I do affirme. For first, that was but in one case onely, which with vs comes not in vse: Secondly, he was bound to be­stow Vers. 26. the same mony, the whole mony againe vpon such commodities as he had sold, and so to bring that newly bought, the thing in kind, & the same kind vnto the house of God. Whereupon I may well inferre, That if our peo­ple will, or doe, (some prescriptiom, or custome allowing them that fauour in more cases then one, and in such cases too, as Gods Law did not) make mony of the tithe, and sell that is ours, they ought at least to pay vs in steede of [Page 22] that tithe, the whole money they make thereof. Which if they did, (and out of all question, most of our customes and prescriptions intended no other) wee could well bee content they should haue that choice which properly be­longeth vnto vs: and it should little grieue vs that they from whom it comes, had that is ours, for their money be­fore any other, while as we haue of them for it, as any other would giue.

3. The word of God most strictly forbiddeth any Deut. 27. 17. By them the ancient boūds are remoued. to remoue the ancient bounds. Which if it ought to be obser­ued religiously twixt man and man, I see not, why it ought not as duely at the least be obserued twixt God & man. For is it not meet that God should haue quae Dei sunt, those things that be his, to be as safe vnto him as any man? Now it is most euident, that this he hath not, where & whensoeuer men giue to God not veri nominis Decimam, as Andr. Hispan. reg. decim. pas­sim. the Ca­nonist termes it, the very tenth, but in steed thereof some lesse part, as the twentieth or fortieth. For God hauing set his bounds at Deciman, the tenth, it is by this meanes re­mooued, and set shorter a great deale. If it be sinne Cicer. Parad. 3 tran­silire lineas, to passe the bounds, this cannot be but sinne? And if it were a sinne in vs clergy men, if wee would not bee content to pitch at Decimam, but would goe beyond that, and (without any iust recompensation) take vp the fifth, seuenth or eighth, why shall it not bee in the laity to goe on the other side, a great deale more? I take it in Gods commandements, we ought to turne aside Deut. 12. 32. neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

4. The word of God disclaimeth vtterly Leuit. 19. 35. Deut. 25. 13. Ezek. 45. 10. Prou. 11. 1. & 16. 11. & 20. 16. false waights and false measures as an abhomination to the Lord. Against which if hee doe offend, that deliuers vnto his neighbour lesse then iust waight and iust measure, yea Pulton. Ab. weight. Nu. 14. By them God hath false weight & false measure made him. though the difference be not much; which way can hee be cleared and iustified that obtrudes vnto the Church of God, and to God himselfe lesse (by halfe and more many times) then his tenth, which God as his due demandeth to be measu­red and weighed out vnto him? Offer such dealing vnto [Page 23] the King, Mal. 1. 8. wil he accept it? when a subsidue is giuē him, thus much of the pound, may a man pay lesse then the ful grant? The tenth is (as we may say) Gods subsidue, or as others more properly term it Caluin. in Heb. Sacrū vectigal, his sacred tribute, de­manded by God from the beginning, & long since euen by men also, granted and consecrated to God, is it not reason then he should be as truely and iustly paid it, as any mortal man? To promise one thing and performe another, is no vpright man? dealing: and being offred to God, what is, if that be not to Galath 6. 7. mocke God?

5. The word of God forbiddeth vs vtterly Leu. 19. 13. Mal. 3. 5. 1. Thes. 4. 6. By them the Church is op­pressed, and God defrau­ded. to oppresse or defraud any man, But what more euident oppression can there be, then to take away from men their goods 1. against their wil 2. without due and competent satisfaction, which euen Ahab would not offer 1. King. 21. 2. vnto Naboth, though he had a minde and a great minde, to his vineyard: and what more manifest fraud, then that vnder colour of customes, pre­scriptions, &c. made by them that were nor Duaren. de Benef. lib. 8. c. 1. Fent. Serm. on pre. 20. 25. p. 49. Domini the Lords and absolute owners, nor scant Fee-Farmors, but on­ly Tenants for the Time of that they past away in perpetu­um as is pretended, we their successors, should be barred of our right claime there to, depriued of a great part of our maintenance, and God leese his true and auncient inheri­tance?

If these courses be iustifiable and good, and shall conti­nue, The dange­rous inconue­niēce of these. Whether I cast a doubt without cause, might appeare if particular notice were duely taken of that the church hath lost with­in these 60. yeares. Foem. Monar. in the concl. n. 8. then verily is both God and his Church in a miserable case. For it is possible, and probable too that it will so come to passe; it is possible I say, that within a few ages, God shall haue no tithes in kind left him to maintaine his Church and ministers withall. All, as already in many pla­ces the most part is, will be turned into customes, prescrip­tions &c. It will bee no hard matter sometime by feare, sometime by flattery, sometime by force, and sometime by fraud to circumuent, or ouertake many a poore, simple and harmelesse man. And if a finger thus once gotten into that which is Gods, shall, vpon a little continuance be allowed for hould-fast good inough to plucke it from the Church, [Page 54] and to disinherit God of his right, let all that haue anie feare of God, anie loue to religion, or conscience to the good estate of the Church, iudge what may thereof at length ensue.

6. Further the word of God requireth, that hee that 1. Cor. 9. preacheth the Gospell, doe ^a liue of the Gospell, and teach­eth, nothing more pregnantly, that the minister of the word being 1. Tim 5. 16. worthy of double honour, ought Rom. 10. 14. Math. 10. Galat. 6. 6. Deut. 12. 19. condignely and liberally to be maintained, yea so agreeable euen to all good reason and conscience is this, that (as Preface to the great Bi­ble. The minister cannot possi­blie haue due maintenance so long as these do stand. some haue well obserued) Those mothers are houlden to be lesse cruell that kill their children as soone as they are borne, then they that withdraw from their pastors necessary liuelyhood and support, fit for their estates. But that it is, not possible for him to haue where such customes, proscriptions, &c. do preuaile For by meanes of them so much of his liuing is continually taken away, that the remainder is altogether vnsufficient and vnfit for him: and so contrarie to the law of God and nature, 1. Tim. 5. 18. 1. Cor. 9. 9. Deut. 25. 4. The mouth of the oxe that treadeth out the corne, is mousled, and Math. 10. 10. The labourer is denied his re­ward.

Vpon this ground in the time of the law, the vnreaso­nable customes and iniurious vsurpations of the people of those times were broken and contemned. For it is not to be denied that euen in those times, while as idolatrie and prophanenesse had gotten the vpper hand, manie had v­surped vpon the tithes, first fruites, &c. and for long time (time enough to make a custome) paid either none at all, or very little, insomuch that the house of God thereupon Neh. 10. 39. was forsaken, yet neither 2. Chro. 30. 5. that good king Hezekiah, nor Neh. 10. 39. & 13. 10. that good ruler Nehemiah would take such alienati­tion, vsurpation, prescription, or custome of non payment, or small payment for a lawfull prescription, a laudable cu­stome, or a sufficient barre against God and his priests, and so leaue them, as in a case remedylesse, and a disease incura­ble, in their pitifull poore estate: but knowing, that Right doth neuer rotte: and that F [...]m. mon. in the concl. n. 8. A custome of sinning doth not [Page 25] extenuate, but aggrauate sinne, restored fully vnto them, whatsoeuer had formerly beene taken away, and was by law of God and auncient right, found to be theirs.

7. The time of the auncient fathers Ridl. view. pag. 145. was free from such The auncient fathers knew them not. corruptions, which as yet had not gotten among them, either name or being. But yet what they would haue estee­med of them, if in their daies they had beene, it is not hard to coniecture. For when as they sticke not to affirme Aug. de decem chord. cap. 12. Math. 5. 20. that our righteousnesse doth not exceede the righteousnesse of the scribes and Pharisies, if wee pay not our tithes as they did, and they Luk. 18. 12. paid decimam the full tenth of all that they pos­sessed, or but our bare tenth and nothing ouer: and when as question being made, Quid est decimas fideliter dare? what is it to pay tithes truely? they Ambr. Serm. de. Quadrages. answere, vt nec pe­ius, nec minus aliquando offerat de grano, aut de vino, aut de fructibus arborum, aut de pecudibus aut de horto, &c. that is, A man doth then pay his tithes faithfully and iustly, when as he doth pay of euery thing tithe-able, the verie thing it selfe in kinde, as his corne, wine, fruits, &c. and of them neither such as is bad and nought worth, nor that which is lesse then the tenth for the tenth. And when in their tearmes they Aug. Serm. de. Temp. ser. 219. obserue a most exact opposition betweene decimam & nouem partes; the tenth and the nine parts, decimam & centesemam, the tenth and the hundreth part, they shew plainely enough that they would neuer haue acknowledged (as euen common sense doth consent) that they did pay decimam their tithe iustly and faithfully, which should in stead thereof pay a lesse portion by a great deale.

8. We want not also the consent euen of some of our Some learned Papists reiect them. greatest aduersaries in religion, who moued with the clearenesse of this truth, as farre as they dare for feare of their God the Pope, sometimes speake on our side verie con­fidently in this sort: Andr. Hispan. reg. dec. I. &c. Qui non persoluunt decimas, non obstan­te aliqua consuetudine, imo verius vsurpatione & violenta occupatione, filij sunt perditionis, &c. They whosoeuer they be, that pay not their tenth, anie custome, or as I may more [Page 26] truely tearme it, anie vsurpation, and violent occupation thereof, notwithstanding, are children of perdition. But Bellar­mine more fully and freely, Bellar. Tom. 1. contr. 5. lib. 1. cap. 25. Tho. 2. quodl. argu. 8. Ludou. viuald. de cōtrit. fo. 123 Certum est praeceptum de sol­uendis decimis, qua parte diuinū & naturale est, non posse vlla lege humana vel consuetudine contraria aboleri: ac proinde certum est ecclesiam habere ius petendi decimas, etiam vbi con­suetudo est vt non soluātur; In hoc nim omnes Theologi & Ca­nonistae conueniunt, that is: Certaine it is that the precept of paying tithes so far as it is diuine & naturall, cannot by any mane law or contrary custome be abolished: and therefore it is also certaine that the Church hath right to demand tithes, euen where there is a custome that they should not be paid; for hereupon al Diuines and Canonists doe agree. I cannot speake more plaine then he doth: onely let this be specially noted out of him, that a custome de non soluendis decimis for none paiment of tithes is nothing: and that, if wee may take his word, who was intimus eorum consilijs, amā that knew their minde as much as any man, it is not his opinion alone, but that all their Diuines and Canonists hold the same.

9 They are directly contrarie to the law eccesiasticall, The law eccle­siasticall con­demnes them. which saith expressely Lindw. de. dec. et obl. cap. Quo­niam propter verb. consuetud. Innoc. extra: de dec. c. in aliquib. Greg. c. cap. ex parte. de consu. Andr. hisp. reg. dec. 1. et est no­tabile. C. quicunque. 16 quaest. 7. Hostiens. tit. de decimis. Ridl. view of. pag. 148. In decimis realibus non valet consu­etudo, vt soluatur minus decima parte, that is, In predial tithes custome holdes not, that lesse then the tenth part should be paid, and againe, In eo autem quod non soluantur decimae, vel minus plenè soluantur, nulla valet consuetudo, that is, But in this, that no tithes (for anie thing) should be paid; or that lesse then the full tenth should be paid for the tenth, no custome holds. And this is confirmed by the perpetuall practise of the same law, in that to this day (howsoeuer it be crossed, and denied) it is due proceeding by common law, it al­lowes plea for all tithes, for the full tenth, and for tithes in kinde, anie custome, &c. notwithstanding: and by this Axiome or generall principle thereof, Non est mos in non decimando: that is, There is no custome for not tithing, and tithe they doe not, which either pay nothing, or that which is as good as nothing. To these I adde the censure it giues of prescriptions in particular, and that is, praescrip­tio [Page 27] res odiosa, quia iuri alterius detrahit, that is, Rebuff. de dec▪ prescrip­tion q. 14 fig. 11. et. q. 15. fig. 16. There is no e­quitie nor rea­son in them. in it selfe is an odious thing: why so? because it is pre­iudiciall to anothers (Gods or the Churches) right.

10 They are contrarie to the rule or law of equitie, which Decret. lib. 1. Tit. 4. de consu­etud. c. vlt. approoues onely such customes, &c. as are lauda­ble, and good, agreeable to reason, &c. But what can bee lesse reasonable then, Faem. Monor. in the conclusion. To take away a goose, and sticke vp for it a feather? or what more euill then to take from men their goods against their will? and that without 1. King. 21. 2. any reaso­nable satisfaction? Is it a thing laudable and good, to pinch and pare away the profits of the ministers liuing in such a sort, as in all reasonable mens knowledge and vn­derstanding, he cannot possibly in any good sort liue of the rest? Is this to doe Math. 7. 12. Note this well. as they would be done vnto? If there were anie such custome, that the rate or price to be paid for anie thing titheable, should bee double, or ten times the value of the tithe, (the odds and inequalitie offered vnto vs, For where our tithe is wel worth two or three shillings we haue for it but two or three pence & for foure pēce or twelue pēce at the least, we haue but an halfe penie. Item in rates of grounds where it ye elds now per an. hū ­dred markes or hundred—poūds, we haue happely ten or twelue shillings for the tithe thereof after the old valew, where reason would our rates should rise as well as your rent. More, in many places there is a custome, that for pasture ground let to rent, we take for tithe the tenth pe­ny of the rent; a course very equall and easie, and of long practise as may appeare. Lindw. de dec. cap. Quoniam prepter. §. de Nutrimentis. verb. diuidenda est. in gloss. Yet because it is some times a little more commodious to the Church then the tithe, as now a daies it is paid, can bee, Lord how oft is it denied vs, how hardly can we enioy it what repining and grudging against it? is many times no lesse) would they acknowledge it to be a custome laudable and good? graunt that because it is a custome, it ought not to be brokē? & not thinke it fit, and seeke to haue it abated, and reduced to reason and e­qualitie? And why not we likewise to haue the contrarie to be increased and amended? If wee should offer them for their goods, their corne, their cattell and other like, as their fathers and grandfathers did sell the like, would they not say, we were either madde or senselesse? yet (the matter weighed in equall ballance) there is as little reason, and as small cause why they should doe it to vs, as we to them? If they of whom we receiue such pay, were bound to sell to vs (as their forefathers did to our predecessors) what we needed to buie at the like rate, there were yet [Page 28] some indifferencie. But that they shall be free from vs, and we onely inthralled vnto them, agrees neither with con­science and equitie, nor with that benefit and libertie which all others doe enioy. If a man should offer to a ser­uant such wages, or to a labourer such pay, as for manie yeares past, men of that ranke See the state of An. 25. Edu. 3. cap. 2. An. 12. Ric. 2. cap. 4. An. 23. Hen. 6. cap. 13, &c. vsed to take, hee should be condemned as deuoide of sense and conscience: but the like is offered vs, wee must take for our tithes but as they were worth, one or two hundred yeares agoe, and haue but such pay for our seruice, such wages for our la­bour, as was giuen then, when men might haue liued bet­ter therewith then now with fiue times as much: and yet we must bee thought vnreasonable that grudge there a­gainst; and not they, that preferring custome before con­science haue not reason to increase it answerable to the times: as if we onely of all people in the land, could liue at Other incon­ueniences. They be the maine cause of the bad estate and needinesse of our cleargy. Their original erroneous and euill. the old rates, and our estate alone were such as did not rise and fall, as other mens doth.

Heereupon it comes to passe, 1. that manie of vs, namely such whose liuing consisteth most vpon personall tithes, or vpon the smaller prediall tithes, doe liue more like beg­gers then ministers, 2. should starue for very hunger, if we could not relieue our selues some other waies, and 3. the more our parishoners do prosper, flourish and increase in wealth (as at this present, in these Halcion daies of all peace and plentie) the more doe wee decay and pine in neede.

11 Further if we looke vnto their Originall what is it but errour and corruption? They tooke their beginning and forme Alex. Hal. part. 3. qu. 51. 3. Tho. 22. ae. q. 87. ar. 3. See the view of l. pag. 143. & 161 from Papists perswaded most vainely that whatsoeuer it pleased the Pope to approoue, was lawfull and good: and they haue increased and gotten head by Pet. Marc. loc. com. class. 4. C. 13 §. 18. Zanch. de. Redē. lib. 1. Cap. 19. Protestants resolued, though faslely, That tithes are not now de iure diuino, and that the maintenance for the mini­ster may be raised any other way. Besides these, but buil­ded vpon one or other of these, we may impute no small part of their being and increase to the Ridl. view of law. p. 132. l. 14. Tertul. de virg. Veland. §. 1. Neuend. part. 2. C. de dec. eccles. negligence and [Page 29] simplicitie of such on the one side, as not foreseeing or not regarding what might in time to come thereof insue: and to the craftinesse or couetousnesse of such on the o­ther side, as knowing how to make vse of others weake­nesse, cared little so they gained, what anie els, God or man did loose. Their beginning being no better, and their breede so bad (which thing I take to be so cleare and eui­dent that it needs no demonstratiō) as the tree once known to be nought, we are assured the Math. 7. 17. Luk. 6. 43. They are a kind of impro­priations. See more pag. 29. 30. Whether of the two is the worse, may be doubted. fruit cannot be good: so these springing from causes so bad, they the effects, can be none other then euill.

12 Lastly, view these and consider of them well, and you shall see they are none other, then so manie pettie and particular impropriations. And therefore vnlesse they bee lawfull and good, these cannot be iustifiable: and except they be no sacriledge, no spoile nor mayme to the Church, no bane to the ministerie, no hindrance to the Gospell, no decay to learning, no hurt to the people, these are, and must needes be.

Neither is it easie to say, whether of the two is to the Church the more iniurious, and dangerous. That the easi­er may he discerne, which shall first obserue, First, That al­though Impropriations in their proper place, giue to the Church the greater mayme; yet those are but in some pla­ces onely, but these in all. For there is scant a parish, what say I a parish? scant a house in a parish, the whole land thorough, where some or other of these hale not somwhat frō the Church. Secondly, Impropriations are at their stay, They can take from the Church no more then already they haue (and of them anie more to be made, howsoeuer many a greedie and sacrilegious minded patron either desire or attempt it, wee haue I trust no cause to feare, but to hope rather that both the which is very great already, for whereas the whole number of parish Churches in England & Wales is, at this day, but 9284. of them 3895. are im­propriated. vide Camdens Britt. pag. 162. number and Which is so violent and ex­treame, that in many places it hath deuoured so much of the profits of the Church, that scant the ½, yea scant ¼ yea or some times the seauenth or eighth part thereof remai­neth to the Church. force of them shall in time, and in short time too, be weakened and abated) but these doe daily more and moe incroach vpon the Church: and such way, or rather so manie waies are made to the increase both of their number, and their strength, that vn­lesse [Page 30] some good and speedie remedie be prouided, we may iustly presage and feare, that as creeping vlcers the body, and moathes a garment, they will in time eate out and vt­terly spoile the Church. Thirdly, Impropriations in diuers places might yet be As in regard of competiēce. tollerable, if the Churches thereof had the rest of their fruits and profits paid them in as good and ample manner, as at the time of the dismembring thereof they had (for it would be a matter of no great dif­ficultie to shew by diuers probable demonstrations, that then the remainder was paid in kinde, or by such rates, as were equiualent thereunto, and that all or most of those customes, prescriptions, &c. haue sprung vp since.) But now these comming in vpon the other, like a new disease to an old maladie, and both sorts together making their assault, For of that which by the Impropr. is left, the Pa­rishnor in these daies by his customes, pre­scriptions, &c. bereaueth the Incumbent v­sually of the one halfe at least. how the poore Church is pulled down, and made vnable to vphold and relieue him that should haue her whole meanes, it is lamentable to see, but miserable to feele. Fourthly, Also some of our impropriations, howsoe­uer a mayme to particular Churches, are yet quodammodo the Churches still, because they are Reynold. in Obad. ser. 2. conuerted to the su­stentation of such, as either are, or in time to come may be Church-men: but these serue wholly and onely to the vse of Lay men.

All which if they of the lay sort, that doe so much dislike with impropriations (and there is scant a man of vnder­standing in any parish, specially where they are, if his own hand be not in the sinne, that doth not) did well consider, they would, I am perswaded, the sooner disclaime, and e­uen of their owne accord breake of these vile practises, least that should bee verified in themselues, which Saint Paul obiected to others, Rom. 2. 1. Rom. 2. Thou that iudgest or blamest another, doest, the name onely changed, euen the selfe same thing, wherein they must needes be the more inexcusable, because it lieth more in euerie particular andriuate mans power to remedie and remoue these then the other.

And thus you see that these customes, prescriptions, ex­emptions and other like corruptions, are consonant nei­ther [Page 31] to the word of God, the iudgement of the auncient, the law ecclesiasticall, nor rule of equitie: That their ground and originall is vicious, and all their fruits and ef­fects, to the Church and religion of the Church very perni­cious, and therefore ought to be to all good men odious; and as Math. 15. 13. euill plants which our heauenly father hath not planted, of euery man to his power and place, bee roo­ted out.

But what? doe I then condemne and reiect all customes, Custome is good for the manner of tithing. compositions, &c? no, in no wise. The custome of euerie place, De modo decimandi, for the manner of tithing, which in diuerse places is diuers, is exceeding necessarie Lindw. de dec in Gloss. verb. vniformis: Idem C. Quoniam propter. verb. consuetud. Re­buff. de decim. qu. 13. fig. 49. 50 Hostiens. in sum e. tit. § fin. q. 16. Ridl. view. p. 148 and commendable: and the due and inuiolable obseruation thereof is the certaine meanes and direct way to con­serue peace, and auoide contention betwixt pastour and people.

Likewise if for some of the smaller tithes, by reason they are not so easily alwaies to bee knowne and laid out, as the greater, there were some custome or composition that the parishnor should pay for them ad valorem terrae, after the rate of the ground from time to time. Or if for each particular of that sort (for in them is the most diffi­cultie of tithing) there were a seuerall rate or valew cer­taine, so it were proportionable to the thing and alterable with the time: such a custome or composition might bee See the like in another case Pulton. Ab. ti­tle. Iustice of P. num. 66. tollerable for both sides and grieuous to neither; men that loue quietnesse would better be pleased to be at a certaine rate, then an vncertaine reckoning: yet so God should one way or other haue his iust tenth still. And no reasona­ble man could nor might dislike that our rates should rise and fall, as doe their grounds or goods.

And verie likely it is, that not a few of the customes, Customes at first not so hurtful as now they be. and prescriptions, that now are found so preiudiciall to the Church, had some such like beginning. The Foem. Monarc. in the conclusi. n. 7. b. agree­ment was according to the full valew and worth of the tithe or ground for the time present: which the one side thought better for him to paie, and the other for him to [Page 32] receiue, then the thing it selfe in kinde.

Which considered, Their dooing, An. 2. Ed. 6. Cap. 13. Pult. tith. Num. 41. which tied vs vnto compositions, customes, prescriptions, &c. and did not leaue vs at libertie to take either the rate or the thing, and (as had beene iust and necessarie, and Pulton. Ab. tithes. Num. 25 An. 2. Ed. 6. c. 13 in the bodie of the sta­tute, if that might haue its due course, is alreadie well pro­uided) restore to the Church all her tithes in kinde without diminution, is the lesse blame worthie, because the valew of the tithe and rate, being at that time little different, we may coniecture, they had no intent (as who could not so much as imagine that things would grow to those high prices, whereunto now they are risen) so extreamely to damnifie the Church, and take from vs our tithes for little or nothing; but onely or specially that way to prouide for the ease and peace of both sides.

But now such compositions, customes and prescripti­ons, by the very alteration of times especially, besides the large extent Ridl. view of law. pag. 210. and sinister explications of the statutes by which they stand, prouing so hurtfull and preiudiciall to the Church, that the same should still bee continued and pressed against the Church, is a course against equitie and pietie too. And therefore howsoeuer they might be, or be thought to be fit and necessarie for those times, wherein those statutes were made, yet now appearing and daily found verie vnfit and vnequall for these our times, for so much as humane lawes, which are but leges temporis the lawes of the time, Lindw. lib. 3. tit. de. celebr. miss. c. effrenata. glos. temp. v. qua­litate etist. 4. c. erit. An alteration now desired. ought to be suteable to the times, I trust wee may without either blame or offence desire some alteration and reformation in this beehalfe. It cannot be denied that all lawes of men haue, as all things vnder sun, Postn. pag. 47. ortum, statum & occasum, their beginning in which they might be verie good, their state in which they are but in­different, and their declining in which they prooue vnfit, and so shew themselues worthy, and as it were offer them­selues readie to grow out of vse, and giue place to better. Which in this cause not respected, if, as these things got protection, where and when they should haue had con­demnation [Page 33] and extirpation, so, to the farther increase of iniquitie in our land, and miserie in our Church, they shall be fauoured (as oft is seene) ^u beyond the very scope and true sense of those statutes, and Ridl. view of law. p. 131. 139. 210. men will stand strictly vpon the letter of each law, and not follow Postn. p. 53. dictamen ra­tionis, the sway of sound reason, and the Cod. lib. 1. tit. 17. de leg. & cunsuetud. Reg. Iur. Sext. Lopez. de con­tract. & neget. lib. 1. C. 15. p. 81. minde of the law, much mischiefe, and manifolde inconuenience (as in this case is too manifest) will and must needes insue, and the old prouerbe Tul. de offic. l. 1 Summum ius, summa iniuria, that is, such, extreame law is extreame iniury bee plainely verified. Idem. A man but heathen wise can tell and teach vs, that in such cases. Non exempla Maiorum quaerenda, sed consilium est eo­rum a quibus exempla nata sunt, explicandum, that is, The examples or the verie facts of our fore elders are not to be stood vpon, but their purpose and intent, whence their facts procee­ded, is to be considered. This onely is true and rational imi­tation.

Neither doe we desire other fauour and course in this our cause, then is commonly graunted to others in cases In sundrie new statutes, repeales, ex­planations, &c not a few: and in this verie case (custome for tithes) hath Puliō. Ab. [...]i [...]h. Num. 41. lin. 1. for behoofe of the laitie against the Note there, the laietie ha­uing found but one vnreaso­nable custōe against them, and that but in an Angle of the land, could haue it speedi­ly cut away: the cleargie finde many in all places, yet they can haue no redresse. Church, long since beene practised.

Yea, But what a sore losse and hinderance, would this be to a great many?

Graunt, that because that another hath, they haue not, it be some losse or abatement of their vsuall income and former profit, yet that may easily bee borne, if men will consider as Christians should, that God (as the man of God told 2. Chron. 15. 9. Reynold. pref. Serm. on. Obad. the king of Israel, that asked what he should doe then, for the many talents of siluer he had laid out?) is able to giue them much more then that comes vnto, by restoring it an­other way, and by blessing and increasing (according to his speciall promise Malac.. 3. 8. in this case) the remainder. If not, that Prou. 16. 8. better is a little with righteousnesse, and Prou. 15. 16. Psal. 37. 16. in the feare of the Lord, then great reuenewes without equitie. But in verie deede it is none, no man ought to account it any losse or hindrance to him Rom. 13. 7. Deut. 24. 15. to pay his due to anie, but aboue all [Page 43] to God. And, if men caried an indifferent minde, why should anie account it anie hurt to them to pay their full tithe in one thing more then in another? or more to them then to their neighbours that now pay the like? or to their predecessors, which in their times did pay, as then each thing was worth? It is a mans hurt to liue by other mens Turpe lucrnea, res pessima. goods, and to continue in doing wrong vnto, or defrau­ding anie, Prou. 20. 25. specially, God and his Church, from time to time, as all they doe, as I haue now sufficiently shewed, which doe not giue to God his things in kinde to the full, or the full valew and due estimation thereof at the least.

From the matter I come to the manner how wee must 2. The manner how we must giue. giue. That considering, it seemes vnto mee, that the verie word Abulens. in Matb. qu. 99. Dixit. Reddite et non date: qui­a dare est dona­re vel sponte dare: reddere autem est soluere quod acceperis. 1. Freely. giue doth necessarily implie three things, that is, that we pay that which is due to God freely, fully, and time­ly, for that indeede is rightly to giue a thing, when it is be­stowed freely without constraint or respect of this or that profit, fully without diminution, and timely in due and con­uenient season, without either disordered hast or needlesse delaie.

First we must giue freely. God as in all things so doubt­lesse in this, 2. Cor. 9. 7. Ecclus. 35. 10. loueth a cheerfull giuer, and cannot abide that men should as it were conductitia intentione with a merce­nary mind, as those that doe all for gaine and profit, yeeld him that is his. He will not haue men make merchandize of his goods, as if they were their owne & not Gods, Math. 10. 8. gra­tis accepistis, gratis date, that is, freely ye haue receiued &c.

Secondly, we must giue fullie, not looking if it be good or bad, neither Leuit. 27. 33 may we change it. Gods owne Law. Hee 2. Fully. that bids vs to giue one another Luk. 6. 38. good measure and run­ning ouer, doth looke not to be pinched and scanted at our hands, as if wee counted all too much that hee or his are to receiue. If we keepe the fattest and fairest to our selues, and turne him the scruffe and whatsoeuer is nought or little worth, will hee accept it? How hee liketh such dea­ling, his law may teach vs wherin oftentimes he requireth, [Page 35] that his offerings be Leuit. 1. &. 3. & 22. 18. 19. 20: &c. Deut. 17. 1. Num 28. 3. 31. of the best, without blemish &c. and his Prophet Malachy can certifie vs, who saith expresly on Gods behalfe, Malac. 1. 13. ye haue offered that which was torne, and the lame, and the sicke, and should I accept this at your hand, saith the Lord? Againe, Ver. 14. Cursed be the deceiuer, which hath in his flocke a male, and yet voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing. And Ver. 8. Offer it now to thy Prince, will hee be content with it, or accept thy person? Adde to these the so­lemne protestation which God required at euery mans hand, what time hee made his account, whereof yee may read, Deut, 26. The summe whereof is this, Deut. 26. 12. when thou hast made an end of tithing, then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I haue brought the hallowed thing out of mine house, and also haue giuen it to the Leuite according to thy comman­dement? I haue not eaten thereof in my mourning for any ne­cessity whatsoeuer, nor suffered ought to perish by putting it to any prophane vsage, or carelesly letting it to be spoi­led, but haue harkned to the voice of the Lord my God, and done after all that thou in this case hast commanded me. Looke downe therefore from thine holy habitation, euen from Heauen, and blesse mee. God will haue him know hee must none otherwise looke to be blessed of God, and made to prosper in all that hee had, but according as God, knowing the secrets of all hearts, did know that he had dealt truely, and iustly with God and his ministers in this point.

Thirdly, Wee must giue timely, euery thing in his due season. Exod. 22. 29. Thine abundance and thy liquor meaning the tithes 3. Timely. thereof, as Decimas et primitias tuas. the old translator reads it, and all expositors vnderstand it, non tardabis offerre, thou shalt not defer to pay vnto the Lord: but shalt do it Guid. in consil. et proces. q. 1. I. Si cui in f. ff. de verb. signif. Panorm. in 2. vocab. out of hand, so soon as it is payable, & can be seuered from the rest. Let it not lye a rot­ting or spilling thou carest not how long. It is Deut. 24. 15. Num. 18. 31. the worke­mans wages that laboureth for thee in the Lords vineyard, let it not abide with thee beyond the appointed time. Bis dat, qui cito dat. A due duely paid, must needs be both bet­ter, and better welcome, then when it is deferd and paide [Page 36] at our leysure, wee care not when nor how. And as thou maist not detaine it beyond due time, so neither oughtest thou to impose and thrust it vnto the Church, before the due time. As fruits are not fit to bee gathered before they be ripe, so tithes not to bee tendred till they bee ready. As Rebuf. de dec. q. 12. fig. 1. per. l. cum res in fi▪ ff. deleg. 1. glo. et doct. in d. C. cū bomines. Guid. Pa. consil. 70. ex prec. q. 1. minus soluit, qui tardius soluit, so by like reason, minus dat qui citius dat. Ouer-hastines in the one, cannot but bee as preiudiciall and hurtful, as delay in the other. In which case though our couetous and vnconscionable age cares little what is right and reason, so they rid the thing out of their fingers, yet the example and practise of former times might shew them, if they would see, what they ought to doe in this matter. People now will not know that Dist. 49. c. vlt. in sin. Indig­num est dare Deo, quod dedignatur homo, that is, It is a thing vnworthie and euill to offer that to God which euen an or­dinary man would for the meanenesse & vnfitnesse disdain to receiue: nor consider that it is great reason the men of God, haue that which is theirs, as Joh. Andr. in add. ad spec. in verb. speciem. commodious and fit for their vse, as any other man hath, Hen. Boh. in c. cū homines. cod. Oldr. confil. 236 Three sorts of men offend here against. 1. Impropria­tors. Hous. on Matth. 21. Serm. 2. p. 50 lest their part pe­rish, while the rest doth prosper.

Against this threefold forme of this commandement, there be three sorts of men that notoriously offend.

First, of Impropriators no small number, which haue in­uaded the Patrimony of the Church, and taken from it of the Gleeb, the tithes, and other profits no small quanti­ty, as if they had consulted with them of whom the Pro­phet speakes Psalm. 83. 12. Psal. 83. that said, Let vs take to our selues the houses of God in possession: they haue dealt in Gods house as 1. Sam. 15. Saul did about Gods commandement. All that was vncertaine, naught, leane and little worth, that haue they left (and yet scant that neither in some places) to bee disposed of according to Gods commandement, that is, toward the maintenance of the Minister, but the fattest and the fairest, whatsoeuer was goodly to the eye, or commodious to the purse, as I may say woorth the taking, that they haue laide hands on, and disposed of at their pleasure. But if that were sinne in Saul, & transgression against God so hainous, that [Page 37] 1. Sam. 15. 23. for it the Lord cast away Saul and his house, shal not this be sinne also in these, and that such sinne as Couel. praefat. to Carlton. may threaten the off-casting of them and theirs? If it were sacriledge in Nebuchadnezzar, though a Conqueror Dan. 5. to take away the goulden vessels of the Temple, & in Belshazzar Ibidem. Down. Serm. on. 1. Tim. 3. 1. Ridl. view. pag. 145. to abuse them vnto prophane vses? what is it in them to haue taken away not the moueables onely, but euen the Patrimony of the Church too? that haue turned out the Priests of God from the inheritance of the Lord; and beeing none of the seed of Leui, are King. on Ionas. lect. 33. pag. 463. against all equity and conscience entred in­to it themselues.

The Popes authority by which such spoiles were first made Pilking. on Ag. cap. primo. apud canonist. passim. Hostien. lib. 2. c. 1. Catus. test. ve­ril. Tom. 2. li. 15. Rebuf. de dec. q. 5. et. 13. to feede his Monks withall, will not defend them, whom he did neuer intend should haue any part with his in the Churches right. It prooues their Originall Down. Sermon on. 1. Tim. 3. 1. to bee Antichristian and them to be without excuse, which haue not so much as Rebuf. de dec. q. 13. fig. 32. et 108. an erroneous good intent to shadow their sinne withall.

Tract of time and vse cannot make these lawfull and good. Reg iur. ant. 29. Quod initio vitio sum est, non potest tractu temporis conualescere: that is, What was faulty in the vprising, can­not but be naughty in the proceeding Math. Westm. in flor. hist. an 1261. Iohan. Sarisb. de nug. curial. l. 7. c. 17. They were, they Bucer. de regn. cbr. lib. 2. cap. 7. Latim. ser. 1. et 6 before K. Ed. 6. Lamb. Peramb. of Kent. Monū. of Martyrs. p. Suruey of p. di­scip. pag. 243. Leauer. serm. at P. crosse. are, and so long as they continue, they will be, the bane of the people, the shame of our Church, the great hinderance of lear­ning, the impouerishment of our Cleargie, and the infamy of our profession.

The Carlt. cap. 1. Ridl. view of l. pag. 143. 161. erroneous and late vpstart opinions neither of po­pish writers, which to flatter that man of sinne, and to salue his all-oppressing power and infinite sacriledges: nor of reformed writers, which either vpon detestation of po­perie, wherein Church-goods, the things of God were so much abused; or vpon a carelesse neglect of this matter, running along with the current of the time, that so they might the better attend points of doctrine more materiall or controuersall, haue held, Tithes not to be de iure diui­no a matter of Diuine right, and, that Zanch. de Red. in praec. 4. c. 19. Pet. Marc. loc. com. Class. 4. cap. 13. §. 18. the Magistrate [Page 38] might dispose of them and other Church-goods at their pleasure, so as the ministers of Churches were any way suf­ficiently prouided for; will not suffice for shelter in this case: the truth being now come to light, and this most e­uidently cleared, that these things are the Lords Ridl. view p. 172. his pro­per right and peculiar inheritance.

Nor can the shadow of humane law shield them from sinne, seeing it is certaine Fent. Serm. on prou. 20. 25. pag. 46. et 53. Hooker. pol. eccl. lib. 5. §. 79. Foem. Mon. n. 3. a It is not in the power of man, to take from God his right, nor iustly to dispossesse him of that which either from the beginning is his, or for long time he hath beene inuested withall: vnlesse it may be pro­ued that Policie is aboue Piety, and that to be lawful among vs, which Stat. engl. an 1533. Fox pag. 1750 et 1861. Symach. Rom. si­nod. 6. Marcell. c. u. q. 3. c. 35. we haue vtterly condemned in the Papists, and of themselues See Iuel. Des. cont. Hard. part. 3. cap. 1. Diuis. 2 2. Many Pa­trones. not a few doe disclaime, I meane that man hath power to dispence against the law and worde of God.

Next to these are Patrones of Churches and other their Confederates and broakers not a few, which vnder any co­lour whatsoeuer, deteine any part of the gleebe or tithes, or otherwise where C [...]altaria. i. q. 3 Astesa. in 2. part. sum. rub. de Dec. art. 7. tit. 35. they ought freely, for the onely re­spect vnto religion, and to the worthinesse and learning of the partye (not seeking who will giue most: but who is most worthy to receiue) giue their benefices, doe make a gaine thereof Foem. Monar. in the cōcl. o. i. b. and seeke not the good of the Church but their owne good. If it were sin in the Iewish chapmen Matth 21. 12. to sell their oxen, sheepe, and doues in the house of God, what is it in these that sel the very house of God it selfe? or Boys Dominic post. Trin. 10. p. 227. as one saith wittily, magna, parua, omnia. And Down. Serm. on 1. Tim. 3. 1. if it were sacri­ledge in Act. 5. Calrt. c. 5. fol. 31. Ananias & Saphira, to keepe away part of what themselues had consecrated to God, when as not consecra­ted the whole was in their power; I take it to be most plain & euident, y ^t it can be no lesse then sacriledge in these Har­pics to take from God, what was long since, for many ages past, giuen vp to God? and not by themselues, but by holy and deuout men of former times freely and frankly deuo­ted & Policrat. lib. 7. cap. 17. Fulk. in act. 5. sect. 7. consecrated pietati & fidei: and what neuer was in their power, but was, either by their ancient progenitors, or other predecessors, long and long agoe, by all the meanes [Page 39] they could deuise, euen Capit. Carul. l. 6. cap. 285. and as appeares in sundry ancient records. offerimus Deo quod ecclesiae tradimus. with execration and malediction to them that should altar, or violate the same, passed out of their owne power, and left only (as Gods depositum) to their fidelity and trust, in the name & to the vse of the whole pa­rish, & right of the Church from time to time to be freely & liberaly bestowed. If a man were put in trust but with an other mans goods by word or wil, to imploy it or see it be­stowed to such & such vses: would not Iuuenal. Satyr. 13. all men condemne him, for a godlesse & faithlesse man, that should falsifie the trust in him reposed, & as Virgil. Aenead. 3. Polymnestor did with Polidore, deceiuing & wronging those to whom of right it apper­tains, conuert it in rem suam, to his owne vse? How much more ought wee to know and acknowledge them to bee without any true fear of God, honest faith to men, or good conscience in themselues, which so solemnly & substantial­ly be trusted by God & his Church with y ^e things of God, the patrimony of the Church, the tithes and oblations of the people, turning their Reinold. on Obad. Serm. 2. patronage into pillage, faith into fraud, and trust into treachery, shall defraud God, spoile the Church and abuse the people, seeking and making thereof their owne wicked gaine and filthy lucre?

Let men set what colour they can vpon this rotten post, Their visards vnmasked. and indeed Couetousnesse, Symonie and Sacriledge are now a daies exceeding cunning and crafty: and let these practises bee as common and ordinary as may bee, and in­deed (or Boys. Dominic. Palm. p. 135. else the world is much deceiued,) they be grown to that height, that as S. Bernard said long agoe of ano­ther whelpe of this little Bernard. sup. cantic. ser. 33. latere prae abundantia non valet, et prae impudentia non quaerit, much more may wee of these, for the abundance thereof hid they cannot be, and for the impudency thereof to be hid, they seeke not to be: yea bee it as Hous. Serm. 1. on Matth. 21. 12. p. 27. 34. 40. one of our time most truly hath obserued, videntur lici­ta, quia publica: that is, these sinnes seeme to many to bee law­full to be done, because they be so commonly and so openly done, yet Andr. Hisp. reg. Dec. i. sinne is sinne. Ada [...]. Eras. pag. 313. Lupus pilum mutat, non mentem, and such sinnes these are as God doth, and will surely and se­uerely reuenge: and hee cannot be a good or honest man, [Page 40] let men repute him what they will, that defiles his fingers herewith. Reinold. Ser. on Obad. 2. If they thinke to couer their prophane dealing with Iosh. 7. 22. Achans conueyance, by hiding the pray; or to wash their hands with Matth. 27. 24. Pilates pretence, that they are guiltlesse of the euill, if any be committed, because they giue the ad­uousons freelie to friends or seruants, they deceiue them­selues. Galat. 6. 7. God is not mocked: and hee will finde them out in a day when they looke not for him, and in an houre that they are not ware off, and bring them to shame and confu­sion, with punishment more dreadfull then he did either Iosh. 7. 22. Achan, or Act 5. 5. Ananias, and make them and theirs feele by lamentable experience, as all histories Dan 5. 2. Machab. 7. 3. Diuine Ioseph. Antiqu. Iud. lib. 14. c. 12. Valer. Max. l. 1. c. 2. Liu. Decad. 3 l. 2. Plin. l. 9. c. 1. Macrob. lib. 3. Sabellic. Aenead. 4. l. 3. p 527. et Aen. 5. l. 5. p. 764. et ibid. l. 8. p. 821. Polid. angl. bist. l. 10. Buyers & sel­lers are like guilty in Sy­monie. and hu­mane doe contest, that Ruine is the end of Sacriledge. For, where there is, Boys Dominic. Palm. p. 135. Gloria patri, without a sicut in principio, there cannot be gloria filio, nunc et in sacula.

Will they tell vs; The fault is theirs that giue, not that take mony? Hous. Ser. 1. on Matth. 21. 12. pag. 26. We tell them, that Selling and buying are both in one Predicament. The schoolemen haue defined long a­goe Tho. 22 ae q. 100 Art. 1. Gela. epist 1. cap. 23. Nic. de clem. ep. ad Gelas. Rebuf. de dec. qu. 10. fig. 19. that vendentes conformantur Simoni in intentione, si non actu: that is, the sellors of spirituall liuings are all one with Simon Magus in intent, if not in act. And we may tell them too, that theirs of the two is the greater sinne, because they prouoke and inforce them to buy dearly, that full gladly would receiue freely, And more, if Simon Peter had sinned no lesse then Simon Magus, if he had accepted the money which the other offered, (and this no Diuine did euer de­nye) how much more if he had offered that gift to him for money? then certainely these which take, not what is vn­sought or vnthought on offered them, but seeke out gi­uers; let crie Matth. 26. 15. Quid dabitis mihi? What will ye giue me? tarye for chapmen; and trye who will offer most, can be no lesse in sinne then their copesmates the buyers. And therefore be­ing pares culpa, as much in falt Hous. Serm. 1. on Matth. 21. 12 pag. 48. at the least, they must look to be pares paena, as much punished too, if not at the hand of man, yet of God, which Rom. 2. 6. Collos. 3. 25. without respect of persons iudgeth euery man according to his worke: and we shall doe them but right, to lap them vp together in that curse which [Page 41] Peter, hauing both his hands and his heart free from par­taking with Magus, denounced against their principall predecessor Act. 8. 20. Acts 8. Pecunia tua tecum pereat, &c. Your mony so giuen and so taken, and you that giue it and take it, perish together. For we see that you both buyers and sel­lers, are in the gall of bitternes, and in the bond of iniquitie; and that the hearts of neither sort of you, is vpright in the sight of God. Therefore Greg. lib. 9. epist. 33. Anathema danti, anathema accipi­enti: that is, Cursed be the giuer, and cursed be the taker: and let all that loue God and the Church say Amen.

To the third place I reduce all such as eyther by meere 3 Parishioners not a few. 1. Vnder co­lour. fraud, and open iniury; or by pretended customes, compo­sitions, prescriptions, exemptions, and other like sacrilegi­ous courses, defraude the minister of his due, extort and pare of to themselues any part of his portion, the things of God Down. Serm. on 1. Tim. 3. 1. Pretence of custome &c. will not shield them from sacriledge, nor saue them from sinne in this behalfe: as you may sufficiently gather by that already saide vpon the for­mer branch.

Hard haply this would seeme to manie, and some per­aduenture will say of my words, Amos. 7. 10. The land cannot beare them. But whether they Ezech. 2. 5. heare or heare not, like or like not, I for my part dare not Isai. 5. 20. Ezech. 13. 10. speake good of euill, and euill of good, nor put light for darkenesse, nor darkenesse for light, for feare of a worse displeasure then anie Psal. 118. 6. Matth. 10. 28. flesh and blood can doe vnto me.

Let the custome, let the prescription be what it may be; in all equitie and conscience Matth. 7. 12. (which is the truest and sa­fest rule to walke by) were there no law to exact ought of them, Parishoners ought to allow their Minister (for Matth. 10. 10. 1. Tim. 5. 18. Reason and e­quitie ought preuaile with Christians a­boue Law or custome. The labourer is worthie of his meate) necessarie and competent maintenance, which they neither doe nor can doe, while as the whole euen in their own knowledge and conscience being with the least, they, by their cu­stomes, &c. debarre him of no small part thereof, and so doe leaue and allow him (whether hee sinke or swim they care not) such a short scantling, and so sparing an allow­ance, [Page 42] as they know is altogether too little, and vnfit for the minister of the Gospell, and a preacher of the word to liue vpon. D. Some pref. to his treat. of sacram. arg. 2. Sophronist. p. 55. Rebuff. de con­gru. port. p. 335. & 390. fig. 94. C. Omnis Chri­stianus de conse­cr. dist. 1. Pa­norm. in dist. c. ex present. col. vlt. de pign. Reason it were, that seeing what in shew and common account remaines vnto the Church, is altogether incompetent and vnsufficient for the ministers mainte­nance, they should, by a mutuall consent (reason and equi­tie preuailing with them aboue law and custome) restore vnto him that at the least, which by euidence of reason, example of others, rule of Gods word, lawes eccesiasticall, or other like certaine demonstration they shall finde and know to be long vnto the Church, and As al his pre­diall tithes in kinde or ad verum valorem his personall tithes either by iust compu­tation, or by reasonable composition. in verie deede to be the ministers due: that so he Both in town & countrie. might be able indeede 1. Cor. 9. 14. Parishoners ought to forgo their customes & pay their ful tithe in kinde. ex euangelio viuere, that is, to liue of the Gospell.

Neither neede they doubt least in so doing they should indammage themselues, or preiudice their pa­rish. The thing being so consonant to equitie, and ten­ding to so pious and good a purpose, could not but bee verie well pleasing to God and gratefull to good men: and therefore promise them an assured hope Mal. 3. 8. of Gods blessing vpon all that they haue, Luk. 17. 37. Ministers ought to exact it of them and vrge them to it and procure them an a­ble and painefull minister from time to time. Nor hath a­nie minister cause to feare least in asking or exacting this he should offend God, and passe the bounds of his duetie. He asketh but what in verie deede is his due, and deman­deth but what originally and properly is Gods and the Churches right: and doth thereby reduce them that now goe wrong into a right and due course. A case long since re­solued Rebuff. de dec. q. 13. fig. 59. &. qu. 14. fig. 11. Angel. Clauos. in verb. dec. §. 2. C. qui cōtra. dist. 8. Hostiens. in. c. aliquis infi [...]. cod. Andr. Hisp. regul. dec. 8. et notab. 5. Clerico si desint alimenta integras decimas petere licebit, non obstante aliqua praescriptione, that is, The mini­ster, if he want maintenance, may lawfully demaund his full tithes, any prescription or custome, to the contrarie notwith­standing, grounded vpon the law of God and nature, 1. Cor. 9. 9. 1 Tim. 5. 18. Deut. 25. 4. which saith. Thou shalt not mousle, that is, withhold ne­cessarie food and maintenance from the mouth of the oxe, that treadeth out the corne: and a better course by far, then that which in some places of our land is practised, I meane, [Page 43] to amend the ministers liuing by some yearely pension or stipend raised among few; which like an Hous. Serm. 1. on. Mat. 21. pag. 34. almes to a beg­ger, they may continue or discontinue at their pleasure; and is caried without anie equal indifferency in the world, neither want we in this case besides warrant, example out of the word, for wee reade that albeit through the sinne of Ieroboam which made Israel to sinne, it was become 2. Chr. 30. 5. 10 3. King. 12. 28. Tobi. 1. 4. Ioseph. Antiqu. iud. tib. 8. cap. 3. Hous. ser. 2. pag. 21. 34. a custome in Israel, & confirmed by law, throughout the ten tribes bring neither tithes, nor anie other due, to the house of God in Ierusalem, yet 2. Chr. 30. 11. 18. 2. Chr. 31. 5. 5. 11 Tob. 1. 4. &. 5. 13 such among the ten tribes as vn­fainedly feared God, and had the true knowledge of the law, held not themselues discharged by anie such custome or law, but as they that knew well, that an interest or propri­etie Quod diuini iuris est, id nul­lius in bonis est. Iastit. lib. 2. tit. 1 Item. Aliquāde siquis etiam b [...] ­na fide rem pos­siderit: non ta­men illi vsuca­pio vllo tempor [...] procedit: veluti siquis-rem sa­cram vel religi­osam-possideat. lib. 2. tit. 6. 2. By open in­iurie. in the things that bee Gods, gotten vel vi, vel fraude, either by open force or cunning fraud makes neither iust title nor lawfull possessour, the same notwithstanding, veritie and equitie more preuailing with them then anie custome or humane law, did pay their tithes as they were due, to whom, by an euerlasting decree they belonged as appeareth. 2. Chron. 31. Tob. 1. & 5.

As for them which not contented vnder colour of law, custome and other like pretences to haue taken from the minister a great part of his right, doe make no conscience Extra. de dec. cap. 16. q. 1. et. 7 et in c. tua. de dec. glos. et doct. in. c. sciscitaue­ris. 7. quest. 1. C. quisquis. 17. q. 4. Caietam. in Sum. in verb. decimas. to deceiue & cousen him euē of that too which they, hau­ing no cloake to hide their sin withall, both know and ac­knowledge to be his due, whether I accuse thē of oppressi­on or fraud, of theft or sacriledge, of cruelty or impiety, no­thing too hard, nothing too much shall be spoken against thē. And if I condemne them as much as any of the former, of notorious sin & wickednes against God & man, no man may iustly blame me. Of such it may be said without al ex­ceptiō or limitation Andr. Hisp. in reg. 1. de dec. Rebuff. de dec. qu. 15. fig. 26. Non soluentes decimas, filij sunt perditi­onis: sunt ipsi in statu damnationis & ijs participantes, &c. that is, They that doe not iustly pay their tithes are children of perdition, and both they themselues are in state of damnation, and likewise al they that be partakers, abettours, counsellors, or helpers vnto them therein. They are not fit nor worthy to be [Page 44] trusted and credited in their other dealings, for, Terent. in adelph. Qui pa­trem fallere insueuerit, facile audebit caeteros, that is, He that will make little conscience to deceiue his owne father, (God, the Church, and his Ghostly father) lesse will he make to serue others in like sort. They shew thēselues to haue neither Luk. 18. 2. fear of God, nor care for mā: Matth. 10. 14 Calu. in Deut. 12 Mari. in Gal. 6. 7 to be vnworthie the precious Gos­pell of Iesus Christ and his ministers, both which they doe so contemne, and what in them is, expell from among them: and to be worse then many of the heathen and infi­dels of the world, which highly Mal. 3. 8. feared to rob their Gods, which yet were no Gods, but the worke of mens hands: and Diod. Sicul. l. 2 &. lib. 3. Alex. ab. Alexand▪ lib. 2. eap. 8. counted their priests worthy of greatest honour. Then for whom therefore our Sauiour hath foretold vs and them, Matth. 10. 14 tolerabilius erit in die iudicij; that is, it shall be more tollerable for them of Sodom and Gomorha in the day of Iudgement.

The third generall part of the text.

HItherto haue we heard what is to bee done. Let vs The maine & principall rea­son why we must giue to God, the things of God. heare also the maine reason wherfore it must be done, we must giue to God, what? the things of God, why? because they are Gods, they doe properly belong vnto him as his owne possession, they are Deut. 18. 1. Numb. 18. 20. Ezec. 44. 28. a peculiar inheritance or speci­all portion reserued to himselfe, so that although he Psal. hath giuen the earth to the sonnes of men, yet these Sacrum vecti­gal. Calu. in. Heb. 7. 4. like a cheefe rent to a land-lord, or a certaine tribute to a king, alwaies excepted and reserued. Can we desire a cleerer testimonie of it then Gods owne claime and seasure. Numb. 18? Numb. 18. Deut. 10. 9. Iosh. 13. 14. Leuit. 27. The tenth is mine, and when men began wickedly to alienate the same, and vsurpe vpon his sacred right, then his reclaime & reseiure therof Mal. 3. where hauing charged them, that they had robbed him, whereof? of his tithes and oblations, he saith, but Malac. 3. 10. bring ye now hence forward omnes decimas in horreum meum. Bring ye euery tithe into my barne: and then See before pag. 1. in marg. constant and generall consent of all christendome, which as it were vno ore & animo, with one minde and one mouth, haue euer accounted and called these things Rebuff. de. dec. qu. 9. fig. 9. Gods part; the [Page 45] things of Gods, &c. Of which point before, and In my. M. Min, cap. 6. and 7. other­where I haue sufficiently intreated.

The vse. Are they Gods? It is equitie then to pay them to God, for equitie requireth and iustice biddeth that we giue to euerie one Rom. 13. 7. quod suum est, his owne: were it in none other repect, but because Prou. 3. 27. It is pietie to pay them. he is the right owner thereof. More, seeing he that owes them is God, it is pietie too, to yeeld them. Tertul. in apo­log. cap. 39. Pietas est pro pietate sumptus facere: i. It is pietie for pieties sake, and the setting forth of religion, to be at cost, and Philo. Iud. lib. de praem. et ho­nor. Sacerdotū. victus sacerdotum lautior, publicae pietatis est indicium: that is, The ample and condigne maintenance of the ministers of the Church, is an vndoubted argument of our publique Pie­tie, and true loue and deuotion vnto God: as contra of the contrarie.

On the other side, to with holde them, or to take them To detaine them, it is. 1. Sacriledge against God. or anie part of them from God is iniquitie, it is iniurie be­cause so the right owner is wronged and defrauded: more, seeing the owner of these things is not man but God, it is impietie, yea, it is sacriledge, the highest and the horriblest sinne in that kinde that can be. If he doth sinne that robs or defraudes a priuate man, and hee doe more sinne that robs the Countrie, or ransackes the princes treasure, how much more must he needes sinne, and be guiltie of grie­uous transgression, that defraudeth, that robbeth, that ran­sacketh, not a priuate man, not a Prince among men, but God himselfe? Iustin. leg. 1. digest. ad legem Iuliam. Sacriledge worse then treason. Proximum Sacrilegio crimen est quod Ma­iestatis dicitur: that is, Treason is a pettie sinne in compari­son of sacriledge. The reason is rendred by Saint Augustine. Aug. cōt. cres [...] lib. 4. cap. 10. Tanto grauius est peccatum, quanto committi nonpotest [...]isi in Deum, that is. This sinne is so much the more grieuous and abhominable, because it can be committed against none other, but against God him selfe.

As they are Gods by reseruation, so are they the ministers of God by assignation, for them hath God passed ouer (as Before pag. 5 is alreadie noted) for the vse of his sanctuarie, for the maintenance of his ministers ther­in, that so 1. Cor. 9. 14. qui predicant euangelium, ex euangelio vi­viuant: [Page 46] they which preach the Gospell may liue of the Gospell: and Theoph. in lo­cum. Phil. Iust. de praem. et hon. Sacerd. neither they that receiue such things be ashamed to receiue them, as if they liued by almes, or were sustained by the sweat of other mens browes: nor they that pay them be insolent against the receiuers, as if they gaue to such their owne goods, and nourished them at their charge. Being then theirs by assignation, whosoeuer take or keepe from them 2. Sacriledge against the Church. these things, or doe not giue them in due sort, are guiltie of farther sinne in that as they rob God, so man also. And by how much it must needes be a greater sinne for children to rob their parents, or subiects their prince, so it is and needes must bee a greater sinne, to defraud and rob the men to whom these things are assigned and allotted by God, I meane his Church and the ministers thereof, then to rob or defraud some ordinarie and priuate persons. He (saith Salomon) Prou. 28. 24. that robbeth his father and mother, and saith it is no sinne, is the companion of a man that is a destroyer, what then may we say, is he that defraudeth and robbeth God his Matth. 6. 32. celestiall father, the minister of God his 1, Cor. 4. 15. spirituall fa­ther, and the Church of God his Galat. 4. 26. mother, and this all at once, and in one action? The God whom such wrong, the Lord I say that hath testified, that Matth. 10. 14. Luk. 10. 16. whosoeuer receiueth and condignely entertaineth them, receiueth him, and who­soeuer dispiseth, Ignat. ad. Tral. et ad Magn. and contemptibly handleth them, either for their doctrine or their persons, despiseth him, will no doubt reuenge such iniquitie as done vnto himselfe. And as Dauid extreamely handled the children of Ammon, that shamefully intreated 2. Sam. 10. 4. Chrysost. in. 2. Tim. homil. 2. his messengers, by shauing their beards, and cutting short their garments: so questionlesse the Matth. 22. 42. Couel. in praefat. to Carlet. sonne of Dauid will seuerely punish all such as doe and shal contemptuously handle his seruants by cripping their liuings and clipping their benefices in such sort, that they are faine to eate the shels and take the straw, when others haue the kernels and the corne: and are inforced, as 1. King. 18. 13 the Prophets of God in a time of persecution, to liue parcè & duriter with bread and water in a caue or a corner; and to goe in a frise coate, or a flannell wastcoat, which Diony­sius [Page 47] Valer. Max. lib. 1. cap. 2. Br [...]son. li. 6. c. 9. an Atheist, a Church-robber, thought warm enough for winter, and colde enough for summer, while, not the prophets of the groues, nor the monkes of the cloisters, but the gallants of the court & the great ones of the coun­trie Luc. 16. 19. are decked with the fairest, and crammed with the fattest of their portions.

2. Are they Gods? The notice thereof ought to in­forme vs all, that howsoeuer these things may seeme much These things are not too much for God or his mini­sters. in valew, and great in quantitie, yet they are not, nor we ought not to account them too much, too great, for Fent. Serm. on Pro. 20. 25. p. 26 M. Min. c. 7. et. 8 what part or portion of our goods should it beseeme God to haue, but such as is great and honorable? Is it meet to offer but to some terrene prince or noble man, any thing but such as is of some good valew? faire, and fit for vs to giue, and him to receiue? such as might argue our affection to­wards him, and moue his liking towards vs? much more is it fit when we offer to our God, 1. Tim. 6. 15. the king of kings and Lord of Lords, that it should be, not some contemptible and beggerly portion, (the Mal. 1. 13. 14. sure argument of an irreli­gious and vndeuout minde) but as they Exod. 35. 5. that serue God with a willing and a glad heart, such as is C. Quicunque i. in. 16. q. 17. good and god­lie. C. vlt. in f [...]. 49. dist. indignum prorsus est dare deo, quod dedignatur ho­mo.

And if wee looke but to them, to whom Num. 18. 31. 1. Cor. 9. 14. for the ser­uice they doe him, God hath assigned the Duar. lib. 8. c. i. vsum fructum of what is his, which also 1. Tim. 5. 17. do labour for vs in verbo et doctri­na, in the worde and doctrine, & speake vnto vs words wher­by Act. 11. 14. we and ours may be saued, is it not fit and necessarie, that Tho. in 22 [...]. qdl. art. 8. Laua­ter in Pro. 30. 6. Calu. in Deut. 12. they be so seated, and so prouided for that they may commodè & congruè viuere, liue, if not richly and plente­ously Chryso. in epist. ad Tit. c. 2. et in Phillip. 2. hom. 9. Pet. Mar. loc. cō. class. 3 cap. 2. Rebuff. de cong. port. pag. 382. fig. [...]6. Ambr. in. 1. Tim. 5. et in 1. Thes. 5. Bucer. de reg. Chri. lib. 2. c. 13. Suru. of discip. p. 118. at least commodiously and competently, and not in­conueniently and needily? that so, they may attend their mi­nistery alone, and not for necessities sake, 2. Tim. 2. 4. Act. 6. 2. intangle them­selues in secular affaires, and so attend it, that they Heb. 13. 17. 1. Thes. 5. 12. may fulfill it with ioy and not with griefe, as ( King on Ionas. page. 463. with griefe and [Page 48] sorrow vnto our shame that professe, and so long haue pro­fessed the Gospell I speake it,) no small number of our mi­nisters yet are inforced to doe.

That God expects these things his owne dealing de­clares, Gods dealing among his owne people a president. who Num. 18. to­tum. when he did once make claime to any thing by name, it was a portion no lesse, viz. the tenth specially, together with the vowes and offerings of the people. And when he did demand an allowance for himselfe to main­taine his Priests and Leuites withall, albeit Num. 3. 46. et 26. 62. compa­red with the o­ther tribes. cap. eod. they were one of the least tribes in Israell, yet it was so much as in all pro­bability did farre exceed any other tribes reuenewes: and the same in such sort, both Num. 35. 3. &c. for their owne habitation, and for their houshold prouision, and keeping of their cat­tel for vse and seruice about them, was as commodious and fit as to any of the rest: as hee that will consider the particu­lars, which I haue Page 4. before partly nominated, may plainely and plentifully perceiue.

That the Church of God generally neuer thought these Practise of for­mer times too much, the practise of former ages may assure vs, in which they were so farre from accounting the tithes, the tithes alone, (as many doe now) to bee too much for God and his Church, that to the intent, the ministers of God might haue wherewith, and whereon to The view and consideration of the particu­lars which the Church yet hath or once had, euidently sheweth this. liue competently and condignely, it added vnto the tithes no small nor few augmentations besides, and prouided to euery seuerall parish Church the whole land thoroughout, both edifices and grounds annexed answerable to the estate of ech place and parish, as without the which by the tithes onely, they saw that the ministers of the Gospell C. Non cogan­tur. 4. dist. gloss. in. l. seru. vrba­nis. ff. de legat. 3 doct. in c. episco­pus. de Praebend &c. Present expe­riance. could not, as indeede they cannot) commodiously liue, and competently be maintai­ned.

And that in very deede these things are not too much, the very estate of the ministery duely considered, sound reason will soon yeeld and confirme. For certaine it is, how great and populous soeuer the place and parish be, and by that meanes (if sacriledge be not seated there) the profits farre greater, and more then in sundry others of lesse com­passe, [Page 49] yet if we consider, that where many people are, are many poore, and so needs 1. Tim. 3. 2. great hospitality, and Act. 18, 9. where is great charge of soules needs great ministeriall labour, and spirituall attendance: as also, that there is great diffe­rence in the deserts and gifts of seuerall men, wee may conceiue, that to the end due & necessary hospitality may be kept: that the cure of soules may be duely and well at­tended: Diuersitie in learning re­quires diuersi­ty in mainte­nance. and, that men of worthy gifts and excellent lear­ning may haue reward and liuing somewhat answerable, it is necessary that there should be, not a parity of liuing in all places, but in some little, in some more, in some much. And yet shall they find that (such is the vnequall diuision of parishes) as the meanest are commonly too meane for any, so the greatest euen in their iust, first and best forme, will be little enough for some.

And therefore their course, was very preposterous and vnequall, which, as if all places and persons were alike, and that might bee enough for a minister euery where, which might serue well enough somewhere, so handled the matter, that The greater the parish is, the lesse is the mini­sters liuing: and scant one benefice among twenty, or thirty, is fit and competent for a learned man. By the meanes whereof it follows that Num. 26. 54. contrary to the Law of God & good order, The greatest cures haue least and worst intendance: and, The poorest people haue meanest or no hospitality. Yet deserue the first authors thereof some excuse, because first, the extraor­dinary duties and auailes of the Church then in vse, and likely more and more to encrease: (which yet Rebuff. de con­gru. port. pag. 388. fig. 83. 86. ought not to haue beene accounted of▪ because of the vncertainty) se­condly, the paiment of personal tithes in a better sort then now a daies: 17. Ed. 2. 5. 9. H. 4. 2. 15. H. 6. 2. 4. H. 7. 8. 24. H. 8. 3. &c. thirdly, the low Wherof who­so obserueth our histories for 500. yeares together til the daies of Q. Ma­ry; shal finde that euen in such yeares as are chronicles for yeares of great deatth, the prices of things were such (for the most part) as we now would account reaso­nable and very good cheap. prices of all things neces­sary to liue by; and fourthly, the single estate of the Cler­gie, with other like considered; the difference and ods was not so great as now it is, nor the liuing so incompetent and beggerly. But what excuse can there bee for them, which seeing such alteration of times, and such insuffici­ency and want of maintenance, doe yet sit still, let all a­lone, [Page 48] [...] [Page 49] [...] [Page 50] and as if all were already very well; prouide no reme­dy, no ease for that which whoso hath but halfe an eye may see; but one dramme of good vnderstanding may per­ceiue, but one scruple of good conscience must needs con­sent, and but one graine of religious affection, confesse needs some redresse and amendment.

Obiections answered. Some happely will pretend (for what cause so bad that may not finde some defence or excuse?) an impossibility. Obiection. 1 The case is helpelesse.

But wee can hardly beleeue that that estate which had Note here how easie it were to right the Church, wher­of see more at large in my M. Min. cap. 10. power enough in taking away the rights of the Church, hath not power likewise (if it had will) to right them a­gaine. Of for some part of amends, that it were a matter of extreame difficulty; First, to repeale two or three hard and vnequall branches of a statute, that so the body thereof, which is absolutely sound and good, might haue his due and full force; Secondly, to cut off those iniurious prohi­bitions of fact, whose chiefe seruice is to vndoe the Church, and by little and little to take away that modicum which yet remaineth vnto it; Thirdly, to restore to the Church her tithes in kinde: and according to the Law already in force. Fourthly, to prouide at the least, (the restitution of the whole being immedicabile vulnus, and a matter farther then we may preuail Zepper. de leg. l 4. c. 10 p. 366. vel precibus vel pecunijs not to be ho­ped for,) that in euery impropriated Church, there should be ordained a vicar perpetuall, and the same conuenably en­dowed; as also, Fifthly, that for personall tithes, which are hitherto, An. 2. Ed. 6. c. 13. Pulton AB. tithes. Num. 30. 31. granted vs in name, but taken away in deede, there might for the due maintenance of our ministers in townes and cities, some As after the manner of London. See M. Min. cap. 8. pag. 154. Ibid. for pers. tithes. pa. 54. 81. et. 132. vniforme and reasonable course or composition be generally setled.

Obiection. 2 Some it may be will not sticke to say, It is a matter of small moment. The cause is needlesse.

But, ought it to seeme a small thing in our eies, that no small number of our Churches bee altogether vnprouided of any fit and competent meanes for maintenance of their Ministers, and by consequent that many thousand soules [Page 51] in the land Prou. 29. 18. Math. 15. 14. Rom. 10. 14. doe perish for want of teaching? If they were newly conuerted from Paganisme, or lately of desert, or ruinated places made habitable For in many of them no­thing is left for the minister but a pension of 10. or. 8. or fiue pound, yea in some places lesse thē 4. pound, per an though the impropriation be worth. 1. 2. 3 ye or 400. poūd per an. See M ^r. Crashaw. ep. Dedic. before Perkins., they could not lightly haue bene worse prouided for, then many of them are, nor is there feare, they should haue suffered such extremi­ties at the hands of cruell and barbarous enemies in time of warre, as they haue sustained of their friends in the daies of peace. Is it nothing that we haue professed the Gospell in all peace and liberty so many yeares, and yet not made due prouision for the ministers of the Gospell, either in towne or country; but doe entertaine them so basely, so vnwoor­thily, Hous. Ser. 1. on Matth. 21. 12. pag. 34. that the estate euen of meane artizans and ordina­nary tradesmen is better then many of theirs? Is it nothing that 1. Tim. 6. 11. 1. Sam. 9. 6. the men of God; the 1. Cor. 3. 5. ministers of Iesus Christ, those men which Rom. 10. 15. preach to vs the glad tidings of saluation, and Hebr. 13. 17. watch for our soules, and whom alone the Scripture pro­nounceth 1. Tim. 5. 16. worthie of double honour, which also in former ages were wont to be honoured Gen. 47. 22. Numb. 8. et. 35. with freedomes and im­munities Cassiod. lib. 2. ep. 20. Iud. cha­rond. ad leg. Phil Iud. de praem. et honor. sacerd. C. de eccles. et Episcop. 1. We demand nothing but our owne and which is still paid, one or other where. aboue any other degree or calling, are with vs more pressed with heauy burthens then any, and depressed none so much with hard measure & vnconscionable cour­ses? And whereas many priuate causes and things of very small moment haue oft had hearing, and found remedy, is our condition alone so contemptible, or our cause onely so vnworthy consideration that it onely may haue no suc­cesse? and he bee censured as factious, that shall but open his lippes on our behalfe?

First, If we did demaund any thing, but what in right is ours▪ and what in some or other places, is still yeelded to the Church, wee might with some colour be reiected: but when as we craue and claime of that is other mens Genes. 14. 23. Crash. ep. dedic. before Perkins. not so much as a thred or shoo latchet; least any should say, They haue made vs rich, their sinne is without colour of defence that see the wants of the Church, and distresse of the Mi­nisters thereof, and yet take no course for the supply or re­medy thereof in any measure.

Secondly, If that we demand were some trifle, a matter of small moment and valew, our motion might with some 2. That we de­mand is no trifle. shew of equity bee contemned; for what is lesse besee­ming wise men and worthy, then to contend or argue De lana caprina, for a matter of nothing? But seeing now, what through alteration of times, and what through vnequall 3. Wee are not otherwise suf­ficiently pro­uided for. courses at the first, that which is deteyned from vs, is in many places, as much at least as that wee haue: and that there is scant a parish in the land, wherein the Church one way or other sustaineth not some indempnity and losse, the cause beeing so great & so generall, it wil wel beseeme both vs to make demand, and them (whom it concerneth) to take due notice, and yeeld iust restitution thereof.

Thirdly, if we were otherwise sufficiently prouided for, & had euen without that which is detained but a competent liuing, some reason there might seem why we should haue no hearing: but seeing what by vnequall diuision of pari­shes at the first, the vnequall diuision, or rather dissipation of Church-liuings since, the multitude of vnreasonable customes and prescriptions, together with the continuall imparity of learned mens deserts, that pretence at this time especially The whole being but e­nough how should halfe, a quarter or lesse a great deale, be sufficient? can haue no place, there is no cause, why the deafe eare should be turned vpon vs: vnlesse any will ima­gine that wee Rom. 10. 15. the Preachers of the Gospell, Matth. 5. 14. the lights of the world, Matth. 24 45. Luke. 12. 42. the stewards and 1. Cor. 4. 1. diposers of the Ministeries of God, Act. 26. 18. Act. 16. 17. the leaders vnto life eternall, and 1. Cor. 3, 5. Ministers of salua­tion, are lesse worthie to be equally respected, duely pro­uided for, and condignely rewarded, then An. 12. Ric. 2. 4 an. 23. H. 6. c. 13. an. 6. H. 8. 3. an. 5. Eliz. c. 4. the very ser­uants, An. 25. Ed. 3. 2 et 34. cap. 9. an. 13. Ri. 2. 8. an. 23. H. 6. 13. an. 7. H. 8. c. 5. Pult. ab. Just. of p. Num. 66. [...]. [...] ­bidem. the common labourers, and the ^u manuary artifi­cers of our parish. 4. They be not a few that de­sire it.

Fourthly, If the motion were but the suggestion of some few of the Clergy, or among them, but of the poorer sort, vicars of Churches and other like, (and yet why should not Deut. 24. 14. et. 26. 7. Prou. 21. 13. et 29. 7. 14. the crye of the poore bee heard, and Ouid. de Trist. lib. 5. [...]leg. 1. they that haue most cause, be suffered most to complaine?) it might with some shew be contemned: but since it cannot be denied, but that the number is great both of the greater and superiour sort [Page 53] of the Clergie, as well as of the meaner and inferiour, be­sides no small number not Clergie men, and those not meane persons onely, well affected to the Clergie, that desire and labour the same, this so generall and weightie a cause, may iustly challenge mature consideration, speedy and condigne regard.

Fifthly. Lastly, if the cause were meerely ciuill and hu­mane, we might with some good colour haue the repulse, 5. The cause is Gods. but being, as it is, a matter altogether of diuine right, wher­in no man hath power to set God his bounds, and where he hath right to this or that, to limit him in lieu thereof, what pleaseth them, we ought to be admitted to claime for God, and permitted, yea and assisted by humane law, to re­ceiue the same.

Thirdly, are they Gods? that may teach vs, that we must pay these things, not as manie dooe, as we are affected to These things must be paid as to God him­selfe. the partie which is to receiue them, but as to God himselfe, whose they are. For bee hee worthie or vnworthie, yet God is euer worthie of them. The priests vnder Mo­ses law are reprooued by the Prophets and tearmed Isa. 56. 10. Ezech, 13. 3. & 34. 2. Hos. 4. et 5. Mich. 3. 5. Zach. 11. 17. dumbe dogs, deceiuers, sleepie watch men, Idols, &c. But yet the people are not aduised and taught by the Pro­phets therefore to withhold from them their appointed portions: but Mal. 3. 9. the contrarie. Neuer was there greater corruption among them, neuer more wicked­nesse and all kinde of vnworthinesse then in our Saui­ours time, yet ^h hee sendeth the leper cleansed to the ^b Matth. 8. 4. priest, and bids him offer as was appointed, and that to testifie that Melancth. in locum. the publique ministerie must be maintained, be the ministers neuer so weake, neuer so wicked. Manie doe obiect (saith Gualt. in Matth. 23. hom. 269. one) plerosque decimis turpiter abuti, &c. That some doe filthily abuse tithes, and that manie doe em­ploy them to vnlawfull and prophane vses. But yet (saith he) This is but a balde excuse, for of such abuses they shall shall giue account to God, which doe commit such things, not who pay the tithes. And what reason will excuse him that with­holds from the needie his necessarie liuing, least happily he a­buse [Page 54] it vnto surfetting and drunkennesse. It is the part of euery Christian Rom. 13. 7. to pay to euery man his due, and not to goe about to excuse his owne iniquitie by anothers fault. Hitherto hee.

And therefore as they did verie ill, which before our time, vnder color of suppressing the licentiousnes, & bride­ling of the insolencie of the popish or vnlearned cleargie, did pull from the Church what they could: so doe they worse, which doe not onely not restore the same againe, but daily practise all the shifts and deuises that may be, as who can neuer bee satisfied, to pull away still more and There be that still labour to pul more from the Church. Foem. Mo. ni. b. Hous. on Matth. 21. Ser. 2. pa. 33. more from the Church, and so to bring vnto, and to keepe in extreame needinesse and pouertie the true ministers, and worthie preachers of the Gospell also. That sinne had some colour, this hath none. But O Lord God Psalm. 126. 2. that our mouth may bee filled with laughter, and our tongue with ioy, mollifie their hearts, or else, make them and theirs like O­reb and Zeb, yea make them and all their counsellers, fur­therers and partakers like as Zeba and Zalmana, which yet say, Let vs take to our selues the houses of God in possession, and seeke still to sease vpon the inheritance of the Lord, as if it were set to bee a pray vnto their teeth. Amen. Amen.

Lastly, are they Psalm. 83. 11. Boys Dominic. post. Trin. 10. p. 227. Gods? If then we rob and defraud, we God wil plague them that pay him not these things duely and iustly. spoile and debarre God of those things anie manner of way, let vs looke for the hand of God to smite vs, the wrath and plagues of God to Zepper. de leg. lib. 4. cap. 10. C. multi. i. q. 1. consume vs for such sin and iniquity. God himselfe doth plainely tell vs, Mal. 3. That for this sinne he doth curse euen Mal. 3. 8. whole nations. ‘As they by their vnreasonable customes, and compositions, by violence and vsurpation, take from him his tithes and oblations, so he by vnseasonable weather, by caterpillers, Hag. 1. 6. Math. 7. 2. and other deuou­ring meanes, doth and will take from them the increase of their stocks, the fruits of their fields, &c. that so hee may bring penurie into their houses, as they doe into his, and make them haue emptie barnes and hungrie bellies, that leaue his barnes emptie, and his seruants in hunger and [Page 55] neede.’ For this is (as Aug. serm. de temp. 219. Idem homil. 47. et de rectit. cath. con­uers. Iac. Gryn. in Mal. 3. Ridl. view of L. p. 177 Saint Augustine long agoe obserued) Domini iustissima consuetudo, the Lords custome most iust and equall, a thing that he doth very often execute: what? vt si illi tu decimam non dederis, tu ad decimam reuoceris, that is, If thou giue him not his tenth, thou, Andr. Hisp. reg. dec. 9. hauing lost thy nine parts, be brought to a tenth. And therefore (as the same fa­ther peremptorily C. 16. Maiores q. 17. Nicola. 1. caus 16. q. 2. Rab. Maur. in Num. lib. 2. C. 22. [...]t 23. affirmeth, now there are so manie tem­pests by sea and land; so much sterilitie and dearth of vi­ctuals; so often and so great mortalities and famines, be­cause people doe not pay to God his due, but detaine vnto themselues, some by one meanes, some by another, that which is Gods. Other of the fathers, as Orig. in Num. homil. 11. Hier. in mal. 3. Origen, Hierom, and others haue obserued the like. And not the fathers on­ly, but likewise the auncient Concil. Tribur. c. 13. conc. worm. c. 16. q. 1. synod. Arelat. 4. cap. 9. counsels and sacred synods of those first and best times, that so wee might know the same to haue beene also the common doctrine, and the ve­rie faith of the whole Church, haue so decreede and con­cluded.

According vnto whom, for our owne land and time, though our other sinnes bee manie, and God no doubt, doth for diuers transgressions send among vs diuers and sundrie plagues, yet I make no question of it, but that for The Principal cause why God many times smiteth vs with famins, vnseasonable weather &c. this one sinne, this so great, so common and vsual a sinne, viz. the defrauding of God and his Church, the manifold sacriledge euerie where committed among vs, the con­tempt and wrong that way done to our Church-men both in towne and countrie, the ill and slender prouision made for the Ministers of the Gospell by vs that so long haue professed the Gospell; euen for this massie sinne, or ra­ther masse of sinnes it is, that we are so oft smitten with famines and dearth, with vnseasonable and bad weather, scorching drought and drenching wet, flouds and fires, with losse of goods and needinesse of all things, that so wee may receiue a iust and full reward according to our wicked workes.

The particular falls and miserable ends of sundrie, such as haue lift vp their hand in this sort against God, as that of [Page 56] Melanc. de gest. reg. Angl. lib. 3. Polid. virg. ang­lic. hist. lib. 10. William Rufus here at home, & Gagn. lib. 4. hist. franc. Re­buff. de dec. q. 10 fig. 7. Charles Martel in France may teach vs, what danger it is to be aduenturers this way. And where as there haue beene such in these later times, Hous. ser. 2. on Matth. 21. 12. p. 35. 38. as vnder colour of friendship and holy pretenses, haue made no little spoile of that is Gods, if we consider what hath beene the end of such, may wee not say with the Psalm. 78. 66. Bern. in Cantic. ser. 65. Ridl. view. p. 170. Psalmist. 77. Percussit inimicos in posteriora, that is, that God hath wounded his enemies on the hinder parts, and put them to a perpetuall shame? and see that fulfilled in them which is written in another place Psal. 109. 10. Foem. Monar. in the conclus. o. 3. a. Couel. in praef. to Carlton. Let the stranger spoile his la­bour: and, let his posteritie be destroyed, and in the next gene­ration let his name be cleane put out, It is an old rule, yet not more old then true. Ex male quaesitis, vix gaudet tertius hae­res, that is, Seldome doe goods ill got descend to the third heire. Church-goods are the right Sabellic. Aene. 5. lih. 8. p. 821. Gueuarra. Suruey of the preten. discip. c. 21. aurum Tholossanum, scant a man that vnlawfully takes to himselfe anie part thereof, e­uer thriues afterward: very like to the Arke of the God of Israel, if they 1. Sam. 5, 3. be forced into the temple of Dagon, or 1. Sam. 5. 9. 1. Sam. 6. 19. God will blesse them that pay him these things iustly. touched by strangers, they will be their ouerthrow.

On the other side, if wee render to God his due, and rightly giue him the things that be his, wee may safely pro­mise vnto our selues Gods assured fauour and blessing. We haue his word for it Mal. 3. if we bring omnes decimas Mal. 3. 8. all the tithes into his barne, and take such order that there may be sufficient meate in his house for them that doe him and vs seruice there, he will open the windowes of heauen vnto vs, and power out vpon vs a blessing of plentie without measure: he will rebuke the deuourer that he shall not destroy the fruit of our ground, our land shall be a pleasant land, and so wee Hag. 2. 20. shall be repaid at large, and plentifully restored the losse we might feare, and the hindrance we might doubt wee should doe our selues in yeelding him his due. He can say no more, but bid vs Mal. 3. 10. prooue him withall, and make triall a yeere or two, whether he will be as good as his word, and fulfill his promise or not, And Gryn. in Mal. 3 would to God in hac re lon­gè maxima, in this so great and weightie a cause, we could at length be induced to prooue what God would doe? Hee [Page 57] doth not vse to deceiue mē with vaine words, nor draw thē on to their hurt, if therefore there be anie truth in him and his word (and what greater impietie can there be, then to doubt thereof?) It is the readie way to thriue and grow rich, Maiores nostri ideo copijs omnibus abundabant, quia Deo decimas, Caesari censum dabant, that is, Our auncestors (saith Saint Aug. C. maio­res. caus. 16. q. 17. Augustine) did therefore abound in all wealth and riches, because they alwaies duely paid to God his tithes, and to Caesar his tribute. And we may iustly thinke that no small part of that plentie and abundance which our eares haue heard our owne forefathers had, was because in this point ‘they were more righteous then we. They made that consci­ence Our fathers in their ignorence shew­ed a better conscience this way, thē many of vs in our know­ledge. of paying their tithes iustly and fully, that we doe not. They would not for a world take to themselues that they knew to bee, as they rightly and religiously tearmed it, Gods part, They beleeued they should neuer prosper, if they should deceiue the Church or rob God of his due. They thought it their duetie, if not Cassiod. lib. 3 epist. 9. Foem. Mon. o. 2. a. noua construere, that is, to giue somewhat themselues to the Church, at least, yet vetera conseruare, to keepe most carefully that was alreadie giuen. They counted it their glorie to be found to be liberall to the Church; yea, so carefull and precise were they in these matters, that manie times they would in their last wils bequeath some thing To bee seene in many Te­stamentary re­cords. pro decimis oblitis, for forgotten tithes.’ And therefore God did blesse them: he did increase their store and multiply their seede; he made their flocks to prooue well, and their cattell to prosper. If we that ex­ceede them in knowledge, would but equall them in pra­ctise: and we that goe before them in profession, would but imitate them (for this point) in our conuersation, no doubt wee should succeed them in plentie as well as in place: finde Gods fauour as readie to attend vs as them: and see our fields and flocks, our grounds and goods more fertile and fruitfull, more luckie and prosperous then oft they be. He hath said it Titus 1. 2. that cannot lie, 1. Sam. 2. 30▪ Them that honour me, I will honour, and honour Prou. 3. 6. the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruites (the best) of thine increase: so shall thy [Page 58] Barnes be filled, and thy presses runne ouer with new wine, or in plainer tearmes, Concil. Trib. cap. 13. Da mihi decimam, & multiplicabo tibi nouem: that is, Giue me my tenth duelie, and then I will mul­tiplie thy nine parts assuredly.

And now beloued to conclude, and bring my long la­bour The conclusiō exhortatiue. wherwith happely, I haue wearied you as well as my selfe, to an end: Consider I beseech you well what I haue said, and 2. Tim. 2. 7. the Lord Iesus giue you vnderstanding. If ought distast you, yet rashly reiect it not, doe first as did Saint Paules hearers. Act. 17. Act. 17. 11. Ioh. 5 39. Search the scriptures, whether it be so or no, weigh what I haue spoken Iohn [...]. 24. in an equall ballance, consult not in matters diuine, Galat. 1. 16. with flesh and blood, let not selfewill, couetousnesse, custome, companie, and other sinister respects blinde and ouerrule you. What conui­cted by truth, the 2. Esdr. 4. 41. force whereof is verie great, and soundnesse of argument and demonstration, you finde consonant to veritie and equitie, that practise, remembring well that not they are blessed which heare the word onely, but they which Luk. 11. 28. heare it and doe it: that Act. 5. 29. we ought rather to obey God then man: and that we must fit and frame not the word, as if it were Pigh. Hierarch lib. 3. cap. 3 Hos. lib. 3. de auto [...]i [...]. scrip. Cusan. ad Bohem. epist. 2. a leaden rule, to our actions & time, but our actions and time to the word. If you heare and yet will not obey, but harden your hearts, and say within your selues licet persuaseris, non persuadebis, that is, Postn. p. 97. Though you haue perswaded vs to the right, yet to the practise perswade vs you shall not: you haue nothing left to cloake your sinne withal. I take 2. Cor. 1. 23. God to witnes to my soule, that I haue not hād­led the word of God deceitfully, but haue shewed you the plaine and right way, and laid before you with all faithful­nesse and sincerity the very truth and law of God. And therfore I beseech you, as you desire to approue your selues Iam. 1. 22. Reuel. 1. 3. not hearers only of the word, but doers also of the work, that with all readinesse of heart and will, you embrace and follow it. That so giuing to God those things that be Gods iustly without alteration, fully without diminution, freely without corruption, and timely without delay or ouerhast, God thereby being rightly honoured with your substance, [Page 59] and the Ministers of God duly prouided for, and condign­lie entertained, you may auoid the euils which hang ouer their heads that do it not, and enioy Gods blessings and fauours which he hath certainly promised, and will most assuredly performe vnto all those that do according to this Commandement.

The God of mercy, author of all grace make you wise vnto saluation, enlighten your minds that you may dis­cerne things that differ, and guide your hearts that you may delight to doe those things that be wel pleasing in his sight, to the edifying of your brethren, furtherance of the Gospell, comfort of your owne soules, and withall and a­boue al, to the eternall glory of God our heauenly Father.

To whom with the Sonne and the holy Ghost three persons and one euerliuing God be rendred and ascribed all honor, praise, power and do­minion both now and euer: Amen.