An answer to a question of a Gentleman of quality (proposed to and made by a Reverend and learned Divine living in London) concerning the settlement or abolition of Tithes by the Parliament, which caused him to doubt how to dispose of his Son whom he had designed for the Ministrey: wherein also are comprised some Animadversions upon a late little pamphlet called, The Country's plea against Tithes, discovering the ignorant mistake of the Authors of it, touching the maintenance of the Ministry. Sir, THough it were high presumption for a private man, as I am, to presage what so wise a Senate as the Parliament will do for the future, either in point of Tithes, or any other affair of so public concernment, yet I hope I may, without reaching above my line, take upon me to tell you, that the ground of your doubt touching their alienation of Tithes from the Ministry, (which I shall bring in its proper place) is but such as will serve rather to bear up a transient suspicion or surmise of such a matter, than a settled assurance that it either is so already, or that hereafter it will be so. For the first, That it is not so, I am sure; because, 1. They have passed an Ordinance for the Minister's recovery of Tithes, and other Ministerial deuce from such as do detain them, November 8. 1644. which is still in force, through the influence of their power and favour. 2. They have made competent additions to very many live out of impropriated Tithes in the hands of Delinquents; and this they have done with so much cheerfulness, and beneficence on the Minister's behalf, by the Committee for plundered Ministers, that many have cause to bless God for them as their great Patrons, and benefactors for that manner of maintenance; wherein they have done beyond and above any Parliament that were before them, and they continue and persist in the making of such augmentations, as occasion is offered, to this very day. 3. They have given the repulse to divers petitions against Tithes, which by the instinct and instigation of men of unsound principles and unquiet spirits have been put up unto them. For the second, that they will not take them away in time to come, I have these grounds, if not of infallible certainty, yet of very great probability. Though they have resolved upon the sale of Bishop's lands and revenues, in their Ordinance of November 16. 1646. for that purpose, they have made an especial exception with respect to the maintenance of Ministers in these words, Except parsonages appropriate, tithes, tithes appropriate, oblations, obventions, portions of tithes, parsonages, vicarages, Churches, Chapels, advowsons, donatives, nomination, rights of patronage and presentation. In excepting the right of patronage, they mean neither to leave it to the power of the people to choose what Minister they please, (and the practice of the Honourable Committee for plundered Ministers showeth the same, for they appoint and place Ministers very often without the petitions of the people, and sometimes against them, as their wisdom seethe cause; and if it were not so, many would choose such as deserved to be put out again.) Nor to put the Ministers upon the voluntary pensions, or contributions of the people for their subsistence, but assign them under such a title what belongeth unto them by the Laws of the Land, viz. Tithes, obventions, etc. which intimates their mind not only for the present, but for the future. Their wisdom well knoweth that the Revenue of Tithes as it is most ancient for the original of it, and most general in practice, both for times and places, so it hath the best warrant from the word of God (not only in the old Testament, which none can deny, but in the new, which though it be denied by some, is averred by others, as D. Carleton, M. Roberts, D. Sclater, M. Bagshaw, in their treatises of Tithes, and yet unrefuted by any) and from the Laws of many Christian States, especially from the Statutes of our Kingdom, whereof abundant evidence is given in the book of the learned Antiquary, Sr Henry Spelman. 3. That notwithstanding all the authority that may be pleaded for them, the people are backward enough to pay to their Ministers a competent maintenance; and if Tithes should be put down by the Parliament, it would be very much ado to bring them up any other way to any reasonable proportion of allowance for their support; and so in most places the Ministry would be reduced to extreme poverty, and that poverty would produce contempt of their calling, and that contempt atheism. 4. That it is evident that such as make the loudest noise against the tenure of Tithes, are as opposite to the office and calling of Ministers as to their maintenance; and intent by their lefthanded Logic (because as the saying is, the Benefit or Benefice is allotted to the office) to make way for the taking away of the Ministry, by the taking away of Tithes; and nor to wait the leisure of consequential operation, (according to the craft of Julian, who rob the Church of means, expecting the want of wages would in time bring after it a want of workmen) but presently to bear down both, as Relatives mutually infer one another, as well by a negative as a positive inference; and so as the Parliament having put down the office of the Prelacy, now makes sale of their lands, they, if they could prevail for the discarding of Tithes, would by the same argument (clamour and slander) presently and importunately press for deposition of the Ministry. And we see how they take upon them with equal confidence and diligence, not only to write, but a Erbury at Oxford and Cox at London. publicly to dispute against them both. 5. That if rights, so firmly set upon so many solid foundations, should be supplanted, it would much weaken the tenure or title that any man hath to his lands, or goods, and would be a ready plea for rash innovators; and the rather, because of the manner of the Anabaptists proceed, who began their claim of Christian liberty with a b Sleydan Comment. l. 5. fol. 71. a. relaxation of Tithes, and went on to take off the Interdict or restraint in hunting, fishing, and fowling, wherein they would allow neither Nobility, nor Gentry, any more privilege than the meanest peasant. And as their principles were lose; so were their practices licentious, for they held a c Ibid. community of goods, and equality of estates; d Bonorum quoque communionem & humanitati cum primis esse consentaneam, & ut ex dignitate sunt omnes aequales, & ex conditione libere & promiscuè omnibus bonis utuntur. Ibid. fol. 64. prope finem. whereupon the Common people gave over their work, and whatsoever e Quo factum est, ut vulgus ab operis atque labore desisteret, & quâ quisque re careret ab aliis qui abundatant etiam invitis acciperit. Ibid. See also l. 10. princip. they wanted they took from the rich even against their good wills; So that it was a breach of their Christian liberty, belike, to have a lock or a bolt on a door, to keep a peculiar possession of any thing from them. And the liberty was more and more amplified, according to the fancies of their dreaming doctors, for their dreams were the oracles of their common people; and every day they set forth their liberty in a new edition, corrupted and augmented, till all the partition walls of propriety were broken down; and so not content to have other men's goods at their disposal, and to be quit from payment of rents, and debts, (having made a monopoly of Saintship to themselves) they excommunicated all who were not of their faction both out of sacred society of the Church, and out of common communion in the world as wicked and profane, and unworthy not only of livelihood but of life also; and usurped a power to a Promittebat auxilium quo viz. impiis interfectis, novi substituerentur principes & Magistratus: namà Deo sibi mandatum esse profitebatur (scil. Muncerus) ut sublatis illis constitueret novos Ibid. depose Prince and other Civil Magistrates, as they pretended they had commission to kill them, and to constitute new ones in their stead as they should think fit. b Sathanas sub Evangelii praetextu multos hoc temporeseditiosoes & planè sanguinarios excitavit Doctores. Sleydan Comment: l. 5. fol. 72. See more of their Doctrine l. 10. principio. and of their do in the following discourse of the Author of the same book. Such seditious and sanguinary Doctors, as Luther called them, did Satan stir up under the pretext of Evangelicall liberty; a liberty which in them admitted of no bounds, being like the &c. oath without banks, or bottom, of no rule or order, being carried on with a wild and giddy violence; such as the great and pernicious impostor of the world prompted them unto, though they vented their diabolical illusions under the Title of Divine Revelations, as the Prince of darkness made them believe, when he put on his holiday habit, the appearance of an Angel of light. 2 Cor. 11.14. 6. That the payment of Tithes where there are the fruits of the earth, and increase of cattles, out of which they may be raised, is the most equitable way and means of maintaining the Minister, since such a gain is not only harmless, and without sin, for the manner of acquisition, (which we cannot say of pensions and exhibitions made up out of trade or traffic) but such as may be most permanent and constant, since whether the Tithe be less or more, it is still proportionable to the other nine parts; and if the years be plentiful, there is the more provision for house-keeping, if scarce, that part though less is the more in price and worth, either for use in kind, or for exchange for other commodities. Whereas a rate in money which is competent in some places, and at some times, is incompetent in others, such is the change both of moneys and necessaries bought with money. For money, the time was when an ounce of silver now at 5. s. was valued but at 20. d. So in the Act of Parliament in the third of Edward the first, Coke Instit. part 2. p. 410. when 20 marks a year was enough honourably to maintain a Student at the Inns of Court. Fortescue is his Commentary on the Laws of England, c. 49. p. 114. And this was held so great a charge as was to be borne only by the sons of Noblemen, and therefore they only, saith the same Author, studied the Laws in those Inns, Ibid. And of old the Revenues fit for a Knight was rated to 20. l. a year, of a Baron to 400 marks a year, and of an Earl 400. l. a year: Coke Instit. l. 2. c. 3. Sect. 95. fol. 69. and Lindwood in his provincial Constitutions notes upon the rate of a Vicarage (for such by the fraud and rapine of the superior Popish Clergy a Vicario perpetuum stipendium quinque marcarum statuitur, nisi in partibus aliquibus Walliae ubi minore contenti sintd. Lindwood constitut. l. 1. de offic. vicar. fol. 46. p. 2 col. 2. in Textu & fol. 47. p. col. 1. Sed in glos. lit. g. Augmentatio facta est ad 8 Marcas, sed tamen alii qui non sunt contenti sine decem Marcis; & revera 5 Marcae non sufficiunt ad hospitalitatem & alia Ibid. in glos. lit. g. were many times deprived of Tithes, and put to pensions) that it was to be 5 marks in England, but in some parts of Wales they were content with less, afterwards their means was augmented to 8 marks a year, but some would not be contented with less than 10 marks a year; and, indeed saith the Gloss, 5 marks was too little for Hospitality, and other expenses; implying that 10 marks was sufficient for all occasions. 2 As for money, so for commodities to be bought with it, the prices have been very various; In the b See Polt Abridg. Edict. Londin. 1640. p. 11. Statute entitled Assisa panis & cervisiae, made Anno 51 H. 3. and Anno Dom. 1266. the dearest rate for a quarter of wheat (which in the middle of the Kingdom is a measure containing eight times four pecks, I render it by that proportion, because it is more generally known) was 12. s. the cheapest 1. s. so that betwixt these two extremes the ordinary rate might be about 6. s. the quarter. And for other provisions the rate set upon them in a dearth in the Reign of Edward the second was this, for an ox fatted with grass fifteen shillings, for one fatted with corn twenty shillings; the best cow twelve shillings, a fat hog of two years old three shillings; a fat sheep shorn fourteen pence, with the fleece twenty pence; a fat goose two pence halfpenny, a fat capon two pence halfpenny, a fat hen a penny, four pigeons a penny, so that whosoever sold above should forfeit their ware to the King. Dan. Hist. l. 2. p. 209. And I well remember that not very many years ago there was a controversy brought before the commissioners of charitable uses in Cheshire; wherein was discovered the cheapness of things in former times: the case was thus. There was a legacy of twenty marks given to the parish of Wood-church in that County to buy oxen to till the ground of poor men, with which small sum at the time of the donation, (about sevenscore years before) were bought no fewer than twenty yoke of oxen; which because the poor people were not able so to keep that they might be strong to labour, it was thought fit to sell them and to buy in their stead as many milch kine as the money would reach unto, which were to be hired at a low rate to such as were not able to buy such cattles for themselves. But it is yet a cheaper price we read of in Edward the first his days, when by Stat. Westm. an ox was to be sold but at 5. s. so in the 13th year of Edward the 1. cited in Coke Instit. part 2. p. 410. How rates are raised in the present age (whether by scarcity of things, or by the increase of people, or multiplication of coin, or all) is not unknown to any, and too much experimentally by many whose portion is too penurious for their necessary expenses. Nor is this great difference of rates, either for money, or for goods, brought to pass on the sudden, but raised by degrees; so that if the rule of tithing should be laid down, the Ministers wages must be changed, as jacob's was in Laban's service, many times over, which would be an intricate trouble to proportion according to several variations of persons, and places; to which inconvenience the maintenance by Tithes is not obnoxious; nor to any other, which may be compared with such as will hardly be separated (if at all) from the alienation of Tithes. That if any innovation be made in this matter, and the people be displeased with it, (as they will quickly be displeased with any thing which puts them to cost) they will take the more boldness to contemn it, because it is new, and for that it neither hath, nor is like to have such a ratification of authority, either divine, or humane, by constitution or prescription, as tithing hath had; no, though it should be supposed to last to the end of the world. For Tithes were paid 1933 years, almost 2000 years before Christ; Salian Annal. Tom 1. p. 251. nu. 41. & since Christ (excepting some times of persecution) for the most part of sixteen hundred forty six years; and we cannot hope the remaining age of the world will hold out half so long. To these I could add divers other considerations of importance, which cannot be hid from the prudence of such a multitude of sage Counsellors as that most Honourable Senate the Parliament consisteth of; which maketh me confident that before they give assent to any such petitions as are put up against Tithes, they will be pleased to hear what the Assembly of Divines can say in answer to such objections, as are framed against them, upon pretence either of Scripture or religious reason. Animadversions upon the Petition of the Committee of Kent. AGainst this, that which moved you to think the Parliament would take away Tithes, was, that you have read in one of the news books, that the Knights and Gentlemen of Kent presented a petition to the Honourable House of Commons, against the payment of Tithes unto Ministers, and that they received thanks from the Speaker in the name of the House for that service, and that it is held fit to be a leading case for all other Counties of the Kingdom. You must beware how you believe the news books, for they are many times ignorantly and inconsiderately erroneous, or fallaciously false, out of an ill affection to some, and apparent partiality to others. For the Petition itself, 1. It cometh not as from the Knights and Gentlemen of that County in common, (who I am credibly informed are not very well pleased with it) but from the Committee of Kent, who (if they be like the Committees in many places) are not all of them men of sound, and orthodox Judgement, neither for matter of Tithes, nor for divers other Tenets of Religion. 2. Howsoever they profess a good meaning to establish a sufficient maintenance for godly and well deserving Ministers; a very good meaning to extend it so fare as to succour their widows do was and fatherless children, as we see by the 8th proposition of their new project. It will be a problem (which the present age perhaps will not be able to resolve) who the Trusty's in after times will accept for such Ministers; although they may have cause to suspect that some part of Kent for the present is not so reform as it should be; Anabaptists and other sectaries having misled many into adverse principles, not only to Tithes, but to other matters of moment, concerning man's duty both of the first and second Table. 3. For their exceptions against the received maintenance by Tithes they say first, in general, That they bewail the sad condition of the Country, in respect of the uncertain floating, and miserable condition of the Ministry, occasioned by the very nature, manner, and adjuncts of the way of Tithes; which the experience of thus many ages doth plainly evince to be miserably attended with these ensuing mischiefs. To which I answer; That the miserable and floating condition of the Ministry proceeds not from the nature, manner or adjuncts of their subsistence by way of Tithes; nor doth the experience of thus many ages (that is, of the precedent ages hitherto) evince so much; for God (who is omniscient, and therefore cannot but foresee all subsequent inconveniences for many hundred years to come) established that means to be a standing and settled maintenance for his service; and the misery of the Ministry proceeds not from the nature or manner of Tithes (which to affirm may seem to coast too near their conceit who imagine God to be the author of sin) but from the ill consciences of men, who make no scruple to rob God of his right, Malach. 3. (for Tithes are his portion, Levit. 27.30.) and Ministers may suffer very much in the present age, because there be many anabaptistical sectaries (from which Kent is not more free, but as some say, more infected than some other Counties) who take up importunate clamours against Tithes as Antichristian and Jewish; and there will be the more by the countenance they may have from such a petition; and such petitioners, because divers of them are of good reputation, not only for wealth, but for their wisdom and learning well affected to Religion and the Parliament; and I believe it the rather, because some godly ministers have expressed their approbation both of it & them, though therein I conceive they shown more of the simplicity of the dove then of the wisdom of the serpent; for albeit their meaning might be so to gather the Tithes, and to put them into such hands, as might be rather for the Ministers ease then for their loss, no man can prophesy that so good a spirit will descend upon their successors, nor how cross they may prove to such a Christian Intention. Petit. 2. For the particular exceptions, they say; first, That for the nature of this subsistence it is a very mystery, and secret, not easily without much art and industry attained unto; namely for the Minister to know his deuce demandable, or the parishioners their deuce payable; whence ariseth that multitude of scandalous and vexatious suits and brabbles betwixt Ministers and people, which doth fill all the Courts at Westminster, and other the Justice-sitting in the Country likewise with causes in this kind. In this charge there be two particulars contained, first, of the difficulty of knowing the right of Tithes; secondly, of the vexatious suits raised betwixt pastors and people upon that ground. For the first, It is a very strange mystery, that after so many hundred years of Tithing it should not yet be known what it is; but I doubt not but in this case the right is better known unto Ministers that should receive Tithes, then acknowledged by the people that ought to pay them; And how can they set up their new design upon the old foundation of Tithing, as they project it, if it cannot be known what is the Ministers demandable due, what the people's payable duty: that model is more like to be a mystery which they propound, since it was never heard of in this Kingdom until they had devised it; and as like it is to prove a misery to Ministers, if their portion should come into no better hands than most of theirs, who have petitioned against Tithes since this Session of the Parliament. And secondly, for the multitude of scandalous and vexatious suits, they make no more against the Right of Tithes, then against borrowing and lending, buying and selling, letting of leases, settling inheritances, Jointures, etc. upon which titles are set the greatest number of suits; and for suits for Tithes if the law allow them a right, it alloweth them a remedy to recover that right; and for the suits that were occasioned thereby, they are neither so many as is here presented, nor so scandalous for the Minister's part, for they may be imputed to the old avarice of worldly minded men, who being of a contrary mind to the Apostle, think it an hard bargain to exchange their carnal for the Ministers spiritual things; but principally to the new principles and practices of such unreasonable reformers, as imagine they are never fare enough removed from one extreme until they arrive at the other, accounting all superstitious in point of Tithing, that are not sacrilegious. Petit. 2. For the manner of it, respecting either the collecting or payment of Tithes, it is a mutual scourge in the hand of Ministers and people each to other, if either or both (as too often it happens) prove covetous or cross. Answ. If it be a mutual scourge, it would well become the wisdom of these Committee-men to inquire where the right is, and who doth the wrong, and to project a way how the wrongdoer may be made to do right and to give due satisfaction to such as suffer under an undeserved scourge, and I hope when our reformation is grown up to such a competent degree of strength and stature as that it may quit the service of Country Committees, there will be no more cause of such a complaint then for many hundred years heretofore there hath been. Petit. 3. For its adjuncts (that is of the maintenance by Tithes) the mischiefs of them will appear innumerable, if the pregnancy of only one be but considered; namely, in the unreasonable proportion of live, or values of Churches to which they are belonging, whence arise these inseparable evils. Answ. By what newfound Logic will you frame such an Induction, as from one particular to infer innumerable mischiefs, particularly from the disproportion of live? You seem to think otherwise, where you say in your 8th proposition, that in the distribution of the revenues for Ministers regard must be had to the desert of the person, his family, and charge; if so, certainly there is a great disproportion in deserts; and for charge it is considerable, not only for the greatness of a Ministers family, but for the dearness of his education; some have spent many years, and a large patrimony in the University, to make them fit for the Ministry; and should not they be supplied with a more liberal allowance (caeteris paribus) then those who have been at little expense both of time & estate to be duly qualified for such a calling? If the proportion of parts, and pains, of charge both Academical, and Economical, be duly weighed, there will be many more livings found too little then too great for a Minister's maintenance; especially if you will allow him a Library (such as a learned Knight thought necessary for a Minister) of 600. l. value. But if the proportion be unreasonable, must Tithes be supplanted and their ancient Tenure abolished for such a disproportion? must the foundation be digged up because the building is too high? may not a tree, whose branches are too luxuriant, be lopped, and left entire in the body and root? when a man's beard is too long, will you cut off his chin? that out of doubt were an unreasonable reformation. Petit. 4. From this unreasonable proportion, you say, arise these unseparable evils. 1 That most unworthy persons, who by favour or friendship or any sinister ways can get into the greatest live, being once invested with a legal right of freehold for their lives, securely fleece the flock, and feed themselves without fear or care, more than to keep themselves without the compass of a sequestration, whilst others both painful and conscionable both serve starve. Answ. This is not (as you call it) an unseparable evil from the proportion you speak of; for there be some men who have had, and at this present have great live, not by any sinister ways, but by such favour and friendship as is ingenuous, and just, and who keep as great a distance from desert of sequestration as any Committee man doth within the County wherein they live. And if they carry themselves so as to be without fear and care, and without the compass of a sequestration, in these inquisitive and accusative times, they are more to be countenanced and encouraged then many of those who are professed adversaries to them. But the matter, it seems, that troubles you is, that they are invested with a legal right of freehold for their lives, and if they have such a right, and walk so warily as to keep out of the reach of a just sequestration, why should they not enjoy it? would you have all to be betrusted to the discretion and conscience of your arbitrary Committees? Truly Gentelemen, we are afraid to trust you so fare, as to give up such a certain title as formerly and anciently established upon the Incumbent by the fundamental Laws of the Land, as the right of any person to his Temporal estate, and to stand to your arbitrary dispensations for our livelihood; lest Laban-like you should change our wages ten times: and if your petition should take place, it might prove of very ill consequence in another generation, were you never so well minded, and it may be sooner (in the next succession:) for if the trusties should be either proud or covetous, or profane or licentious, heretical, or schismatical, the best Miinisters might happily be the worst dealt withal; and the right of receiving Tithes taken out of their hands might put them into the passive condition of filly and impotent wards under subtle and domineering Tutors or Guardians, in name such, but indeed nothing less than assertors and defenders of their rights, as Tutors and Guardians ought to be. And that our fear and jealousy is not without cause in respect of trusties and Committee-men, nor so much of you in particular, of some of whom we have heard and believe much good, as of such as may have as great authority without so good an intention, we shall give you our ground out of the observation and complaint of witnesses above exception, viz. the well affected freemen and covenant-engaged Citizens of the City of London, in their humble representation to the right Honourable the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, in these words. And here we may not omit to hint unto your Honours the exorbitant practices of many Committees and Committee-men, who have such an influence by means of their authority upon the people, they being at their wills and in their power to do them a displeasure, that they dare not do otherwise, then obey their unlawful commands, without the inevitable hazard of their peace and safety; through which means tyranny is exercised by one fellow-subject upon another, and justice and equity cannot enter. The cries of all sorts of people through the land are grown so loud against the people of this vocation and profession, by reason of those grievous oppressions that are continually acted by them, that in tenderness of affection toward our brethren, not being ignorant or insensible of our own sufferings in this kind, and the great dishonour accrueing to the Parliament thereby, that we cannot but be earnest suitors to your mercy and justice that such may be dissolved. Petit. 2. For obtainment of these live we see such sordid compliances with such persons as have the fattest benefices (as they count and call them) in their dispose; such artifices in contriving, making, and colouring over Simoniacal and sinful bargains, compacts, and matches, such chopping of Churches, and restless change of places, till they get into the easiest and warmest: and other such like practices not to be named, nor yet to be prevented or removed, otherwise then by plucking up the very root which naturally brancheth out itself into these foresaid mischiefs, so obstructive and destructive to all reformation. Answ. Here is a great deal of aggravating rhetoric against the greatness of Church-livings. But why should all this evil be imagined rather of Ministers fat benefices as you say they are called, then of great and gainful offices in the State? Is there not more care had, and more strict trial taken of Minister's sincerity and integrity then of secular officers? surely we are bound in charity to expect a more reformed Ministry, than we have had, who will rather say unto a Simoniacal patron as Peter to Simon Magus, Thy money perish with thee, Acts 8.20. then be Levies to such a Simeon in making a base and corrupt contract for a benefice. And for that you say, that such practices are not to be prevented or removed, otherwise then by plucking up the very root, which naturally brancheth itself out into these foresaid mischiefs, so obstructive and destructive to all religion. Whether you mean Tithes to be this root, or the disproportion of Benefices, or the right of patronage and protection, I cannot tell, but sure I am, that the Apostle calls covetousness the root of all evil, and so the root of that evil which sometimes passeth betwixt a Patron and his Chaplain: and may as frequently, and with as much injury be found betwixt some Committee-men and trusties and the Ministers of their choice, as any other. But as I am confident that there will be an amendment on the Minister's part, by the regular way of the Parliaments reformation, according to the directions of ordination of Ministers already printed & accordingly practised, so will it be not only possible, but easy for the State to find out a fit means to prevent prevarication on the part of the Patron; but if Tithes be removed from their ancient foundation, and lest lose to the disposal of trusties or Committee-men, they will be a more ready prey for the covetous into whose hands they may come, and from whose hands perhaps they cannot without great difficulty be redeemed. Lastly, in the close of this Petition, the Petitioners show great care that the Ministers may be freed from the encumbrance of Tithes, to serve the Lord without distraction, and to give themselves to the Word of God and Prayer, and to be only employed to make ready a people prepared for the Lord; And so they may do if they be maintained by Tithes; for that means of maintenance gives a man occasion of more and better acquaintance with the particular disposition of his people, and it is his part to be diligent to know the state of his flock, Prov. 27.23. And for that trouble which may be thought inconsistent with the Calling of a Minister, if his means be sufficient, he may have a servant to take it from him, and ease him of it. I know a Minister whose Benefice was a Vicarage, and his Parish so large, that it was 11 miles in length, and of a proportionable breadth, yet did it not put him to the expense of one day in a year to compound for, or gather in his dispersed portion. Now for the success and acceptance of the Petition in the Honourable House of Commons, to which it was presented; if such an innovation had been granted for that County, it had been fit to have been made a Sibboleth, for that cauthe or angle of the Kingdom (for so the word Kent signifieth) as their custom of * Gavelkind is a custom anciently observed in Kent, whereby the land of the father is equally divided among all his sons, or the land of a brother equally divided among his brethren, if he have no issue of his own, this was so common a custom as appears by the Stat. in the 18. year of H. 6. ca 1. that there were not above 30 or 40 persons in Kent that held by any other tenure; but Anno 31 H. 8. ca 3. many Gentlemen upon Petition got an alteration thereof. Gavelkind, then to be made a precedent or pattern of conformity to other parts of the Kingdom, as the Newsbook of the same week prescribed that to his Reader. But the answer of the worthy Senate was such as may further confirm us in our confidence, that they will still continue to be gracious Patrons of the maintenance of Ministers, and that they will be more ready to ratify precedent Statutes and their own Ordinance made in that behalf, then to dissettle their tenure which is founded upon them, and to make Ministers arbitrary Pensioners to such as may be so far swayed by misprision of judgement, or personal disaffection, as to deal most penuriously with those, who being truly valued (without erroneous mistaking or injurious misliking) may both by the eminence of their parts, and their faithfulness in their places, deserve the most ample, and most honourable Revenue. I will give you their answer in their own words, which are most authentic, they are these. M. Speaker by order of the House of Commons did give the Petitioners (the Committee of Kent) thanks for their former services, and took notice of their good affections to the Public; and did acquaint them, That the great businesses of the Kingdom are now instant and pressing upon them, and that they will take the Petition into consideration in due time, and that in the mean time they take care that Tithes may be paid according to Law. Object. But there are some in the Parliament that hold the maintenance of Ministers by Tithes to be Jewish and Popish, and therefore they will give countenance to Petitions that are put up against them, and do what they can under such titles to render them offensive to such as are truly religious, especially to those who have most power to abolish them. Answ. 1. It may be there are some such, and if there be some such among so many, it is neither to be thought strange, nor true, for such a number of them as may be able to carry the cause against the continuance of Tithes. 2. For the term Jewish, it is mis-applyed against Tithes, as it was by the Prelates of late, & is by the Anabaptists at the present against the Sabbath; nor are they more Popish than Jewish; For the Papists, though their people pay them, and their Priests receive them, yet they for the most part holding them to depend merely upon Ecclesiastical constitution, made no scruple of changing them into secular titles or uses, as in Impropriations in the hands of Laymen, and many other distributions made out of them several ways, without any respect to the service of the Sanctuary. Nor is there any thing in the payment and receiving of Tithes under the state of the Gospel, which may probably be suspected to have any savour of Judaisme, or Popery, save only the payment of Tenths by the Ministers to the King, as hath been lately well observed by Mr L. in his second Book against Mr S. I will set down his words, and seriously commend them to the consideration of our religious Reformers; they are these, in answer to Mr S. his Question. Qu. What a Smoke p. 25. are the maintenance of Ministers by Tithes? Jewish and Popish undeniably. Ans. How? Jewish and Popish undeniably? As undeniably as the Sabbath was Jewish when the Prelates so called it, or the article of the Trinity Popish, as b Qued Ecclesiae reformatae ad huc in fide Tinitatis cum Papistis conconveniret. Bell. praefat. in lib. de Christ, Tom. 1. second Controvers. general. p. 271. Valentinus Gentilis took it, when he disliked the doctrine of the Reformed Churches in that point, because they agreed with the Papists therein. You are grossly mistaken Sir in the tenure of Tithes, for though there be a clamour taken up against them by such as make no scruple either of slander or of sacrilege, and some would change the Minister's portion, which is their master's wages for his own work, and reduce them to voluntary pensions of the people, (because they would have a liberty to beggar them who will not humour them in their fond and false opinions, and licentious practices, but oppose them as of conscience they are bound to do) neither you, nor all your party can prove them either jewish or Popish, as they are allowed and received for the maintenance of the Ministers of England. And because you are so confident in your opinion against Tithes, and show yourself to have a good opinion of Mr Nye, (whom with Mr Goodwin c Smoke p. 14. you cite for a worthy saying touching the golden Ball of Government) I refer you for satisfaction to him, who will tell you (as he hath done divers others in my hearing) that Ministers of the Gospel may hold, and receive Tithes for their maintenance by a right and title which is neither Jewish nor Popish, but truly Christian; and there is nothing jewish or Popish in Tithes, but the assignation of the decimae decimarum, from the d Numb. 18.28 levitical Priests to the high Priest, from the high Priest to the e In veteri lege primitiae debebantur sacerdotibus, decimae autem Levitis, & quia sub sacerdotibus Levitae erant, Dominus mandavit ut ipsi loco decimarum solverent summo sacerdoti decimam decimae, unde nunc eadem ratione tenentur Clerici summo pontifici decimam dare si exigeret. Aquin. 22. q. 87. a. 4. ad. 3. Soto 9 Inst. q. 4. art. 4. ad. 3. Lorin. in Num. 18.28. p. 687. Pope, and from the Pope to the King; when first Pope Urbane gave them to Richard the second to aid him against Charles the French King, and others that upheld Clement the seventh against him, as f Polyd. Virg. Hist. l. 16. Polydore Virgil relateth. And King Henry the eighth taking from the Pope the title of head of the Church to himself by g Anno 26 H. 8. c. 1. Poult. Abridg. p. 561. Act of Parliament, took from him the tenths, and other profits annexed to that title, which were settled upon the Crown by h Ibid. c. 2. p. 565. Statute in the 26th year of Henry the 8. so that the jewish high Priesthood being expired, the papal Lordship abolished, the Tithes paid under those titles, may be called jewish and Popish, but not that which is assigned for the maintenance of Ministers, because they are yet to do service to their Master, and so to receive the maintenance of his allowance for his work; which fellow-servants cannot take upon them to take away without presumption; their door-neighbour will not allow them a power to appoint the wages of their servants, much less may they usurp upon the right of God, and his Ministers, to alienate tithes from the support of his service and worship, for that is rather Popish, as hath before been observed. Which being true and clear, (as touching the pedigree of such Tithes from the high Priesthood of Aaron to the Independent Prelacy of the Pope, and from him to the King, as by claim from the title, Head of the Church, translated from the Mitre to the Crown) it will not I conceive be thought congruous to the Christian Reformation (the thorough Reformation professed by our worthy and religious Rulers) that such Monuments of Superstition or Popery should be removed, which were unprofitable, and that only retained (as a silver shrine to Diana) which brings gain to the King or State, and puts the charge upon the Ministers of the Gospel; who thereby (I may say it confidently for some whom I know) are brought to this perplexed Dilemma, either to pay them with reluctancy, (as no less contrary to their consciences then to their commodities) or to deny or withhold them with suspicion, or imputation of avarice, or disobedience to lawful Authority. Obj. But the Parliament liketh not that Tithes should be proposed, or pressed, as many Divines do, both in Pulpit, and from the Press, as of divine right; which because they think to be wrong, they will rather reject them, then ratify them under a title of so high a strain. Answ. 1. Not only Divines, but divers i Sir. Ed. Coke in his second Report in the Archb: of Can. his case. f. 49. b. And so the Author of the foregoing learned Work. others (who are men of very eminent note) hold Tithes to be due by divine right, and some of them have undertaken to prove them so, and to answer all objections against them, which how far they have performed is left to the judgement of indifferent Readers. 2. It is more like that (as both religion and reason will dictate unto them) they will be the more wary how they take them away, lest if that tenure should prove true, they should be found guilty of the sin of sacrilege, that they should abolish them, and that they will seriously search and inquire into the ground of that title, and while they are in doubt, that they will resolve of the safest course, which is, not to repeal them; for as we must forbear to feed of meats of which another saith, that they are sacrificed to idols, 2 Cor. 10.28. (for his sake that saith it, though but a private Christian;) so if Divines say, (and bring Scripture and reason for it) that Tithes are dedicated to God, or by him assumed, first to himself, and then assigned or set over by him to his servants, for his work in waiting on his worship, which must be maintained to the world's end, it will be rather a reason for them to support the tenure of Tithes by their Parliamentary power, than any way to prompt or dispose them to desert it, or to alienate their right from Ecclesiastical uses. The fear of sacrilege hath been of such force with some heathen Moralists, as Plutarch observeth in his Morals, that if they pulled down a house contiguous to a temple, they would leave some of that part standing which was next unto it, lest they should with it take away any part of the Temple itself. Wherein if they shown any spice of superstition, it will be more capable of pardon, or less liable to punishment at the hand of God, than we may expect if we proceed hastily to lay violent hands upon any thing peculiarly entitled to his honour, who is the author and giver of all things to all men. 2. If the plea of a divine right for Tithes (supposing it setreth them up too high) should incline to irritation in some to make opposition against them, why should not the contrary tenet which peremptorily taketh them down too low, calling them Jewish, Antichristian, and Popish, and that undeniably, (as hath been said, but never can be proved) move others the rather to retain them, and confirm them? chief the Parliament (whose authority is most engaged for their justification) and especially since the servants of God have had possession of them by so many laws, and so long a prescription; for according to the maxim of the law, Longa possessio (sicut jus) parit jus possidendi & tollit actionem vero domino. Bract. l. 2. fo. 52. the possessers title is the best until he be fairly evicted out of it. 3. If the Parliament do not in their approbation of Tithes come up to the tenure of divine right, they may yet be willing enough to establish them upon other grounds, and leave Divines to the liberty of their judgement & consciences to plead for them according to the principles of their own profession, as in their Ordinances made for setting up of the Presbyterial Government, though yet they be not satisfied of the claim of divine right for it, they were pleased to authorise it by their Ordinance, and to require Divines to prepare the people for the reception thereof by preaching of it, and for it; so as both to clear it, and assure it (so fare as they could) by the sacred Scripture. And on the other side while they approve it, though but by a civil assent, (as to a prudential design, until they see more light, which they look for in the Answer to their Queres proposed to the Assembly of Divines) the Presbyterians who hold it in the highest esteem take none offence that they proceed no farther, and profess themselves well satisfied with their civil sanction; so one of the learned Commissioners of Scotland hath said, in the name of the rest, in these words. M. Gillespie his brotherly examination of M. Colemans' Serm. p. 32, 33. If they shall in a Parliamentary and Legislative way establish that thing, which is really, and in itself agreeable to the Word of God, though they do not declare it to be the will of jesus Christ, they are satisfied. Ob. If there were no purpose to put down Tithes by such as are in Authority, how cometh it to pass that the Anabaptists are more bold in London to take up a public contestation against them, than the Presbyterians to make apology for them? for did not one Mr B. C. an Anabaptist manage a dispute against Mr W. I. of Chr. and after that undertake another upon the same argument against M. I. Cr. and offered to proceed in it against all opposition, which M. Cr. durst not do, upon pretence of a prohibition from authority? Ans. 1. It is no strange thing for men who have a bad cause to set a good face on it, and to make out with boldness and confidence what is wanting in truth of judgement, and strength of argument; Sir Ed: Sands Europe. Specul. p. 85. this is observed of the Papists by a judicious Author, whom he showeth to have been forward in the offers of disputation; with iterated and importunate suits for public audience and judgement. And Bellarmine reporteth out of Surius, that Io: Cochlens a great Zealot for the Papacy, Obtulit se ad disputandum cum quovis Lutherano sub poena capitis si in probationibus defecisset. Bell. de Eccles. Script. p. 423. offered to dispute with any Luther an upon peril of his life, if he failed in the proof of his part of the Question. 2. For the boldness of the Anabaptists at this time, and in this Cause, and this City, there may be divers conjectural reasons in particular given thereof, besides the general already observed; as, 1. Because they advance in their hopes of a toleration of their Sect; and to promote that hope they have been so ready to engage in military service, with a design no doubt to get that liberty by force (if they be able) which by favour of authority they cannot obtain. 2. For this matter of Tithes, they might be more forward to oppose their tenure, because it is a very popular and plausible argument, wherein they might have the good wills of the people, that they might prevail, and their conceits that they did so, Quod valdè volumus facilè credimus. (though they did not) because they would be very apt to believe what they vehemently desire may come to pass; and it is not to be doubted but a dram of seeming probability will prevail more with most worldlings to spare their purses, than an ounce of sound reason to put them to charges. 3. They might take some encouragement to dispute against Tithes in this City, because there is a project to change the maintenance of the Ministers set on foot by many worthy, and well-minded Citizens, which yet in truth makes nothing for the Anabaptists opinion, who would have Ministers maintained by mere benevolence; for the Citizens, as they intent a more liberal allowance than the former, (since they see many of their Churches are destitute of Ministers, because their Ministers have been destitute of means) so they mean that it shall be certain, settled by Authority, and not left arbitrary to the courtesy of men. 3. For the two disputes, the one managed betwixt M. W. I. and M. B. C. the other purposed betwixt M. I. Cr. and the same B. C. but disappointed, it makes nothing at all for the taking away of Tithes, For as touching the former, they who were not possessed with prejudice, or corrupted with covetousness against the truth, were much confirmed in the lawfulness of such rates as are paid in London under the title of Tithes, though indeed they are not Tithes, and of such only was the debate at that time. For the intended debate which was to be touching the divine right of Tithes, though some godly and prudent men thought it should not have been taken in hand without the warrant of public authority, yet they made no doubt but that the truth of the cause, or ability of the man, who undertook the defence of it against M. C. would prevail unto victory. But for the disappointment, it was by the warrant of the Lord Major of the City, to them both, interdicting the dispute, which was both without M. I. Cr. his knowledge, and against his good will; yet he obeyed the prohibition, and when his Antagonist insisted, and urged the performance of what was agreed upon, notwithstanding the contrary command of the Lord Major, his answer was, that it was agreeable to the Anabaptists principles to disobey Authority, but not according to the principles of Presbyterians. And lest B.C. should take it for a token of distrust in his cause, and make it an occasion of vainglory, either against the cause or person of M. I. Cr. he proposed the printing of M. B. C. his arguments against Tithes, and engaged himself to answer them in print, and so to refer both to the judgement of all Readers, which was the best way to give clear and full satisfaction to such as doubt on which side the truth is swayed by the most authentic testimony and soundest reasons. It is no part of my task for the present to argue farther for Tithes, then may answer the doubt you have proposed to me, which is, of the Parliaments purpose and proceed touching the establishing, or abolishing of them. Animadversions upon the late Pamphlet entitled, The countries' plea against Tithes. YEt that you may not be scrupled in conscience (as you were in conceit) by a new petty Pamphlet against payment of Tithes, which perhaps may come to your hands; I will give you some animadversions upon it; which may also be of use to others as well as to you. The title of the Book is, The Country's plea against Tithes, with this addition, A Declaration sent to divers eminent Ministers inseverall parishes of this Kingdom, proving by God's word and moral reason, that Tithes are not due to the Ministers of the Gospel; and that the Law for Tithes was a levitical Law, and to endure no longer than the levitical Priesthood did, etc. Wherein the Authors say much in the outside, but make no answerable proof in the inside of the Book. They direct it in the Title page as a Declaration to divers worthy Ministers in the Kingdom, and in the beginning of the body of the Book they present it as a joint Declaration of the people of several parishes for their opinion concerning Tithes, as a Reply to certain papers from some Ministers, pretending to prove Tithes due by authority of Scripture. It had been fair dealing if they had printed those papers of the Ministers, that it might appear how well they had answered them. But for the confident contradiction of the Divine right they allege, 1. The novelty of them in the Christian state. 2. The ceremoniality of them, as being merely levitical. 3. The inequality of them in several respects. 4. The trouble of them to the Minister. For the first; they refer the original of them under the Gospel, for the author, to Pope Vrbane; for the time, to the three hundredth year after Christ's ascension; and for proof of both, they cite Origen, Cyprian, and Gregory, at large without any particular quotation to find what they cite: until which time, say they, there was community of all things among Christians. But first, they should tell us which urban it was, (who they say begun to bring Tithes into use for the maintenance of the Ministry) for there were 8 of that Name, and of those 8 (if Origen be a witness of it) it must be Vrban the first, Anno 227 who sat but 6 years, & 7 months, & there was not another Pope called Vrban until the year 1087. which was long after the latest of those three, viz. Gregory, (whether they mean Greg. Nazianz. or Greg. Nyssen, or Gregory surnamed,) the Great, Bishop of Rome; and Origen testified so much of Tithes recalled by Pope Vrban, their original must be ancienter than 300 years after the ascension; for that urban lived not beyond the year 234, and Origen flourished Anno 226. and if Tithes began when Christians gave over the community of goods, as these men say p. 2. in the name of Tertullian, but bring no proof of it, than had Ministers a propriety in Tithes as soon as others had a propiety of estate; and sooner it could not be. And that which caused this community, the persecution of the Church (which reached to his age: Tom. 1. Concil. p. 104. for the next predecessor to that urban, Calixtus was a Martyr) might very well cause a suspension of Tithes for all that time. 2. For the tenure of Tithes; there be 3 disputable opinions: Decimae sunt pura eleemosyna, & parochiani possunt propter peccata suorum praelatorum, ad libitum suum auferreeas. Concil. Constant. Session. 8. Tom. 7. Concil. p. 1016 col. 2. Artic. 18. 1 Whether they be Moral; 2 whether judicial; 3 whether Ceremonial, (there is a fourth conceit that they are mere Alms, which is imputed to Wickleff in the 8 session of the council of Constance; but that admits of no dispute since it is repugnant to all appearance of reason.) 1 Some hold them Moral, as those Ministers whom these men pretend to answer; most of the Caronists, Marc. Anton. de Dom. de Rep. Eccl. l. 9 c. 2. Zepperus in Explic. legum forens. Mos. c. 10. and many English Divines. 2. Some hold them Judicial, as Bell. lib de Cler. c. 25. 3. Some Ceremonial, as these parishioners do. There is the least reason for this last opinion. For Tithes were taken as a tribute by God himself as the chief Lord of all the earth, Levit. 27.30. whereby he is acknowledged giver of all; and that it is in his power to curse the earth with barrenness, and to starve the creatures that live upon it; and this is true of all ages, and therefore we read of payment of Tithes by Abraham, Gen. 14.2. Heb. 7.4. and vowing of Tithes by Jacob, before the levitical Priesthood was established, Gen. 28.22. Object. But sacrifices, say they, are ancienter than Tithes, and were long before the Ceremonial Law was ordained, yet they are not to be continued in the time of the Gospel. Answ. True, because they were types of future things to be exhibited in the New Testament, but Tithes have no typical intimation in their institution or use, being set apart by God for himself, and given by him as the wages to his servants for doing his work; which he assigned to the Levites for their time, and made them suitable to their state by peculiar ordinances, as Num. 18.26, 27. etc. Levit. 25.3.4.5. which expired with the Priesthood, though Tithes in general did not; and therefore such particulars are no more to be urged against that maintenance of Ministers in the New Testament, than the Jewish observations of the Sabbath against the keeping of a Christian Sabbath at this day. 3. For that they say of inequality in respect of impropriations, p. 6. in respect of tradesmen in Towns and Cities, who gain more than farmers and pay no Tithes, p. 9 and in respect of the loss which may befall the farmer, when he hath not increase to answer his cost and labour, Ibid. For the two first, it is worthy consideration of those who are in authority how to reduce them to more equality. For the third; the exception lieth no more against Tithes now, then in the time when they acknowledge them most in force; and when it proveth an ill year with the ploughman, it will be well for him to consider whether his unconscionableness in Tithes have not procured a curse upon his portion, according to the commination in the third of Malac. 8, 9 And lastly, for the trouble of the Minister; 1 If he have but a little Tithe, it will be no great trouble for him to order it, especially since he may lawfully exchange it into money. 2. If he have a great Tithe, it will bear the charge of a servant to ease him of the trouble. And 3. If this inconvenience could not be avoided, (as well it may) there would follow fare greater upon the taking away Tithes, such as before we have observed. With these exceptions against this revenue of Tithes they have delivered something worthy the acceptation of Ministers, which is p. 5.6. It is the desire, say they, of all God's people (& so it ought to be) that the Ministers of the Gospel should have a sufficient maintenance allowed them, nay not only a sufficient maintenance, but an abundant, a large and rich maintenance, such a maintenance as they may live liberally without any other employment but the Ministry; Nor is it fit or becoming Christians that their Minister should live in a mean condition either of diet or clothing, but as he is more excellent in calling, so ought he to have a more large & better maintenance in those respects than others, for he feeding the souls with spiritual things, the word of God, the people ought to feed his body liberally with their base temporal things: and in the next page say they; And is it not a shame for a rich and flourishing commonwealth to have a poor and bare Ministry, either in the general, or in some particulars? & yet into such a condition have Impropriations brought the Ministry of this commonwealth in very many places. They conclude with an address to the high court of Parliament for a reformation in this particular of Tithes, p. 10. and herein we are content to meet them at the bar of that most wise, pious, and impartial Judicatory of the Kingdom, who, as they have, so we doubt not but they will ratify the ancient Statutes, and their own late Ordinance concerning Tithes; and whatsoever their title be in respect of religion, the people may (though ignorant zealots hold, and covetous worldlings pretend they may not) pay them with good conscience, for the State may impose them for the maintenance of the Ministry, as well as they may impose the 20th part, or any other part they please, to maintain a just war, or to pay the debts of the Kingdom; and others may conscientiously submit to such impositions; and hereto the most learned Divines of the reformed Churches do agree, (though the most of them, as they are mistaken in the true doctrine of the Sabbath, so are they also in this question of Tithes) for albeit they maintain their Ministers while they live, and provide for their widows and fatherless children, when they are dead, * Cujus legis (scil politicae) vi nec ipsi fideles reformati denegant solvere decimas, in regnis illas, in quibus subjiciuntur Principibus qui illas lege solvendas sanciunt; qua ratione etiam à theologis responsum fuit nonnullis qui scrupulo conscientiae se teneri praetendebant, ne pontificiis ecclesiasticis solverent decimas, qui Idololatriae sunt ministri. D. Rivet. Exercit. in Genes. Exercit. 80. p. 389. col. 2. yet they resolve it lawful to pay the 10th to the popish priests, though they officiate in an Idolatrous service, upon the command of the Prince, or State under which they live. This may suffice for this little Treatise, which, though little, if it had not been less in weight then in length, I would not have been so observant of the importunity of the Printers calling for my paper, as to dispatch mine animadversions upon it in the short interim of one night, betwixt rising from supper and reposing for sleep, which yet had been too much if most readers were not too readily prepared to entertain any Text that makes for their commodity, whether by acquiring advantage, or sparing expenses. Now for your secondary doubt concerning the disposal of your son, give me leave, Sir, to give you my sense fully and freely in the case. 1. I see by you and him (which I am sorry to observe, yet I fear it is like to prove too true in all ages) that if there be not sufficient and certain means allotted to the labourers in the Lord's harvest, he is like to have but a few workmen to undertake it, and go through with it; therefore those that Julian-like, take away the hire of spiritual labourers, make way, as much as in them lieth, for the marring of the harvest; for either there will be a want of workmen, or of such sufficiency in them as may make the work to prosper in their hands: hence is the miserable condition of the Greek Church, living (if not languishing) under the dominion of the Turks, where their Clergy as they are the meanest sort of men, (like jeroboams Priests, who though they were to serve in the house of high places, were the lowest of the people. 1 Kings 12.31.) so are they as despicable for their ignorance and mean qualifications every way as for their poverty, G. Sandys his Travails l. 1. p. 77. having no schools of learning among them, and therefore more like either to poison or famish the souls committed to their charge, then to feed and nourish them with a competent measure of the sincere milk of the Word, that they may grow thereby. 2. But I fear no such failing of maintenance for Ministers among us, as may occasion such a discouragement to parents that they should not be willing to dispose of their children in that calling, Vincent. Charter. de Imag. Deor. for fear they should serve Christ upon such poor terms as the Priests of Isis did that heathen goddess, who were not allowed a new suit until the old was worn to rags. 3. Yet if that were true which you read in the weekly pamphlets, or which you had by report, of the likelihood of putting down Tithes by the Parliament, I must tell you plainly as your friend, I like not your wavering touching the disposal of your son; for if he be furnished with personal abilities for the service of the Sanctuary, if he be (as I hope he is) a man of holy life and conversation, if he find himself inwardly moved by the holy Ghost to enter into that holy function, it will be a greater sacrilege in you then robbing of the Church of so much Tithe as would maintain him, to divert him from the service of Christ, and salvation of souls, through distrust of the divine providence for his support. And therefore, 4. If I conceived you to be so carnal a father (but I dare not think you are such a one) I should turn my speech from you to your son, had I opportunity to speak with him, Licet in limine pater jaceat, per calcatum perge patrem siccis oculis ad vexillum crucis evola. Hicron. ad Heliodor. Tom. 1. p. 2. Genus pietatis est in hac re crudelem esse. Ibid. and exhort him not only to serve Christ, but to suffer for him, in the words of Hierom to Heliodorus, rather to tread upon you, if you should lie as a block in his way, then to make a stop, or to retire from following after Christ, though in zeal and haste he should overtake the Cross; for in such a case it is a kind of piety (saith he) to show cruelty towards our chiefest friends. Thus, as my little leisure would allow me, I have endeavoured to satisfy your desire in resolving your doubt, and I hope that I have written will reach a little further than you thought of, even to the settling of your resolution to dedicate your son to the service of our Saviour; and to serve him upon such terms whatsoever they be, as the Divine providence in the condition of the times shall put upon him, and so you have my advice, and you shall have my prayers for you and yours. FINIS.