A BRIEF TREATISE Concerning the chief dispute of this time about TITHES.  
Wherein is shown, 

1. That the Tenth or Tithes are the Clergies right, by the Laws of God, of Nature, and of this Nation.  
2. That no person ought to pay above the tenth part of any Rate or Charge, imposed upon the whole Parish, for his Parsonage, Tithe and Glebe also.    
By Bevill Turmiger, Gent.  MAL. 3.8, 9, 10. 
Will a man rob God? yet ye have rob me: But ye say, Wherein have we rob thee? In Tithes and Offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have rob me, even this whole Nation. Bring ye all the Tithes into the Storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.  
LONDON, Printed for R. LOWNDES, at the White-Lyon in S. Paul's Churchyard, 1653.   

THe main business now in agitation at Westminster, is, concerning the taking away the Tithes from the Clergy, and is the subject of every man's discourse, wherein two opinions are most eagerly maintained; the first (and most violent) is, That Tithes ought not at all to be paid to the Clergy. The second is, That Tithes or tenth ought to be paid, but not as now they are in most Parishes, which chief consists of Tillage, where the Parson receiveth a sixth part in stead of his tenth, and yet many times payeth but the tenth part of the Contribution; To satisfy both which, I thought it not amiss to publish these Collections, which formerly I gathered for my own private satisfaction; by which it will appear against the first sort of people, that Tithes are due to the Clergy by the Laws of God, of Nature, and of this Nation; and against the second sort, that no Parson receiveth above the tenth part of the fruits of the Parish, and that he ought not to pay above the tenth part of any Rates or Charges imposed upon the Parish, for his Tithe and Glebe also.   

The Clergies right to Tithes, by the Law of God, of Nature, and this Nation, and that no Parson ought to pay above the tenth part of any Rate or Charge, imposed upon the Parish for his Tithe and Glebe.  
TITHE in old English or Saxon, signifieth to cull or choose out; and because the Priest might cull or choose his tenth out of the other nine parts, the word Tithe came to be used for the tenth, for Decima or Decimae, is the Tithe or tenth of that we lawfully possess, rendered by us to God by way of thankfulness for the blessings bestowed on us, which is due by the Law of God, of Nature, and of this Nation.  
The Law of God is contained in the Old and New Testaments; in the Old Testament Tithes are fully and often commanded (as all acknowledge) but some pretend that it obligeth not us, since there is no express place enjoining the payment of them in the New: Yet the same Argument is of the same force against keeping the Lords day, Baptising of Infants, or women's receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper; and sufficient it is, that they are plainly commanded in the Old, and never fulfilled, abrogated or abolished in the New; and if the letter of the levitical Law, be fulfilled by Consummatum est, yet the Spiritual and Moral sense remaineth still, and that in three main particulars. 

1. Piety towards God, as being for his Worship and Service.  
2. Gratitude, as being Sacrificium laudis, an offering of thanks for his benefits received.  
3. Justice being appointed by him for the just remuneration, and wages of his Ministers, 1 Cor. 9.13, 14.   Do you not know that they which wait at the Altar, are partakers with the Altar? so also hath the Lord ordained, that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel: We own to God our great Landlord, both Rent and Service, our Rent is the tenth of our increase, Mal. 3.8, 9, 10, etc. Will a man rob God? yet ye have rob me, but ye say, wherein have we rob thee? in Tithes and Offerings: ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have rob me, even this whole Nation: bring all the Tithes into the store-house, that there may be meat in mine house, and try me if I will not open the windows of Heaven, etc. Our service must be performed every seventh day, 7. is the number of Evangelicall Sanctification, 10. the number of Legal Justification: as Faith is nothing without Works, so neither the Sabbath without Tithes; for they who administer to us the spiritual blessings of the Sabbath, must receive from us the temporal blessings of Tithes, 1 Cor. 9.11. if we sow unto you Spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your Temporal things? for by giving God the tenth part, we put the other nine parts in his protection: Much is said of the Figure and Number 10. by the Ancient (as who please may read in Sir Henry Spelman) the Romans so admired the secret virtue of the number 10. that they canonised it amongst their Gods by the name of Decima, the letter X. signifieth commonly the number 10. and the Tithe, and Christ, and was and is commonly written, X ˢ X ⁱ X um, Christus, Christi, Christum, and X ˢ X ⁱ X um, Decimus, Decimi, Decimum.  

X. Exprimit antiquis, haec Christum litera scriptis,  
Exprimit, & partem quam petit ille sacram.  
Ergo citus, Christi qua sunt dato munera Christo,  
Caesaris accipiat Caesar, uterque suum.   

The X. of old expressed Christ's holy name,  
And so the holy tenth which he doth claim.  
Give then to Christ, what's Christ's without delay,  
Give Cesar Caesar's due, and both their pay.   
And as for the Practic, the payment of Tithes by all pious men ever since there was a Church, Jewish or Christian, is undeniable, 1 Cor. 11.16. but if any man seem contentious, let him know, that we have no such custom, neither the Churches of God. It seems in Saint Paul's time, the customs of the Churches were sufficient to stop the mouths of any Gaine-sayers, the custom of paying Tithes, was not only by, but before the establishment of the Jewish Church or Commonwealth; for Abraham paid Tithes to Melchisedeck, who is held to be Sem, Noah's Son (and it may well be, for he lived 600. years, whereof 502. were after the Flood, and 209. of them with Abraham) so as to those of the new World, he might well seem without Father or Mother, being borne 100 years before the Flood. So Jacob and Levi himself in the loins of Abraham, paid Tithes 400. years before he was borne, and although after some rob God of them, Mal. 3.13. and others sacrilegiously amongst the Christians, yet was the payment of them never abrogated by any Law, but confirmed by all the Fathers and good Christians, and never gainsaid by any honest single Author, till our unconscionable days.  
2. What God taught his people the Jews, and Christians by his Word, that he taught the Gentiles by the Law of Nature: Aug: Quis scribit in cordibus hominum naturalem legem nisi ipse Deus, that is called the Law of Nature, which is writ by God in the hearts of all men by the pen of Nature; grounding itself upon such manifest rules of Reason, that all the Nations of the World perceive them to be just, and know they ought to practise them. As the Philosophers call this the Law of Nature, so the Logicians and Orators call it, the Law of Reason, the Civilians, the Law of Nations, and Divines, the Moral Law: All Nations, saith Lactantius, agree in this, that there is a God, that that God ought to be served, and that those who are set aside to perform that particular service, aught to be maintained, which generally hath been performed by the payment of Tithes: The first Tithe that we read of paid by the Gentiles, was that of Dyonisius, commonly called Bacchus, after his Conquest over the Indians. Magno Jovi, 600. years after Abraham paid Tithes to Melchisedeck, which is as ancient as we have any History of the Gentiles; and before Moses his settling the Commonwealth of the Jews, so the Sicilians, Athenians, Arabians, Aethiopians, and (as Paulus Diaconus saith) all the Gentiles, decimas veteres diis suis offerbaut, and Diodorus Siculus, who lived with Julius Cesar, saith it was the constant course of all people, and that not only of the fruits of the Earth, but of that also which they got by labour and hazard of their lives; for he that giveth all, with have some acknowledgement of all, and from all, even from the Military men, out of the spoil they got by War: So Abraham, so Bacchus, so Cyrus, so Furius Camillus, so Alexander the great, and so do the Turks to this day. See Herodotus in Clio, fol 36. Livi. lib. 5. Plin. lib. 12. cap. 14. Diodorus Siculus, etc.  
3. Concerning the Law of this Nation, if it was not plain and manifest, few I doubt in these times would pay them, many accounting them a great grievance and oppression, daily Petitioning against them, and although enough is said already to satisfy any honest rational man, yet to show how unreasonable their demands are, and how unjust it would be to take them away, or otherways employ them: I intent to show how they first came to the Church in this Nation, and how by Law to be established: as Moses the temporal ruler of the people of Israel was counted amongst the Priests, Psal. 99.6. so the Law of this Land accounted the King, Personam mixtam, medium & commune quiddam inter Sacerdotes & Laicos, and hath assigned unto him a politic body composed of Ecclesiastical and Civil Subjects, Cook de Jur: Eccles. and as he was girt (at his Coronation) with a Sword by the Lay-Peers, so was he Anointed by the Bishops with Oil, having jurisdiction several over all, as well Ecclesiastical as Civil, as head of the Commonwealth, so of the Church, being the supreme Bishop over all Bishops in England, whence his stile was, Vicarius summi Regis, not summi Pontificis: This anointing with Oil was not common to all Christian Kings, for in King Henry the seconds time, of 24. Christian Kings in number, only 4. of them besides the Emperor were anointed and Crowned, namely the Kings of England, France, Jerusalem and Sicily: Famours Alfred or Alured about the year 860. was anointed and Crowned at Rome by Leo 4. since which his successors have been ever anointed and Crowned, and thereby with David, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekias, made capable of spiritual Jurisdiction, so also the Kings of France from Clodovius, so also the Kings of Jerusalem and Sicily, the right of which two Kingdoms now resideth in the King of Spain, who before he had their rights, was neither anointed nor Crowned; and for France, that right was in the King of England, though de facto, another hath it in possession; the King of Spain also holds in feudo, of the Sea of Rome, Jerusalem and Sicily, so that in this point of anointing and spiritual jurisdiction, the Kings of England have been peerless: and for their Temporal power also, had more to say for themselves, than any King in Christendom, for Edward Son to Edmon Ironside, (surnamed the Outlaw, because he was banished all the reigns of Canutus and his Sons the Danes) yet recalled when Edward the Confessor younger brother to Edmon Ironside obtained the Crown; he Married Agatha, Daughter to Hen. 2. Emperor, by whom he had Edgar Etheling confirmed Heir, by his great Uncle Edward Confessor, but deprived by Herold his protector; his sole Heir Margaret was Married to Malcom, 3. King of Scotland, from and by whom, in a lineal descent, King James in his person united the Britain's, Saxons, English, Normans, French and Scottish Crowns in one, though now possessed of none; by whom and whose just power the Tithes came first to be legally invested in the Church, for though they were ever due by the Law of God, and Nature, and paid in England, as soon as Christianity was established here: for Anne 596. they were preached by our Concersioner Augustine, and granted by King Ethelbert, Leges Confessoris concessae à Rege & Baronibus & Populo (whence some would prove the antiquity of Parliament) yet he being King of Kent only, doth not include all the rest of England; but as Cook in Litleton, lib. 1. cap. 9 Sect. 73. It appears by the Law, that the first Kings of England had all the Lands in Demesne, etc. now the first King of all England was Egbert, who reduced the Heptarchy into his sole Monarchy, and his Son Ethelwoolfe the second Monarch of England, conferred the Tithes of all this Kingdom with the Tenth part of all the Land in England for Glebe upon the Church; the Charter itself is extant in Ingulphus, Math: of Westminster, etc. The title of it is thus, Quomodo Ethelwolfus Rex dedit decimam partem regni sui Ecclesiis, and concludes thus, Qui augere voluerit nostram donationem, augeat omnipotens deus dies ejus prosperos, siquis vero mutare vel minuere praesumpserit, noscat se ad tribunal Christi rationem redditurum; reserving the chief Manors and Royalties to himself, he gave the lesser Baronies and Lands to his Nobles and others, for defence of the Kingdom, reserving to himself and his successors, the Homages, Rents and Services due from them, with the tenths to the Church, so that Anno Dom. 855. saith Ingulphus, Ethelwolphus decimam omnis possessionis suae, & totius regni sui partem deo immolavit, this was confirmed by King Ethelstone, An. 930. and after by Canutus the Son of Sweno, the Dane, as soon as he was settled in the Government of this Kingdom, and this we read in our best most ancient and authentic stories of Ingulphus, Math: of Westminster, Rog: Hoveden, Hen: Huntingdon, etc. enjoining the true payment of them upon the pain of Excommunication, besides the loss of the other nine parts, and set down when and how every Tithe of Corn, Hay, Woole, Lamb, etc. should be paid: and Edward the Confessor, 1042. if they had but one Calf or two, then to pay for every of them a penny, and to this price is the Parson generally holden to this day, though ten of our pence now is not worth one of them, and so of Bees, Wood, Water, Mils, Parks, Fishings, Warrans, Negotiations, etc. and the Law saith of all things that the Lord giveth, the Tenth: After William the Norman Conquering this Kingdom, 1066. as Bacon, Cook, and all our Chronicles affirm, led by the example of the former Conquerors, as well Saxons and Danes seized upon all the Lands in England (except the Church Lands and some in Kent) caused the Kingdom to be admeasured, reserving the chief Manors and Royalties, with the Homages, Rents and Services to himself, and his successors, and the Ecclesiastical Lands, with the Tithe of all other Lands to the Church, he parted for the defence of the Kingdom, with all the rest to his Nobles, Servants and Soldiers; and the Lands thus charged have been transmitted and passed over from one to another, until they came unto the possession of the present owners, who have no other right to their Lands, but by tenure from the King, performing their enjoined services to him, and paying the Tenth or Tithes to the Church. This was confirmed by Magna Charta, ninth of Hen: 3. and 30. several Parliaments successively, and Bishops appointed to curse those who should dare to enact any thing against it, and all those people who would obey any such Statutes being enacted, and in the 31. of Edward 3. May 13. Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury, and five other Bishops solemnly denounced the curse mentioned in the 25. of Edw: 1. in Westminster Hall, the King with his Peers being present against all them which should willingly or maliciously deprive the Church of her right. Secondly, against all those who by any act or device infringe the liberties of the Church or Kingdom, granted by Magna Charta, & de foresta. So that whatsoever right the owner hath to the nine parts, either of fee simple, Lease or Copy, yet hath he no pretence at all to the Tithe or Tenth, either by grant or purchase: by grant he hath no right to the other nine, but upon condition of payment of the Tenth to the Church, and as for the Purchase it could be no more than was in the Grant, wherein the Tenth was reserved to the Church; neither did the Purchaser buy any more than nine parts only, for suppose a man purchase 100 l. per an. which at 20. year's purchase, it will cost 2000 l. but if this 100 l. per annum had been Tithe free, it would have been worth 120 l. per annum, which at 20. year's purchase would have cost 2400 l. so that he buying but nine parts of the Land, hath 400 l. abated him in lieu of the Tenth. Neither doth the Tithe cost the Farmer any labour or charge at all, for suppose the Farmer pay to the Landlord 100 l. per ann. if it were Tithe free his Landlord would make him pay 120 l. per annum for it, so that he hath 20 l. per annum abated in his Rent, in regard of his payment of Tithes, which fully recompenseth him for his labour and cost, upon the tenth▪ part of the Land; in effect then no man in England paid any Tithes to the Parson, but the King only or his successors, in acknowledgement whereof, every Parson payeth yearly his Tenths to the King and his successors. Seeing then the Parson hath as good right to the tenth part as the possessors to the other nine parts, and he no ways obliged to the Landlord or Tenant for his tenth part, nor either of them endamaged by it, they ought as well to pay nine parts of all rates and charges, for the nine parts which they possess, as he the tenth part for the Tithe which he possesseth, as may more manifestly appear by these reasons,  
1. Every Parson ought to be rated in the same manner with the Parishioners: If the rate be according to goods, then there is reason the Parson should pay (if there be no customs) the tenth part of the Rate, receiving the tenth part of the Commodities; and if the Rate be according to Lands, than the Parson is to be rated with the rest of the Parish according to the Glebe Land, proportionable to their Lands, but he cannot be rated for his Goods or Tithes, and his Glebe Land too, unless the Parishioners be rated for their goods or other nine parts, and their lands besides. If it be objected, that then the Parson pays not proportionable to the Parishioners, that they pay either for their Lands or their goods, or commodities which grow on them; whereas the Parson neither pays for his Glebe Lands, nor the commodities which grow on them; I answer,  

1. That if the Parson be rated the tenth part, by reason that he receives the Tenth or Tithe of the fruits, than the Parishioners ought to pay the other nine parts of the rate, because they receive the other nine parts of the commodities: So that they paying nine parts of the rate, and the Parson the tenth, the whole rate is paid, and there remains nothing more to be paid, either for his Glebe or their Lands.  
2. In most Parishes there are customs for Cows, weaned Calves, etc. whereof the Parson receives not the thirtieth part, as Ob. for a weaned Calf or Colt; he ought not then of those things to pay the tenth part, whereof he receives not the 30. part.  
3. No Parson receives the tenth of men's personal Estates, though personal Tithes are due, both by the Law of God and Man, as appears by the Preface of the Statute for personal Tithes.  
4. No Parson receives the tenth part of men's personal Estates, Annuities, Moneys put out to use, or otherwise employed in buying and selling, for Timber, Horses, Swine and other goods which are rateable, and therefore ought not to pay the tenth of that, whereof he receives no benefit at all. Some object that the Parson receives the sixth part of the Parish, but if they account this according to the Rent of their Farms, than they are to consider that the Tenant's livelihood, as Meat, Drink and , is to be accounted into the value of the Lands besides the Rent, which if the Parson's livelihood be so deducted, there cannot remain to him the tenth part of the Rent of the Parish: and if they speak of goods or Tithe of the commodities which he receives, then by reason of the several customs, no Parson receives so much as the tenth part, and therefore ought not to pay above the tenth part of the rate of the whole Parish: This will appear more plain if we consider 

1. That the whole Tax or Rate is laid upon the whole Parish, and the commodities therein, and not upon things Titheable only, but upon untitheable also, as Rents, Annuities, Moneys, Goods, Timber, personal Estates, gain by Trade, which pay no Tithe at all, therefore for so much of the Rate, as is to be paid for them, the Parson is to be at no charge at all.  
2. If we consider things which are Tithable but in part by reason of customs, as 2 d. a Cow's milk, worth 3 s. 1 d. for a Garden worth a Noble: Ob: for a weaned Calf or Colt worth 2 s. wherein he receives not the tenth part, and therefore ought not to pay the tenth part of these things undervalved by Customs, and the other things rateable, yet not Titheable at all, be deducted from the Parson's Tax, and added to the Parish charge, we shall find that if the Parson pay the tenth of the rate, he is not recompensed by the addition of his Glebe Land taxe-free: and if any Parish be of the contrary opinion, I believe their Parson will willingly pay the tenth part of the rates for his Tithe, and for his Glebe besides; so that they will pay him the Tithe of all rateable commodities, and forbear their customs in Titheable commodities. For all men know that if the Rents of any Parish be worth 500 l. per annum, the fruits of that Parish are worth at least 1500 l. per ann. whereof the Parsonage Glebe and all, is not worth the tenth part, per annum. Therefore the determination of the King and Counsel, in Doctor Belcanqueis Case, that no Parson should be rated above the tenth part of the Parish for Tithe and Glebe and all, was agreeable to reason and equity.     
I conclude also Negatively for the first Proposition, viz. That no former Parliament consisting of King, Lords, and Commons, or future Representative (as I conceive) ever had, or can have just power to take away the Tithes from the Clergy.  

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