AND from the Opinions of these and other ancient Fathers, who took their Ground from the Law, Tythes, Eafter, Pentecoft, and other Things, came to be introduced and brought into the Church. * But notwithstanding the Doctrine and hard Threats of fome of the great Bishops of that Time, it was not a generally received Doctrine, that Tythes ought to be paid, nor till about the Year 800 was any Thing by the then Church determined or ordained, touching the Quantity that should be given, though (no doubt) in many Places, amongst the Offerings of the devouter Sort, Tenths, or greater Parts of their Annual Increase were given, according to the Doctrine of Ambrofe, and others. ** THE Offerings of the Church in those Ages were received and difpofed of in Maintenance of the Priefts, and Relief of thofe that were diftreffed; neither had the Priests such a particular Intereft in the Profits received, as of late Time they have ufurped; all that was received, wherefoever in the Bishoprick, was as a common Treasury, and was difpenfed, one fourth Part to the Priefts, out of which every one had his Portion; another fourth Part to the Relief of the Poor, Sick and Strangers; a third to the building and repairing of Places for publick Meetings, called Churches; and the fourth to the Bishop. And generally then, the Bishop lived *As is teftified by Agobard Bifh. of Lyons, a highly efteemed Man, in his Treatife De difpenfatione, &c. contra Sacrilegos, pag. 276. ** Be not offended at the word Prieft, no other can be given to this Age; for the Title, as then 'twas given to them, fo it was owned by them. fived in some Monaftery, and his Clergy with him, from whence he fent them out to preach within the Countries in his Diocefs, and there they received fuch Offerings as were made, and brought them to the Treasury: AND though divers of the Fathers, Popes and Bishops, did declare that Tythes were due, and ought to be paid; none of the first eight general Councils of the Church did ever fo much as mention the Name of Tythes, or declare them a Duty. The ninth held at Lateran, under Pope Calixtus the fecond," about the Year 1119, mentions Tythes, but speaks only of those which had been given to the Church by fpecial Confecration; fo doth alfo the Council held under P. Alexander the third, An. 1180, but that only inhibits Appropriations to Religious Houses, without Affent of a Bishop; for at that Time, People being led to believe that their Tythes ought to be given for the Ufe of the Poor, did chiefly dispose them to the Heads and Governours of Religious Houses, who kept open Hospitality for the Poor, and Entertainment of Strangers, and were esteemed holy, as good Treasurers for the needy, who took care of Diftribution of them, as is teftified by Caffian the Hermit. But that Council feeing much given to the Poor, little to the Priests, made that Decree to restrain the People's Freedom; and indeed, by this Time, much Wickedness was crept into thefe Houfes, as Hiftories relate. NOR was any Law, Canon, or Conftitution of any general Council as yet found, that purpofely * I call it Church, because it was then fo efteemed; 1 muft ufe fuch Words as may give the Reader a Knowledge of what I say. pofely commanded the Payment of Tythes, nor any that exprefly fuppofed them a Duty of common right, before the Council of Lateran, held in the Year 1215, under Pope Innocent the third; about which Time the Popes Authority was grown powerful, and the Canons more received into Practice, that before were little, efpecially herein, obeyed. ABOUT the Years 800, 900, 1000, and after, Tythes were called the Lord's Goods, the Patrimony of the Poor, &c. Whence alfo the Council at Nants* declared, the Clergy were not to use them as their own, but as commended to their Truft; and they were not then given for the Clergy, but to be difpofed of for the Ufes of the Poor. AND at this Time, no Regard was had to the Nature of the Increase; but whatsoever did arife in Profit, whether by Trade, Merchandize, or Husbandry, the Tenth was required to be paid for Tythes. BUT ftill the People had more Mind to give them for the Poor than the Priests, as may be understood by the Complaint of Pope Innocent the third, who cried out against those that gave their Tythes and firft Fruits to the Poor, and not to the Priefts, as heinous Offenders; his own Words take in the Margin. ALSO +Res dominicæ, dominica fubftantia, Dei cenfus, Patrimonia pauperum, tributa egentium animarum, ftipendia pauperum, hofpitum Peregrinorum. *Non quafi fuis, fed quafi commendatis, non ab hominibus, fed ab ipfo Deo funt inftitutæ. +He preaching on Zacheus's Charity, fays, Dedit proprium, & reddidit alienum. Graviter ergo peccant qui decimas & primitias non reddunt Sacerdotibus, fed eas pro voluntate diftribuunt indigentibus. ALSO, in a general *Council held at Lyons urider Pope Gregory the tenth, in the Year 1274, it was conftituted, that it fhould not thenceforth be lawful for Men to give their Tythes of their own Pleasure, where they would, as it had been before, but pay all their Tythes to the Mother-Church. By these it may be seen, that though the People, who then generally were Papifts, did believe they ought to pay them, yet were they free to difpofe them where they pleafed, till these Popish Councils restrained their Liberty. BUT the great Decree which speaks moft plain, and till which, nothing was given forth which did directly constitute them, but rather still fupposed them as due by fome former Right, was made at the Council of Trent, under Pope Pi us the fourth, about the Year 1560. And yet that great Council followed the Doctrine of their Father, and faid they were due to God, and had no new Authority for their great Decree, which they command to be obeyed under the Penalty of Excommunication. HAVING Ut nulli hominum deinceps liceat decimas fuas ad libitum ut antea ubi vellet affignare, fed Matrici Ecclefiæ omnes decimas perfolverent. + Non funt ferendi qui variis artibus decimas Ecclefiis obvenientes fubftrahere moliuntur, aut qui ab aliis fol vendas temere occupant, & in rem fuam vertunt; cum de cimarum folutio debita fit Deo, & qui eas dare nolue rint, aut dantes impediunt, res alienas invadunt: Præcipit igitur fancta Synodus, omnibus cujufcunq; gradus & conditionis fint, ad quos decimarum folutio fpectat, ut eas (ad quas de jure tenentur) in pofterum Cathedrali aut quibufcunq; aliis Ecclefiis vel perfonis, quibus legitime debentur, integre perfolvant: Qui vero eas aut fubftrahunt, aut impediunt, Excommunicentur: Nec ab hoc crimine, nifi plena reftitutione fecuta abfolvantur. HAVING thus briefly run over the Ecclefiaftical State abroad, from the Infant-Purity of the Church, to the Height of the Papal Domination, and given a fmall Glimpfe through every Age to the Point in Hand; I fhall now more particularly return to what may concern this Nation. I fhall not trouble the Reader with a Relation of Jofeph of Arimathea, and his eleven Disciples coming into Britain, fent by Philip the Apoftle, in the Reign of Arviragus, as Hiftories report; nor of the Converfion of King Lucius afterwards, who is faid to give great Endowments to the Church; nor of the British Christians: Nothing at all appearing of the Payment of Tythes in their Days: But paffing by them, and those many Years, wherein the barbarous Saxons over-ran this Nation, exercifing most cruel Perfecutions, till the very Name of Chriftian was blotted out, and thofe Heathens feated in the quiet Poffeffion of a sevenfold Kingdom in this Land. ABOUT the Year 600, or foon after, Gregory the first, then Pope of Rome, fent over Augufine the Monk into England, by whom Ethelbert King of Kent was converted; and by him and his Followers, in procefs of Time, other Parts of the Nation, and others of the Kings, were alfo brought to their Faith. This Auguftin was a Canon Regular, and both he and his Clergy, for long Time after, followed the Example of former Ages, living in common upon the Offerings of their Converts; and those that received them, were joyned in Societies, in Imitation of the primitive Practice, having fuch Direction fent him by Pope Gregory, that in the Tenderness |