A, 855. Confent, before they did tranfmit them to the Hands of the Gentry, or any who now claim from Lib. 1. c. them. For it appears from Sir Edward Coke, 3. Sct. 73. that the firft Kings of the Realm had all the Lands fol. 58. of England in Demefne, and les Grands Manours and les Royalties they referved to themselves; and with the Remnant they enfcoffed the Barons of the Realm for the Defence thereof, with fuch Jurifdiction as the Court Baron now bath. And at this Time it was, when all the Lands of England were the King's Demefne, that Ethelwulf, the fecond Monarch of the Saxon Race after the Heptarchy, conferred the Tithes of all the Kingdom upon the Church by his Royal Charter, which is extant in Abbot Ingulf, and in Matthew of Westminster. So that the Land being thus charged with the Payment of Tibes, came with this Clog unto the Lords and great Men of the Realm, and hath been so transmitted and passed over from one Hand to another, until they came into the Poffeffion of the present Owners, who must have paid more for the Purchase of them, and required larger Rents from their Tenants, if they had not been thus charged. And whatever Right they may have to the other nine Parts, either of Fec-fimple, Leafe or Copy; have certainly none at all in the Tilbe or Tenth, which is no more theirs than that the other nine Parts are the Clergy's. Q. Were Tithes paid in the Days of the Apoftles, and in the primitive Ages of Chriftianity? A. The Zeal of Chriftians in the Times of the Aas iv. Apofiles was fo great, that as many as were Poffeffors 34, 35. of Lands or Houfes fold them, and laid the Price of them at the Apostles' Feet; and the Devotion of the following Ages, even to the latter End of the fourth Century, was fo remarkable for the Liberality of their Offerings and Oblations, that their Bounty to the Evangelical Priesthood exceeded what what the Tenth would have been, if they had paid it; fo that there was no Reafon to demand Tithes, when Men gave a greater Proportion of what they poffeffed; though even during those Ages there want not Teftimonies from the Fathers Adv. Hær. of thofe Times, St. Irenæus, Origen, and St. Cy- Cont.Cel. prian, that Tithes were due under the Gofpel, as 1.8. p.440. well as before and under the Law, and that they Eccl. were paid is plain from the Apoftolical Canons, fo n. 23 can. called, which provide for the Disposal of them. Q. What Sin are we guilty of when we defraud the Clergy of their Maintenance? 1. 4. c. 34. Unit. 4. 38. A. The grievous Sin of Sacrilege, which is then committed, as in other Inftances, fo in this, of taking what is fet apart for their Subfiftence when we employ it in other Ufes, or to our own particular Profit, or when we are guilty of any Fraud in paying what is due to them; which is robbing of God, as the Prophet informs us: Will Mat.iii. de a man rob God? yet ye have robbed me. But ye fay, Wherein have we robbed thee? In the Tithes and Offerings. To fteal then, or alienate that which is facred, that which is fet apart For God's peculiar Service, is called robbing of God, because of fuch facred Things God is the true Proprietary. Q. What Examples are there in Scripture of the fevere Punishment of Sacrilege? A. If the Sin of Adam was of this Kind, as fome think, who ate of that Tree as common which God hath referved to himfelf as boly, we know how he fuffered in himself and Pofterity, and that the whole Earth was curfed for his Sake. Joh.vi.az. Achan for taking a Wedge of Gold and a Babylonish Garment of the devoted Things of Jericho, brought a Curfe both upon himself and the whole Congregation of Ifrael. Eli's Sons, by robbing God of 1 Sam. ii; his Sacrifices to furnish their own Tables, provoked God to give not only his People, but the M m Ark xxxvi. 21. Dan. v. 2. Ark of his Covenant, into the Hands of the Philistines. For the Sacrilege of the fabbatical Year God caufed his People to be carried away Captive, 2 Chron. and the Land to lie wafte feventy Years. And the Vengeance of God lighted upon Belshazzar for his Profanation of the Veffels of the Temple. The firft Tranfgreffion of this Kind under the Gospel was feverely punished by prefent Death, in the A&ts v. 3. Perfons of Ananias and Sapphira, to manifest how heinous it was in Chrift's Sight, and to be a Warning for all thofe that afterwards fhould believe in his Name. And what Deftruction this grievous Crime has brought upon feveral Families of the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation, may be seen in Sir Henry Spelman's Hiftory and Fate of Sacrilege difcovered by Examples, &c. 4. 5. 18, 19. Q. What Sin are they guilty of that fell or buy a Benefice? A. The grievous Sin of Simony, which is then committed, when any Perfon is prefented or collated to any Benefice with Cure of Souls, Dignity, Prebend, or Living Ecclefiaftical, for any Sum of Money, Reward, Payment, Gift, Profit or Benefit, directly or indirectly; or by reafon of any Promife or Agreement, or any other Affurance for any Profit or Benefit whatsoever; for the preventing of which, before any Perfon is admitted to any Ecclefiaftical Function, he is obliged in his own Perfon to fwear that he hath made no fimonical Payment, Contract, or Promife, directly or indirectly, for the obtaining or procuring fuch Ecclefiaftical Preferment. Q. Why is this Sin called Simony?. A. From the Anology it bears to that Crime As viii. which Simon Magus was guilty of, who offered Money for the Power of conferring the Holy Ghoft upon whom foever he should lay his Hands. The Fact which cometh nearest to the Sin of Simm Magus, is the Jelling of Holy Orders, the ordaining Perfons to be Priests Priefts or Deacons upon the Motive or Score of Money; and though ordaining Perfons, and collating them to Benefices, are not only different, but feparable, yet because it is determined by the Laws of our Church, that the Office is infeparable from the Benefice, and that there fhould be no Minifters fine titulo allowed among us; therefore the giving or the taking Money for the Presentation or Collation, &c. (except what is appointed to be paid as Fees for Inftruments) is with us called Simony, and made punishable as fuch; in as much, that, though it be not buying or felling of a spiritual Gift, it is nevertheless the buying and felling of that which is annexed to a spiritual Gift. Q. What Punishments have been ordained and appointed against Simony? A. The Chriftian Church very early, when fhe fubfifted independently upon the State, proceeded with great Severity againft fuch as were found guilty of Simony. They admitted none to come into the facred Miniftry by Way of Purchase or Merchandize. Tertullian tells us, That the Bishops acquired not that Honour by Bribes, but by the Teftimony of their good Lives; for in the Church of God nothing is done by the Allurements of Gifts. Accordingly, in the Canons called Apoftolical, it is provided and ordained, That whosoever comes by the Means of Money to be made Bishop, Prefbyter, or Deacon, Shall not only be immediately depofed, but he shall allo be excommunicated. And the Canons of General and Provincial Councils appointed, that fuch Perfons should not only be depofed and degraded, but they very often pronounced an Anathema against those that either gave or received Money, Gifts or Bribes upon fuch Accounts., The Canon Law does not only place Simony among the worst Inftit, Jur. Crimes, but declares every Simonift uncapable of Can.lib. 8. performing any Part of the Office of an Ecclefiaftic, when at the fame Time other grievous Mm 2 Crimes Tit.3. Vide ii. 9. 1. Confeff. Helv. c. 18. Belgic. Can. 40. Nor Crimes do not debar them by that Law. doth it merely appoint, that whofoever fimonically ordains or collates, &c. or who is fimonically ordained or collated, fhall be depofed; but that every laical Perfon, who, either having the Patronage of a Living, fhall take a Bribe for a Prefentation, or who upon the Account of Reward fhall intercede to get one ordained, shall be excommunicated. The foreign Reformed Churches are no less severe in this Matter. The Church of England hath fhewn a great deal of Care to prevent it, and, when committed, severely to punish Art. 31. it; the requires an Oath in Perfon, that the Party prefented to any Benefice hath made no fimonical Payment, Contract, or Promife, directly or indirectly, for obtaining the Preferment; and it is to be wifhed that the Party presenting or collating were under the fame Obligation. She ordains, that all fhall be deprived, who who fhall be proved guilty of that execrable Crime; and it is made one of the Articles to be enquired after at every Visitation. The Civil Power in Chriftian Nations have fhewn themselves rigorous in punishing this Crime, particularly in England, and therefore it was one of the Injun&. Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth, in the first Year of her Reign, That all fuch Perfons as buy any Benefices, or come to them by Fraud and Deceit, fhall be deprived of fuch Benefices, and made unable at any Time after to receive any other fpiritual Promotion; and that fuch as do fell them, or by any Colour do bestow them for their own Gain and Profit, shall lofe their Right and Title of Patronage and Prefentment for that Time; and the Gift thereof, for that Vacation, 1. Eliz. Shall appertain to the Queen's Majefty. And in the thirty-first Year of her Reign, there was a Law enacted, in which feveral Penalties are ordained for the Punishment of thofe that fhall be found guilty of it, viz. That he who takes Money for 26. c. vi. prefenting, |