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Confounded, I find; and the best bottom they could get, was the Pope's Authority, or the Jews; not a Tittle from Chrift Jefus, or his Apostles, to this Day; but the contrary, as hath been fhewed already at large.

I find, the Dominicans and Francifcan Fryars would have it, That Tithes were not of Divine Right, but meer Alms; and thefe fought to gain a good part therefore to themfelves.

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About the Years 800, 900, and 1000. I find, Tithes were called, The Lord's Goods: The Patrimony of the Poor, &c. And the Council of Nants declared, The Clergy fhould not use them as their own, but difpofe of them to the ufe of the Poor. But the Council at Lyons, under Pope Gregory, 1274 Conftituted, That it fhould not be Lawful henceforward for Men to give their Tithes at their own pleasure, 'where they would; but now they muft pay all to the Mother-Church. And the Council of Trent, 1560. faid, Tithes were due to God; and fo concluded, they must be paid to God, and Holy Church.

Thus, by what has been faid, it's plain when Tithes came up, and how, and by whom; and who made Laws for the Payment of them, and to whom they commanded them to be paid And therefore what I faid in, my Let ters of the Pope, and his Priests, it is clearly proved from whence thofe Laws, that compelled the Payment of Tithes, fprung. So

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the Vicar of Bray is fo ftill; Popery and Slavery, is Popery and Slavery till: And therefore deny Self, and own Truth; come out of Babylon, partake not of her Sins, left thou partake of her Plagues, that will certainly come upon her from the great God of Heaven and Earth. But yet, that I may not be short, let us follow the Pope into England a little.

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About the Year 600. or foon after, the Pope of Rome fent over Auguftin the Monk into England, who was a Canon Regular, by whom Erbelbert, King of Kent, was Converted, and he and his Clergy followed the Example of former Ages, Bed. lib. 1. 26. and imitated the Practice of the Apoftolical Primitive Church, and liv'd in common upon the Offerings of their Converts: And thofe that received them, joyn'd into Societies; and out of their Offerings, repaired the Temples of the Gentiles; which Pope Gregory advifed not to dedeffroy, but convert to Chriftian Services,

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See here the Rife of your High Places They Builded fome Houses, and call'd them ebunches, in which the Priests exercised their Shrivings: And the Pope advised Augustin, that the English Saxon Church, and the Clergy, fhould ufe the Community of all things, as it was in the Apostles Days But after a great part of the Nation was brought over to the Popish Faith, they began to Preach up the Old Roman Doctrine, that Tithes ought to be paid to God, and Holy Church, as the Phrafe was; and that Pardon of Sin, and the Joys of Heaven,

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were merited by Good Works; and the Torments of Hell evaded, by Charity: This made them easily yield to give Tenths, and Lands, and outward Riches, to those call'd Religious Houfes; fo that Abundance was given, and the Clergy grew Rich and Great; But how long this Community continued among the Clergy, doth not fully appear: But till the time of Henry the Third, no Tithes, as Tithes, were generally paid in England, but (as I find by Bede, in Exem plar. Saxon. 1. 3) a Decree was made (as Lindwood in Conftitut. Provincial. informs) thar for every Twenty Shillings Rent, a Farthing a Sunday, as they call'd it, was to be paid, (for they named the Days after the Heathen Names, one called Sunday, another Monday, &c.) and the Tenth Part of the Yearly Rent of their Houses.

As concerning Laws and Canons for Tithes among the Saxons, it is faid, That in the Year 786. Pope Adrian, being grown Great, fent two Legates into England, for Reformation, as it was call'd, who brought Letters to Offa King of Merceland, and Alfewold King of Northumberland. Whereupon Alfewold call'd a Council in the North, and Offa and Kenulph call'd another for the South, who ordained, That a Tenth Part of the Fruits of the Earth fhould be paid, as it was written in the Law of Mofes, and Offa, and the Bifhops and Abbots, fubfcribed it, with a Crofs to it: See. Selden's Hiftory of Tithes, cap. 8. fect. 2.

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The fame Author alfo fays, Ibid. fect. 4. That Ethelwolf, King of the Weft-Saxons, in the Year: 855. made a Law, that Tithes of all his Lands fhould be given to God, and his Servants, and be freed from all Taxes.

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But I find by Hiftory, that King Offa kill'd Etbelbert, and gave a Tenth of his Goods to pacifie his Ghoft, and that Edgar, being in Love with Etheldwold's Wife, to obtain his end, murder'd him; upon which the Pope fending forth his Bull; Edgar, to appease him, confirm'd to the Church the Tenth of all the Fruit of his Field, and Cattel, to the Priests and their Succeffors: So Murder and Whoredom. helped forward the Priefts Right of Tithes.. And is it not clear what Church that was, and in the dark Night of Popery too, against which the firft Martyrs teftified ? And was it a good Law for Princes to give away other Mens Goods, to expiate their own Sins? Could the giving of them attone? Is it not an acknowledgment of the Pope's Power to abfolve, and a Bribing off the Guilt of Sin against Almighty God by Gifts to a Mortal Man, and thofe extorted from a Poor People too? Is this Proteftantifm? Is this any other but plain Popery? If it doth deferve a better Name, William, fhew thy Reafon for it.

I remember one ancient Pallage in Story, That the Day that Conftantine conferr'd those large Endowments of Tithes, and Rich Benefits upon the Church, a Voice was heard from Heaven, faying, This day is Poyfon poured

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into the Church: Since which time, it hath been obferved by fome very Confiderate Perfons, That the Riches and great Power of Church-Officers, hath been the Canker of the Church, and Moth of the State.

But let's fee a little further what Hiftory faith concerning Ethelwolf: When the Danes invaded England, and great Wars came on, he call'd a Council, where were prefent Bernredus King of Mercia, and Edmund King of the Eaft-Angles; and they, to remove the heavy Judgment that was upon them, gave the Tithe of all the Land to God, and his Servants, as their Phrafe then was. So I find King Athelstan, King Edmund, King Edgar, King Ethelred, King Knute, King Edward the Confeffor, and fevetal Saxon Kings, made feveral Laws for Tithes, as Hiftory relates.

And William the Conqueror, when he came in with the Normans, he also confirm'd the Liberties of the Church; fo Hen. I. and Hen. II. did the like: And King Stephen alfo, who gave to the Priory of Eye in Suffolk, as may be seen in an Original Charter of his, the Tenths of feveral of his Mannors for the Pardon of his Sins, and obtaining the Joys of Heaven, for his own Soul, and the Soul of his Father, Mother, Uncle, &c. Selden Hift. of Tithes, c. II.

And another Old Charter fays, That Ralph Bishop of Chichester, granted to the Abby of Battel the Tenths of fundry Mannors, for

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