The Civil Right of Tithes, Ecclesiastical tract · Chapter 13
CHAP. XV.
BUt none did more in this kinde then the Conquering Dane. Firſt, he4Vid Epiſtolam Canuti Regis ad Anglorum proceres anno Regni ſui 15. Domini noſtri 1031. in eod. pag. 535. ſends from Rome, mindeful of Juſtice here, to all his Officers and Miniſters, threatening if all dues were not paid, particularly Tythes, the diſobedient ſhould ſmart from the ſharpeſt edge of his ſevereſt laws. Secondly, when he came, (Nec dicto fuit deterius factum, as ſaith the Hiſtorian) he cauſed all the5Omnes enim leges ab antiquis regibus & m…ximè ab anteceſſore ſuo Aethelredo latas, ſub interminatione regiae mulctae perpetuis tempo…ibus obſervari praecipit. Mal…eſbur. de Geſt. Reg. lib. 2. cap. 11. ancient laws to be reviſed, eſpecially thoſe of his Predeceſſor Ethelred, (amongſt which were for tythes, as may be remembred from but now) and Thirdly,6Quotannis quiſ que Deo jura juſtaſque debitiones ritè perſolv…to: Arationis quidem eleemoſynam ad decimum quintam á Paſchate diem pendito: foetuum decimas ad Pentecoſten ſolvito; rerrae denique fruct…m decimas reddito ad feſt… omnium ſanctorum celebre: Or if not, as is ſaid. Vid L. Eccl. Canut. K 8. Spelm. p 544 &c. 15. p. 563. De decimis ad Eccleſiam Thani pertinentibus, vid. c. 1 …: p. 545. by more aſſurance and paſt all conjecture he revived & awakened that notable paſt law of K.1Whereof befo. e. pag. 84. Edgar, made up of 3 parts twiſted together for mutual ſtrength, Rule, Puniſhment, & order for Execution; willing that men ſhould pay; if they did not, they ſhould loſe 9 of 10. And who ſhould ſee things done, but they who by their work were to be rewarded for their labour? Which was much, and as much as could be expected, in tender regard to what (of that little account is,) findes ſo much place, and in very faſt and ſafe accordance to what had been before. Indeed it ſhould be ſo: States ſhould be conſtant. Not uncertainly whiffling up in looſe and various decrees, but be gravely ſtayed and fixed to their received orders, Not giving the world occaſion to think their Laws are Humane Ordinances by this, That they change like men; but partaking in ſtedfaſtneſs with him from whom they are, reſemble Him in Immutability who is the Same for Ever. Juſtice and Truth are never but the ſame; Why ſhould then their Rules vary? The ſame thing cannot be right and wrong at times; why ſhould the Lesbian rule warp hither and thither, as 'twere to ſay it is! It may make the jealous world ſuſpect ere long that Lawes are nothing elſe but witty devices to ſerve the contrivers own turn, if, like the ſayles of a ſhip, they may be ſhifted and turned hither and thither upon occaſion: and cauſe them wiſh perhaps rather they had no ordinance at all, then what may be planted againſt their own ſafety; finding ſuſpicion in the ſanctuary of their refuge, and doubting what was given for their wealth may prove an occaſion of their falling. The firmneſs of a publick decree could never have found a fitter meaſure then that of the Laws of the Medes and Perſians which alter not; Dan. 6. 8, 12, 15.whereto the world owes much of its happineſs: nor can we ever hope for any more certainty of any thing we poſſeſs and call good on earth, then there is of Juſtice; and the rule and meaſure thereof is the conſtant Law.
This the wiſe and victorious Dane knew, (perhaps by cheriſhing ſuch axiomes and perſwaſions at home victorious) which made him ſtrike in as much as might be with the paſt and eſtabliſhed Laws, to ſhake the Kingdom the leſs by a Couqneſt, and in their ſtability to provide for much of the wholes, and his own. As indeed this courſe often leaves a Kingdom ſafe with change of the head, and Government quiet upon any change of Governours. For the perſon at top is never ſo material as the diffuſed and coincorporate Law throughout the body politick, which ſettles down and is conveyed, as the branching Nerves, into every the remoteſt member of the re-publike, and which if it ſuffer trouble by change, many a paralytical or ſpaſmatical fit cannot but muſt needs go therewith, diſordering the whole, and twinging the very heart; if theſe are forced out of the way, or ſuffer any conſiderable diſtention, laxation, mutation, obſtruction, trouble or diſturbance whatſoever; which alſo the next Norman Conquerour found or was taught; for the Nation that was in part willing (or were forced) to receive him, would never yet give conſent that their laws (the ſinews of the State) ſhould be touched, which put him upon this hard Dilemma either to imbrace Theſe, or be rejected by Thoſe, to let Them alone, or Himſelf never ſhould have been quiet.