The Civil Right of Tithes, Ecclesiastical tract · Chapter 7
CHAP. IX.
BUt to proceed: and in what follows we may perhaps light on more clearneſs and particularity: At the darkneſs of this remote diſtance we may not look to ſee every Mote, but as things draw nearer, ſo ſhall we ſee clearer. This of Auguſtines time may have been only in Kent, for there he ſetled and Chiefly lived; the next will look to the cold Climate, and in the next Miſſive, (which was about 200 years after,) ſee what took effect more Northernly: ſc. The account of theſe meetings in theſe and more circumſtances is returned in an Epiſtle to Rome about the year 786. when the things were done by one of the Commiſsioners, and publiſhed by Illyricus in his Centuries: Vid. Cent. 8. cap 9. col. 316. edit. 1624.In an Embaſſage directed to Offa King of Mercenland, and Aelfwald K. of Northumberland with their Archbiſhops, where the Commiſſioners were Gregory biſhop of Oſtia, Theophylact of Todi (in Italy both) and they came firſt to Offa, (it ſeems becauſe neareſt) and he, (becauſe the buſineſs might concern him) ſent and called to councel Kenwolfe, (or Kynewlfe) King of the Weſt Saxons. There the work was diſtributed: Theophylact ſtays about Mercenland and Wales; Gregory and his aſſiſtants go to Aelfwald (or Oſward King of Northumberland and Eanbal his Arch-biſhop, where a Parliament was ſummoned, or that which had the nature thereof, a meeting of both States, (Convenerunt omnes principes regionis tàm Eccleſiaſtici quàm ſeculares,) and the 17 of their deciſions this; Decimum Septimum caput: 1Ib. col. 320.de decimis dandis ſicut in lege ſcriptum eſt: of ſetling tythes according to the Law.2Decimam partem ex omnibus frugibus tuis, ſeu primitiis deferas in domum Domini Dei tui. Rurſum per prophetam: Adſerte inquit, omnem decimam, &c. ib. The tenth part of all thy fruit, or thy firſt fruits thou ſhalt bring into the houſe of the Lord. And again by the prophet, Bring all the tythes into my barn, that there may be meat in my houſe, and prove me in this, if I will not open the windows of Heaven, and pour out bleſſing abundantly: and I will rebuke the Devourer for your ſakes that deſtroys the fruit of your land, and there ſhall not be a vine barren in your field; the Lord ſaith it. As the wiſe man ſpeakes, no man can give his own alms of his own, unleſs he firſt ſeparate to the Lord what from the beginning he hath required to be his. And hence often it cometh that he that will not give the tenth, is reduced to the tenth. Whence with all earneſtneſs we command, that All ſtudy to give the tenth of all they poſſeſs, becauſe it is the Lords peculiar, (or reſerve) and live of the nine, and be bountiful as they can.
This was propoſed in the Aſſembly, and beſides the King and Clergy, confirmed with the aſſent and ſubcription of all the Elders, Captains, and people of the land;1His quoque ſaluberrimis admonitionibus, Presbyteri, Diaconi Eccleſiarum, & Abbates Monaſteriorum, Iudices, Optimates, & Nobiles uno opere, uno ore conſentimus & ſubſcripſimus. Ib. conſenting the Judges, Peers, and Nobles: And ſo to King Offa and his Elders (or Senators, or Councellors, Senatores is the word) who did the like, his Princes and Clergy ſetting their markes: Brorda Dux ſigno ſanctae crucis ſubſcripſi. Faxwald us Dux ſubſcripſi. Beroaldus Dux ſubſcripſi. Othbaldus Dux ſubſcripſi: with a croſs as the manner then was in their ſerious and religious confirmations.
A moſt obſervable Law, ſays Mr. Selden, if it be genuine, (as why ſhould it not?) being made by both States, and of two Kingdoms: It is not like Illyricus forged it, or would venture it to light, without ſome Authentick authority, conſidering who he was; and what he is there a doing: the phraſe, ſtile, and forme ſpeake much the tone of that age: Our2Vid. Concil. Brit. pa 291. & pag. 298. Sir Henry Spelman followes him in the ſubſtance, though not in the circumſtance, giving it due place in our Councels ſince publiſhed; and unleſs we will queſtion every thing, why ſhould we this? He hath added the name of the place, Concilium Calchuthenſe, that is either Chalchuth, or Calchuth, or Celchyth, or Cealtide: for theſe ſeveral variations I find; which Camden places in Northumberland, though he had rather finde it in the higher Climate of ſome part of Mercia: I ſhould ſeek for it between York and Durham.