Exceptions Many and Just Against Two Injurious Petitions, Section 10
SECT. X.
THe 5th Motive is ſuch as that it requires a diſtinct conſideration by it ſelfe and it is a motive of prudence, if the Parliament upon their Petition will uſe their ſerious endeavours that this unjuſt oppreſſion of Tithes may be aboliſhed. 1. They will give Teſtimony of their reſolutiou to inſtate this Comonwealth in all their juſt Rights and Libertyes.
Where the Petitioners ſeeme to make Miniſters no part of the Commonwealth who (beſides their Spirituall Miniſtry towards the Soules of men are both a conſiderable portion of the whole and beare a larger portion in publike payments, then other men.
2. For that they intimate that by taking their eſtates from them they ſhall give teſtimony of their reſolutions to inſtates this commonwealth in all their juſt rights and priviledges, the quite contrary will be a clearer & a readier Inference for hath not the Parliament as good Authority, and may they not with as much juſtice take away the meanes and revenues of other Subjects of this Nation, as well as of Miniſters, and rather becauſe many by treaſon may forfeit their Lands and inheritances from themſelves and their heirs; but the fact of a Miniſter cannot tranſmit the guilt of ſuch a fact or forfeiture upon his ſucceſſour. Becauſe he is not in his predeceſſors Loynes, as the Child in the Loines of his Parents Levi in the Loines of Abraham, and all of us in the Loines of Adam & it may ſomewhat ſcruple the Conſciences of a Chriſtian to impoveriſh the Miniſtry becauſe their deſtitution may produce great detriment to the progreſſe of religion which whoſoever dares violate will not ſticke much at an act of Miniſtry in ſecular matters Dioniſius made bold to robb the Temples of his heathen Gods of their Rights and ornaments, and when he had done ſo he ſet them to ſale in the open Market wheereby when he had made up a great ſumme of mony,*Ferunt ſublata de fanis in forum protuliſſe & per praeconem vendidiſſe exactaq, pecunia edixiſſe ut quod quiſque à ſacris haberet id ante diem certum in ſuum quidque fanum referret ita ad impietatem in Deos in homines adjunxit injuriam. Cicero de natura Deorum l. 3. P. 255. Nu. 63. he made proclamation, that all he had ſould, ſhould be again reſtored to the Temples from whence he had taken them, and ſo ſaith the Roman Orator, who reports the ſtory. To impiety againſt the Gods, he added injuſtice towards men, yet to give the Divell his due, it ſeemes he was more loath to ſtand-guilty of Sacriledge, then of ſimple theft, for he ſo ordered his cheating traffique, as in the laſt accompt to make his Subjects rather then his gods to be looſers by the bargaine.
And whereas theſe Petitioners, ſo preſſe the putting downe of Tithes, as an earneſt of inſtating the Commonwealth, in all their juſt Rights and Liberties, by which they meane not the repreſentative of the people Aſſembled in Parliament, but particular Subjects, it may be a leading caſe for them, to looſe their Rights and Liberties, and when all are ſet free from Tithes, at that gappe may breake in, as it did in Germany, the Levelling*Bonorum communitatem humanitati cū primis eſſe conſentaneum. Sleyd. comment. l. 10. prior. Community, which takes away all bounds of propriety, where walls and hedges, locks and bolts, will not be endured, as being injurious incroachments upon Chriſtian liberty, and therefore*Factum eſt ut vulgus ab operibus atque labore deſiſteret & qua quiſ que re careret ab aliis qui abundabant etiam invitiis acciperet Jbid. it may be lawfull for thoſe that have ſtrength enough in their hands, to break down ſuch partition walls, and to breake up locks and bolts, and any thing that ſtands betwixt them and their due limited Liberties, ſo it was believed and practiſed, by ſuch as the Divell ſtirred up to hinder, and to ſlander the work of Reformation in Luthers time, with this community of Goods, they held an equality of†Ex dignitate ſunt omnes aequales Sleyd ibid. 51. 64. perſons, and then what is the Landlord better then the Tenant, and why ſhould he Labour and Sweat, fare hard, and weare poore apparrell, that his Landlord and Landlady, may live as idely as the Lillies of the field, which may fare as deliciouſly as the rich glutton, Luke 16. and be as gloriouſly arraied as Herod Acts 12. yea why ſhould he pay a fine or a rack-rent, and he and his Family riſe up early, ſit up late, eate the bread of Carefulneſſe, not only to uphold their idleneſſe, luxury, and bravery, but their vaine paſtime, gaming, hunting, hawking, and ſo give his mony to maintaine Cards and Dice, and his Childrens bread to doggs, and their fleſh to nouriſh birds of prey, and though ſuch mutterings be but the wicked iſſue of Sathans Conjunction with humane corruption, for it is the undoubted will of God, and a ſpeciall part of his divine providence (without which the world would ſoon fall into horrid confuſion) that there be degrees of prelation, and ſubordination, of preheminence, and dependance betwixt man and man, in reſpect of wiſdom power honour and riches.
But yet we muſt take heed that by one unrighteous principle and practice we draw not on another, and truly from the deniall of all ſet maintenance to Miniſters to the deniall of fines and rents to Landlords there is but a very little way of diſtance, and the paſſage from them to theſe is downe the hill, for though both be very ungodly and unreaſonable, yet upon ſuch tenets as are now given forth the pretence of oppreſſion may be more colourably pleaded againſt fines and rents and harriots and ſervices of Tenant to the Landlord then againſt Tithes to the Miniſter and if theſe Petioners ſhould prevaile in their motion for the one it would be a motive to others to hope that they may be freed from the other alſo, and ſo farre the Devil hath driven on the deſigne of boundleſſe liberty amongſt us already, for there be ſome of thoſe new Antichriſtians before mentioned who arenot free to be Tenants to other men,*Examination of the Quakers Doct p. 42. that is they have ſuch a latitude of Chriſtian freedome that they cannot put themſelves into ſo narrow & ſervile relation as tenantſhippe beings with it.