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<DATE>01-28-08</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<STC T="T">669.f.16[69]</STC>
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<BIBNO T="umi">99869813</BIBNO>
<VID>163498</VID>
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<HEAD>The dreadfull danger of SACRILEDGE held forth in this one Propo&s;ition, namely</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P><HI>The with-holding of Tithes from a Mini&s;ter that labours in the Word and Doctrine, or denying tho&s;e accu&s;tomed rates upon hou&s;es, which have been paid to the Mini&s;ters &s;ucce&s;&s;ively time out of minde, is a great and grievous &s;in, highly di&s;plea&s;ing to Almighty God, as appears by the&s;e Rea&s;ons.</HI></P>
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<P>1. <LABEL>Rea&s;.</LABEL> _BEcau&s;e it is a direct breach of the eighth Commandement, which &s;aith, <HI>Thou &s;halt not &s;teal;</HI> and directly contrary to the Rule of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Rom.</HI> 13. 7. <HI>Render therefore to all their dues, Cu&s;tome to whom Cu&s;tome, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Yea <HI>Tithes</HI> are due to the Mini&s;ter by the Law of the Land, and the Mini&s;ter ha's as legal a right to the Rates &s;et upon hou&s;es, as the Landlord has to his Rent; Therefore to deprive the Mini&s;ter of them, is a breach, not only of God's Law, but al&s;o of mans Law, and <HI>who &s;o breaketh this hedge, a Serpent &s;hall bite him,</HI> Eccle&s;. 10. 8.</P>
<P><LABEL>1. Object.</LABEL> <HI>But</HI> Tithes <HI>are Antichri&s;tian, and therefore not to be paid any longer.</HI></P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;wer.</LABEL> This is a fal&s;e opinion, as appears by this Argument: That which our Saviour enjoyned, is not Antichri&s;tian. But our Saviour enjoyned <HI>Tithes,</HI> Luke 11. 42. <HI>Ye tithe Mint and Rue, and all manner of Herbs, and pa&s;&s;e over Iudgement and the Love of God, The&s;e ought ye to have done;</HI> that is, ye ought to pay <HI>Tithes,</HI> Therefore they are not Antichri&s;tian.</P>
<P><LABEL>2 Object.</LABEL> <HI>But we do not come to hear him, why then &s;hould we pay him, &s;ince we have no benefit by his Mini&s;tery?</HI></P>
<P><LABEL>An&s;w.</LABEL> If thou live in a Pari&s;h where a godly Mini&s;ter is &s;eated, thou art bound to hear him, for he <HI>worketh the work of the Lord, as well as tho&s;e of greater parts,</HI> See 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 16. 10. If thou do not hear him, nor pay him, thou adde&s;t &s;in to &s;in; for, fir&s;t it is a &s;in to withdraw thy pre&s;ence, and then it is another, yea a greater &s;in to withdraw his maintenance.</P>
<P><LABEL>3. Object.</LABEL> <HI>But the Mini&s;ter will not give us our Due in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, therefore we may ju&s;tly deny him his due.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. The Sacrament is not due to all, but only to tho&s;e that come in a Regular way, according to the order of the Go&s;pel; for all things mu&s;t be done decently and in order, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14. 40. Now the order of the Go&s;pel is this, That the power of examining tho&s;e that are admitted to the Lords Supper belongs not to the Mini&s;ter alone, nor to the Mini|&s;ter with the whole Congregation, but to the Mini&s;ter and Ruling Elders as is undeniably proved by that &s;ingular Treati&s;e &s;et forth by the Provincial A&s;&s;embly, called <HI>The Vindication of the Presbyterian Government,</HI> pag. 70, 71. Se|condly, the Sacrament is not due to tho&s;e that live in any &s;candalous &s;in; But theft, or robbing of God is a &s;candalous &s;in.</P>
<P><LABEL>2. <HI>Rea&s;.</HI></LABEL> It is a &s;in of a high nature, becau&s;e it affronts God him&s;elf, <HI>Mal.</HI> 3. 8. <HI>Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye &s;ay, wherein have we robbed thee? in Tithes and Offerings.</HI> To rob a man by the high-way, doth de&s;erve death: To rob a King of his Plate and Jewels, de&s;erves a tormenting death; but to rob the King of glory, de&s;erves the fire of hell.</P>
<P><LABEL>3. <HI>Rea&s;.</HI></LABEL> It is a complicated &s;in, wherein fraud or cheating is added to Theft: for the Landlord lets his hou&s;e to the Tenant at a lower rate, upon this account, namely, that he &s;hall pay the duties to the Mini&s;ter; as fore example, If the hou&s;e be worth 21. l. <HI>per annum,</HI> The Landlord lets it for 20. l. <HI>per annum,</HI> on purpo&s;e that the Tenant may pay (perhaps) twenty &s;hillings a yeer to the Mini&s;ter. The Tenant notwith&s;tanding payes nothing, but keeps it back from the Mini&s;ter by fraud, and puts the Landlords money in his own pocket. Here is fraud with a witne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P><LABEL>4. <HI>Rea&s;.</HI></LABEL> It is a &s;in, whereby godly Mini&s;ters are di&s;couraged in their work, their hands weakened, and their &s;pirits broken, &s;o that they cannot go on in their Mini&s;tery with <HI>Joy, but with grief;</HI> This is directly contrary to the pra|cti&s;e of that godly King <HI>Hezekiah,</HI> (who&s;e example is written for our learning, <HI>Rom.</HI> 15. 4.) for it is te&s;tified of him, 2 <HI>Chron,</HI> 31. 4. <HI>That he commanded the people that dwelt in Ieru&s;alem, to give the portion of the Prie&s;ts and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the Law of the Lord.</HI></P>
<P><LABEL>5. <HI>Rea&s;.</HI></LABEL> It is a &s;in, wherein and whereby the Defrauder robs his own &s;oul of that &s;piritual benefit and advantage which he might get by &s;uch a mans Mini&s;tery; for it is ju&s;t with God to &s;ay to &s;uch a man&punc; Thou withdrawe&s;t mainte|nance from my &s;ervant, and I will withdraw my ble&s;&s;ing from my own Ordinance, &s;o that the Word preached (by whom&s;oever it be di&s;pen&s;ed,) &s;hall do thee no good at all, but rather it &s;hall be <HI>a &s;avour of death</HI> to thy own condem|nation. Thy &s;oul &s;hall never thrive or pro&s;per by any Sermon that thou heare&s;t.</P>
<P><LABEL>6. <HI>Rea&s;.</HI></LABEL> It is a &s;in that provokes God to cur&s;e a man in his outward e&s;tate and trading, as appears by that forena|med place, <HI>Mal.</HI> 3. 9. <HI>Ye are cur&s;ed with a Cur&s;e, for ye have robbed me;</HI> it is u&s;ual with God to pay &s;inners with their own coyn; They rob God in <HI>Tithes,</HI> and God robs them of their trade and livelihood; They grudge the Mini&s;ters a maintenance, and God grudgeth them even bread for their families, &s;o that they u&s;ually turn bankrupts, or are &s;o much in debt, that they are a&s;hamed to &s;hew their faces.</P>
<P><LABEL>7. <HI>Rea&s;.</HI></LABEL> It is a &s;in again&s;t the Go&s;pel, becau&s;e it hinders the progre&s;&s;e and &s;ucce&s;&s;e of it, for &s;uch men do as much as in them lies to extingui&s;h the light, by taking away the oyle that feeds it. It is ob&s;erved in that excellent book. <HI>Vin|dication Presb. Gov. pag.</HI> 81. that <HI>Iulian</HI> the Apo&s;tate, that cur&s;ed enemy of Chri&s;t and his Go&s;pel, did by taking away <HI>Tithes</HI> do more mi&s;chief to the Church of God, then all the per&s;ecuting Emperours that were before him: for the Per&s;ecutors took away only the Mini&s;ters (and their blood was the &s;eed of the Church) but taking away <HI>Tithes,</HI> took away the Mini&s;tery it &s;elf.</P>
<P>8. <HI>Rea&s;.</HI> It is a &s;in that will not be pardoned upon repentance, unle&s;&s;e there be a re&s;titution as well as repentance, according to that of <HI>Augu&s;tine, Non remittitur peccatum, ni&s;i re&s;tituatur ablatum,</HI> Thy &s;in &s;hall not be pardoned, un|le&s;&s;e that which thou with-holde&s;t unju&s;tly, be re&s;tored.</P>
<P><LABEL>9. <HI>Rea&s;.</HI></LABEL> It is a &s;in that will cry for vengeance, when the &s;inner on his death-bed is crying for mercy; as appears by that remarkable Scripture, <HI>James</HI> 5. 3, 4. <HI>Your gold and &s;ilver is cankered, and the ru&s;t of them &s;hall be a witne&s;&s;e again&s;t you, and &s;hall eat your fle&s;h as it were with fire; Ye have heaped trea&s;ure</HI> (that is, of wrath) <HI>together for the la&s;t dayes. Behold the hire of the Labourers which have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth&punc; and the cries of them which have reaped, are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.</HI> Now if the hire of the Labourers in mens Vineyard, kept back by fraud, crieth; How dreadfull will the cry be of the hire of Gods Labourers in Gods Vineyard, kept back by robbers and defrauders? I tremble to think of it.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider what hath been pre&s;ented unto you in this paper, and the Lord give ye under&s;tanding in all things.</P>
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