in Galatiu and Corinth, where the Apostle ofdained, that Weekly-Offerings for the Saints fhould be made by every one as God had blef【Cor.16.2. fed him; and by these Offerings (which were put into the Hands of the Deacons of the Churches) were all the Services and Needs of the Church fupplied.

*By Example of these, the Course of Month, ly Offerings fucceeded in the next Ages, not exacted, but freely given at the Bounty of every Man, as appears plainly by Tertullian in Apologet. ch. 39. where, upbraiding the Gentiles with the Piety and Devotion of Chriftians, he faith, Whatsoever we have in the Treafury of our Churches, is not raised by Taxation, as though we put Men to ranfom their Religion, but every Man once a Month, or when it pleafeth himfelf, beftoweth what he thinks good, and not without he lifteth; for no Man is compelled, but left free to his own Difcretion: and that which is given is not beflowed in Vanity, but in relieving the Poor, and upon Children deftitute of Parents, and Maintenance of aged and feeble Perfons, Men wrecked by Sea, and fuch as are condemned to the MetalMines, banished into Ilands, or caft into Prifon, profeffing the true God and the Chriftian Faitb.

AND this Way of Contribution continued in the Church, till the great Perfecution under Maximinian and Dioclefian,about the Year 304, ast Eufebius teftifieth, which alfo appears by the Writings of Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian,

and others.

ABOUT this Time alfo, fome Lands began to be given to the Church, and the Revenue of them

* Vide Synod. Gangr. Can. 60. † Euseb, lib. 4. ch. 22

them was brought into the Treasury of the Church, and belonged to the Church in common, and was diftributed as other Offerings, by the Deacons and Elders; but the Bishops or Minifters meddled not therewith: for * Oregin faith, It is not lawful for any Minister of the Church to poffefs Lands (given to the Church) to his own Ufe; And called to the Ministers; Let us depart from the Priests of PHAROAH, who enjoy earthly Poffeffions, to the Priests of the LORD, who have no Portion in the Earth. And in another Place he faith, It behoveth us to be faithful in difpofing the Rents of the Church, that we our felves devour not thofe Things which belong to the Widows and the Poor, and let us be content with fimple Diet and neceffary Apparel. And | Urban Bishop of Rome, Anno 227, did declare, That the Church might receive Lands and Poffeffions of fered by the Faithful, but not to any particular Man's Benefit, but that the Revenues thereof, fhould be diftributed as other Offerings, as Need required.

CYPRIAN Bishop of Carthage, about the Year 250, alfo teftifieth the fame, and fheweth, that the Church maintained many Poor, and that her own Diet was fparing and plain, and all her Expences full of Frugality.

**PROSPER alfo faith, that a Minifter able to live of himself, ought not to participate of the Goods of the Church; for faith he, They that have of their own, and yet defire to have foméwhat

*16 Homily upon Genefis, fol. 26. ch. 3. || Urban 1. in Epift. c. 12. q. 1. c. 161. +Cyprian Epift. 27, 34, 36. ** Lib. 21. de vita contemplativa.

what given them, do not receive it without grea,

Sin.

*THE Council at Antioch, Anno 340, (finding that much Fault had been among the Deacons, to whom it properly belonged) did ordain, that the Bishops might diftribute the Goods of the Church, but required that they took not any Part to themselves, or to the Ufe of the Priefts and Brethren that lived with them, unlefs that Neceffity did juftly require it, ufing the Words of the Apoftle, Having Food and Raiment, be therewith content.

IN thefe Times, in many Places, the Christian Converts joyned themselves in Societies, and chose a separate Life, felling what they had, and living together in common, after the Example of the former Saints about Jerufalem, as + Chryfoftom notes, who lived about the Year 400, by whofe Writings it also appears, that there was not the leaft Ufe or Practice of the Payment of Tythes in those former Ages.

THE Church now living altogether by free Offerings of Lands, Money and Goods, the People were much preffed to bountiful Contributions for holy Ufes, as may be seen by the Writings of ** Hierom and Chryfoftom, who brought the Jewish Liberality in their Payments of Tenths, for an Example, beneath which they would not have Chriftians determine their Charity; where Chryfoftom fays, he speaks these Things not as commanding or forbidding that they should give more, yet as thinking it fit that they should not give lefs than the tenth

Part

Con. Ant. cap. 25. † Hom. 11. in Acta Tom. 6. edit. Saviliana, pag. 897. ** Homil. 43. ad Epift. I. ad Co rinth, in cap 16.

**

Part. *Hierom alfo doth earneftly admonish them to give bountifully to the Poor, and double Honour to him that labours in the Lord's Work; not binding at all to offer this or that Part, leaving them to their own Liberty, but preffing they might not be more short than the Jews were.

*AMBROSE who was Bishop of Milan, about the Year 400, preached up Tenths to be offered up for holy Ufes, (as the Phrafe then was) as may be feen in his Sermon of Repentance; but his Authority he produceth wholly from Mofes's Writings, and quotes divers Sentences, and threatens the People, that if they would not pay their Tenths, God would reduce them to a Tenth.

In like manner ** Auguftin Bishop of Hippo, hath a whole Homily for the Right of Tythes, who calls upon those that have no Fruits of the Earth, to pay the Tenth of whatsoever they live by; and faith, the Neglect of Payment of Tythes is the Caufe of Sterility and Blafting; and agrees with Ambrofe in his Threats, That God would reduce them to a Tenth; and tells them, • that

Ad cap. 3. Malachiæ. Tom. 5. Serm. fer. 7. poft dom. 1. quadragefima, & vide Serm. in Afcenf. Domini. **In Serm. de temp. in Tom. 10. Hæc eft (faith he) Domini juftiffima confuetudo, ut fi tu illi decimam non dederis, tu ad decimam revoceris.

And afterwards with much Earneftnefs, Decime ex debito requiruntur, & qui eas dare noluerit, res alienas invafit; & quanti pauperes in locis ubi ipfe habitat, illo decimas non dante, fame mortui fuerint, tantorum homicidiorum reus ante Tribunal æterni judicis apparebit, quia à Domino pauperibus delegatum fuis ufibus refervavit. Qui ergo fibi aut præmium comparare, aut Peccatorum defiderat indulgentiam promereri,reddat decimam.

that not paying their Tythes, they shall be <found guilty at God's Tribunal, of the Death of all the Poor that perish through Want, in the Places where they dwell; and bids them that would either get Reward, or defire the Pardon of their Sins, to pay their Tythes. These two great Bifhops agree, and from the Law given to the Ifraelites, take their whole Doctrine, and impofe their own Opinion with fo heavy Penalties: But yet take Notice to what End they required them, That the Poor might not want, and fay, that God hath referved them for their Ufe.

LEO (called the great) who was Pope from 440 to 460, was likewife very earnest and large in stirring up every Man's Devotion to offer to the Church part of his received Fruits, but fpeaks not a Word of any certain Quantity, as may appear by his Sermons De jejunio decimi menfis & Eleemofynis.

SEVERIN alfo, about the Year 470, ftirred up the Chriftians in Panonia, who in Example of his Bounty, gave the Tenth of their Fruits to the Poor.

* GREGORY not only admonisheth the Payment of Tythes from Mofes Law, but also the obferving the Time of Lent, confifting of fix Weeks, out of which take the Sundays, and there remains thirty fix Days, the tenth Part of the Year, Fractions of Days omitted; this Tenth of Time he would have given to God, faying, We are commanded in the Law to give the Tenth of all Things unto God.

AND

* Hom. 16 in Evang. & dift. 5. de confecrat. c. 16. Ut in Lege jubemur Domino decimam rerum dare.