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Abraham the first recorded payer of tithes, 1. Old Testament passages for payment of tithes, 1. When tithes ceased to be paid by Jews, 2. Heathen nations paid tithes, 2. Story about Adam having paid tithes, 3.

Landing of Augustine in England, 13. Cordial reception by King of Kent, 17. Christianity established in his kingdom, 14. Creation of Archbishopric of Canterbury, and Bishoprics of London and Rochester, 15. Augustine's questions to Pope Gregory and his reply, 16, 17. How Bishops and their Clergy were at first maintained in England, 17. Brewer's and Dibdin's translation of "portiones," 17. Quadripartite division, 17. Blackstone's opinion, 18. Bishops' churches, and chapels of ease, 18. Did Augustine preach payment of tithes? 19. King Ethelbert's grant of tithes a fiction, 19. Fuller's misleading statements in "Our Title Deeds," 19.

Theodore's "Penitential," by "Discipulus Umbrensium," 20. Its genuineness, 20. Bede's silence about it, 21. Bede in evidence as to the common law right of the poor to a share of the tithes, 21. Landowners' churches, their origin, 23, 24. The parish bank, 24. Edgar's law of giving one-third of tithes to Manorial Church, 26. Domesday's testimony as to the one-third, 26. Mother churches had remaining two-thirds, 26. Church seats free, 27. No pew rents, 27. Tithes first voluntary, afterwards compulsory, 28. The "Confessional" and its power to get tithes, 28.

His "Penitential," 29. His "Confessional" and "Excerptions," 29. The "Excerptions" not Egbert's, 30. Effect of this on Roman Catholic Church, 30. Selden's opinions on the "Excerptions," 30-32.

Dean Prideaux on this grant and on Selden's "History of Tithes," 53. Selden's erroneous view on this grant, 53. Opinions of Saxon Chroniclers on it, 54. Folcland and Bocland defined, 56, 57. Kemble's six canons to test genuineness of charters, 59. Ethelwulf's charters thus tested, 59, 60. The Malmesbury Cartulary, 60. Ethelwulf's second charter of grants, 62. Kemble's opinion on Ethelwulf's first and second grants, 64, 65. Charter C, an abridgment of William of Malmesbury's charter, 65. Selden's conclusion on Ethelwulf's charter, 65, 66.

The old minster, 81. Chapels of ease, 81. Landlords' churches, 81. Church boundaries conterminous with landowners' estates, 82. Manorial Churches in Domesday with one-third of tithes, 82. Errors created by confounding original meaning of "parochia," with subsequent meaning, 83. Selden on Edgar's law, 84. Bishop Kennett on Manorial Churches, 85. The parish bank, 83. Lay patrons had taken two-thirds of tithes for poor and repairing Churches, 86. Edgar's canons and gloss to same, 86, 87. Origin of his canons, 88. Population of England in Anglo-Saxon times, 91. Population when tithes were first given, 92. Populations in A.D. 787, A.D. 927, and A.D. 960, respectively, 92, 93. Number of Bishops in England in A.D. 705, p. 93. Number at Conquest, 93.

His nine laws, by Thorpe, 94, 95. Church Grith law, A.D. 1014, p. 95. Art. 6 enacts the tripartite division of tithes, 95. Bishop Stubbs's views in his history on the tripartite division, 96, 97. His views in private letters, 97. Origin of Sir Robert Cotton's library, 98. His death, 100. Catalogue of library, 100. First printed catalogue, 100. Library vested in trustees, 100. Second catalogue, 100. History of the "Worcester" volume, Nero, A. 1, p. 101. Lord Selborne's object is to upset the Act of A.D. 1014, pp. 101, 102. Selden and Spelman never saw the Church Grith law, 103, 104. Lambarde, Wheelock, and John Johnson, never saw it, 104. Thorpe's opinion of Wilkins's "Concilia," 106. Price's evidence is worthless, 107, 108. Freeman's history, like Stubbs's, is in favour of the genuineness of Church Grith law, but contradicts himself in his private letters on same subject, 108, 109, 110, 111. Old Latin Translators of the Anglo-Saxon laws omit fifteen Anglo-Saxon laws, 112. Dr. Lingard accepts this law as genuine, 116. Contents of Worcester volume, Nero, A. 1 stated, 117. Brewer, supported, but Dibden denies, the tripartite division, 119, 120. Mr. Thorpe in favour of the genuineness of this law, 121. Canute's laws in three branches, 121. He modelled his laws on Edgar's and Ethelred's, 121. Thirty-six of the forty-four articles in the Church Grith law are incorporated in Canute's, 121. How Lord Selborne disposes of the other eight, 121. When Poor Law Act was passed, why did not Parliament claim a portion of the tithe for the poor? This is answered, 123.

Tithe a tax on industry, 201. Paley's and Adam Smith's views on tithes, 201. Lord Althorp failed to solve the tithe problem, 202. Sir R. Peel's scheme, 202. Lord Russell's Commutation Bill, 202, 203. The principle of the Commutation Act, 203. Lord Russell said, "Tithes were the property of the nation," 203. Formula for finding the tithe-rent charge for any year, 204. The wording of the 80th section, by which the landlord is to pay the tithe, 204, 205. But generally the tenant contracted himself out of this section, 205. The injustice of tithe-rent charges on one kind of property, 206. A re-valuation would be unjust and impracticable, 207, 208. The repeal of the Corn Laws an injustice to the tithe-owners, 208. Difference in amount between tithe and tithe-rent charge, 207.

The gross commuted value of the Tithes in the four Welsh dioceses in 1836, p. 216. The same in 1890, p. 217. The clerical appropriations in Bangor, Llandaff, St. Asaph and St. David's, 217-221. The Vicars-choral of St. Asaph, 219. The amount of tithe-rent charge in possession of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in each of the thirteen counties in 1890, p. 223. Amount still outstanding on leases, p. 223. The annual payments of the Common Fund to the Welsh bishops, chapters, Archdeacon Lampeter, and parochial incumbents, p. 223. The net income derived from Wales, 224. The total gross revenues of the four Welsh dioceses from all sources, 224. Population of Church people and of Dissenters in the four dioceses, 224.

One of the main objects in passing this Act, 238. County court, a new machine, removing friction between tithe-owner and tithe-payer, 239. The tithe-payer cannot be imprisoned for non-payment, 240. Provision made to prevent collision between landowner and tithe-payer, 240. Section 4 upsets the main principle of the Act. 241. The tithe-owner must pay all rates, etc., 241. The Relief clause quite a misnomer, 242.

Tithe-rent charges in 1836 of--

A. Archbishops and Bishops, 243.

B. Chapters, 244.

C. Separate estates of Deans, Precentors, Chancellors, Treasurers, and Prebendaries, Vicars Choral and Archdeacons, 245, 246.

Summary of A, B, and C, 246.

D. Universities, public schools, hospitals, charities, etc., 247, 248.

Summary of D, 248.

Beneficial operations of the Ecclesiastical Commission, 249, 250.

Unsatisfactory results of extension of Local Claims in the Act, 1860, 250, 251.

E. Septennial averages of wheat, barley, and oats for 55 years, ending 1890, p. 252.

F. Summary by Counties of Tithe-rent charge in England and Wales, 253.

G. Analysis of F, showing the number of old parishes, and the number appropriated to monasteries, etc., 254, 255.

Explanation of this Analysis, 255, 256.

H. Lands and money payments made in lieu of tithes by the Inclosure Acts, 257.

INTRODUCTION.

Certain writers argue in the most unreasonable manner against the division of tithes in England, and assert that the parson was legally entitled to, and had enjoyed, all his tithes without diminution. Lord Selborne, in his recent works, is the latest supporter of this erroneous view. In another part I have fully explained how untenable these views are.

The Norman monks initiated the appropriation of tithes to monastic bodies. The lands belonging to the four privileged orders were specially exempted from paying tithes, whilst others purchased bulls of exemption from the popes.

The Third and Fourth Lateran Councils, held in 1180 and 1215 respectively, issued decrees against Infeudations and for the payment of tithes. The latter council gave the English parson a common right to parochial tithes. General Councils in which the laity were unrepresented, had no right to pass decrees for the disposal of the private property of the laity to whatever religious purpose they wished, or for the payment of tithes. Their functions were confined to the discipline and doctrines of the Church.

From A.D. 1547 to 1890, about 5,000 new parishes and districts have been formed, of which 1,530 were formed from A.D. 1547 to 1818, and about 3,470 from 1818 to the end of 1890.

A HISTORY OF TITHES.

The first instance on record of the payment of tithes is found in Genesis xiv. 20, when Abraham, after having rescued Lot, was returning a victor from the battle with the spoils of war. King Melchizedek met him on the way, and Abraham gave him, in his office of priest of God, "tithes of all." It is a disputed point whether Abraham meant a tithe of all his property or of all spoils of war which he had with him.

The priests at Jerusalem received the first fruits and heave offerings, but not the tithes. The heave offerings were the one-sixtieth of the gross produce. But the tithes were devoted to the whole tribe of Levi at Jerusalem, and they gave the tithe of their tithes to the priests--that is, one-hundredth part. It was from this custom, and in order to support the Crusades, that the popes of Rome exacted, early in the fourteenth century, the first fruits and the tithe of the tithes from the hierarchy and beneficed clergy, who were under their spiritual jurisdiction. And when King Henry the Eighth displaced the pope and assumed the supreme authority in the Church, he also exacted the first fruits and tenths. Queen Anne, by an Act passed in 1704, gave the first fruits and tenths back to the Church for the special purpose of augmenting poor livings.

After the destruction of the second temple and the dispersion of the Jews, the payment of tithes among the Jews ceased, because they thought that Jerusalem alone was the place where tithes ought to be paid, and also because it became impossible to trace out the tribe and priesthood to whom alone they were to be paid. It is a question whether the Jews who were converted to Christianity before the destruction of the second temple had paid tithes to the Levites.

The heathen nations seem to have copied and adopted the Jewish custom of paying tithes. We read of the Greeks having paid tithes of the spoils of war to Apollo, and of the Romans to Hercules. But, properly speaking, they were not the sort of tithes mentioned in the Mosaic Law. They were only arbitrary vows and offerings; but no conclusion can be drawn that they were tithes because tenths were given. Sometimes the heathen offered more and sometimes less than one-tenth.

Some ardent supporters of the payment of tithes make themselves ridiculous in tracing their origin to Adam. They state that Adam paid tithes. Here is their story as stated by Selden: "God charged Adam when there was but one man in the world that he should give Him the tenth part of everything, and to teach his children to do the same; but as there was no man to receive it for Holy Church, God commanded that the tenth part of everything should be burned. In the offerings of Cain and Abel, Abel tithed truly of the best, but Cain tithed falsely of the worst. Cain killed Abel because he said he tithed evil. So people must see that false tithing was the cause of the first murder, and it was the cause that God cursed the earth."

It is very wrong that Scriptural passages, such as that given above, should be distorted in order to induce people to pay tithes to "Holy Church."

In Apostolical times the Christian ministers were supported by voluntary contributions out of a common fund, and this practice prevailed for four hundred years. Those who preached the Gospel lived by the Gospel, but this Scriptural statement did not mean, as some assert, that they were to live on the payment of tithes, otherwise it would have been stated. St. Paul ordered weekly collections to be made for the saints in the Churches of Galatia and Corinth . The voluntary contributions of the faithful were collected and put into a common treasure . The liberality of the Christians then far exceeded anything which could have been collected from tithes. And even if tithes had been exacted, it is exceedingly doubtful whether the progress of Christianity would not have been materially checked at its outset.

The Jewish Law, as regards the payment of tithes, was not binding on Christians, no more than the custom of bigamy and polygamy adopted by the Israelites is binding on the Christian Church. There is no injunction in the New Testament binding Christians to pay tithes to their ministers. And when the payment was first urged in the Christian Church, it was supported by references to the Mosaic Law and not to St. Paul's words, viz., "That those who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel." There was a growing habit of looking upon the clergy as the successors and representatives of the Levites under the Old Law, and this habit had given an impulse to that claim which they set up to the payment of tithes by the laity.

The fifth canon ordained that first fruits and tithes should be sent to the house of the bishops and priests, and not to be offered upon the altar. The Greek word in the copy is not ?????????. No solid argument for the payment of tithes can be founded on this canon, for if we take the custom of the Anglo-Saxon Churches at the end of the sixth century, which was in accordance with that in primitive times, we find no account for the payment of tithes. "There is no mention of tithes," says Lord Selborne, "in any part of the ancient canon law of the Roman Church, collected towards the end of the fifth century by Dionysius , a Scythian monk who collected 401 Oriental and African canons."

The monks in their cells had sufficient leisure to concoct these Constitutions, and palm them on the credulous as the genuine production of the Apostles. The concocted Constitutions were copied and handed down from century to century without any attempt being made to test their genuineness and authenticity. It seems exceedingly strange that African divines and laymen should refer to the Apostolical Constitutions as an authority for the payment of tithes in apostolic times, although Cardinal Bellarmine, a great champion of "Holy Church," ignored them.

Churchmen like Archdeacon Tillesley, many of whom are in the receipt of tithes or tithe-rent charges, will naturally act like drowning men, and snatch even at passing straws to save the tithes. Could anything, for example, be more childish and absurd than the story of tracing the payment of tithes to Adam? And what makes the case worse is to distort Scripture so as to deceive the people who could neither read nor write, and even those who could read had no open Bible to consult to see for themselves whether these things were so.

After apostolical times, monthly offerings and oblations, we are informed, were made in all the churches, and were used for three purposes. In maintaining the clergy; in supporting the sick and needy; and in repairing the church fabric. These monthly contributions were in the third century augmented by grants of lands, which were annexed to churches, the revenues derived from which were appropriated to the same three purposes. In A.D. 322 Constantine, the first Christian emperor, published an edict which gave full liberty to his subjects to bestow as large a proportion of their property to the clergy as they should think proper. From all these sources of revenue the Christian Church was rapidly increasing in wealth. But for more than four hundred years after the Christian era there was no authoritative Church canon made for the payment of tithes; and then such canon was founded upon the Mosaic Law. The question then is, are Christians justified in adopting the Mosaic Law for the payment of tithes? This law had no force outside Jewish territory. There is no order in the New Testament for their payment. Among the Jews we fail to find such anomalies, rather scandals and misappropriations, in respect to the distribution of tithes, as are found in England and Wales. The gross amount of tithe-rent charge is slightly over four millions per annum. Add to this the extraordinary rent charges on hops, the corn rents and extensive lands awarded in lieu of tithes by the large number of Inclosure Acts. Among the Jews we find no record of lay impropriators, schools, colleges, charities and hospitals receiving tithes. Granted, for argument's sake, that the Christian priesthood as succeeding the Mosaic priesthood, claimed the tithes according to the Mosaic Law, then it is a misappropriation of tithes to give them to those outside the priesthood, and who perform no spiritual functions. We must therefore go back to very early times, to the history of tithes in the Christian Church, for the beginning of the scandalous misappropriations of tithe endowment for spiritual purposes. In England the scandal commenced after the Norman Conquest with the Norman monks who were in English monasteries.

About one-fourth of the whole tithe rent charge is appropriated or rather misappropriated to lay purposes by laymen, many of whom are quite unconnected with the religious duties of those parishes from which the tithes arise. Then, again, we have a large extent of land--formerly monastic--which is tithe free. There are also lands in the vicinity of large cities and towns built upon, for which the landlords receive enormous ground rents, and when the leases expire they take possession of the house property. But they pay nothing to the Church for the increased value of their land, which may be one hundred times the yearly value per acre before it was built upon.

I hold strongly to the view that free-will offerings are the only scriptural mode for the maintenance of the Christian ministry, and these are the same kind of offerings to which Pope Gregory referred in his answers to Augustine's questions.

The instances are many in which words of old authors and passages of Scripture are not only strained but intentionally distorted, in order to show the early origin of tithes. There is nothing gained, but much confidence lost, in this critical age by distorting the meaning of, or giving a forced interpretation to, plain words of Scripture, or of secular and religious writers.

In A.D. 596 Pope Gregory, commonly called Gregory the Great, selected Augustine, prior of St. Gregory's monastery in Rome, to conduct in the same year a mission to Britain in order to convert the people to Christianity. The journey to Britain was then considered a hazardous undertaking, being thought in so remote a part of the world. Even this band of Christian pioneers became disheartened on their journey. Augustine, much discouraged, left his companions in France and returned to Rome, but Gregory sent him back, urging him and them to valiantly carry out their mission.

In 597 Augustine and forty companions landed in the Isle of Thanet. Ethelbert, a noble-hearted, liberal-minded and intelligent heathen, was then King of Kent; but his wife, Bertha, daughter of Charibert, King of Paris, was a Christian. Augustine announced his arrival to the king, and the object of his mission. The king repaired to Thanet and granted an interview to Augustine and his companions. He was much impressed with their external ceremonies, and permitted them to reside in Canterbury, the metropolis of his kingdom. He presented his palace in Canterbury to Augustine as a residence for himself and his successors. On the 2nd of June in the same year the king publicly declared himself a Christian and was baptized. On the 17th November, 597, Augustine went to France and was consecrated archbishop by the Archbishop of Arles, and returned to England in 598.

There were at that time in the island some British Churches, bishops and clergy, but no divisions of parishes, no parish churches, no connection with the Roman Church, and indubitably no tithes whatever were paid. We are therefore on solid ground in asserting that during the first six hundred years of the Christian era there is no genuine record of tithes in any shape or form having been paid or given to the clergy of this island.

The Roman Mission subsequently produced mighty changes in the Church of England through this initial connection. In the several letters which the popes addressed to the kings and archbishops of England in subsequent centuries, constant references are made to Augustine's mission; and the popes refer to this event as the source of their supreme authority over the Church of England.

King Ethelbert's laws which were passed between 596 and 605, recognise Christianity and the Christian priesthood. Bede informs us that they were enacted by the advice of his Witan.

"We shall hardly," says Mr. Kemble, "be saying too much if we affirm that the introduction of Christianity was at least ratified by a solemn act of the Witan."

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