XXII. Possessions, lands and livings spiritual, the wealth of the clergy, the goods of the Church, are in such sort the Lord’s own, that man can challenge no propriety in them. His they are, and not ours; all things are his, in that from him they have their being1. “My corn, and my wine, and mine oil,” saith the Lord. All things his, in that he hath absolute power to dispose of them at his pleasure. “Mine (saith he2) are the sheep and oxen of a thousand hills.” All things his, in that when we have them, we may say with Job3, “God hath given;” and when we are deprived of them, “The Lord,” whose they are, hath likewise “taken them away” again. But these sacred possessions are his by another tenure; his, because those men who first received them from him have unto him returned them again by way of religious gift or oblation: and in this respect it is, that the Lord doth term those houses4 wherein such gifts and oblations were laid, “his treasuries.”
The ground whereupon men have resigned their own interests in things temporal, and given over the same unto God, is that precept which Solomon borroweth from the law of nature5, “Honour the Lord out of thy substance, and of the chiefest of all thy revenue: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and with new wine the fat of thy press shall overflow.” For although it be by one most fitly spoken against those superstitious persons that only are scrupulous in external rites6; “Wilt thou win the favour of God? be virtuous: they best worship him that are his followers:” it is not the bowing of your knees, but of your hearts; it is not the number of your oblations, but the integrity of your lives; not your incense, but your obedience, which God is delighted to be honoured by: nevertheless, we must beware, lest simply understanding this, which comparatively is meant; that is to say, whereas the meaning is, that God doth chiefly respect the inward disposition of the heart; we must take heed we do not hereupon so worship him in spirit, that outwardly we take all worship, reverence and honour from him.
Our God will be glorified both of us himself, and for us by others: to others because our hearts are [not?] known, and yet our example is required for their good, therefore it is not sufficient to carry religion in our hearts, as fire is carried in flint-stones, but we are outwardly, visibly, apparently, to serve and honour the living God; yea to employ that way, as not only our souls but our bodies, so not only our bodies but our goods, yea, the choice, the flower, the chiefest of all thy revenue, saith Solomon. If thou hast any thing in all thy possessions of more value and price than other, to what use shouldest thou convert it, rather than this? Samuel was dear unto Hannah his mother: the child that Hannah did so much esteem, she could not but greatly wish to advance; and her religious conceit was, that the honouring of God with it was the advancing of it unto honour. The chiefest of the offspring of men are the males which be first born: and for this cause, in the ancient world they all were by right of their birth priests to the Most High. By these and the like precedents, it plainly enough appeareth, that in what heart soever doth dwell unfeigned religion, in the same there resteth also a willingness to bestow upon God that soonest which is most dear. Amongst us the law is, that sith gold is the chiefest of metals, if it be any where found in the bowels of the earth, it belongeth in right of honour, as all men know, to the King: whence hath this custom grown but only from a natural persuasion, whereby men judge it decent for the highest persons always to be honoured with the choicest things? “If ye offer unto God the blind,” saith the Prophet Malachi7, “it is not evil; if the lame and sick, it is good enough. Present it unto thy prince, and see if he will content himself, or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts.” When Abel presented God with an offering, it was the fattest of all the lambs in his whole flock; he honoured God not only out of his substance, but out of the very chiefest therein; whereby we may somewhat judge how religiously they stand affected towards God, who grudge that any thing worth the having should be his.
Long it were to reckon up particularly what God was owner of under the Law8: for of this sort was all which they spent in legal sacrifices; of this sort their usual oblations and offerings; of this sort tithes and firstfruits; of this sort that which by extraordinary occasions they vowed unto God; of this sort all that they gave to the building of the tabernacle; of this sort all that which was gathered amongst them for the erecting of the temple, and the adorning of it erected9; of this sort whatsoever their Corban contained, wherein that blessed widow’s deodate was laid up. Now either this kind of honour was prefiguratively altogether ceremonial, and then our Saviour accepteth it not; or if we find that to him also it hath been done, and that with divine approbation given for encouragement of the world, to shew by such kind of service their dutiful hearts towards Christ, there will be no place left for men to make any question at all whether herein they do well or no.
Wherefore to descend from the synagogue unto the Church of Christ: albeit sacrifices, wherewith sometimes God was highly honoured, be not accepted10 as heretofore at the hands of men; yet forasmuch as “Honour God with thy riches” is an edict of the unseparable law of nature, so far forth as men are therein required by such kind of homage to testify their thankful minds, this sacrifice11 God doth accept still. Wherefore as it was said of Christ, that12 “all kings should worship him, and all nations do him service;” so this very kind of worship or service was likewise mentioned, lest we should think that our Lord and Saviour would allow of no such thing13. “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall bring gifts.” And as it maketh not a little to the praise of those sages mentioned in the Gospel, that the first amongst men which did solemnly honour our Saviour on earth were they; so it soundeth no less to the dignity of this particular kind, that the rest by it were prevented; “They fell down and worshipped him, and opened their treasures14, and presented unto him gifts; gold, and incense, and myrrh.” Of all those things which were done to the honour of Christ in his lifetime there is not one whereof he spake in such sort, as when Mary to testify the largeness of her affection, seemed to waste away a gift upon him, the price of which gift might, as they thought who saw it, much better have been spent in works of mercy towards the poor: “Verily15 I say unto you, Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout all the world, there shall also this that she hath done be spoken of for memorial of her.”
Of service to God, the best works are they which continue longest16: and for permanency what like Donation, whereby things are unto him for ever dedicated? That the ancient lands and livings of the Church were all in such sort given into the hands of God by the just lords and owners of them, that unto him they passed over their whole interest and right therein, the form of sundry the said donations17 as yet extant most plainly sheweth. And where time hath left no such evidence as now remaining to be seen, yet the same intention is presumed in all donors, unless the contrary be apparent. But to the end it may yet more plainly appear unto all men under what title the several kinds of ecclesiastical possessions are held, “Our Lord himself,” saith St. Augustine18, “had coffers to keep those things which the faithful offered unto him. Then was the form of the church treasury first instituted, to the end that withal we might understand that in forbidding to be careful for tomorrow, his purpose was not to bar his saints from keeping money, but to withdraw them from doing God service for wealth’s sake, and from forsaking righteousness through fear of losing their wealth.” The first gifts consecrated unto Christ after his departure out of the world were sums of money, in process of time other moveables were added, and at length goods unmoveable, churches and oratories hallowed to the honour of his glorious name, houses and lands for perpetuity conveyed unto him, inheritance given to remain his as long as the world should endure. “The Apostles,” saith Melchiades19, “they foresaw that God would have his Church amongst the Gentiles, and for that cause in Judea they took no lands but price of lands sold.” This he conjectureth to have been the cause why the Apostles did that which the history reporteth of them. The truth is, that so the state of those times did require, as well otherwhere as in Judea. Wherefore when afterwards it did appear much more commodious for the Church to dedicate such inheritances, than the value and price of them being sold; the former custom was changed for this, as for the better. The devotion of Constantine herein all the world even till this very day admireth. They that lived in the prime of the Christian world thought no testament Christianly made, nor any thing therein well bequeathed20, unless something were thereby added unto Christ’s patrimony.
Touching which men, what judgment the world doth now give I know not; perhaps we deem them to have been herein but blind and superstitious persons. Nay, we in these cogitations are blind; they contrariwise did with Solomon21 plainly know and persuade themselves, that thus to diminish their wealth was not to diminish but to augment it, according to that which God doth promise to his own people by the Prophet Malachi22, and which they by their own particular experience23 found true. If Wickliff therefore were of that opinion which his adversaries ascribe unto him (whether truly or of purpose to make him odious I cannot tell, for in his writings I do not find it) namely, “That Constantine and others following his steps did evil, as having no sufficient ground whereby they might gather that such donations are acceptable to Jesus Christ;” it was in Wickliff a palpable error. I will use but one only argument to stand in the stead of many. Jacob taking his journey unto Haran made in this sort his solemn vow24: “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this journey which I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothes to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in safety; then shall the Lord be my God, and this stone which I have set up a pillar shall be the house of God, and of all that thou shalt give me will I give the tenth unto thee.” May a Christian man desire as great things as Jacob did at the hands of God? may he desire them in as earnest manner? may he promise as great thankfulness in acknowledging the goodness of God? may he vow any certain kind of public acknowledgment beforehand; or though he vow it not, perform it after in such sort that men may see he is persuaded how the Lord hath been his God? Are these particular kind of testifying thankfulness to God, the erecting of oratories, the dedicating of lands and goods to maintain them, forbidden any where? Let any mortal man living shew but one reason wherefore in this point to follow Jacob’s example should not be a thing both acceptable unto God, and in the eyes of the world for ever most highly commendable. Concerning goods of this nature, goods whereof when we speak we term them τὰ τῳ̑ Θεῳ̑ ἀϕιερωθέντα, the goods that are consecrated unto God, and as Tertullian speaketh25, deposita pietatis, things which piety and devotion hath laid up as it were in the bosom of God; touching such goods, the law civil following mere light of nature defineth them to be no man’s26, because no mortal man, or community of men, hath right of propriety in them.
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Footnotes
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Hos. ii. 8. ↩
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Psal. l. 10. ↩
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Job i. 21. ↩
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Mal. iii. 10. ↩
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Prov. iii. 9. ↩
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Seneca. [Epist. 95. p. 604. ed. Lipsii, Antwerp 1615. “Vis Deos propitiare? bonus esto. Satis istos coluit, quisquis imitatus est.”] ↩
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Mal. i. 8. [Comp. b. v. c. xxxiv. § 3; b. viii. c. i. § 5.] ↩
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[Compare b. v. c. lxxviii.] ↩
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“Because,” saith David, “I have a delight in the house of my God, therefore I have given thereunto of mine own both gold and silver to adorn it with.” 1 Chron. xxix. 3. ↩
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Psal. l. 13, 14. ↩
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Phil. iv. 18. ↩
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Psal. lxxii. 11. ↩
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Ver. 10. ↩
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Matt. ii. 11. ↩
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Matt. xxvi. 13. ↩
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John xv. 16. ↩
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[See E. P. b. v. c. lxxix. 14.] ↩
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Aug. c. 15. de Mendac. [t. vi. 437. “Sicut illud, Nolite cogitare de crastino: et, Nolite itaque cogitare quid manducetis, et quid bibatis, et quid induamini. Cum autem videmus et ipsum Dominum habuisse loculos, quo ea quæ dabantur mittebantur, ut servari possent ad usus pro tempore necessarios; et ipsos Apostolos procurasse multa fratrum indigentiæ, non solum in crastinum, sed etiam in prolixius tempus impendentis famis, sicut in Actis Apostolorum legimus; satis elucet illa præcepta sic intelligenda, ut nihil operis nostri temporalium adipiscendorum amore vel timore egestatis tanquam ea necessitate faciamus.”] ↩
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C. 12. qu. 1. c. 15 et 16. [“Futuram ecclesiam Apostoli in gentibus prævidebant: idcirco prædia in Judæa minime sunt adepti, sed pretia tantummodo ad fovendos egentes.” Decr. Grat. pars ii. causa xii. qu. 1. p. 958. can. “Futuram.” This decretal, ascribed to Miltiades, or Melchiades, who was bishop of Rome from ad 311 to 320, bears evident marks of having been composed long after Christianity had been established in the empire.] ↩
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[Decret. Grat. pars ii. caus. xiii. qu. 2. § Siquis irascitur. “Qui unum filium habet, putet Christum alterum; si duos habet, putet Christum tertium; si decem habet, undecimum Christum faciat; et suscipio.” From S. Aug. Serm. i. de Vita Clericorum, § 4: t. v. 1382.] ↩
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Prov. iii. 10. ↩
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Mal. iii. 10. ↩
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2 Chron. xxxi. 10. Tho. Waldensis, tom. i. [Doctrinale Fidei] lib. iv. c. 39. [and 40; quoting inter al. Wicliffe, Trialog. iv. § 18. (of which the title is, “Sæculares propter dotationem sunt puniendi.”) “Nos autem dicimus illis, quod nedum possunt auferre temporalia ab ecclesia habitudinaliter delinquente, nec solum quod illis licet hoc facere, sed quod debent sub pœna damnationis gehennæ, cum debent de sua stultitia pœnitere, et satisfacere pro peccato quo Christi ecclesiam macularunt.” fol. 131. ed. 1525. And, § 19. “Facilitatem autem faciendi hanc eleemosynam et debitum sic potes cognoscere. Constat ex regalibus regis Angliæ, quod decedente episcopo vel abbate, aut quocunque notabiliter dotato de Anglia, temporalia sua, ad denotandum regalia regis, cadere debent in manu sua, et non procedetur ad electionem, nisi obtenta regis licentia; nec habebuntur ab electo mortificata regni dominia, nisi rege noviter approbante. Contineat ergo se rex ab innovatione derelicti maximi progenitorum suorum, et in brevitate erit totum regnum purgatum a mortificatione stolida bonorum temporalium, quæ jam sunt in manu mortua.” fol. 132. The passages which Thomas of Walden produces in c. 39, do not occur in the copy of Wicliffe here quoted: but their tenor is exactly that of his whole argument. E. g. c. 18. fol. 129. “Dic, rogo, utrum sæculares sunt propter dotationem hujusmodi increpandi?” … “Tene firmiter et nullatenus dubites, quin temporales domini in isto graviter peccaverunt… Non solum cooperati sunt ad istam dotationem, sed multipliciter consenserunt.” … . . fol. 130. “Cito post ascensionem ejus, infra annum cccc ejus ordinationem præcipuam in dotando ecclesiam reversarunt, et per consequens Antichristum in deturpationem sponsæ suæ multipliciter procrearunt. Unde narrant Chronica, quod in dotatione ecclesiæ vox audita est in aere angelica, tunc temporis sic dicentis, Hodie effusum est venenum in ecclesiam sanctam Dei.” Compare the following, quoted by Walden from the Speculum militantis Ecclesiæ, cap. 9. Juxta prædicta, erubescerent Antichristus et sui maculare sacerdotes Christi contra ordinationem quam ipse fecit; et domini sæculares et alii fatui qui hic adjuvant Antichristum, erubescerent de sic adjuvando sicut erubescent in finali judicio; et iste pudor erit major pro dolore hypocrisis, quia dicunt in factis suis quod faciunt ista ob honorem Christi, quia Christus male instituit, et Domini sæculares emendant eum, sicut Imperator Romanus quando fecit sacerdotes suos dominos, ipse correxit statum Apostolorum super ordinationem Christi. Sed totum hoc sapit blasphemiam.” Among the errors of Wicliffe condemned at the Council of Constance, one head is, Contra dotationem Ecclesiæ; of which the following are specimens: “Domini temporales possunt licite auferre temporalia ab ecclesia delinquente.” “Non est major hæreticus vel Antichristus, quam ille qui docet quod licitum sacerdotibus et Levitis gratiæ sit dotari in possessionibus et temporalibus.” Quantum ad chartas et concessiones sæcularium dominionum patet quod clerus erubesceret inniti tam culpabili fundamento: quia in nullo valet humana concessio, nisi præhabita licentia a domino capitali: et cum non possint docere quod domini de hoc habeant licentiam a Christo, patet quod lege tam humana quam divina, est talis donatio stulta sentienda, et ita illicita et Catholicis respuenda.” Fasciculus, &c. Gratii: ed. Browne, p. 271.] ↩
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Gen. xxviii. 20-22. ↩
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[Apol. c. 39.] ↩
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[Justinian. Inst. II. i. 7. “Nullius autem sunt res sacræ et religiosæ, et sanctæ: quod enim divini juris est, id nullius in bonis est.”] ↩