1 GROUNDS OF OUR TESTIMONY AND GENERAL COUNSEL. 2 3 TITHES AND SUFFERINGS. ADVISED, that our ancient testimony against tithes, which we have borne from the beginning, and for which many have deeply suffered, some not only the spoiling of their goods, but imprisonment even unto death, be carefully and punctually upheld and countenanced, in the power of God; and that all those who oppose, slight, or neglect that testimony, be looked upon as unfaithful to the ancient testimony of truth, and dealt with according to the Gospel order established among us. 1675. It is our desire, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy testimony, that all friends be faithful to him in their testimony against tithes of all sorts; knowing that, since they were ended by Christ, they were imposed by and originally sprang from that antichristian root, popish usurpation in church and state: and that friends would tenderly consider, that where any decline their testimony, or are negligent in this weighty case, they do thereby increase the weight and burden of sufferings upon them that are faithful, and strengthen the hands of their adversaries. 1690. P. E. Our testimony against tithes and forced maintenance in this Gospel day, being received from Christ our head and high priest, is not of our own making or imposing, nor from the tradition of men; but what we have from Him, by whose divine power we were raised up to be a people, and by which we have been preserved to this day; knowing that his ministry and Gospel are free, according to his own express command, "Freely ye have received, freely give." 1701. P. E. 1 Matt. x. 8. 4 GROUNDS OF OUR We think it necessary to put you in mind, that the zeal of our friends who have abode faithful in their testimony against paying tithes, steeple-house rates, and priests' maintenance, has greatly tended to the TESTIMONY opening of the eyes of many, not only in this, but also in other countries. We received last year an account from New England, where our friends formerly underwent grievous sufferings, that a law is made, exempting them from paying either to the maintenance of the established ministers or to the repairing of their worship-houses; and it is our belief, that if all friends here had been faithful in their testimony against tithes, the time of our deliverance from that oppression, under which this nation yet groans, would have been nearer at hand. 1733. P. E. We earnestly intreat the faithful among you to take all suitable opportunities of endeavouring to demonstrate, to such as are weak and unfaithful, the importance of our testimony against receiving or paying tithes; the natural tendency whereof is to obtain that liberty, which the purest ages of Christianity enjoyed; that is, a liberty for any person moved by the Holy Spirit of God, to preach the doctrine of the glorious Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ freely; and of which they were not deprived, till great corruptions of doctrine and practice were found amongst the professors of Christianity, and the civil powers were prevailed upon to meddle with the consciences of the people, which of right are to be subject to God only. We cannot therefore but bless the Lord, from an experimental witnessing of the comfort and spiritual advantage which arise from such a liberty, that he was pleased to raise up our worthy elders, and to give them a testimony against that antichristian yoke; making them willing, in this and other nations, to suffer for that testimony, thereby showing to the world what the love of Christ is able to do; for we believe nothing short of that love could have enabled them to suffer the spoiling of their goods, and the long imprisonment of their bodies, even unto death, as some of them did, for their conscientious refusal to pay tithes. 1735. P. E. AND GENERAL COUNSEL. 5 6 GROUNDS OF OUR TESTIMONY AND GENERAL COUNSEL. 7 8 And as we have been convinced of the inconsistency of tithes with the nature of the Gospel dispensation, it is our necessary duty to act agreeably to such convictions; and if sufferings for our testimony shall be the consequence of our obedience thereto, it will become us, after the example of the primitive Christians, cheerfully to submit, and to take joyfully the spoiling of our goods; that so we may preserve a conscience void of offence toward God, and at the same time, by our Christian meekness and innocent deportment, give reasonable evidence of our sincerity to men. 1737. P. E. As the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was at first freely promulgated by himself, and his immediate followers, the nature of it being unalterable, it behoveth that the ministers thereof, in all succeeding times, be like-minded; not acting "by constraint, but will"ingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind."' When we call to mind the grievous sufferings which our ancients underwent, in this and other nations, for their testimony against a man-made ministry and hireling preachers; and their great concern to revive and publish the doctrine of the Gospel, as it was declared by Christ himself when on earth; our hearts are grieved when we find any of their offspring or any under our name, declining their testimony against the antichristian yoke of tithes. We therefore tenderly exhort all who profess the truth, to watchfulness and zeal, that this branch of our Christian testimony be not laid waste by connivance, or private agreement with priests or impropriators; but that all abide patient under that testimony which the Lord hath called us to bear; not doubting but that the gradual progress of real Christianity will at length operate to the removal of a yoke so directly contrary to the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. "Stand fast," says the apostle, "in the liberty "wherewith Christ hath made us free; and be not entangled again with "the yoke of bondage." 1738. P. E. Dear friends, let us ever keep in remembrance, that it is under the GROUNDS OF OUR AND GENERAL COUNSEL. immediate teaching and influence of the Holy Spirit, that all acceptable worship is performed, and all true Gospel ministry supplied; that TESTIMONY this pure and powerful influence, in vessels sanctified and prepared by the divine hand, is the essential qualification to that work; that, as the gift is divine, the service is freely and faithfully to be discharged, without any view to reward from man: and therefore, should we voluntarily either by open or collusive means, contribute to the maintenance of such as preach for hire, we should be guilty of inconsistency in practice, by supporting, as ministers of Christ, those whom we do not believe to be sent by him, and upholding them in a conduct contrary to his command, which is, "Freely ye have received, freely give." And this practical opposition to his Gospel law, we cannot but look upon as denying Him before men, and therefore in us antichristian. 1758. P. E. It seems incumbent upon us to repeat our exhortation to faithfulness, in supporting our testimony against the antichristian yoke of tithes ; and we intreat that all who suffer, either upon that account, or for any other demands inconsistent with the principles of truth, may demonstrate, by their whole conduct and conversation, that they really suffer for conscience sake; and keep close to the guidance of that good Spirit, which will preserve in meekness and quiet resignation, under every trial. For if resentment should arise against those whom you may look upon as the instruments of your sufferings, it will deprive you of the reward of faithfulness, give just occasion of offence, and bring dishonour to the cause of truth. Cavilling, or casting reflections upon any, because of our sufferings, doth not become the servants of Christ, whose holy example and footsteps we ought in all things faithfully to follow. 1759. P. E. Dear friends, let us bear in constant remembrance that important principle of our profession, a testimony to the pure and free ministry of the Gospel of Christ; whose sole prerogative it is, to send 1 Matt. x. 8. 9 10 L L GROUNDS OF OUR TESTIMONY AND GENERAL COUNSEL. 11 12 and qualify such as it pleases Him, without respect to worldly rank, or human acquirements; and all his truly devoted servants, whatever may be their gifts and stations in the church, are brethren; and hold them under Him, the only Head, and the universal, and all-sufficient Teacher. 1798. P. E. We retain an unabated concern that friends may be strengthened to support, on principle, our testimony against a ministry supported by pecuniary means and not depending on the fresh opening of the Spirit of Christ in the heart. We believe also, that this testimony to the purity and freedom of genuine Gospel ministry, strongly evinces that the formation of our society was not an effort of human wisdom: neither is there any thing more calculated to sap our foundation, and render us a degenerate church, than a general departure from this principle. 1809. P. E. We have uniformly entertained the belief, on the authority of Holy Scripture, that when, in the fulness of time, according to the all-wise purposes of God, our blessed Lord and Saviour appeared personally upon earth, he introduced a dispensation pure and spiritual in its character. He taught by his own holy example and divine precepts that the ministry of the Gospel is to be without pecuniary remuneration. As the gift is free, the exercise of it is to be free also: the office is to be filled by those only who are called of God by the power of the Holy Spirit; who, in their preaching, as well as in their circumspect lives and conversation, are giving proof of this call. The forced maintenance of the ministers of religion is, in our view, a violation of those great privileges, which God, in his wisdom and goodness, bestowed the human race, when he sent his Son to redeem the world, and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to lead and guide mankind into all upon truth. Our blessed Lord put an end to that priesthood, and to all those ceremonial usages connected therewith, which were before divinely ordained under the law of Moses. The present system of tithes was |