Thanksgiving.

1. AT first we gave Thanks for eve∣ry Victory as soon as ever ’twas obtained; but since we have had many, now we can stay a good while. We are just like a Child; give him a Plum, he makes his Leg; give him a second Plum, he makes another Leg: At last when his Belly is full, he forgets what he ought to do; then his Nurse, or some body else that stands by him, puts him in mind of his Duty, Where’s your Leg?

Tythes.

1. TYthes are more paid in kind in Eng∣land, than in all Italy and France. In France they have had Impropriations a long time; we had none in England till Henry the Eighth.

2. To make an Impropriation, there was to be the Consent of the Incumbent, the Patron, and the King; then ’twas confirm’d by the Pope: Without all this the Pope could make no Impro∣priation.

3. Or what if the Pope gave the Tythes to any Man, must they therefore be ta∣ken away? If the Pope gives me a Jewel, will you therefore take it away from me?

4. Abraham paid Tythes to Melchize∣deck, what then? ’Twas very well done of him: It does not follow therefore that I must pay Tythes, no more than I am bound to imitate any other Action of Abraham’s.

5. ’Tis ridiculous to say the Tythes are God’s Part, and therefore the Clergy must have them: Why, so they are if the Laymen has them. ’Tis as if one of my Lady Kent’s Maids should be sweep∣ing this Room, and another of them should come and take away the Broom, and tell for a Reason, why she should part with it; ’Tis my Lady’s Broom: As if it were not my Lady’s Broom, which of them soever had it.

6. They consulted in Oxford where they might find the best Argument for their Tythes, setting aside the Jus Di∣vinum; they were advis’d to my Histo∣ry of Tythes; a Book so much cry’d down by them formerly; (in which, I dare boldly say, there are more Argu∣ments for them than are extant together any where:) Upon this, one writ me word, That my History of Tythes was now become like Pleus’s Hasta, to wound and to heal. I told him in my Answer, I thought I could fit him with a better Instance. ’Twas possible it might under∣go the same Fate, that Aristotle, Avicen, and Averroes did in France, some five hundred Years ago; which were Excom∣municated by Stephen Bishop of Paris, [by that very Name, Excommunicated,] be∣cause that kind of Learning puzled and troubled their Divinity. But finding them∣selves at a Loss, some Forty Years after (which is much about the time since I writ my History) they were call’d in a∣gain, and so have continued ever since.