96 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

c H A r. was conferred on the priests ; and forgetting ,II. what they themselves taught, that the moralpart only of that law was obligatory on Christians ,they insisted , that this donation conveyed aperpetual property , inherent by divine right inthose who officiated at the altar. During somecenturies, the whole scope of sermons and homilieswas directed to this purpose; and one wouldhave imagined, from the general tenor of thesediscourses, that all the practical parts of Chris-tianity were comprised in the exact and faith-ful payment of tythes to the clergy 17 . Encourag.ed by their success in inculcating these doctrines,they ventured farther than they were warrantedeven by the Levitical law, and pretended todraw the tenth of all industry , merchandize,wages of labourers, and pay of soldiers"; nay,some canonists went so far as to affirm, thatthe clergy were entitled to the tythe of the profits,made by courtezans in the exercise of theirprofession". Though parishes had been institutedin England by Honorius, archbishop of Canter-bury, near two centuries before the ecclesiasticshad never yet been able to get possession of thetythes: They therefore seized the present favour-able opportunity of making that acquisition;

17 Padre Piaolo, sopra i benefieii ecclsiaeslici, p. 51,53.edit. Colon. 1675.

Spell. Cone. vol. x. p. 268.

" Padre Paolo , p. 132.

a ° Parker , p. 77.

when