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A30871
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The storming and totall routing of tythes wherein is shewed the unlawfullnesse of claiming them by the now pretended tribe of Levy, and both takers and payers therein denying Christ to be come in the flesh / by Edward Barber.
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Barber, Edward, d. 1674?
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1651
(1651)
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Wing B695; ESTC R24192
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16,063
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22
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according to Revel. 16. 6. They have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets and thou last given them blood to drink for they are worthy And as was once said by Jehu to Joram 2 Kings 9. 22. being asked Is it peace what peace answered he so long as the whoredoms of thy Mother Jesabel and her Witch-crafts are so many so what hope of peace have we so long as the Whordoms Witch crafts and Sorceries of that Jesabel of Rome England Scotland that great City Babylon though divided into 3 parts Rev. 16. 19. remain with that spirit of persecution hatred malice evil contention and division against the Statute Laws of King Jesus it being contrary to Vows and Covenants c. in those that profess themselves Ministers of the Gospel of King Jesus who is that Prince of peace seeing the Lord hath said Isaiah 6. 1â— The Nation and Kingdom that will not serve him shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted which I cannot but judge to be one cause of the distractions Warres shedding of blood in the Nations of Christians as they pretend to wit the civil Magistrate intrenching upon the prerogative Royal of King Jesus and not permitting him to rule and raign by his own Laws in his Kingdom to wit over the Saints in the Churches as before is shewed These things considered we could not but in obedience to God love to the truth and ease of our own Conscience discharge our dutie herein to reminde you of the Protestation Covenant Declarations c. desiring to be eased of these burthens of popish Tythes c. That so the Land mourn not because of Oaths and no longer to inforce the same for Ministers maintenance they therein denying Christ to be come in the flesh As also wherein the civil Magistrate gives his power unto the Beast in upholding that popish practice and innovation by their Clergy c. And let the Ministers or Servants of the Gospel live upon the Gospel even upon their own hand-labor or the free and voluntary gift of the people which the Gospel allows them wherewith they will and ought to be content being better to be without a livelihood then rob and steal and sin against God in getting it by unlawful wayes and means But I doubt not but all true Ministers will be content with their true wages alotted for them by Christs appointment which we are confident will sufficiently satisfie all such godly ones as desire and seek not the fleece but the flock and with Paul seek them not theirs such as take the word of God for their Guide and Rule they having a word for their warrant not traditions of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing gain is godliness or their own covetous hearts and mens precepts it being a meanes to hinder the free progress and imbracing of the Gospel-Administrations so shall we the Freemen of England be free from that burthen that doth so much inslave us making our very lives uncomfortable to us they eating up Caterpiller-like the best fruits of the Land and a great part of the Peoples Labours But if these Scriptures and Reasons cannot take place and cease upon your spirits to grant us relief in freeing us from this more then Egyptian bondage yet we having declared the truth we have discharged our duties and shall have peace of Conscience in warning you of it according to Ezek 3. 17. to the 21. 33. 2. to the 7. and shall with heart go on in the strength of the Lord in opposing that state of Antichrist head and tail root and branch Ministery and maintenance by Tythes or otherwise if we perish we perish and so in all other their practices that are contrary or without the word of God not daring to presume above what is written submitting our persons with Daniel and those worthies the three Children Apostles and Primitive Christians as in that Catalogue Heb. 11. Passively to the will and command of the Civil Magistrate as to the Fathers of our flesh but unto God who in Christ is the father of our spirits Actively that so we may live although in sufferings here yet in Glory hereafter For such as suffer with him or for him now shall one day raign Glorified with him and whosoever shall be ashamed of him and of his sayings to wit his Ordinances in this adulterous and sinfull generation of Tyth-taking Priests of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with his holy Angels to execute Judgment without respect of persons and whether these Tyth-takers be not as truly by the Gospel Thieves as such as Rob by the High-way side or break Houses and the upholders by pay or otherwise guilty of as great evils as they that uphold or countenance the other I leave to every inlightned man to Judge and although it be not so well known by reason they have deluded and bewitched the Nations yet now God having inlightned the Earth he requires an answerable obedience thereunto for where much is given much will be required Luke 12. 48. Thus have we declared our resolutions to go on in the Lord and the Power of his might in whom is our strength and no more to bow the knee to Baal or those Amalakites or Hamans of the times to whom as Mordecai so we resolve not to bow Hester 5. 9. to the 12. Although it cost us our goods by Plundering as they have done or our Liberties for if we perish we will perish with them and those worthies Dan. 3. The Lord being now at work intending to Level the Mountains Psal. 113. 7. 8. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill that he may set him with Princes c. Yea that great destroying mountain of Bable that destroyeth all the Earth Jer. 51. 24. 25 26. saying Behold I am against thee oh destroying mountain saith the Lord which destroyes all the Earth and I will stretch out my hand upon thee and rowl thee down from the Rocks to wit the shelter of Magistrates and I will make thee a burnt mountain and they shall not take of thee a stone for a Corner nor a stone for Foundations but thou shalt be desolate for ever saith the Lord This shall be done by the Lord Christ he being mounted on the white Horse Riding on Conquering and to Conquer Revellations 6. 2. by the Sword that proceedeth out of his mouth Isa. 30. 15. not by Carnal weapons 2 Cor. 9. 10. 4. Zach. 4. 6. Not by might or Army or Arm of flesh but by my spirit saith the Lord this being published for the conviction of the Priests and direction of all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity resting your servant in the Faith and Order of the Gospel of King Jesus EDWARD BARBER Postscript ANd although the subject Matter of this discourse be principally against Tyth-takers and Tyth-payers yet not
against Magna Charta and the Petition of Right and is it not much more in the first year of Englands Jubilee Englands Liberty Again consider the great burthen to the Common-wealth for the free Commones of England do hereby in some places loose the profit of one half of their Land by the year as may be made appear if it be duely considered to wit to the Landlord and the Priest or Parson they only being Gentlemen the rest being slaves and it were well if they were board through the eares that they might know themselves to be so they being under service and oppression worse then the Israelites in Egypt who labour with much sweat and pains hunger and cold wet and dry for that which the other like drones or Caterpillers consume on their backs and bellies c. Therefore our denying the paying of Tythes is not in the least in any contempt against Civil Authority who are Gods Ministers not onely to take vengeance on them that do evil and should cause them to work and eat their own bread but for the praise of them that do well and should see such not to eat that will not work but in obedience to God and the rule of the Gospel given forth by his spirit to all Nations that believe and obey him as before is shewed 2. It is not in contempt to the persons of these men who pretend they are Ministers of Christ But rather desire they might be imployed in some lawfull way or calling to get their own bread that so he that hath stolen to wit Minister or in English Servant as well as Member might steal no more but labour with his hands the thing that is good that he may have to give to him that needeth c. according to the Apostles words Ephes. 4. 28. But our denying the payment of Tythes is first in obedience to God all that do pay them therein denying Christ to be come in the flesh by their upholding those Jewish Rites and Ceremonies which ended in Christ which these self-seeking and time-serving men still seek to uphold so far as they will make for their own ends robbing Christ of his Priesthood poor men and women of their goods and without the great mercy of God of their souls for might they not as well have their Linnen Ephod or Surplus Altars Sacrifices of all sorts right shoulder and the Maw Tempel at Jerusalem none Inheritance for the Priests yea Circumcision killing of Beasts c. is Tythes that so they that take the wages might do the work injoyned for the wages as to feed the Levit the stranger fatherlesse and widow Deut. 14. 29 But if through pride or Lazines they will not do the work which they refuse to do then let them not wrong the people and Nation so grievous as to take the wages for to him that worketh is the wages reckoned of debt not of grace But not to him that worketh not it must be of grace to wit of free gift 2. Their ordination being false and not according to the rule of the Gospel But against the Rule Government and Authority of Christ the Son of God his Crown dignity who is therein the onely King and Law-giver whom they say is their Master yet do they as the Heathen Tyrants of old who clothed men in Beasts skins that so they might be the more eagerly devoured so these make the true worshippers of God in Christ as odious as they can by slanders and revilings under the name of Hereticks and Schismaticks c. Never shewing wherein much lesse proving the thing true that so they may make the Magistrates and common people as those deluded by the Friers and Priests in Germany against the Hugnotes as they called them cry out against them before they see them Judging them to be strange Monsters unhumane Creatures and so do these before they know them c. 3. It being against the known declared Laws of the Land as Statute decimo rertio Elisabeth they not upon every induction into any place publickly Reading the Book of Articles and subscribing it which by the Protestation and Covenant these cannot do except perjured are to injoy no more benefit then if they were naturally dead 4. It being against the Protestation Covenatn Declarations of Parliament and Army that the Kingdom have Generally taken and entred into to wit to uphold and maintain the true Protestant Religion in opposition to Popery and Popish Innovations and as aforesaid they also receiving their Power and Ordination from Rome yet not performing that they were injoyned and for what Tythes was given neither in the time of the Law nor by the Counsel of Lateran as before shewed 5. It being against the Ingagement and Covenant not onely of the Parliament but also the Kingdom in general with their hands lift up to the most high God the searcher of all hearts to Root out Popery Root and Branch and the Government by Lord Arch-Bishop Bishops and all other Ecclesiastical Officers depending on that Hierarchy as these do c. And each one to go before another in a real not a fained reformation it being better not to vow then to vow and not perform c. 6. The Gospel-weapons being not carnal but spiritual mighty through God c. 2 Cor. 10. 4. and 2 Tim. 2. 24. 25. 26. The Apostle saith The Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle towards all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing the contrary minds proving if God at any time will give them repentance Compared with Mat. 8. 10. 11. 12. and Titus 3. 2. Rom. 14. 11. where the Apostle shewes we shall all stand before the judgement-Seat of Christ where every one shall give an account for himself to God c. And surely the way that Christ hath appointed for his Ministers of the Gospel to walk by in all Gospel-Administrations is the sword of the spirit the word of God and not the Authority of the civil Magistrate or sword of steel by which Antichrist hath so inlarged his Dominions as Revel. 13. 3. 7. 16. 17. And therefore to escape his punishment verse 10. Let all the people of God shun this practice compared with Revel. 18. 4. where it is said Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues It being very considerable whether the civil Magistrate giving their power as to raise so to the upholding of that state of Antichrist ruling over the bodies and consciences of the people in Ecclesiastical things by intrenching upon the prerogative Royal of King Jesus whereas he would not intermeddle with that which was their due Luke 12. 14. whether that I say be not the cause why the Lord lets the sword remain so long amongst us and other parts even to the depopulating of the Nations of the earth being now even drunk with the blood of the slain amongst us for many years past