beast untill the words of God shall be fulfilled And truly we may now say as Christ once said Luke 4. 21. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your eares That therefore the Magistrate would consider this and take notice that for your part you are not the men that the Lord will give deliverance to his people by but according to the words of the Lord by Jer. the 49 20. Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out surely a company of poor despised Mechanick men must doe it Again Consider how much Innocent and Ignorant blood hath been spilt by the civill Magistrates to set up and uphold not theirs but the Kingdom of Antichrist least it be one day made good according to the saying of Isaiah Isa 60. 12. For that Kingdom and nation that will not serve thee shall perish yea those nations shall be utterly wasted of which cup of Gods wrath this Kingdom with some others have already deeply tasted according to Luke 20. 17 18. compared with Acts 3. 23. And he beheld them and said what is this then that is written the stone which the builders rejected the same is become the head of the corner whosoever shall fall on that stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder You being such indeed as Micha speaks of Micha 3. 5. Thus saith the Lord concerning the Prophets that make my people erre that bite with their teeth and cry peace and he that putteth not into their mouths they even prepare warre against them c. compared with Zach. 13. 2 3 4. Next you say The Parliament seeing which way the Councel of the King steered apprehended a necessitie of raising armes for the defence of themselves and the Kingdom wherein they make you their Instruments to stirre up the people as fittest for that purpose wherein they declare for the maintaining of the Protestant Religion which notwithstanding you have sate so long and enjoyed so many goodly fat benefices by their favour yet have you never declared to the people what this Protestant Religion so called and which you so much speak of is much lesse proved your Presbyterian Nationall Church and Directorie to be it And Sir I hope you think the preservation of the Freemen of England whose servants they are and you ought to be but are indeed grown their Masters according to Salomons words being indeed that evill which he saw under the Sun Eccles 10. 5 6 7. There is an evill which I have seen under the sun as an error which proceedeth from the Ruler Folly is set in great dignity or height and the rich sit in low place I have seen servants upon horses and Princes walking as servants upon the earth I say I hope you will have them preferre the good and safety of the Nation before any particular persons whatsoever But had you been Ministers of the Gospel you would have done as they did mentioned Acts 6. 1. to the 4. who refused to leave the word of God to serve Tables And truly for ingaging in the cause being called unto it by lawfull Authority in matters civill I grant they are a lawfull Authority But in matters Ecclesiasticall concerning the government of the Church of Christ there neither they nor you have any authority the Government being wholly on Christs shouldiers Isa 9. 6. compare with Matt. 28. 18. James 4. 12. he ruling by his own Lawes and not your acts nor commands And truly had it been that you had been Ministers of the Gospel you durst not leave your flock to attend upon the Civill State and affairs of the Kingdom seeing the Apostles thought it not meet to leave the word to serve Tables that was to look to the necessity of the Saints for which service they chose out seaven Deacons fitly qualified for that purpose as before is shewed I shall say no more to this but what the Lord saith Isa 29. 7. to the 17. And for powring out your prayers in your daies of humiliation you have done as the Lord complains Isa 58. 2. to the 8. Yet they seek me dayly and delight to know my waies as a Nation that did righteousnes and forsook not the Ordinance of their God they aske of me the Ordinance of Justice they take delight in approaching to God Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest not Wherefore have we afflicted our soul and thou takest no knowledge Behold in the day of your fast you finde pleasure and exact all your labours Behold ye fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickednes ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your voice to be heard on high Is it such a fast that I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul is it to bow downe his head like a Bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickednesse to undoe the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed goe free and that ye break every yoake Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh then shall thy light break forth as the morning and thy health shall spring forth speedily and thy righteousnesse shall go before thee The glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward c. For your Appeale to God the searcher of all hearts to whom you must give accompt of all your ways that these were your grounds of your first Engagement and intentions in it But pray take in with you the love of money the root of all evill And for your amazement consider what the Lord saith Isa 29. 9. 10. Stay your selves and wonder they are blind and make you blind they are drunken but not with wine they stagger but not with strong drink for the Lord hath powred out upon you the spirit of deep sleep and hath closed your eyes the Prophets and your rulers the seers hath he covered c. Again you say to see a warre begun for the defence of Religion likely to end in the ruin thereof herein you discover your great ignorance in the mystery of the Gospel for now is the Lord making good his promise that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea God powring out his spirit upon all flesh as Isa 11. 9. Acts 2. 4. Where they all spake as the spirit gave them utterance not Books Arts Learned at the Universities And this is according to the desire of that faithfull servant and type of Christ Moses when Joshuah the Son of Nun his servant desired Moses to forbid Eldad and Medad from prophesying saying Enviest thou for my sake would God that all the
grounds and reasons for it And lastly shew you how persecution for conscience came in and was afterwards agrivated to uphold not the Church of Christ but the state and â—hurch of Antichâ—ist First then were our Religion as false as you our Adversaries pretend yet were that no ground to take away our lives estates oâ— banish us pulling down our houses to make Iakes therof and hang us on the timber as some of eminency have preached for before authority I spare to name them I say we proving loyall to our Country though holding errors in our judgements yet were that no ground for persecution as is cleare from Christ by the parable of the Tares Mat. 13. Whereby the Tares must needs be understood men professing a false Religion which when some would have had them pluckt up Christ declared his mind to the coâ—tâ—ary and commanded they should be let alone and grow with the wheat untill the harvest in the world Although not in the Church least men undertaking to pluck up the Tares wanting wisedom to distinguish pluck up the wheat in stead thereof as it hath and doth often come to passe according to the words of Christ which shews that some shall be so blindly led and devoted as to kill the Saints thinking thereby that they do God service and therefore Christ will have the tares let alone with the wheat untill the harvest then who without great sin can attempt to pluck them up before that time And this doth no way contradict Gods word which saith that Magistrates are Gods Ministers to take vengeance on them that do evill the tares being sinners against God in false Religion whom he hath reserved to be punished with flaming fire at the day of Christ the other being trespassers against men and are justly to be punished by the civill Magistrate and herein we give to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods 3. The Lord commandeth that those that are blindly led on in a false Religion and are offended with him for the teaching of the Gospel should be let alone and referreth their punishment to the falling into the ditch Mat. 15. 14. And Phil. 3. 3. For we are the Circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Thirdly the Lord Christ reproveth those Disciples that would have had fire come down from heaven and consume the Samaritans that would not receive him in these words Ye know not of what Spirit ye are for the Son of Man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them Which sheweth plainly that Christ would have no man hurt for Religon yea though they were refusers of himself Luke 9. 54. 55. 56. Fourthly when the Lord Christ sent forth the twelve to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom this is the utmost that he directed them unto concerning those that should refuse to hear their words namely Mat. 10. 14. 15. To shake off the dust of their feet for a Testimony against them leaving their further punishment to the day of Judgement This was clear under the Law where none was compelled to the worship of God by the Authority of the Civill Magistrate but as the Lord did perswade the heart by his Word And as this was so under the Law much more in the time of the Gospel the Body being of Christ as first by the Commission of Christ given to the Apostles where Christ sheweth though all power in Heaven and Earth was his yet he only appoints Preaching the Gospel for gathering of his Churches throughout the world according to Pauls words where he saith The weapons of our war-fare are not carnall but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God Gen. 9. 27. Exo. 35. 5. 21. 22. 23. Psa 18. 43. 44. 110. 3. Col. 2. 17. Matt. 28. 19. 20. 2 Cor. 10. 4. 5. Again the same Apostle commandeth 2 Tim. 2. 24. That the servant of the Lord strive not but be gentle towards all men suffering the evill instructing with meeknes the contrary minded proving if God at any time will give them repentance that they may acknowledge the Truth and come to amendment out of the snare of the Devill Which plainly sheweth that repentance must be continually waited for and not constrained by violence and persecution and that because repentance is the gift of God and cannot be given by man and therefore Religion not to be forced or compelled Ephes 2. 5. 8. According to these commands the holy Prophets fore-told That when the Law of Moses should cease in matters of worship and the Law of the Messias should be set up instead thereof that then the carnall Weapons should cease They shall break their Swords into Mattocks and their Speares into Sythss Nation shall not rise against Nation neither shall they learne War any more They shall sit every man under his vine and under his own fig-tree and none shall make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord haâ—h spoken it There shall none hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountaine for the Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea Which when Christ came he taught and practied and so did his Apostles and servants Behold my servant whom I have chosen my beloved in whom my Soul is well pleased I will put my sppirit upon him and he shall shew Judgement to the Gentiles he shall not strive nor crie neither shull any man he are his voice in the streets a bruised Reed shall he not break and smoaking Flax shall he not quench till he send forth Judgement unto victory Advising them to be so far from persecuting those that should oppose and not be of their Religion that when they were persecuted they should pray when they were cursed they should blesse leaving the Judgement to God Isa 2 4. Micha 4. 3. 4. Isa 11. 9. Isa 42. 1 2 3. Matt. 12. 18. 19 20. 2 Tim. 2. 24 25 26. 2 Cor. 10. 4. Rom. 12. 14 to the 20. The reason of all is They who are now blind may see They who now reject the Truth may receive it They who are now Tares may become Wheat They who are now in the snare of the Devill through wicked works and adversaries to the Truth may hereafter come to repentance They that are now Blasphemers and persecutors as Saint Paul was may in time become most glorious and faithfull witnesses as he did They that are now Idolators as the Corinthians somtimes were may hereafter as they become true worshippers of God They who for the present are no people of God in vissible appearance nor under mercy may hereafter become the people of God obtaining mercy as the Saints have done for some come not till the eleaventh houre though some came at the First Third and sixt houre yet some not
till the last which should they be put to death because they come not with the first they then would be prevented from comming at all Acts 8. 3. Acts 9. 5. 6. 1 Cor. 6. 9. 1 Pet. 2. 10. Matt. 20. 6. It is affirmed by King James of famous memory in his Speech at the Sessions of Parliament Anno 1609. That it is a sure rule in Devinity That God never loves to plant his Church with violence and Bloodshed Again in his Apollogy for the oath of Allegiance Pag. 4. speaking of those Papists that took the said Oath saith I gave a good proof for it that I never intended persecution for Conscience cause but only desired to be secured of them for Civill obedience It was usually the condition of the Christians to be persecuted but not to persecute And lamentable it is to see the folly of late times and we cannot but greive at the folly of men who think by humane Inventions and carnall aide of Lawes and Statutes to help God and with worldly power and pomp to defend the Churches of Christ as if he by his own power were not able to do it and to perform his own will Matt. 27. 52. 53. 54. The Church hath formerly bin known by enduring Misery and imprisonment but it is the marke of the Church of Antichrist to terrifie others by imprifonments bannishments and persecutions boasting her selfe that she is highly esteemed in the world whereas the true Church of Christ cannot but be hated of the same Iohn 15. 18. 19. 20. Rev. 13. 3. It was commanded by the Law If a man met a betrothed Damsell in the â—ield and the man force her he was to die Then what shall those expect that shall force the conscience the spouse of Christ Deut. 22. 25. Hosea 2. 19. 20. 2 Cor. 11. 2. The example of many Nations both in Scripture and at this day known may suffice to suffer the conscience free Abraham lived in Egypt in Gerar among the Philistines after with the Hittites Lot in Sodom Isaac in Gerar Israel in Egypt 430. years after in Babylon 30 years yet never constrained in their Religion Also in the daies of our Saviour how many Religions were there in that famous Empire of Casars yet not by him persecuted or constrained to his Religion Gen. 20. Gen. 23. Gen. 13. Gen. 26. It was the Judgement of Luther That the Lawes of the Civill Magistrate extended no farther then over the bodies goods that which is externall for over the soule God will have none to rule but himself And therefore where-ever the civill Magistrate undertaketh to set laws for the souls and consciences of men he usurpeth that Government and authority to himself which appertaineth only to God Psa 89. 27. Isa 33. 22. Phil. 2. 9. 2 Tim 3. 16. James 4. 12. Rev. 22. 18. 19. And therefore we conceive it the highest degree of Antichrists impiety sitting in the temple of God as God shewing himself that he is God 2 Thess 2. 4. in giving Laws to the Conscience which is Gods Prerogative onely Deut. 27 4. In the building of the Temple there was no sound of Iron heard to shew that Christ will have in his Church a free consent not compelled mor constained by Lawes and Statutes for the Kings of the Earth shall bring their glory unto it 1. Kings 6. 7. Joshuah 8. 31. Isa 60. 11. Rev. 21. 24. Againe the Churches of Christ must look for suffering with every particular member thereof as he himself did who is their head being thereby made perfect being the way and means that God hath appointed to publish the Gospel which caused the Fathers to say The blood of the Martyrs was the Seed of the Church Rom. 8. 29. Phil. 3. 10. Heb 2. 10. Therefore Christians are to be exhorted not compelled for he that will not do that whereunto he is exhorted and perswaded the Gospel injoyning is no true Christian as yet and they that go not this Gospel way to perswade men by exhortation and Counsell but seek to doe it by constraint shew themselves not Gospel Teachers but worldly Beadles rather 2 Tim. 2. 24. For consider if an earthly King will take it so ill as surely he may at his subjects hands to have any equalize themselves with him or submit to a forraigne power or to make Lawes for his Subjects to be guided and ruled by how much more the King of Kings Christ Jesus by whom alone Kings reign will he suffer himself to be displaced and an earthly King placed in his throne Deut. 4. 2. Pro. 30. 6. Rev. 22. 18. 19. Thus we conceive it is clear That no man ought to be forced in matter of Religion the Gospel being spirituall and requireth onely spirituall worshippers like to it self which cannot be made so but by the Word and Spirit of God which breatheth where and when it listeth and not where and when mens Lawes and Statutes pleaseth which may make hypocrites but not true Christians As we said unto you before so say I unto you again If any man preach any other Gospel unto you then that ye have received let him be accursed for do I now perswade men or God Or do I seek to please men for if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ John 4. 24. John 3. 8. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Gal. 1. 9. 10. And thus as you see persecution was never taught by Christ nor yet practised by his Apostles nor by the Primitive â—hristians so afterwards it arose and was brought in by the bloody Heathen Tyrants and continued by Antichrist and his Ministers as appears in Tho. Beacons Relicks of Rome set forth with Priviledge Anno Dom. 1563. Pope Seritius ordained that Heriticks should be banished and that no Christian should Communicate with or keep them company Anno 588. fol. 214. Pope Pelagius the first not content with the former punishment made a Decree that all Heriticks and Schismaticks with all such as be contumiliter disobedient to the holy Church Ordinances should be put to death by the secular power provided alwaies that those bloody B. with their Woolf-like Officers and Antichristian adherents do first of all prosecute imprison and condemn them for Heriticks and aftewards according to their wicked Decrees commit them to the secular power and temporall Magistrates as unto their Butchers and Hangmen to dispach them out of the way either by fire sword or halter for these holy Fathers cry out with their Fore-fathers and Pope-like Predicessors Iohn 18. 31. It is not lawfull for us to put any man to death Anno Dom. 551. fol. 215. Pope Innocent the 3. bearing rule in the year 1215. the Councell of Latternâ— was called or celebrated where was present two Patriarks 70. Arch-Bishops Metrapolitans 400 Bishops 12. Abbots 800. Convinciall Priests the Legates of the Greek and Roman Empire with the Embassadors of the Kings of Spain Jerusalem France and England and Ciprus In this Councell it was Decreed that all Heriticks and so many as do in any point resist the Catholick fâ—ith should be condemned In this Councell was also Decreed that the secular power of what degree soever they be should be compelled openly to sweare for the defence of the Catholick Faith And that to the utmost of their power to roote out and destroy in their Kingdoms all such persons as the Catholick Church hâ—th condemned for Heritâ—cks And if he do not reform within one whole year then the Pope is to denounce all his Subjects absolved and utterly delivered from shewing or owing any fidelity or obedience unto him as in this Kingdom it was done by King Iohr Again that the Pope may give that Land to be occupied and enjoyed by the Catholicks and they to possesse it all Heriticks being rooted out peaceably and without contradiction fol. 217. Since this answer to the Ministers Watch-word was at the Printers Mr. John Fereby Minster of Thoydon Garnon one of rhe 63. Aprill the 22 being Lords day took occasion much to enveigh against Sectaries Anabaptistâ— c. as â—e calâ—s them But the Author desires if he doth it out of conscience to answer him by word in a free dispute or by writing concerning the constitution of their Church Ordination of their Ministery Worship Government Maintenance Baptisme or persecution for conscience referring the sensure and judgement there of to all judicious hearers E. B. FINIS