An Answer to the ESSEX Watchmens Watch-word being 63 of them in number Or a discovery of their Ignorance in denying liberty to tender consciences in religious worship to be granted alike to all Also shewing how persecution for conscience came in Isa 5. 20. 21. 23. Woe unto them that call evill good and good evill that put darknes for light and light for darknes that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their owne sight which justifieth the wicked for reward and take away the righteousnes of the righteous from them 1 Sam. 2. 36 And it shall come to passe that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a peece of silver and a morsell of bread c. Isa 56. 10. 11. His watchmen are blind they are all ignorant they are all dumb doggs which cannot bark sleeping lying down loving to slumber yea they are greedy doggs which can never have enough And they are sheapheards that cannot understand they all look to their own way every one for his gane from his quarter Jer. 5. 30. 31. A wonderfull and filthy thing is committed in the Land The Prophets Prophesie lies and the Priests receive gifts in their hands and my people delight therein What will ye then do in the end thereof Jer. 23. 1. 2. Woe he unto the Pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my Pastour saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the Pastors that feed my people ye have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them Behold I will visit upon you the evill of your doing saith the Lord. Hosea 8. 12. I have written unto him the great things of my Law but they were counted as a strange thing Hos 9. 7. 8. The daies of visitation are come the daies of recompence are come Israel shall know it the Prophet is a foole the spirituall man is mad for the multitude of thine iniquity and the great hatred The Watchmen of Ephraim was with my God but the Prophet is the snare of a Fowler in all his waies and hatred in the House of God Hab. 1. 3. 4. Why dost thou shew me iniquity and cause me to behold grievances c Ezek. 34. 2. 3. 4. Son of man prophecy against the Shepheards of Israel prophecy and say unto them Thus saith the Lord God unto the Shepheards woe be to the Shepheard of Israel that do feed themselves should not the Shepheards feed the flocks Ye eate the fat and you cloath you with the wooll ye kill them that are fed but ye feed not the flock The deseased have ye not strengthned neither have ye healed that which was sicke neither have ye bound up that which was broken neither have ye brought again that which was driven away c. By Edw. Barber Freeman of Engl. Citizen Marchant-Taylor of London FOr as much as the Author holdeth forth all due obedience unto just authority who are Gods Ministers to take vengeance one them that do evill As also the distinct Office of the servants of Christ in the free faith and full dispensation of the Gospel without forcing the conscience by humane Compulsion For Magistrates ought not to persecute but to protect all those who live under their authority that they may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godlines and honesty And for that the Author produceth most pregnant Scriptures to prove and illustrate such Truths as are contained in this Treatise all which tend to the confirmation and consolation of all those who love the Truth in sincerity therefore I doe say Aprill the 2 1649. Imprimatur Theodore Jennings To those pretended VVatchmen of ESSEX in generall and in perticular to all such as love the publishing of that glorious Everlasting Gospell of KING JESUS in sincerety Deare friends YOur condition being like the state of Demetrius and the Crafts-men Acts 19. 24. to the 29. Your Estates Tithes Honour yea your all-being not onely in great danger I cannot blame you to cry out for help your Diana and her Magnificence and Temple being likely not only to be despised destroyed but your craft also being in great danger to be set at naught And also your cunning craftines whereby you lie in waite to deceive discovered Yet notwithstanding I cannot but admire at your weaknes in that you take upon you the name or title of the Ministers of the Gospell having received ordination from your reverend Fathers the Lord Arch-Bishops and Lord Bishops c. pretending to renounce that Ordination sent over by Austine the Monke from Pope Gregory the 7. Peters pretended Successor and Christs Vicar Generall upon earth but this being discovered your craft failing herein Jure divino you obtaine an Ordinance of Parliament Jure humano to ordaine withall making good the proverb a bad shift is better then none at all by which meanes you became Parliaments servants and not Christs Ministers from whom also you know you have your wages by their Ordinance with trebble damages and upon refâ—â—all commitment without Bayle or mainprize being in your esteeme better then Christs words freely you have received freely give Matt. 10. 8. or the Apostles Acts 20. 33. 34. 35. compare with 1 Cor. 4. 11 12. Thes 1. 2. 9. 2. 3. 8. or as Fox in his Acts and Monuments declares The maintenance of the Ministers is the pure almes of the Church A condition to meane and low for these plush and silken Ministers of these times And truly as you came in and began to be set up by the Sword and authority of the civill Magistrate even so you stand and continue and not by any rule power or Authority of Christ And for the wounding the Gospell through your sides which you speak of if you consider and weigh your words in the Ballance of the Sanctuary you will find it to be your selves that cheifly wound it as your Predicessors the Scribes and Pharises did the Doctrin of the Apostles as Acts 4. 1. to the 21. and 6. 8. to the 14. and 22. 22. from whence Theodore Beza sweetly observes That false Teachers because they will not be overcome flee from disputations to Magistrates and open slandering and false accusations and that the first bloudy persecution of the Church of Christ began and sprung from a Councell of Preists by the suggestions of the Vniversity Doctors But your words hold true concerning the true Ministers of the Gospell who can prove their call and Ordination by the word of God as Acts 20. 27. 33. 34. 35. 36. and 2 Cor. 11. 23 to the 28. And whereas you say you are charged to the Authors of all the Kingdoms troubles fomenters of these unnaturall divisions and bloudy wars who are they whose eyes the Lord in any measure hath opened but see it Who have been the main Instruments but you The one part of you
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
stiring up the King his pary the other part of you the Parliament their party to fight kill one another for the Gospell though brethren and in the nearest relation in Church fellowship How did you presse that text curse ye Meroz yea with a bitter curse to cause people to bring in their plate money and jewells and to send out their husbands servants and children and if they died in the cause their soules would be in heaven before their bodies would be in the graves And how did you dissemble to stir up men to go out against the Kings Army and yet not against the King and to bring all men without respect of persons to condigne punishment yet not the King But when you saw your honour riches indeed your all was lapt up in him then with Pilate you began to change your notes to pretend to wash your hands in Innocency saying I am clear from the bloud of this just man But be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap And as you have sowen in bloud so shall ye have blood to drink for ye are worthy Yea the whole Antichristian State from the Prelate to the Sexton as well as from the Pope to the poorest Fryer because in you to wit in that State is found the blood of Prophets and Saints and of all that were slain upon the earth all which all those whose eyes the Lord hath in any measure inlightned knowes you have in your measure fulfilled and that for your own meere Interests power and gaine of your goodly fat benefices which now are as Demetrius with the Tradesmen of the like occupation was Acts 19. 24 to 30. In great danger and hazard of losing which some had rather have the ruine of the Nation then the losse of their Trade gaine and benefice for are you not such as Micha speaks of that preach for hire and divine for money and yet will leane on the Lord c. Thus you whose names are there subscribed are proved although Ministers of Essex yet no Ministers of Christ but State Ministers and therefore cannot act according to the example of the Apostles or other the faithfull Servants of Jesus Christ till such time as with the Jewes Acts 3. 19. yee repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and untill such time as you change your mindes and obey the Commands of Jesus against whom in his Members you have ingaged to uphold your own pride covetousnesse and persecution with contempt of your poor brethren whom you ignorantly pretend to be misled with ignorance and false zeale but brethren I hope that through ignorance you do it To the next you have not without great weaknesse discovered your ignorance that when God according to his promise is inlightning the earth with knowledge as the waters cover the Sea in discovering the mysterie of Iniquity and throwing down the Kingdom of Antichrist whereby your Church indeed is in great danger and hazard but not the Church of Christ which by this meanes flourisheth abundantly increasing dayly And therefore there must be great alterations in Doctrine and Worship for saith Christ Mat. 15. 13. Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up And for yoâ—r faithfull consciencious Professors as you call them to be persecuted to bonds flight and imprisonment It s well your eyes are opened in your own cause to see persecution for Conscience so great a sinne which all this while you have wincked at it seemes the case is altered had you formerly made Christs rule yours whatsoever you would that men should do unto you the same do you unto them this need not have been And truly Sirs if Popery should not be connived at what would become of all your administrations And for your grievous oppressions in the Liberties and properties of the Subjects which you say you fighed for good Sirs pitty your selves or be better informed for the greatest burthen that ever came of late to this Land was that Ordinance for Tithes with treble dammages or commitment without bayle or main prize upon non payment For the Parliaments Declaration you speak of upon the first and second time of meeting apprehending the danger of the State and the Church how it say upon your hearts it may easily be conceived the day approaching their Declarations Petitions Remonstrances c. The blame lying upon the evill Councellors but who were those evill Councellors search and see 1 Kings 22. 20. 21. who must perswade Ahab to go up and fall at Ramouth Giliad but the evill spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets here you may clearly see the chief Instruments and Insendiaries compared with Revel 16. 13. 14. Here was the cause of fear and the Kings leaving the Parliament and raysing his Army which kindled that fire which will hardly be quenched but in the distruction of you or the Kingdom if not timely prevented And for the League and Covenant you so much speak of we should desire but the performance thereof and in particular for Religion to have it established according to the word of God and the best reformed Churches which I hope you will grant to be according to the primitive institutions for know through the mercy of God we are not ignorant that your National Presbyterial Churches are as truly Antichristian as the Papal or Prelatical it being the third part of that great City Babylon Revel 16. 19. which now comes in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the fiersness of his wrath compared with verse 13. 14. And as the Kings of the earth have given their power and strength unto the beast as in the raising so to the upholding of that Antichristian state they therein giving their power and strength unto the beast making Warre with the Lambe in his Members to wit with his poor Saints and Servants But the Lambe shall overcome them for he is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings Revel 17. 13. 14. And they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful compared with Rom. 1. 7. But the waters where the whore sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues not redeemed and gathered out from them and so made Kings and Priests being redeemed by his blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and Nation Revel 5. 9. Also observe Revel 17. 16. These ten hornes there spoken of which are ten Kings to wit Christian Kings as you call them who shall upon the consideration of their being so wofully bewitched by those Froggs and Locusts that come out of the smoke that assendeth out of the bottomlesse pit hate the whore and make her desolate naked eate her flesh burn her with fire for God hath put into their hearts to fulfil his wil and to agree and give their Kingdom to the