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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39570	The bishop busied beside the business, or, That eminent overseer, Dr. John Gauden, Bishop of Exeter, so eminently overseen as to wound his own cause well nigh to death with his own weapon in his late so super-eminently-applauded appearance for the [brace] liberty of tender consciences, legitimacy of solemn swearings, entituled, A discourse concerning publick oaths, and the lawfulness of swearing in judicial proceedings, in order to answer the scruples of the Quakers ... / by Samuel Fisher ...	Fisher, Samuel, 1605-1665.	1662 (1662)	Wing F1051; ESTC R37345	155,556	170

that are not burden'd with them but onely from our own that are We are pretty well content to part stakes with the Bish. in the Controversie and as he sayes of himself and his sort of Christians viz. As Christians of evil hearts manners full of dissimulation and fraud abounding in iniquity encreasing in persidiousness uncharitableness distrusts jealousies unsatisfactions insecurities As weak and unworthy to be trusted they cannot be without Oaths but Oaths are necessary not absolutely nor morally or preceptively but as a remedy against those Diseases when yet possibly were they Christians truly such they would need no swearing in publike or private So we say of our selves and those true Christians call'd Quakers as Christians truly such in whom is no iniquity guile fraud dissimulation deceit who walk in truth out of strife who can say in truth We are Christians indeed non nomine tantum tenus sed reapse which is security enough in all cases we need no Oaths to be us'd among or impos'd upon us But this being that snare and dilemma that hypocritical Formalists and Christians not truly such but so in Name onely not in Nature fall into that one sin that they are fallen into begets a necessity of another one inconvenience and mischief subjects inavoidably to another as posito uno absurdo sequntur millia Such being yet under the bondage of their own corruptions and lying dead in their trespasses and sins pull thereby upon themselves a number of cumbersome remedies which are oft as bad as the diseases but at best needless if the diseases were not And thus God's Law is added as a lash to the lawless liver or transgressor and as a School-Master to bring to Christ the life and to his life who is the Truth it self And such Christians living in all dishonesty ●…righteousness ●…ying falseness theft cozening cheating enmity hatred malice envy and strife the heavy yoke bondage and charge of mans Laws and Lawyers hireling Priests and covetous Preachers are put upon them to keep them in peace and honesty ●…ill they come to know and ●…e led by that Light of him in themselves who onely guides their feet in the way of Truth and true peace which they yet yet know not there we say with the Bish. Oaths as de facto they are so de jure might be used at least if credit could be given any more than to lyars to such Christians solemn swearing for posita causa ponitur effectus And so if the Church of England be not a Church of Christians truly such as the Bish. seems to intimate by his own words it is not we have the less to say to them as concerning their swearing they have a liberty for us and they would have so much the less to answer for in the day when God takes a final account of them if they would let us have the same liberty from them to decline it rather than force men to sin against their Consciences to swear as they do and as much as they will and that not onely solemnly but prophanely since none of their own Laws against that can reclaim nor restrain them from it for while men are yet the servants of sin as Christians not truly such are as much if not more then Heathens so called they are free from that righteousness that Christ requires of his which is that of the Gospel which far exceeds that of the Law and all legal chief Priests Scribes and Pharisees But such Christians as are by Christ made free from sin as the Quakers are though once as well as others under the power and dominion of it these are bound as servants to that perfect righteousness of the Gospel which as that of the Law to the natural deceitful contentious Iew was forswear not but perform thy Oaths to God if thou make Oaths to end strife and controversies is to the true spiritual Iew or Israelite in whose heart is no guile even to Christs Disciples neither go to law one with another nor swear at all And if England ever come to be a Church constituted of such Christians as are truly such as the primitive Christians were and as the Quakers are who by the Light are led out of strife into the love that casts out all fea●…s and jealousies and work●… no ill to the Neighbour we shall expect as God does another matter and other fruits than that of swearing and forcing each other to swear on pain of Ruine and we shall not need to clear our selves of that which they call our crime of not swearing for the Light of Christ will lead all that follow it into the same and so as posita causa ponitur so sublata causa tolli●…r effectus Sin and Deceit standing Oaths stand though to little purpose where solemn swearers being prophane swearers also are no more to be believed than Lyars but where sin deceit and strife cease there swearing hath no use nor place and so the Bish. doth confess while he says p. 23. The Eutopian desire and aim of these Quakers is not to be found fault with if it were feisable And feisable we say it is if perfection so far as to freedom from sin deceit hatred malice and strife is attainable And that that is attainable in the body even in this very humane nature if the Light of Christ which is that of the Gospel be attended to what need we prove it against our Adversaries in that point when the Bishop confess●…s it to our hands And that he so does let him take his own words at large as they lye p. 27 28. where speaking of the design of Christs Sermon Matth. 5. and how the righteousness he calls to must exceed that of Scribes and Pharisees He says Our Saviour gives many singular Lessons or Precepts of more eminent diligence patience charity mortification self-denial sincerity conspicuity perseverance and perfection of obedience required now under the Gospel above mark what either the Letter of the Mosaical Law seemed to exact or by the Pharisaical interpretations nere taught to the Jews and however by Divine Indulgence and connivance or by the hardness and uncharitableness of their own hearts and the customary depravedness of times and manners they might seem to have some temporary dispensation heretofore granted to them or at least to take it to themselves yet now under the Evangelical strictness to which Christ came to restore or raise the Church they might not fancy to themselves any such liberty but were to keep themselves in thought look desire word and deed to that sanctity and severity that was required by the Law and most conform to the holy Will Attributes and Nature of that God whom they ought to imitate as their heavenly Father in all sacred perfections which humane Nature assisted by the Light of the Gospel the Grace of Gods Spirit and the visible example of Christ was capable to attain at least sincerely to aim at and endeavour Which whoever doth

exclusive of all Oaths and then surely of Oaths by the Name of God as wel as ought else on pain of condemnation Swear not by Heaven Earth c. nor any other Oath but let your yea be yea your nay nay lest ye fall into condemnation 5. And because the Bish. sayes it 's agreed on all all hands that both places are a strict prohibition against the sin of Swearing but not against such swearing as is no sin taking it for granted before it be given him by us that there is now as under the Law there was some swearing which is no sin but an act of duty according to which conceit of his he states p. 20. a threefold Question about the interpretation scope and meaning of the two Texts 1. Whether all swearing be utterly forbidden because it is and ever was in its nature a sin against Morality Or 2. Whether all Swearing is therefore now a sin because thus forbidden by a positive Law of Christ under the Gospel 〈◊〉 3. Whether onely some sort of Swearing which is a sin is forbidden but not such swearing as is no sin but an act of veneration To all this we reply 1. That howbeit we affirm net all swearing is forbidden because it is and ever was in its nature a sin against Morality for swearing that now is sin was one of those Ceremo●…ialities of the Law which in their nature were not sin but duty for the time then being being as all legal rites were subservient to but not against the morality of the Gospel for the shadows were not against the substance nor the Ceremonials against the Morals and Fiducials nor of them so as to be de esse to them as Paul sayes the Law is not of Faith yet not against it For as Ministerial as the Law was to the Gospel then yet the Gospel may be and now is without it Yet 2dly We own not any swearing to be now a duty or act of Iustice as some swearing once was under the Law but affirm all swearing to be now a sin upon the second account viz. because thus forbidden by a positive Law of Christ under the Gospel who by his death ended the Iu●… or Right of that and many more Legal Rites and Rudiments so that however they may de facto be continued not more without the guilt and sin at least of superstition then pompous High-Priests Sacrificings and Circumcisings New Moons days meats drinks and other holinesses of the Law which though accessiry to the Gospel yet so little pertinent to it that whoso pleads the necessary practice and performance of them now among Christ's Disciples made Christ of so little effect to himself as that he shall profit them nothing So then even that sort of swearing which was not sin simpliciter and ex suâ natura in its nature under the Law as a thing against the Morality of the Gospel is now a sin upon the account of his universal prohibition of all swearing who was of Authority to put an end as he did also by his death unto the Law And as some things are prohibita qui●… mala as they speak forbidden because they are sin and evil in their very nature as envy hatred deceit injury unrighteousness being all not onely not of the Gospel Grace and Truth that came by Christ but eternally against the morality of it so some things are mala quia prohibita sin and evil because they are forbidden and of this sort are these ceremonies circumcisings sacrifices swearings and other Ordinances of the Law once commanded by Moses since ended and forbidden under Christ of an indifferent nature in themselves having so much good in them that they have no evil and so much evil that they 〈◊〉 no good but meerly according as they are respectively commanded by the Servant or prohibited by the Son in their respective Houses Now against that universal acceptation of the Texts as a general prohibition of all swearing seeing no exception can be found in all the Scripture the Bish. puts in three things by way of exception He presumes p. 36. those after-evidences in the Gospel as he calls them of Christ's verily verily and Paul's calling God to witness do sufficiently clear the limited meaning of our Saviour But his presumption in that particular to be vain is sufficiently proved ●…bove He urges also against the said universal acceptation by way of ●…xception the moral nature end and use of an Oath which saith he p. 36 God hath instituted without any repeal by Christ or his Apostles In disproof of which morality of the nature of an Oath we have said enough before as also how whatever Oaths God instituted of old by Moses the Servant who de novo gave out and so was said to g●…ve or institute sundry things that were before him and n●…t of him but of the Fathers as Circumcision 1 John 19. 22. Sabbath Sacrifice as well as Swearing those he ended in his Son and hath repealed both by him Matth. 5. and his Apostle Jam. 5. which Texts whether they be Repeals or not sub judice lis est is the main point in Question in evidence of which that they are we have said so much already for our Yea in confutation of what the Bish. hath brought for his Nay But whereas he urges by way of exception against the universal sence of the prohibition the occasion scope and end of Christ's and the Apostles words to which his own instance by way of explication of his meaning do best direct us as to what he forbids and enjoins We say those matters rightly weighed do all plead the Cause of the Quakers more than the Bishops and that is evidently manifest by sundry passages wherein the Bish. in his examination of the said matters most manifestly manages his own business against himself In order to the opening of the true occasion of Christ's words the Bish. siyes thus of the whole Sermon of which these words swear not at all c. are a part viz. Bish. Our Saviour gives many singular Precepts of more eminent diligence patience charity mortification self-denial sincerity conspicuity perseverance and perfection of obedience required now under the Gospel above what either the Letter of the Mosaick Law seem'd to exact or by the Pharisaical interpretations the●…ws ●…ws c. And p. 27 28. However by Divine indulgence and connivance they might seem to have some temporary Dispensation heretofore granted them yet now under the Evangelical strictness to which Christ came to restore or raise the Church they might not fancy to themselves any such liberty but were to keep themselves in thought look desire word and deed mark not onely to that sanctity and severity which was required by the Law but also most conform to the holy Will Attributes and Nature of God whom they ought to imitate as their heavenly Father in all sacred perfections which humane nature assisted by the light of the Gospel the grace of God's Spirit

against his own and his Brethrens present Practice who before they have used all those rational and Religious means which they then used in Meekness of Wisdom to convince them of any Error or mistake have given their consent by Bill to the ruining of the Quakers and also before the passing of the said Bill have permitted their Apparitors and other Officers who have hunted Poor Innocents from place to place as it were on purpose to weary them out like Tormentors by summoning them to Courts far remote from each other and that onely for either not coming to the Publick Place of Worship or for not paying of Mortuaries Smoak-Pennies Peter-pence Easter Reckonings with other such like spiritual Impositions which seeing we find them not mentioned at all in the Scriptures nor practiced among Primitive Christians whether they are not meerly mens Traditions and Inventions yea and Relicks of the Church of Rome we desire to be informed by the Bishop in all plainness if he judges they are not Bish. Or secondly by rationall convincing them of their Error which is a work of time and dexterity not to be done on the suddain though very worthy to bear a part in the Discipline of the Church which should require of every one a Reason why they differ from and forsake the establisht Religion Answ. We appeal to the Bishop himself where ever there hath been as yet any such rational proceedings of the Bishops with us in order to the convincing us of Error with such time and dexterity as he speakes of Yea rather have they not run upon us on the suddain without using any of there own prescribed remedies without exercising that which he calls a part of the Discipline of the Church without requiring as they say they ought to do of every one a reason why we differ from them in Religion Although we have been alwayes ready to render not only to them but to every one that asketh us a reason of our Faith and Practice but that the Deficiency hath been ever on their part witness the Bishops own words Pag. 7. where he saith of himself at least who hath had as much to do with the Quakers as any one of them all hath had I never conversed with any of their Persons and pag. 4. With the Quakers I have so little Correspondency that I have not any acquaintance not knowing any of that way by face or name or so much as one hours conversation But the Bishop who hath a Plaister ready at hand to apply to every wound that he gives himself unawares by his unwary conflicts with the Quakers hath one Pittiful Put-off for this oversight also for saith he in the same place of the Quakers Bish. They are a Generation of People so Supercilious or so shie that they are scarce Sociable or accessible speaking much in their Conventicles behind mens backs but seldom arguing any thing in presence of those that are best able to answer or satisfie them Answ. To which we reply that it is very well known that they are a People not so Supercilious or so shie as he would make them for Shieness Superciliousness Unsociableness Unaccessibleness is the usual Deportment of the Bishops themselves towards the Quakers whom while they seem to themselves to be some sons of Anak they look upon as Grashoppers with disdain whose Greatness will scarce stoop to entertain any conference with the Poor silly Quakers as he terms them in order to their Conviction of the Errors they deem them to be in although the Holy Men and Ancient Fathers of the Church above named as this Bishop himself testifies of them did not at any time so despise the meanest of any Christians outward Condition or the Fatuity of their Opinions as not to set a great value on their Souls for whom Christ dyed Neither do the Quakers seek Corners to speak in behind mens backs as he falsely charges them with the doing of in their Conventicles which are places open to all comers but appear as publickly as possibly they can in their Testimony to the Truth of which they are not ashamed neither do they refuse to argue any thing but rather offer often to argue every thing in presence of those even the Bishops themselves who judge themselves best able to answer or satisfie them who are indeed so wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight as to take upon them to impose things to be believed and done on seventy-times seven men that are able were the Bishops as willing to condescend by word of mouth to render their reasons for them to render a sufficient reason to the contrary By the Bishops own prescription then of this second Remedy as well as of the first Sith in this second which he commends he is found defective while he Condemns the first which alone he is found active in he stands altogether Condemned by himself not onely in what he Condemns but in what he ●…wes Bish. Or thirdly by changing the Established Lawes for their sake which is not for the Piety Prudence Honour and safety of a Nation and Church when it judgeth its Constitutions to be Religious Righteous and convenient Answ. This were an effectuall way to end and mend all indeed to change the Lawes Established which are for the Establishing of Persecution for the sake of the Persecuted sufferers that dissent out of Tenderness of Conscience and to Establish in their stead such as allow a Liberty to all Religions while they keep Righteousness and Peace amongst each other in outward matters whether Ethnicks Turks Iewes Papists or Protestants of what Form or Profession soever The Civil Power interposing between them all to no other end then the bare preserving of the Civil Peace and of equity innocency honesty and truth in their dealings each with other in meer externall affaires Yea doubless no Nation will ever stand firm in the time that is now to come till their Foundation be that Love that allowes to all men the same Liberty of their Consciences which each man desires to enjoy himself till all People be permitted to walk in the Name of his God and the Lords own People to walk in the Name of the Lord their God without any molestation or prohibition for Conscience being that truly tender part in which those onely excepted by the Bishop himself which being wholly resolved into suffering Principles cannot make resistance all others though never so Conformable through fear for a timè being trod upon will turn again and when they can relieve themselves from the heavy hands of their Oppressors And besides all those mischievous and ill consequences of War which ariseth mostly about Religion 't is the express command of Christ which what Nation soever violates will first or last dearly rue their violation of it Mat. 13. that the Tares viz. false worshippers should stand and be let alone though not in the Garden or true Church yet at least in the Field which

will turn wise men backward and make their knowledge foolish and carry away Counsellors spoiled and send his Son a new as a Light into the world that those that see not may see and that those that see as the Seers seem to themselves to do may be made blind Does he any more then was wont to be done of old Is there any new thing thereby done under the Sun Is it any more then what hath said he will do And must he cease to do as he ever hath done and hath said he ever will do because the wise men in their own eyes cannot trace him in his footsteps which are in the great deep Alas poor foolish men that are glorying in your own wisdom and strong men in your strength while Gods People glory in the Lord alone and rejoyce in his highness who is the God of their Salvation Little do you think how he that sits in Heaven hath them that oppose his Image in derision how the Virgin Daughter of Zion shakes her head as she did of old against the Insolent Assyrian at the Arogant Antichristian which Reproaches and Blasphems and Exhalts himself and lifts up his haughty Eyes on high for so the Eminent Ecclesiasticks now do against the Light of Israel that is as a Fire and his Holy One that is as a Flame that shall kindle upon Thickets of the Forrest even all that vast wast Wilderness of External T●…tionary Religion that is sprung up out of the bottomless Pit of ●…er mans Invention and Imagination which knows no bounds of adding Ceremony to Ceremony till the Substance and Power of Godliness is eaten out of doors as Pharoahs seven thin ears of Corn and lean Kine did devour the Fat and and Well-liking Yea verily a little of that Honesty Simplicity and Truth in the inward Parts which is the Sacrifice God delights in and of that harmless Simplicity which with the Bishop goes for Silliness and never well Catechised Ignorance Plain Breeding Unpollished Manners and suck like of that Wisdom that makes Poor men and Women Wise to the Salvation of their Souls from their Sin will in the day that 's coming weigh down in the Ballance of the Sanstuary all that Subtilty Pollicy Prudential Piety and Wisdom of Words wherein the greatest Doctors and Dictators who are out of the Spirit are found Teaching and Dictating by which they never obtain or bring others to obtain the Conquest over their own hearts Lusts and Corruptions nor bring themselves or others forth of all Iniquity into God's Righteousness nor as that Primitive Bishop Timothy was bid to do ever save either themselves or those that hear them witness their belief of a necessity of Sinning and non-belief of any possible attainment by the gift of Gods Grace to live without Sin while there is any Being in the Body So that however the Bishop Jeers at the Quakers Writings and Undertakings as some odd Way of Folly drest up with some Scripture Phrases void of any true Life and Beauty within yet so much more efficacious are the meanest of their Testimonies to the Light not only to the Convincing but Converting men from Sin and Errour and to the vindicating of Truth and omiting the impertinencies of outward Ceremonies which are not so much as accessary to Salvation the necessary Points of Duty and Morallity then all the Life-less Preachings of those Painted Sepulchers which flourish their Sermons as with Sweet Flowers and fair Colours with Phrases of Iunior Fathers and Sententious Sayings of more modern Authors that in the Name of the whole Body of that People we say to the Bishop of that strange hidden Divinity of the Quakers which he scoffs at as nothing but Canting and Chymical in the Words of the Poet Hoc ego opertum Hoc ridere meum tam nil nulla tibi vendo Iliade Bish. My design is not to ravel into all the petty Opinions Enthusiastick raptures and odd practises of the Q●…ers nor will I severely perstringe them c. Answ. We would have the Bishop to understand that there is not any no not the most petty Opinion nor odd practice that is owned by the Body of that People called Quakers though every thing that 's done by every one that may possibly bear that Name may not be owned by them which however Jeer'd at by him under that old Scholastick scoffing term of Enthusiastick rapture will not be made good against the whole Body of those Bishops that believe they have so much ground to except against it were they once made as willing to condescend from their high-mindednesse as the Scriptures require they should Rom. 12. in all plainnesse of speech which most becomes the weighty matters of the Gospel to be discussed in to confer with men of no evill minds though of such low Estates plain breading and unpollished manners as the Quakers for the most part seem to him to be and whom he perstringes much more severely by his condemning of their Opinions and practises by whole-sale and in the Lump as odd heriticall and erroneous which yet is the wonted way of all the Clergy with those they Quarrel with then if he took account of us concerning them in particular Bish. I have a great pitty for them First because I perceive them to be very unlearned and unstable People ever Learning but never coming to any solid knowledge of the Truth or any great improvements in Christian gifts men of low parts and small capacities as to any point of true Wisdome and Understanding in things Humane or Divine tossed to and fro with every Wind of Doctrine easily seduced with specious pretentions and strange notions even to Raptures and Enthusiasms which are presented to them as novellies by some that are Masters of that Art and Agitators for that Party for what designe Private or Publick Forreign or Domestick God knowes some suspect Iesuitick Arts to be amongst them Answ. If these and such like Contemptuous Disdainfull and I●…onicall terms as he uses here as well as before and after were at all seemly from a Bishop yet are they so much the lesse sav●…ry and seemly from him in sundry Respects First because these expressions which savour of nothing lesse then such a thing proceed from him under a Pious pretence of his great pitty towards the Quakers Secondly because himself hath declared this his own practice to be contrary to that of the Holy men and Fathers of Old whom he commends as men guided by the Word and Spirit and so worthy to be imitated by him for those holy men saith he did not at any time despise the meannes of any Christians outward Condition or the fatuity of their Opinions Thirdly For as much as himself elsewhere brands it as a prophant and Atheisticall Carriage to disdain the plainnesse of the way which the Wisdome of God sees fit to hold forth the Gospel of Salvation in witnesse his own words then which we scarce need any other in most Cases

do not doubt of the lawfulness of swearing lawfully among the Jews not only as permitted but commanded but Quid hoc ad Rhombum we have this at least to say which all men have not against himself and al●… those that are impositive of Oaths upon them which himself says the primitive Christians and Disciples of had viz. Christiani sumus We are Christians to the silencing of them from exaction and himself without any more adoe from further troubling himself toward their conviction for the Question is not concerning the use legulity or necessity of Oaths to end strife among in●…urious contentious people that love and yet live in strife and other works of the flesh and so not under the teachings and power of that Gospel of the grace of God that leads out of strife and all other ungodliness and worldly lusts but under the power of that evil spirit in them that lusts to envy strife hatred variance deceit and every other evill and so under the law which hath dominion over a man so long as the old man with his deeds liveth in him and he lies yet in his trespasses and sins how far forth Iudicial swearing may be of a legal necessary use among evil unconscionable men that make no conscience of any thing swallow every thing and strein at nothing to tye them to speak the truth is not our business to contest with any about we are willing to let that alone to men nor need we dispute against the thing if we be against it since the Bishop to the confuting of himself who pleads for it says thus much against it to the invalidating his own plea for at least that asserted necessity of it viz. That no more credit can be given then to a Lyar to a Prophane purson that fears not God though he swear never so solemnly in judicial proceedings which if so then what use need or necessity there is of those mens Oaeths in judicial proceedings whose most solemn swearing even there is of no credit and nothing worth we see not nor any else whose eyes are open let the Bishop seem to himself to see what he pleases Yet for quietness sake to avoid all jangling about jurations so be they let us alone to live peaceably out of strife in truth it self and so beyond that so necessary medium as they count it of Oaths and from whom men need no more when we are called to give our witness then the very veracity of our bare words since Christiani sumus we can freely leave them to swear and exact and take Oaths as much as they will who can't believe one another out of a mutual jealousie that they are all lyars and yet can give credit one to another no more than to a lyar neither though swearing never so solemnly in Iudicial proceedings An Oath being as the Bish. urges out of Heb. 6. among not Saints not Christians but among men a means to end strife whether they judge one another worthy to be believ'd by each other when they swear yea or nay that 's little to us let those men who are in strife make use of Oaths to end them if they will or can we should be glad to see all men to agree and to live in peace as 't is our desire to do with all and in that love that works no ill to the Neighbour but believes all things and bears all things and so carries beyond Strife and Oaths also But if they cannot they may swear on for us in Courts and Iudicatures as they ought not to exact swearing of us so we should not were it in our power force them to a forbearance of it in Courts in order to end their strifes against their though yet clouded and erring Consciences Nay rather how best we own Oaths to be of no other than of a Iewish and Legal and not of any immediate Christian or Evangelical consideration yet as to the whole world which lyes in wickedness and stands though under some form or other of Religion still in strife under the dominion of sin and not of Grace as the Iews did they may stand if they will for us as they did under those legal institutions which were added because of their transgressions and in order to end their strifes for if the Law in any of the Ordinances of it be yet remaining in any force power or dominion it is among those that are not yet come out of sin and deceit to that everlasting righteousness and truth of the Gospel which Christ who puts an end to sin brings in among his Disciples who seek his Kingdom and the Righteousness of it but not among the Saints that obtain by participation of Christ's power Spirit and righteousness to a dominion over sin and so over the Law for where sin hath not dominion over men as it had before there men are no more under the law but under Grace Rom. 6. 14. such over whom the Law had dominion while they lived and were in the flesh and under the prevalent workings of the motions of sin in their members to bring forth the evil fruits of strife variance c. unto death and bondage are then delivered from the Law being deatd to that in which they were once held they bring forth fruits of the Spirit unto God love peace meckness without envy hatr●…d strife and serve in the ●…wness of the Spirit and not in that legal oldness of the Letter Rom. 7. wherein those walk who notwithstanding all their profession of Religion and Christianity in words yet bite and devour one another till at last they be consumed one of another with their lying deceit bitter envying and strife for all their Oaths yea Gal. 5. 18. 23. if men be led of the Spirit they are not under the law and those that bring forth the fruits of the Spirit against such there is no law So though the Law is good if men could tell how to use it lawfully yet we know as Paul did 1. Tim. 1. 8 9 10. that the law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and prophaue for murderers of fathers and mothers men-slayers whoremongers them that defile themselves for men-stealers for lyars for persured persons and any other thing that is contrary to the sound Doctrine of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God which is witnessed among the Quakers to be the power of God to the salvation of them from those unrighteousnesses for whom therefore neither the Law nor the curbs and cures provided in it as remedies against mens diseases 〈◊〉 justly applicable or to be imposed But now the Bish. beats all besides the Iron upon the Anvil disputes besides the Question and makes it his main drift to prove the necessary use of Oaths either among the Iews among whom the Quakers deny it not to have been lawful to which purpose he troubles himself to no purpose because without need