to live in their native Country as their Brethren the ancient Christians were in Ages and Generations past I say as they suffer for Righteousness sake in Conscience to God not as Evil doers they shall have the Answer of a good Conscience and enjoy the Presence of the Lord which is better then Life and all those things you threaten to deprive them of and they shall live the Life and dye the Death of the Righteous and enter in and inherit the Crown of Life when you that are of a bitter spirit a persecuting envious spirit against your Neighbours who have done you no Wrong and yet profess Christ and Christianity shall see your selves shut out and when trouble anguish sorrow pain perplexity of spirit and horror of conscience shall attend you in your Houses and upon your Beds for the Hand of God will lie heavy upon the Evil-doer and Cruel Men and Vengeance is the Lord's and he will repay it and to him they can commit their Cause and appeal to for Justice seeing their Importunity though like the poor Widow's to the Unjust Judge cannot prevail with men They are known viz. the people called Quakers to be a quiet peaceable people among their Neighbours in all parishes Towns Cities and Countries where they dwell throughout England and great Observers and Honourers of the End of Magistracy and true Christian-Government which is a praise to them that do well and a terror to them that do evil and are true Subjects to the King and obedient to all the good and wholsom Laws of their native Country which tend to preserve men Liberties Properties Persons and Estates not for fear of Punishment but for Conscience sake and they are ready to obey every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake in all things relating to the Things of a Man giving Caesar his due and readily paying all Rates and Taxes that tend to the Good and Service and Preservation of their Neighbours and Country-men which is proper for any Christian men to do but in things relating to God and his Worship and Conscience they cannot endure to be imposed upon they rather chuse to obey God then Man in all such Matters and rather chuse to suffer the spoiling of their Goods imprisonment of their Bodies and give up their Lives also then submit to the Wills and Commands of men in Matters of Religion Church and Worship contrary to their Consciences and the perswasions of the Spirit of God in their own Hearts knowing it is a grievous thing to fall into the Hands of the living God and to sin against Light and Knowledge for fear of suffering therein they would not only be like the Common Sinners of the Times but worse who in their common Service daily confess They do that which they should not do and leave undone that which they should do who confess they have no Health in them but are full of putrified Sores from the crown of the Head to the sole of the Foot I say they would be worse then these if worse can be and would be Abomination in the sight of the Lord and a Stink in his Nostrils and his Righteous Soul would be vexed with them from day to day and they would not enjoy the Light of his Countenance which to them is better then the encrease of Corn Wine and Oyl They can say and that truly in the sight of God That they desire the good of all men and have Love and Good-wil to all their Neighbours and country-men and can truly pray for their enemies though they use them despightfully and do desire they may see the evil of their wayes and repent that they may enjoy Blessings and Peace temporal and eternal And if any thing to the contrary as Evil Thoughts Evil Will Prejudice or Enmity arise in them or among them against any they judge it with the Light and Spirit of God as an Evil inconsistent with their Profession of Christianity and directly contrary to the Life and Nature thereof for they have do declare own it their duty to live walk according to the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus and to know the same written in their Hearts and this Law was the Guide of Man-kind before Sin entred the World before outward Laws were written in Tables of Stone or in a Book And those that are led by this Law of the Spirit of Life are the righteous Men and righteous Women against whom there is no Law being living Witnesses of its power and vertue making them free from that and giving them Victory and Dominion over that because of which the outward Law was added viz. Sin And these own all good Laws outwardly and will not transgress against them And the Law as saith Paul Is not made for the Righteous but for the Wicked 1 Tim. 1.9 10. or Lawless and Disobedient for the Vngodly and for Sinners for Vnholy and prophane for murtherers of Fathers and murtherers of Mothers for man-slayers for Whoremongers for them that defile themselves with mankind for men-stealers for Lyars for perjured Persons and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound Doctrine c. And whoever talks and professes the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus and lives under the power of Sin and Death or continues in evil-doing they are no true Subjects to it nor lovers of it nor walkers in it but a shame and a Scandal to the Christian Religion and Strangers and Alians from the Common-Wealth of Israel and the Law of Sin and Death rules in their Minds and Members and leads them Captive into Evil and these are in great Bondage to the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life And these are the Children of disobedience in whose Hearts the Prince of the Air the Prince of Darkness Rules and leads them to Envy Hate and Persecute their Neighbours about Religion which was never the work of a true Christian For he that hateth his Brother is a man-slayer 1 John 3.15 He that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 John 4.20 Be Serious consider your Work and Condition and see how you stand in the sight of God and mind God's witness in your own Consciences and hearken to the Voice thereof and it will Infallibly inform and shew you whether the Spirit of Christ and Christianity which is the Spirit of Meckness Gentleness Kindness and Brotherly love rules in your Hearts or the contrary and the Voice of this whether it be with you or against you is as a Thousand Witnesses and all that sleight and disregard its Voice and stop their Ears at the Reproof thereof while the day of their Visitation lasts Time will come upon them and the Night will overtake them wherein they shall hear its Voice whether they will or no and be judged according thereto Conscience is compared to a Book and the
will hear or forbear they shall find it Truein the Day of Account The 17th of the 3d Moneth 1677. Something after VVHereas the Cry against the Quakers is That they are Disobedient to the Law Enemies to Magistrates Haters of the Ministry of the Gospel and no Friends to the Lawyers and that they would overthrow good Government pull down Churches but build and repair none c. In Answer to which we in short say thus much That this Charge is utterly without just Cause and directly false For First We are obedient to the whole Law either actively or passively and our Principle and Profession leadeth us to obey every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake not for fear of Punishment but for Conscience sake and herein stood the Christian Obedience in the primitive times to every Law and Ordinance of Man that tended to the Encouragement and Praise of them that did well and to the Terror of those that did Evil to other Laws Ordinances and Commands of Men which did not carry this along with them they were never actively obedient but Witnessers against them and Sufferers by them as might be evidenced at large by a multitude of Examples throughout the whole Scriptures and every Conscientious Christian Man must needs acknowledge that God is to be obeyed rather then Men when they command things repugnant to his Law and impose upon the Mind Heart Conscience and Vnderstanding contrary to the Light and Law of God therein this is to usurp the Throne of God and to give Laws in his Kingdom which is spiritual and not of this World and where God rules governs in the hearts of men which is and ought to be his Throne and they know his Law (a) This is the New Covenant that God promised and every Christian is to witness the law of God writ in his Heart and his Fear in his Inward Parts and none can be a Christian without it writ therein from whence all just reasonable good Laws outwardly did proceed such cannot transgress against them nor disobey them So it is a manifest spirit of Envy that saith We are disobedient to Law seeing our Conversation among our Neighbours throughout this Nation witnesseth the contrary and they find no just Cause or Occasion against us but in things appertaining to Worship Church Religion and Conscience which indeed are of a spiritual Concern and not belonging to Men of corrupt Minds though they give themselves the Name of spiritual men to make and impose Laws about And as concerning Magistracy and Magistrates whose Work is to judge between Man and Man when they trespass one against another according to Equity and Righteousness without Respect to Persons or any sinister Interest these we truly Love and Honour who bear not the Sword in vain but relieve the Oppressed and judge the Cause of the Innocent and help the Poor against the Mighty 2 Chron. 19.6 7 8. and are a Terror to the Evil-doers these judge for God and not for Men and the Lord is with them in Judgment and the Blessings and Presence of the Lord will be upon them Now it is the Evil-doers that are Enemies to Magistracy and that make and create Trouble to good Magistrates such as break and violate the Law of God and Man and kill and steal and commit Adultery and bear false witness against them and covet their Neighbours Wife Ox Ass nor any thing that is his c. these are they that are Haters of Law and Magistrates and disobedient to Authority Now we are kept by the Grace of God out of these things and do by vertue of the Nature and Power thereof the things contained in the Law which shews the Effect of the Law written in our Hearts and so because we love and obey the Law and Magistrates we fulfil the End of them both But they that say They love and honour the Law and Magistracy and yet are found in the Evil-doing they lye and do not the Truth and would subvert the Law and overthrow Magistracy and all Good Government among men and are direct Enemies to Magistrates Now to those that say we Hate those that are Ministers of the Gospel we say and that truly that it is a False Accusation for we love no men more they are indeed Embassadours of Peace and Reconcilation of Mankind to God and they have the Power of Perswasion and in the Spirit of Love and Meekness do prevail and turn many from the Evil of their Wayes and direct them into the Good Old Way and Ancient Path of Peace which the Righteous in all Ages walked in from Enoch unto this day in which Way the Wayfaring man though a Fool cannot err mark that and seek and enquire for this Way Now all such as pretend to be Ministers of the Gospel and do not do and Effect this Work in and among people it 's an evident sign the Lord never sent them and that they are not in Deed what they profess in Words yet let all know that we hate no men's Persons though we bear witness against Deceit and Hypocritical Pretences amongst men of all Degrees and Professions and would have men to be and to be known to be as they are in the sight of God where all Coverings avail not And to such as say we are no Friends to the Lawyers and that we would overthrow good Government c. We say we are Friends to all men and should rejoyce to see good Government set up among them and especially amongst the Lawyers that that common Honesty and Right might be fulfilled among them as is among other Trades-men who sell a Penny-worth for a Penny And we desire the Law might be declared in such plain terms that the Lawyer Knowledge and Counsel might be certain that he might undertake to do Peoples work and business to their Content if he expect to receive their Money as other Trades-men must And that they would be so honest that when People come to them with a bad Cause which the Law is against that they would Instruct and Advise them better and refuse to appear in it for love of Money Then would Equity enter and Justice run down as a mighty Stream But when Lawyers undertake bad Causes for bad People for love of Money Equity is obstructed and the currant of Justice stopped delayed deferred if not pervented and turned backward and by this means honest men are unjustly vexed troubled and abused trhough the Promisciousness of the Law and the crafty skill Rhetorick and Interest of a bad Lawyer and by these a poor man's Cause though never so good is overthrown all these things we would have amended and have every man honest in his Imployment and do as he would be done by and this only being observed will bring People to be good friends and love one another and live together in Peace as becometh Christians And then we believe the Lawyers would not have so great a trade and Imployment
Contempt upon which you have unlawfully by your lying Lips Suplicated Prayed gained a Writ against us out of the King's Court of Chancery but were never willing to let us have a fair Tryal neither in your cruel Spiritual Court nor at Common-Law using Deceit and Lyes as hath been hinted before to hinder us of a prohibition ☞ The Law of England is very tender of the Liberties Lives and Estates of Men and when Justice takes place some may be called to Account for their heady rash unlawful arbitrary Proceedings And seeing you know or may know that the Law is not on your sides in your thus dealing with us how is it that you are so hardy and overgrown with Envy as to give the Jaylor so strict a Charge concerning us That he must keep us close Prisoners as if we were great Malefactors would it not please you well if his Heart was as cruel towards us as yours and that he would exercise as much Hardness of Heart unlawful and unchristian Practices upon us in Prison as you have done to bring us thither It 's hardly a Question whether some of you would not be glad if he would throng us together into some stinking Dungeon where we might soon end our Dayes and not live to see you mend nor be rewarded according to your works But God be thanked he hath so ordered and prepared the Minds and Hearts of many Jaylors in England that they are ready to shew and manifest Humanity Favour and Kindness towards us who suffer for Conscience-sake and not for Evil doing It 's said Luke 10.33 the Samaritan was more compassionate or mercifull then the Priest and the Levite and that Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of God Matth. 21.31 before the chief Priests and Elders of the people this Christ said many Ages ago to the Priest and Elders then and it is infallibly true in this Age for the Hireling Priest who Persecutes for his Belly and the Elders of the People who are Cruel and Violent against their Neighbours about Church and Worship Matth. 23.13 Luke 11.46 and the Lawyers who lay heavy burthens upon the People these shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men now as then and neither enter themselves nor suffer those that would And it is from these sort of Men that profess Law and Religion ☞ but practice neither that Threatnings and Complaints have been and are made against some Jaylors for behaving themselves kindly towards us their honest Prisoners who they can trust to go forth and buy themselves Bread and small Bear and other necessaries at the best hand knowing they will return again according to their word But the Envy of our Persecutors now they have thrown us in Prison from our Imployments being most poor Trades-men and have but little Money would by threats and other means ingage the Jaylor to abridge us of that Liberty or of any kindness he is capable to shew unto us If this be the Fruits of your Religion and Spiritual-Courted men and the effect of D. P's teaching and Doctrine among you this many Years you will by this never win us to be of your Church nor to be in love with your Way nor Works To conclude we may say of you as Jacob said of his two Sons Simeon and Levi You are Brethren Instruments of Cruelty are in your Habitations Oh my Soul come not thou into their secret unto their Assembly c. Gen. 49.5 Joseph Rawbone Henry Day Page 29. line 14. for Law read Love p. 34. l. 23. for them r. their Neighbour l. 24. for nor r. or p. 35. l. 33. for pervented r. perverted l. 35. for trhough r. through