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A41270 An apology for the people called Quakers, and an appeal to the inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk, or whom else it may concern Field, John, 1652-1723. 1699 (1699) Wing F861; ESTC R15981 8,513 18

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charged It 's hoped their Patient Suffering and Peaceable Deportment under all the various Revolutions of Government will sufficiently Evince the contrary and their Passive and Patient Suffering wherein for Conscience sake they could not Actively obey may well demonstrate their Regard to Magistracy And altho' in some things they have seemed to differ from those of other Perswasions yet who can Convict them of Error in any Fundamental Doctrine of the Christian Religion or of their not holding that which is truly Essential to Salvation and agreeable to the holy Scriptures Which holy Records how ever they have been Misrepresented or falsly Accused as Slighters and Contemners of them I do declare on their behalf they have always had and still have a high Esteem of and true Value for them above all other Writings or Books and their frequent use of them and pressing their Children and Servants to the reading therein may sufficiently Demonstrate to those that know them the Innocency of this abused People Be you therefore like the Noble Bereans search the holy Scriptures and you may see their Writings and Doctrines are not contrary thereto but may be plainly proved thereby For they desire not any farther to be Credited or to have what they Write or Preach received by any but as its consonant thereto and answers that Holy Principle and Divine Oracle that the Great and All-wise Creator of all things hath placed in every Man's Heart and Conscience Suspend therefore your Censure and forbear your Complaints till the Contrary of these things are cleared to you by sound Reason and plain Scripture without any corrupt Meanings false Glosses or Interpretations And if they were a People mistaken in any Point or were Clouded in their Understandings would it not I beseech you consider much more become those that esteem themselves Learned Ministers of the Gospel in Meekness to Instruct and by sound Doctrine to Convince them rather than to call them and Charge every one of them to be Blasphemers and make no Proof thereof It 's true the Quakers complied to meet them at West-Dereham the 8th of December 1698. altho' there was not a Mutual Consent of the things proposed in the Letters that passed between them relating to the Conference as those that peruse the Letters may find yet so Eager were these Men and Resolute that in their last Letter to the Quakers they tell them Their Measures are Fixt and they may chuse whether they will Meet them upon the Terms resolved upon or No Yet the Quakers went and in the presence of the People requested to have the Authors Names Titles of Books and Pages they pretended to prove their Charges out of but instead of that were Hallowed and Hissed at by some of those Clergy-Men as such of you as were present may well Remember And if these People must be accounted Blasphemers if they disown not those Books or their Friends that Writ them without seeing the Books or what 's in them how can they be either just to their Friends or true to themselves for ought any Man to condemn another without full Hearing and due Examination or would those Clergy-Men account it just that any should charge them as the highest of Criminals and Condemn and Sentence them as such for what some of their Brethren have Writ in Books which they never saw nor read nor knew the Contents of or would they be so unjust to themselves and false to their Brethren as to acknowledge them Guilty in such sort and condemn them for Writing that they themselves neither knew or never saw If not Why should the Quakers without seeing the Books and examining the Contents be obliged to condemn their Friends for Publishers of Blasphemy or be esteemed Blasphemers Consider this I beseech you and examine whether it agrees with Christ's Doctrine All things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets Or whether there is any ground to conclude that the Chargers would ever have refused to have given the Account desired by the Quakers if they had been well assured that by the Express words of these Books out of which they pretend to prove their Charge it would be clearly and evidently proved Let these things be duely considered Oh ye Inhabitants of the Counties aforesaid or to whom this may come and let Christian Moderation be exercised towards your Peaceable Neighbours and Country-Men Remember the Anthem the Angels sounded when they published the Gospel was Glory to God on High on Earth Peace and Good Will to Men. And if we all endeavour to be found in the Practice of this it will render us more like to him that we all Profess who said By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another It 's those that dwell therein that wear his Badge For whoso hateth his Brother is a Murtherer and ye know that no Murtherer hath Eternal Life abiding in him for Envy slayeth the silly One and Hatred is the Badge of a Persecutor and renders People too like him that first Envied and was Wrathful and then Murthered his Brother because the Lord had regard to his Sacrifice Yet the Lord said to Cain If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted And if thou dost not well Sin lies at the Door And while Sin lies there it 's a Bar to keep Man from Acceptance with God altho' he may Sacrifice and Offer he 'll fall short of his Duty whilst that 's loved and lived in But he that Envies not but Loves his Neighbour as himself keeps the great Commandment of him that in all things we ought to hear and it 's those that abide in his Love that knows of his Doctrine Therefore Oh ye Inhabitants aforesaid and all People of what Degree Rank or Quality foever let a serious Consideration which is an Effect of true Wisdom and a due Examination which all Wise Men ought to use be had and made by you before you Exclaim against a People ye know no Evil by be not hurried into a Misapprehension of this Peoples Doctrines by Men filled with prejudice and whose Interest prompts them in General to Lurk in which lies Deceit and therein under pretence of Mischief Threatning Danger Venemous Doctrines Blasphemous Books and Pernicious Principles tending to subvert the Fundamentals of Christianity do but endeavour to draw you into the like Enmity with them Let your Experience now which you have had of this People under the various Revolutions of Government in this Nation for above Forty Years speak for them whether they have not been of those that are quiet in the Land but these things which are false and slanderous Stories suggested without Ground or Proof are like Demetrius's Exclamations against Paul saying Moreover ye See and Hear that not alone at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia this Paul hath persuaded and turned
away much People But Demetrius was so Ingenuous then as to confess it was That Craft by which he and his Brethren got their Wealth that was in Danger and plainly intimated that was the Cause of his Wrath And when they heard those things they were full of Wrath. But Remember the Town-Clerks Advice when this Vproar was he said Ye ought to be Quiet and to do nothing Rashly for these Men are neither Robbers of Churches nor Blasphemers of your Goddess Wherefore if Demetrius c. hath matter against any Man the Law is open And Oh my Friends to you I appeal whether ever ye knew or did observe the Demetrius's of our Age present any Man or prosecute him at Law or Incense or Stir up the Magistrates and endeavour by Petition to Incense the Government against him whilst he lived in Pride Gluttony Drunkenness or any Excess of Riot But this hath often been seen that when those or any have turned from their Evil Ways become Conscientious and could not pay their Tithes or comply with some other things that are acknowledged but Outward and Visible Signs of an Inward and Spiritual Grace Then Oh then how have these been prosecuted if but for a few Farthings a few Pence and Shillings the Justices and Officers troubled the Courts and Lawyers imployed and Mony spent Revenge vented and Havock and Spoil made Two Three or Four times more taken then demanded And yet these Suffering People are exclaimed against as Men of Pernicious Principles the great Growth and daily Increase of whom threatens the Nation with Mischiefs and Dangers And although the Law is open to Punish Romish Emissaries yet these Petitioners cannot be content to take that way but would falsly insinuate there were such among the Teachers of the said People And yet are not many of these Clergy-Men in Romish Practices viz. Bowing to the Alter and to the East and having God-fathers and God-mothers as they call them and Signing Children with the Sign of the Cross and their Surplace and their Absolution in which the Minister is to say I absolve thee from all thy Sins are not these things Romish see the Mass Book And also their Prosecuting for Mortuaries and Smoak-Penny c. Oh! consider all People to whom this may come and know assuredly this that the Great and Everlasting God who hath measured the Waters in the hallow of his Hand and meted out the Heaven with a Span and comprehended the Dust of the Earth in a measure and weighed the Mountains in Scales and the Hills in a Balance He sees and beholds these things for the Lord is a God of Knowledge and by him Actions are weighed and he marks the ways of the Children of Men and records their doings as with a Pen of Iron and Point of a Diamond in the Books that shall be opened when the Dead both small and great shall stand before God and him that John see sat on a great white Throne from whose Face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no more place for them that went on the breadth of the Earth and compassed the Camp of the Saints about and the Beloved City and Fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are and shall be tormented Day and Night for evermore And therefore let all consider their Ways and amend their Doings for Time here is short and our Moments uncertain but sure it is that God will bring every Work to Judgment with every secret thing and there are none can appear before him with boldness nor give their Account with joy that take pleasure in Unrighteousness and die in their Sins such can never go where Christ is as he said Therefore in Bowels of tender Love and in Good-Will to your never dying Souls I tenderly beseech you Turn to the Lord and from the Evil of your Doings and put away the Violence that 's in your Hearts and against this Innocent People entertain no Prejudice neither hearken to the lying Stories and false Suggestions of Men whose Fruits and Works declares they neither follow the Doctrine and blessed Ensample of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who taught not as the Scribes and Pharisees but as one having Authority and who enforced his Doctrine by his Ensample and said Learn of me I am meek and lowly in Heart He was full of Love and was moved with Compassion on the ignorant and them that are out of the way and come not to destroy but to save and by him Grace and Truth is come and it appears to all and his Light shines in all and his Spirit strives with the Children of Men it 's he shews Man what is good and what the Lord requires at your Hands it 's he that by his Spirit Convinces of Sin and reproves for it in the secret of Mens Hearts it 's he that is the great Wisdom of God that calls to the Simple Ones saying How long ye Simple Ones will ye love Simplicity and ye Scorners delight in their Scorning and Fools hate Knowledge Turn ye at my Reproof Behold I will pour out of my Spirit unto you and make known my Words unto you Oh! It 's this and the Grace that Comes by him that appears to all and would teach all if they would come to him believe in him and learn of him to deny all that which is the cause of God's Wrath and would teach them to live Soberly and Righteously and Godly Therefore while ye have Time prize your Time and the Day of your tender Visitation which God through Christ is affording to you that the things that belong to your Peace you may come to know before they are hid from your Eyes these things will be of profit to you and your so doing will bespeak you Christians indeed for if you bear that Name and are not guided and led by Christ's Spirit you will be found none of his nor Sons of God profess what you will if you remain Workers of Iniquity Christ will profess he knows ye not and will bid you depart from him into Everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels And therefore if you would be of that Number which he will say unto Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World then you must be Righteous and that you cannot be unless ye do Righteousness for said the Apostle He that doeth Righteousness is Righteous even as he is Righteous He that committeth Sin is of the Devil And none can do Righteousness but those that learn of his Grace that teached to deny all Unrighteousness and are guided by his Spirit which he promised should guide into all Truth And walk in the Light as he is in the Light where the Blood of Jesus Christ is known to cleanse from all Sin And this is the Doctrine the Holy Scriptures and this People teach against whom this great Rage is And if you would come to that Spirit the holy Pen men were moved to write the holy Scriptures by and in and by that Compare the Doctrines of these People and their Practice and the Practice of those Men that preach against this People and their Doctrines and that charge them with Error Blasphemy and Pernicious Principles you would quickly find whose Quodrat most with them and are most agreeable to the true Prophets and Ministers of Jesus Christ Therefore remember the Excellent Counsel of the wise and learned Apostle Paul Prove all things and hold fast that which is good you may remember it was said of the Christians that they were a Sect every where spoken against And yet the true Ministers in all things approved themselves as the Ministers of God in much Patience in Afflictions in Necessities in Stripes in Imprisonments in Tumults in Labour in Watchings in Fastings by Pureness by Knowledge by Long-Suffering by Kindness by the Holy Ghost by Love unfeigned by the Word of Truth and by the Power of God by the Armour of Righteousness on the right Hand and on the left by Honour and Dishonour by evil Report and good Report as deceivers yet true Observe they were not impatient they did not Afflict they had not great Revenues nor large Benefices or forced Maintenance they did not Stripe and Imprison nor cause Tumults by incensing the People against their Peaceable Neighbours they were not idle nor exercised in Feastings received not the Honour nor high Title did not Lord it over God's Heritage but by Pureness Knowledge Long-Suffering Kindness and the Holy Ghost Love unfeigned and by the Word of Truth c. approved themselves the Ministers of Christ they were not defiled ignorant hasty angry or hateful Consider these things seriously and let all endeavour to amend what 's amiss in themselves and rather mend faults where they are than suggest faults where they are not let every Man be fully persuaded in his own Mind and so let him act and hate nothing but the Devil and Sin but love God and one another So having in Love and Plainness discharged my Spirit of what as a concern remained upon me in the Love of him that hath loved and died for us all I Conclude and Remain Your sincere Friend and hearty Well-wisher to the People called Quakers and all Men. J. F. FINIS Isa 13. 11. Isa 1. 28. to the end 1 Tim. 2. 1 2 3 4. Acts 4. 27. Prov. 26. 21. Prov. 26. 17. 18. Psal 35. 11. John 13. 35. 1 John 3. 15. Job 5. 2. Gen. 4. 7. Mat. 22. 38. 39. Lev. 19. 18. Rom. 13. 9. Gal. 5. 14. James 2. 8. Acts 19. Isa 40. 12. 1 Sam. 2. 3. Rev. 20. John 1. 21. Mat. 11. 29. Mark 6. 34. Luke 9. 5 6. John 1. 17. Titus 2. 13. John 1. 9. Micah 6. 8. John 16. 8. Prov. 1. 22. Titus 2. 13. Rom. 8. 9. 14. Mat. 7. 23. Mat. 25. 41. Mat. 25. 34. 1 John 3. 7 8. John 16. 13. 1 John 1. 7. 1 Thes 5. 21. Acts 28. 22. 2 Cor. 6. 4 to 9.