Religious practices that is or can be bought or sold for Money is an Abomination in the sight of the Lord and Relected by all tender-hearted Conscientious People And it is a grief to many to observe and behold how those called protestants do follow the Example and Imitate that dark Superstitious Sect of the papists who sell their Masses Pardons Absolutions and Dispensations c. for Money so the protestants Pray Sing Preach Absolve and sell Licences for Money who are only changed in Name Manner Form and Ceremony and some outside Practices but not in Nature and Life the same Spirit of Cain Core False Prophet Idol Shepherd Hireling Money Diviner Pilate chief Priest Judas and the rest of that Generation mentioned and testified against in the holy Scriptures Rules and Reigns in the Hearts of the formal protestants as in the papists and it is to the Heart the inside that God looks And all true Reformation begins within in the Heart if that be and continue Corrupted Deceitful and Deseparately wicked Unpurged Uncleansed and Unsanctified by the precious Blood and Life of Jesus all Names and outside Reformations Worships and Sacrifices c. are of no worth nor acceptable in the sight of God according to Christ's teaching in the Sixth Chapter of Luke 43.44 45. vers A good Tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit neither doth a corrupt Tree bring forth good fruit every Tree is known by his fruit for of Thorns men do not gather figgs nor of a Bramble-bush gather they Grapes A good man out of the good Treasure of his Heart bringeth forth that which is good an Evil man out of the Evil Treasure of his Heart bringeth forth that which is Evil for out of the abundance of the Heart his mouth speaketh the Tree must be good the Heart purged ere the fruit can be good or well-pleasing to God So it is not a changing from one Opinion to another or from the Form of the Romish Prelacy to that of Episcopacy or from that to Presbytery or from any one Sect to another is of any worth or acceptable to God 't is the turning from Darkness to Light from Sin to Righteousness from the Power of Satan to the Power of God it is the Greation of a clean Heart and the renewing of a right Spirit it is to know the inside cleansed and then the outside will be clean also These are the things that are of an absolute necessity and of great Worth and this to know and witness will stand People in stead in the Day of the Lord when all Formallity and outside Worship among all the Sects in Christendom will vanish away like Smoak this will stand and abide And these are the true Worshippers of God in the Spirit and in the Truth who Experimentally know the Power Vertue and Opperation of the Spirit of Truth in their own Hearts Minds and Consciences making them free from that which did defile corrupt and darken them These are Christians indeed Jews inward indeed all others are but Christians in Name let their Profession and Form of Religion be what it will But to proceed we being denyed a prohibition at the Exchequer Court through corrupt Interest and the false Allegations before mentioned we moved by two Councels at the Common-pleas Bar who pleaded and urged their own Law to shew that of Right A Prohibition ought to be granted like men of honesty but the same untruth as was urged at the Exchequer Court being pleaded again and that Sentence NONE BUT QVAKERS MY LORD NONE BUT TWENTY FOUR QVAKERS MY LORD being often repeated that Sentence seemed enough to turn all against us so no Prohibition could be obtained though offer was made to go to Tryal in few dayes yea the Council desired but two dayes to prove our suggestion or give them Cost but all in vain nothing could prevail whether because we were Quakers or because they were not willing to offend the Ecclesiastical Authority is not certain in the Priests Hands they found us and there they seemed resolved to leave us till they had wrought their Wills upon us and sitted us for a Jayle and because they were greedy to effect the same and not willing to loose any time they proceeded the very next day to publish their Excommunication in their Meeting-place commonly called a Tabernacle but by some of their own Church a Smock-House because Built by a Collection among Women in some time they found they had committed an Errour in their haste in reading their Excommunication in this new Erection and that it must be read in a place called a Church and they having not any fit and Consecrated in their own Parish lest their Fathers work of Violence and Persecution should loose time they procured their Curse to be published in another old Mass-house hard by standing in the same County And now the next thing they wait for is the end of the mercy of the Statute Law which allows Forty Dayes at least in favour of every Excommunicated person ere the Priests can get a Writ to throw their Bodies into Jayle It is much to be questioned whether the Mercy of Ecclesistical Courts would extend to forty hours did not the Statute Law put a check upon them yet these Courts are made up of the Principal Members of their Church and called Spiritual Men such as have entred into holy Orders but what Spirit Church and Order they are of their Fruits sufficiciently declare to all that are not wilfully blind And all People may Pray From the Bishops Courts and unreasonable men Good Lord deliver us And now let all concerned in the Parish of Mary Magdalen's who have given out such unchristian Words and cruel Threats against the Quakers as that they would send them to the Devil and that they should lie in Jayle and Rot and that they would Ride many miles to see them Hanged and that they should be prosecuted for Twenty pound a Moneth for not coming to Church and to Ruin their Estates and Trades and not leave them a Bed to lie upon and to prove them no Subjects to the King Let such Evil-minded men know that the God whom they fear and serve is able to deliver out of their Hands but if he will not know this they are not careful to answer your Unrighteous Demands nor bow to your corrupt Wills nor Worship the Image you set up And if the Lord should deliver them into your Hands as he did Job into the hand of the Devil they are assured of this that he will furnish them with strength and patience to undergo all you shall be suffered to do against them And as they abide with the Lord and live in his Fear his refreshing Consolating presence will accompany them and fill their Hearts with Joy Peace Content and Satisfaction though without the pale of your Church though in a nasty Prison upon Straw and out of the King's protection and counted as the Off-scouring of all things not fit
Deeds done in the Body are written therein And the time will come upon them when this Book shall be opened and Men shall be judged according to what is written therein And remember the Testimony of a good Conscience both in the day of Health and Prosperity and in the day of Sickness and Adversity in Life and Death is of more vallue then all the World And in any of these States and Conditions a guilty defiled Conscience or a Conscience that through custom of doing Evil becomes as Seared with a hot Iron and a hard Heart is a grievous Plague and sore Judgment from God and an inevitable sign and forerunner of Everlasting Vengeance and is indeed the Fruit and Effect of Evil or of sleighting and despising the voice of God's Witness and the striving of his Spirit in Peoples Hearts and Consciences But the answer and Testimony of a good Conscience is of God and is as a Well-spring of Life to those that have it where Blessings and Peace are enjoyed in the inward Man amidst of all Adversity Exercises and Tryals that may attend both the outward and the inward and such can lie down in Peace notwithstanding all the Spirit of Enmity and Cruelty can work against them whether it arise from an ignorant blind Zeal about Religion Church and Worship as very much doth in Christendom not only against those called Quakers but one Sect against another Some of them being so full of Zeal and so empty of Knowledge that they think they do God Service to accomplish the Ruin of such as are not of their Church c. Or whether it arise from corrupt Interest Prejudice and Evil will the ground is one though the end be various The Lord give all People Wisdom to see their way out of the same that they may be not only Christians in Name and Profession but in Life and Nature Then all Enmity Cruelty and Violence would cease and Love and Brotherly-kindness would abound And then People would lie down like Lambs together in that holy Mountain or Mountain of Holiness where no destroyer is where no Violence Cruelty and Oppression is And this is the hearty desire of every true Christian for their Neighbours and all People who never were nor ever will be found seeking the hurt or ruin of any man threatning nor envying any because they conform not to the same sort of Religion and Ceremonies that they are of Whoever are found in this Spirit of Envy and Evil against their Neighbours and Country-men about matters of Faith Sacrifice and Worship are of the Generation of Cain the first Envyer and Murtherer about Religion and such are not Christians indeed neither doth the Law of God nor their Neighbours dwell in their Hearts nor the Fruits of the Spirit appear and grow amongst them which Fruits are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance against whom there is no Law for the whole Law and the Prophets is fulfilled in this Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and thy Neighbour as thy self read Matth. 22.37 38 39 40. and Gal. 5.14 to the end of the Chapter and the Lord prepare your Hearts to consider what you read that you may not only profess the holy Scriptures but love and obey them and receive that grace of which they testifie which taught and enabled the Primitive Christians to live the Life of Holiness they call for and to avoid the contrary that you may not alwayes be like silly Women laden with Sin and led about with divers lusts ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth which makes free but that you may know deliverance from the burthen of Sin and bondage of Iniquity and from the Lusts that lead aside and come to be made wise unto Salvation and to feel the love of God spring in your Hearts and Blessings and Peace attend you in your comings in goings out lyings down and risings up even that Blessing and Peace which the World cannot give nor take away And that you and all people may come to inherit possess and enjoy inward Peace with the Lord and heavenly Consolation in the Spirit and Life everlasting is the hearty Desire of your Friends and Neighbours in Derision called Quakers who are redeemed from the spirit of Envy hatred and Evil-will from the spirit of Cruelty Violence and Revenge into that Love which desires that Peace on Earth and Good-will to Men may more and more encrease and abound and so far as it is possible make it their daily Practice and Endeavour to live in Peace and to follow Peace and Quietness with all men according to the Doctrine of the Christian Religion which whosoever obeys and walks according thereto are preserved out of all Strife Contention and Evil-Will Prejudice Enmity Cruelty and Violence and who ever are found bringing forth these Fruits let their Talk and Pretence to Religion and Christianity be never so great they are certainly corrupt Trees and disobedient Children in whose Hearts the Enemy of God and Man rules and they have not the Love of God and their Neighbour abiding in them nor the Answer of a good Conscience neither are they Christian indeed though they profess the Name which will stand none in stead in the Day of Account Let all such to whom this may come remember they have been told so and it is the Word of Truth to them whether they will hear or forbear Now we the Quakers so called do solemnly testifie in the sight of God Angels and Men That we do not refuse to pay Tythes to Repair old Mass-Houses commonly and ignorantly called Churches or to pay Priests and Clarks Wages Easter-Reckonings Midsummer-Dues and such like out of Wilfulness or Stubbornness or out of any Enmity Prejudice or Evil-will against any man's person whatsoever but really and truly upon the Account of Conscience to God knowing and believing that we should sin against God and the Light of his Spirit in our Hearts and wound our own Consciences in so doing And we do upon the same account refuse to come to those old Mass-houses vulgarly called Churches to hear a man of unclean lips and corrupt heart Say common Service to God but Do none read over common Prayer formally and customarily without the Spirit of Prayer sing David's Psalms turned into Meeter by Queen Elizabeth's Fidlers or Musicians but not with the Spirit nor good Understanding hear studied invented Sermons of an Hour long composed in the Wisdom which this World teacheth and so not profitable to Salvation being only a profitable Livelihood to men of that Trade who preach for Hire and divine for Money and seek for their Gain from their Quarter and would exact and compel Money and Goods from such as like not their Merchandize if they dwell within their Quarter or Parish Those Prayers Singers and Preachers for Money and Hire are not like Christ's Ministers who received and do receive freely
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