Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	call_v	name_n	people_n	15,485	5	4.6964	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60652	Some clear truths particularly demonstrated unto the King and council, and both houses of Parliament with all judges, justices, merchants, and shipmasters, why the innocent and peaceable people, called Quakers, ought not to be banished out of their native land, or any other way exposed to sufferings : also, the law described in its nature and end : with a postscript to all honest, sober, and impartial jurors / by W.S.	Smith, William, d. 1673.	1664 (1664)	Wing S4329; ESTC R16013	8,498	14

SOME Clear TRUTHS PARTICULARLY Demonstrated unto the KING and COUNCIL and both Houses of PARLIAMENT with all Judges Justices Merchants and Ship-masters why the Innocent and Peaceable People called QUAKERS ought not to be banished out of their Native Land or any other way exposed to Sufferings ALSO The LAW described in its Nature and End With a Postscript to all honest sober and impartial JURORS By W. S. Printed at London in the Year 1664. Some clear Truths particularly demonstrated unto the King and Council and both Houses of Parliament with all Judges Justices Merchants and Ship-Masters why the Innocent and Peaceable People called Quakers ought not to be Banished out of their Native Land or any other way be exposed to Sufferings 1. BEcause they are People that believe in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and are regenerated into the Nature of Christianity and their life answereth the same in all Godliness and Honesty 2. Because they worship the Living God in Spirit and Truth and are of a tender Conscience towards God and all men 3. Because their Principle and Practice was never proved erronious by sound Doctrine neither doth the late Act disallow it in the ground for four may meet besides the Family and the number is but a circumstance and not the matter And it is not a Christian practice to Banish men for being in Error that are really so muchless such as cannot be proved erronious 4. Because Nature abhorreth such unkindness and is afflicted with such hard dealings for Nature is outwardly friendly to her own generation 5. Because they have not at any time forfeited their Just Liberty as Englishmen by contriving any Plots or Insurrections against the present Government as experience all along hath shewed 6. Because they have a right in the Kings Word and Promises concerning Liberty unto tender Consciences for they have lived peaceably which was the only Exception to make his Word and Promises void and that they have kept and not broken 7. Because they are an Harmless People and give no just occasion of offence unto any neither can any true proof be given against them concerning any evil committed or done by them 8. Because they are a Serviceable People in their places ready to do good upon all occasions and unto all persons and do not abuse the Creation in vanity and excess 9. Because they are good Examples in Righteousness and a sweet Savour in their Generation by following that which is good 10. Because they do not transgress any Just Law neither give any Just occasion for any Law to be made or executed against them neither can any Law that is for the punishment of Evil-doers justly take hold upon them 11. Because they never acted nor intended any such things as in the late Act is expressed and against which it only provideth neither can any misdemeanor be justly laid to their charge 12. Because their outward dealings amongst men are just and equal and in all things free from variance and strife 13. Because they do not wrong any mans Person or Estate and are Free-born Englishmen which Magna Charta preserveth in their outward Liberty 14. Because many Families will be left outwardly distressed and the Nation distracted and disordered 15. And chiefly Because the Lord God of Heaven and Earth is grieved and vexed with it and the prosecution of it will kindle his Wrath in a high degree Now let these Truths be well considered and the heat of Violence stayed for there is no just cause given by us why it should be so done unto us and we are very clear in the sight of God that we have not forfeited our Just Liberty in our Native Land but have as good Right to continue and abide therein as any People whatsoever and there is not any thing can be truly said otherwise of us but things are wrested that are prosecuted against us and our Cause is presented after another manner than what it is in it self And divers things are charged upon us from bare suppositions and many of you know it and thereby we are exposed to hard Sentences by men when we can appeal to God with clear consciences in those cases wherein men render us Offenders For we are not a willful stuborn People neither do we any way seek the subversion of the Government or the harm of any mans person upon the Earth these are only suppositions by our Judges and Accusers and no supposition is a good ground to proceed against us in a matter of such high concernment for our not submitting to the Requirings of men in cases of Conscience is onely in obedience to the Doctrine and Command or Christ Jesus And our Testimony is in Meekness and Fear and not in willfulness and stubornness and we are wronged when such Reproaches are cast upon us though such as fit to be our Judges have their liberty to speak and to interrupt our answers And what would you have from us that you have not to give you better assurance of our Allegiance to the King Can any thing more evidently demonstrate it than our peaceableness A thousand Oaths imposed if we could swear at all would not be so binding unto our Consciences as the Love of God in which we live and by which we are constrained to live peaceably for it bindeth our consciences into peace and maketh us subject unto Christ as Supream and unto the King in his Civil Government for what can more clearly manfest our Subjection to his Kingly Power than our willingness to render unto him our Tax and Tribute and having these things rendered by us you may conclude that it is enough and as much as you are reasonably to expect from us and it doth sufficiently clear us from all supposition concerning our seeking to subvert the Government and herein we manifest our subjection to the King in living peaceably and giving him that which is his due But the Rule and Government of our Consciences we cannot give into his hand nor into the hand of any man for that is peculiar unto Christ Jesus and he alone hath the preheminence in our Consciences and no man ought to call his Power in question nor to punish us for obeying his Doctrine and Commands for by Faith in his Doctrine and Commands we live and we dare not make Shipwrack of it but in his Love are constrained to keep it and his Reward is our unspeakable Joy Very much of this nature hath been published in tenderness of heart for your good and therefore I shall not at this time be large for I know that Love Patience and Meekness must prevail And the Lord God hath abundantly furnished and adorned his Children with the virtues of those heavenly Graces in which they stand as so many Innocents that think no ill and their behaviour and holy Conversation may even overcome you to be pittiful and merciful towards them and also to be in love with them which you would assuredly be if you

Foundation of Law it doth not unite with the Body of the Law And it is very clear and plain that if there be no Wrong-Doers as the Object of the Law that then the Law in it self is silent as having nothing to operate upon that offends it and if there be no matter for the Law to operate upon then no punishment to be inflicted Now as the Lord God of Heaven and Earth created all things in good Order and every individual stood in its place and service without Offence in that day but through the Fall is gone into Disorder which remaineth unto this day so the highest degree wherein men are concerned in the Institution of any Act is but to reduce into that comely outward Order again that so no man may be grieved of offended by the wrong that another may do unto him but that he may walk safely in his Person Liberty and Estate and this is the furthest End which the Law serveth unto and that which is enacted in such a service uniteth with the Body of the Law and is in it self properly Law because it operateth upon a proper Object and reacheth with Power and Force to suppress it and by this Rule he that doth wrong suffers for it and he that is wrongnd comes to be righted and so good Order is kept amongst men by the Power and Force of the Law and that is a reasonable thing unto which the Law only serveth and so the Law is merciful just and equitable in every point forasmuch as the Institution of it tendeth to the preservation and well-being of Men for that which is ordained and instituted for the preservation of Man is merciful towards him it standeth as an outward Defence to his Life Liberty and Estate For the Law would not that any man should suffer wrong and therefore it sheweth Mercy to the grieved by doing Justice and Right and that is properly the nature of Law forasmuch as it is unreasonable in such as do the wrong and reasonable to right such as are wronged And Reason being the Mother of Law it strengtheneth the Law to operate upon all unreasonable things as the proper object which it is to take notice of and thereby the end of the Law is answered in Mercy Justice and Equity which is agreeable to its nature And the case may be put thus for more clearness What would there be to punish according to Law if all men lived peaceably soberly and righteously if nothing as certainly there would not then is there any other end in the Law but only to punish such as live vainly frowardly and unrighteously If a man be a Freeborn Englishman and pay his Taxes and Tribute as a Subject and neither Plot Contrive nor Conspire against the person of the King or subversion of the Government What Law is there against him in that case the Mother of the Law saith None at all forasmuch as he hath done no wrong to the King any way but is a peaceable Subject Again If a man do not offer any violence to his Neighbour or any way do him wrong What Law is there against him in that case he is not an object which the Law takes notice of for punishment forasmuch as he hath not wronged his Neighbour but is a Sober man Again If a man be wholly disposed in Righteousness What Law is there against him in that case Righteousness is not an offence against the Law for the Law is not destructive to the Righteous and so in all other things which are peaceable sober and righteous the power of the Law doth not operate upon such for punishment neither will any rational man affirm it therefore the object of the Law must needs be the wrong doers and the power and force of it doth only extend to suppress them because they are injurious to the well-being of peaceable sober and righteous People and the Law in Mercy Justice and Equity protecteth them from injuries and doth them Right when they are wronged and this is properly Law and the end of its institution Now these things being granted which indeed are so really true as not to be disputed or denied then it must of necessity follow that when any Act is instituted that maketh peaceable sober and righteous People the object of its power and force That cannot properly be called Law forasmuch as it doth not unite with the Foundation and Body of the Law for it is not a reasonable thing that peaceable sober and righteous People should be disinherited or exiled or any other way destroyed or punished there is neither Mercy Justice or Equity in it which are the only qualifications that the Law is setled upon Therefore it is fully concluded that the peaceable sober and righteous People called Quakers are under the protection of the Law in every point forasmuch as they neither wrong nor injure any man which draws the Mercy Justice and Equity of the Law over them and so whatsoever Act is or may be made against that People or however it lieth as to titles and terms for preventing and suppressing their Godly Meetings or any other matter or thing which pertains to their Consciences yet it cannot make them Transgressors of the Law though they continue their Meetings or other Godly Exercises contrary unto such an Act because their Meetings and Godly Exercises are in tenderness of Conscience towards God and not to wrong or injure any man neither can any Experiences demonstrate that the practice of those People have at any time or in any place been any way hurtful to the Life Liberty or Estate of any People Therefore the Mercy Justice and Equity of the Law is on their side and standeth in it self for their protection and not for their destruction and whatsoever is enacted against them cannot unite with the body of the Law because it doth evidently appear that they answer the Law when they meet together as meeting peaceably soberly and righteously which wholly tendeth to the well-being of all People and therefore by the Law they are to be defended from injury and wrong and not to be disinherited exiled destroyed or any other way punished by any Act whatsoever for as they give no just occasion for any Act to be made against them so none in Power is to make any Act to punish them but to extend the Mercy Justice and Equity of the Law towards them who in all things answer the Law in their holy and peaceable life wherein they walk in all Godliness and honesty as becometh Christianity Thus in obedience to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth I have given forth my Testimony concerning these weighty matters that none may endeavour to promote any thing against those dearly and welbeloved People of the Most High God who reproachfully and scornefully are called Quakers but in the Power of God are truly Christians with whom I am united in the Bond of Peace and therein rest a true Lover of all mankind The 10th day of the 9th month 1664. W. S. A Postscript to all Honest Sober and Impartial Jurors FRIENDS I Have much tenderness in my heart towards you forasmuch as I believe that many of you are of a grave and sollid disposition and desire to perform your places of Trust in honesty and sobriety as becometh men and you it is that I desire may well consider the whole matter and chiefly these particulars following 1. Whether the Prisoner stands upon his Tryal according to Law that is whether it be properly and truly Law that he is tryed by 2. Whether the Law and the Witness agree together in every point as to the matter in question 3. Whether the thing done be really an offence against the Law and so a Fact punishable by the Law for there may be some Acts that will not unite with the Body of the Law as before is mentioned and also there may be several interpretations of the Law and the Judges may wrest the Law by such interpretations as for instance there is an Act to prevent and suppress Seditious Conventicles Now according to these express words this Act will unite with the Body of the Law and in that sence may properly be called Law because it is to prevent and suppress such actions and practices as tend to discord strife and ill things and thereby tendeth to the preservation of peaceable People Now mark If any be tryed by this Act because they onely meet together to Worship God in his Fear and the Evidence can prove nothing farther than onely a Meeting and the Judge tell you that such proof is sufficient to make such guilty of an Offence that are taken at a Meeting though it be not apparently Seditious such an interpretation makes the Law to be no Law because it will not unite with the Body of the Law according to the sence of the Judges interpretation for the Interpretation quite altereth the matter and so maketh such to be the objects of their Interpretation that are not proper objects of the Law and whosoever are found guilty as Offenders from any such interpretation they are wronged and injured according to the Law for where the Institutors of Laws do signify their minds in express words if their minds and words will unite with the Body of the Law then no Interpretation is to wrest their minds and words from their proper sence and signification for so the Judges may interpret the Law to answer the Witness and thereby make an Innocent man to appear guilty of an offence when the Witness is to answer the Law by proving the Fact to be an offence against the Law it self or otherwise the Law in it self doth not operate upon any man to Condemnation Weigh and ballance these things in the just Principle of God in which is the pure Wisdom that gives to discern the Precious from the Vile and so put a difference between those that serve God and those that serve him not and let each condition be answered with a just measure and therein you will find your peace and happiness both present and to come And the Lord give you Wisdome and Understanding that with boldness and courage you may stand in Mercy Justice and Equity over all the fear of men W. S. THE END