it was I. P. or suppose such an one had S. C. acted the wise Man in taking his Confession without such record with Hand and Seal nay it seems he had more than ordinary confidence in the Man that he so much valued his Affirmation and every engagement that Men make under Hand and Seal though God's Name be mentioned therein is not therefore an Oath For are the last Wills and Testaments of the deceased Oaths or Swearing which are made and begun In the Name of God Amen and confirmed with Hand and Seal Are these Oaths or esteemed the Oaths of the deceased because mention is made of the Name of God and Hand and Seal to them If Hand and Seal to any contract or promise wherein possibly some â—ccasionally have made mention of the Name of God which we are very tender of using make it an Oath I confess this is a new definition of an Oath And he that assisted J. P. in this Accusation and other Notes Observations and most unjust Inferences against us may very well be ashamed of such malicious work and of his abetting him therein and his sculking shall not excuse hide or rescue him or J. P. either from the righteous Judgment and stroak of God's Hand Let them note and remember this I have not writ out of any ill will to them or their Persons but from a holy Zeal for Truth and Righteousness against the contrary in them Being a Friend to the Souls of all Men G. W. An Appendix to the Precedent Treatise Being a Collection of divers Remarkable Passages by several Hands but omitted and left out by our Adversary in his Quotations out of the same Books made use of by him wherein his unfair Dealing and Abuse may the more appear and also the Innocency and Clearness of the People of God and true Christians called Quakers from Wars and Figbting and their constant Testimony against the Ground thereof as also their plain and impartial Dealing with the former Powers in testifying against the great Persecutions and Persecutors in the Protector 's Days All which being seriously considered together with the many faithful Warnings from the said People to those in Power all-a long ever since they were a People doth shew that there are Prophets of God among them and manifestly clear them from that most unjust Charge of being Temporizers c. And also shews the great Disingenuity of our present Adversary in his picking carping quarrelling and perverting as much to our Disadvantage as he can imagine like those whom the Prophet complained of Psal. 56. 5. Every day they wrest my words all their thoughts are against me for evil OBserve the following Collections and Citations with the brief Notes thereupon Good Counsel p. 37. to O. C. After the Words cited by J. P. p. 5. viz. That thou nor they may lose that Dread of the Lord J. P. leaves out viz. for that strikes a Terror in the Hearts of all People Observ. This Dread is preferred above the Arm of Flesh and Carnal Weapons And learn true Patience And the patient Spirit remains in the Lord's Work for that is it that tryes stands and abides which gets the Victory and obtains the Crown left out Observ. Herein he writ to them as a Minister of the Gospel of Peace and not to incite them to fight and shed Blood c. Hear the Voice of God and it will keep thee from Hardness of Heart Ibid. p. 27. Observ. And consequently from Oppression and Cruelty had he hearkned to it this was seasonable Advice tho too much rejected The Lord hath visited thy House because thou hast suffered thy Servants to smite the Servants of the Lord and Lambs of Christ and prisoned the Lambs and his Sons and Daughters some until Death therefore thy Sons and Daughters and Servants will I take away with Death and visit thee and thy House with Sickness saith the Lord and thou shalt know that I am the Lord who reigns Therefore spare my Sons and Daughters that I may spare thee and thy House and that thou mayest know that I am the Lord. O how art thou fallen under Men and thy House will suffer as long as my Sons and Daughters and Servants suffer by thee and thy Servants and dye in Prison and you not visiting them nor suffering their own Friends to visit them therefore take heed lest thou become weak as Water c. Ibid. to O. C. p. 36. writ the 10th of the 6th Month. left out by J. P. p. 5. Observ. What plain Reproof and conditional Threats the aforesaid Paper contains against O. Cromwel and his Family because of the Oppression and Persecution in his Dayes and how unlike a temporizing Spirit this was After crumble Men under he leaves out stand up in the Power of the Lord and the Lamb's Authority Observ. Which Power and Authority would have invisibly subjected Mens Spirits to quietness which I understand by the Phrase as by the Dread of the Lord striking Terror into the Hearts of People and not in a literal Sense to crumble their Persons to Crumbs or small Pieces That were a gross Sense indeed which the following Passages clear him of for the Lamb's Power does not destroy Men's Lives but saves them 1659. To the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England G. F. p. 16. He that fights with Creatures with Flesh and Blood he cannot fight with Spiritual Wickedness and Powers of Darkness with Swords and Spears He that fights with Swords and Spears fights with Flesh and Blood doth not preach the Gospel to that which is captivated with the Powers of Darkness He that runs against the Creature with Swords and Spears and defaces and mars it doth not go the way to bring it into the Liberty of the Sons of God not in J. P' s Observ. A plain Testimony to the Gospel Dispensation against Fighting and Killing one another plainly clearing G. F. in that Point G. F. To the Protector and Parliament 1658. After lose the Power of God these Words are left out viz. When the Children of Israel went from that of God in them they would have Kings as other Nations had as Transgressors had and so God gave them one J. P's Citation p. 3. Observ. So when God has given one is it temporizing or contradiction in us to own and submit to him as far as we can with clearness of Conscience After take heed of putting honest godly Men out of the Army J. P. p. 6. J. P. leaves out Or putting them out of their Places being Justices of the Peace G. F. to R. Protector Observ. For such Army-Men and Justices there were turned out that were against Persecution and did relieve and rescue many of us when in great Sufferings and Jeopardies by cruel Persecutors who sought our Lives Had we not good reason then even as Men to oppose their turning out of such G. F. To the Council of Officers p. 2. After the Power of God you have abused J. P. leaves
Image pray to the King or worship contrary to the Law of their God see Dan. the third Chapter and Chapter sixth for their Adversaries could find no occasion against them concerning the Kingdom but sought Matter against them concerning the Law of their God and God appeared for them in their Faithfulness to him to the Conviction of their Persecutors insomuch that both Nebuchadnezzar and Darius confessed to the Power and Kingdom of the God of Heaven who is God of Gods and Lord of Kings saying I Nebuchadnezzar praise extol and honour the King of Heaven all whose works are truth and his ways judgment and those who walk in pride he is able to abase And said King Darius I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel for he is the living God and stedfast for ever and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall be even unto the end Dan. 6. 26. So that he would have had all his Subjects Quakers when he saw the Kingdom of God above his own Again although we are most unjustly traduced as Temporizers because of our Applications to the present King and Government and partly because of some former Letters writ by some Particulars to the Protector and Parliament warning them c. this is no proof of our Adversaries Charge against the People called Quakers their many and great Sufferings both in those Days and since to keep a Conscience clear to God still acquits them from being such Temporizers c. as John Pennyman has infamously rendred them since we the said People have not looked for Salvation from the Mountains nor from the Hills but from the Lord of Hosts we have not reposed our confidence in the Arm of Flesh nor in Princes but in the over-ruling Power and Name of the Lord our God It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Man it is better to trust in the Lord than put confidence in Princes Psal. 118. 8 9. Again put not your trust in Princes nor in the Son of Man in whom there is no help happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God which made Heaven and Earth c. which execute judgment for the oppressed Psal. 146. 3 4 5 6 7. Moreover we have not been wanting to warn and admonish those in Power both Parliaments Protector and King against Persecution and Oppression as the Lord hath laid it upon us nor has any of our Addresses to the King been to stop any Prophet or Servant of the Lord among us from warning him c. So that our clearness from our Adversaries unjust Imputations is manifest divers ways and of these things he cannot be altogether ignorant And as for his citing of G. F. to the Protector and Parliament warning him to keep Kingship from off his Head which some would have given and his bidding the Powers of the Earth take beed of making earthly Kings c. And what can John Pennyman make of this He should have allowed this Construction as he has for others that if O. C. had been made King as some would have had him he would have been the greater Hypocrite and it was his zeal for the good of those People that had been against a King to warn them of setting up or making such an earthly King in their earthly Wills as his Words are plain as in the other passages cited before and this Zeal and Fear of the consequence J. P. does not go about to disprove as erronious there but would have it run most to our disadvantage wherein he probably may think his way secure seeing us a People that have been trod upon as to our Persons and Estates being exposed to so many Sufferings and Spoyls as we were he can throw dirt upon us render us obnoxious to the Government and so help to afflict us and trample upon us our Testimony and Christian Reputation to bring us under Infamy Reproach and Disesteem if possible yea and the severe displeasure of the Powers and yet pretend to abhor such a thing this is the nature of his Temporizing Malice and Revenge God will stop him and frustrate him in his Carreer with his private Abetters and Assistants I doubt not What he cites of E. Boroughs Answer to the Apprentices Petition 1659. against bringing in a strange Nation c. an oppressing Monarchy c. this he might easily have excused with that same Provision for others in the like Case as namely it was out of his Zeal and Fear that it would have been worse with the Nation c. But says he all these Lines are left out and so he saith of F. H. in one Paper And upon some other Passages in E. B's Works of divers Words being left out expunged c. This Man might very well have let E. B. alone since he is gone to his rest if he had been charitable or but as good as a Moral Heathen among whom it was a Maxim de Mortuis nil nisi bene but especially since J. P. had Time to have told E. B. of this in his Life-time he being not here now to answer for himself and doubtless he was so tender a Man as he would have heard him if he would have given him any friendly Caution but thus to clamour and abuse Honest Men that are at rest is very ignoble especially since J. P. owned them in their Life-time and some Time after and F. H. Nor do we think our selves bound directly to prostrate our Judgments concerning all particulars before such a malicious Adversary as J. P. or so far to own his Prosecution of Men so long after they are dead when they cannot be here to answer for themselves however dare our Adversary say otherwise of E. B. and F. H. than that they were sincere-hearted Men to what was then manifest and zealous Servants and true Prophets of God and vindicators of Truth in the several Currents and Streams of their Writings as may be seen in their Prophesies and Conditional Threats against the late Powers c. And did not thou J. P. say That E. B. was faithful in his Day and I doubt not but their Names are recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life though abused by this Man wherein all may see his Malice is so deadly that it extends to the very Grave as if he would hang us all up even the Dead as well as the Living As for what he cites of G. F. to Oliver dated the eleventh Month 1657. as to the Success he might have had if he had been Faithful and thundered down Deceit and asking why they put such as feared God out of the Army Sober Men and True Hearts such as the Lord owned c. How plain is it that he judged O. C. as one unfaithful to his former Promises specious Pretences for the Liberties and Properties of the Subjects for
taken share and deeply drunk in that persecuting Spirit and to aggravate his Matter against us on their behalf he has that Passage reflecting upon the Nonconformists twice over cited in his Preface from our Pen as his Phrase is quoting Quakerism a new Nick name As also in p. 27. he has the same Passage over again with another out of William Penn's Book styled A just Rebuke to one and twenty Divines reminding the Presbyterians of their former Proceedings c. so that he appears so much disgusted at a Reflection upon the Presbyterians c. that he begins and almost concludes his invective and bitter piece about it as offended that they were upbraided such a deeply concerned and zealous Presbyterian Agent is John become I may give the Reader a hint of one Fling that John has at me if he had had Sedition or Treason against me to be sure I should have heard of it and many more besides His Fling is this viz. about F. B. who he saith was one of the chief Preachers of the Quakers and in very great esteem among them This Man is charged by Jer. Ives to have justified the late War against the King and is defended by George Whitehead another of their chief Preachers p. 9. To all which I answer as a Man not Conscious to my self herein Do but see how fallaciously and deceitfully the matter is stated by this peevish Incendiary as namely upon his repeating the Anabaptists charging E. B. with justifying the late War against the King without any Distinction he addeth and is defended by G. W. which looks like as if I do defend such a Justification of the late War against the King What is this but Malice and Wickedness to render me obnoxious and seditious to the Government and so uncapable of so much as the Act of Indemnity As for a present defending of that War which I never was concerned in nor is there any Words of that import in my answer to Ives see Serious Search which John quotes but leaves out the principal Matter wherein I defend E. B. in his testifying against the Men then in Power and the Quakers from Ives his most unjust Accusation against them in these general Words viz. You justifie the late War against the King What Impostors c. This our Adversary has most enviously seconded as one beholding to the Anabaptist Preachers and was not he a zealous Chaplain more than a little concerned in the Old Army against the King himself who not very long after his open scurrilous Behaviour boasting vapouring and malicious Work against us was soon cut off by Death Now J. P. has enlarged upon his Work against us to render us odious to the Government and me in particular as defending such a Justification of the late Wars against the King as his Words may be easily taken rather than defending our Friend or Friends from that Charge which not only my self but also many thousands of us and among us are wholly clear of nor did I ever like Wars and Blood-shed being a simple-hearted harmless People towards the King and all Men and do eye the over-ruling Hand and Power of God and dayly fear him for our Preservation being in his Holy Will resigned to be patient and passive under what Government he is pleased to set up Moreover let the Reader please to take notice how evident John Pennyman's Abuse Deceit and Falshood is on some Passages he cites out of a Paper entituled A Declaration from the People called Quakers to the present distracted Nation of England 1659. p. 12. where upon these Passages viz. We have chosen the Son of God to be our King and he hath chosen us to be his People and he might command thousands and ten thousands of his Saints at this Day to fight in his own Cause and give them Victory over all their Enemies and turn his Hand upon their Persecutors but yet his Kingdom is not of this World neither is his War-fare with Carnal Weapons c. neither hath he chosen us for that End neither can we yet believe that he will make use of us in that way c. But for the present we are given up to bear and suffer all things for his Name 's sake c. Upon which John Pennyman has this Observation viz. So that they were not then of that Mind That the Spirit would never move them to fight And this he brings to contradict their Declaration to the King 1660. Testifying that the Spirit of Christ which leads them into all Truth will never move them to fight and war against any Man with outward Weapons 1. In the first place I intreat all that read this to take notice That the aforesaid Declaration which J. P. has the said Observation upon viz. That the Quakers were not then of that Mind That the Spirit would never move them to fight was as he saith true subscribed by many but tells not the Reader That he even John Pennyman himself was one of those many who subscribed it As I am sure his own Name is to it with thirteen or fourteen more wherein he hath dealt most disingenuously and deceitfully thus to reflect upon the Quakers and E. B. about it without giving any notice how far himself was concerned in it by subscription which he must needs see and call to mind if his Malice did not befool him to overlook or not heed the Subscriptions but his casting it upon E. B. as being moved by his Spirit to give that Paper forth shews that he has of late looked on the Conclusion of it it being there said That the Substance of this was given forth the twentieth Day of this tenth Month being moved of the Lord by his Spirit thereunto through Edward Burroughs and is now judged meet to be published to the Nation in the behalf of us and our Friends under our Hands viz. Ger. Roberts Thom. Hart Gil. Latey John Anderdon Joh. Osgood Robert Benbrick John Boulton Ellis Hooks William Crouch Gobert Sikes James Strutt John Pennyman John Crook E. Billings and Ben. Furley See now here is J. Pennyman among the rest espousing and highly owning the Declaration aforesaid as the Substance of it being then given forth at the Motion of the Lord by his Spirit and published in the behalf of them who subscribed it and their Friends Well I have seriously perused the said Declaration and I must confess it looks so impartially and with so much Innocency and Freeness from a fighting Spirit and so plainly confessing our Choice of the Son of God to be our King and his Choice of us to be a People and that his Kingdom is not of this World and that his War-fare is not with Carnal Weapons as also that neither is his Victory by the murthering and killing of Men's Persons nor hath he chosen us for that end c. with divers other Passages to the same purpose as in p. 8. viz. We do not war against any with
Carnal Weapons neither shall we ever provoke the Nation against us otherwise than by our Righteous and Holy Walking c. That I wonder J. Pennyman should have or allow of such a Construction upon the said Declaration as That the Quakers were not then of that Mind That the Spirit would never move them to fight Unless John himself had such a Reserve when he signed that Paper which if he had it was most gross Dissimulation to tell the World That he with the rest had chosen the Son of God to be their King and that his War-fare is not with Carnal Weapons nor his Victory by killing Men's Persons nor hath he chosen us for that end Now if J. P. when he signed this believed that the Spirit of Christ might for all this move him or any of them to fight What abominable Hypocrisy was he guilty of therein 1. To proclaim to the World That he and the rest are become subjects to such a King as will never allow them to fight 2. And yet have this private Reserve That he may move him to fight But I am perswaded the rest of the Signers of the said Paper had no such deceitful Reserve If J. P. had he was very deceitful and has now bewrayed the foulness of his own Nest. As for the Words he carps at in the said Paper to which his own Name is viz. That the Son of God might command thousands and ten thousands c. That 's no Proof that they then believed he would do it unless it must be taken for granted That because he had Power to command thousands to fight therefore he would do it and so argue from his Power to his Will which but mean Logicians would be ashamed of when it is as plainly told That Christ's Kingdom is not of this World and his Warfare is not with Carnal Weapons and that he has not chosen us for that End as to kill Men's Persons c. As that Christ by Prayer could have obtained more than twelve Legions of Angels to have rescued him But how then should the Scripture be fulfilled That he must suffer As for the other Words Neither can we yet believe that he viz. the Son of God will make use of us in that way viz. of fighting For our Adversary to infer from the Particle yet where 't is intimated That yet they could not believe that Christ would move them to fight that therefore the Quakers were not then of that Mind That he would never move them to fight He might as well have inferred from their saying That yet his Kingdom is not of this World Therefore they were not then of the Mind That Christ's Kingdom would never be of this World but that it might become a worldly Kingdom and his Servants turn Fighters Thus absurd is our Adversary's Consequence against us upon a mere small Circumstance or Ambiguity of a Word yet nevertheless is construed by him for yet as yet as putting the signification of adhuc for tamen And for the present we are given up to bear and suffer all things for his Names sake As for the Word present I grant if it had been left out it had appeared more absolute in concurrence with the Substance of the Declaration which as 't is said was given forth by E. B. But that diminutive Phrase for the present is not essential to the Substance of it but rather to the manner of speaking John it may be can give account of those Particles which he has construed so much to the Disadvantage of the whole seeing his Name is to the Paper and he can give or own such an Interpretation of it as that they the Quakers were not then of that Mind That the Spirit would never move them to fight though there be enough in the Paper to evince the contrary as is before hinted And if John had any such Reserve in espousing and signing the said Paper or did cause the putting in those Words as that the Spirit of Christ might move him to fight it is high Time for him to write a Recantation for that and many other Passages wherein while he endeavours to render us suspicious and obnoxious to the Government he has greatly bewrayed his own dark envious and perfideous Spirit whose Practice and Method in his Book generally is to snarle snatch and catch at such Passages in our Friends Books as he thinks most to make Advantage of to render us Temporizers odious and obnoxious to the present Government and commonly to pass by and leave out such Passages Threats and Prophecies as were directly against the former Men in Power and their Oppressions and Cruelties that were inflicted in the Protector 's Days But as for the aforesaid Declaration to the distracted Nation of England subscribed as aforesaid 't is so Impartial and Plain and against the Oppressions c. under the several Governments in this Nation lamenting the Judgments and Calamities thereof that I wish he had published it all to the Nation for it would very much have tended to clear our Innocency from his unjust Imputations and Insinuations against us as a People And to manifest our clearness from Temporizing and Parties and our Testimony against Fighting Warring and Killing c. as inconsistent with Christ's Government and Kingdom And now pray further consider did not our Lord Jesus Christ in his Parable concerning them that Intreated the King's Servants spightfully and slew them acknowledge the Justice of his Father in sending forth his Armies and destroying those Murderers and burning of their City Mat. 22. 7. and also against those Husbandmen who slew the Heir whom the Lord miserably destroyed Mat. 21. 7. and Luke 20. 14. were not these Parables against Jerusalem and the Jews who persecuted and slew the Prophets of God and his Son Christ the Heir Did not he therein Prophesie against Jerusalem and of the destruction thereof and so far recognize that War and miserable Destruction that came upon them as a just judgment from God and yet his Kingdom being not of this World his Servants might not fight being under an Injunction to the contrary was Christ therein contradictory to himself or to his Testimony for his Servants not fighting no sure And the Apostle Paul acknowledged the Magistrate or Rulers place as owning his Office in not bearing the Sword in vain but as being the Minister of God a Revenger to execute Wrath upon him that doth evil Rom. 13. and yet exhorted his Brethren the Saints not to avenge themselves but rather give place unto Wrath Rom. 12. 19. did the Apostle herein contradict himself or his Christian Testimony pray consider it Now suppose a Government according to their own principles in one Nation should require their Subjects or Friends innocent Blood unjustly shed in another Nation by Murders Massacres c. would not this be just and may not God in vindictive Justice and Judgment stir up a Power or Government whose Principle is accordingly to