fifth particular is these Authors desire that countenance be not given unto nor trust reposed in the hands of Quakers being persons of such Principles that are destructive to the Gospel and inconsistent with peace and civil society Answ. Here your wickedness and the malice of your hearts is let forth against the despised People for their righteousness sake this spirit of yours would not onely discountenance them but destroy them from the face of the earth if it were in your hands and you are worse then Baalam ever was and far more blind then he for you are as it were seeking inchantments against the People of God for money and you see not the goodly tents of Jacob as he did nor the People that are altogether blessed Oh! ye envious persons that are even a preparing as much as in you is the destruction of a peaceable People and that would keep them in slaverie under you and you would have the countenance of the Powers of the earth but they must not and you would monopolize all the places of trust for advantage to your selves and you would hardly allow the People of God a place on the ground Oh! ye sinful hypocrites and flatterers and slanderers of the just but what need you have made such preparation against them do they seek places of honour among you do they delight in great places among men do they love to be great in this world nay their Kingdom is from above and they reject the countenance of the Beasts Authority and they reject any confidence that the dragon and unjust powers can repose in them and you need not have been afraid in this matter and thereupon slandered us and have back-bited us to the Powers of the earth what do you fear Even the thing which you fear will God in a Judgement bring upon you and there is a Government to be set up in this Nation even that which is of the Lamb and your Antichristian Monarchy the Beast with all his Heads and Horns shall fall to the ground and the Lord may bring your fear upon you to your utter confusion though you are making defences all that you can for your selves and your Kingdom and this seems to be a day wherein every mans heart is tryed and every man and sort of People is pouring forth the malitiousness of their hearts against the poor People in scorn called Quakers what say the Papists and Episcopal men Quakers are a new Sect and deceivers c. and what say the Presbyterians and the Independants of them Oh! they are Seducers they are Witches they are false prophets they are Vagabonds not worthy of countenance c. nor any place of trust in the Nation c. What say the Anabaptists of them O they are Blasphemers and Hereticks and irregular Persons and distructive to Gospel c. This and such like is the cry of these and all sorts of People against the poor dispised People whom the Eternal God hath made dreadful unto them all who shall be the Rod in his hand to break them and confound them and utterly to destroy their Antichristian Kingdom for they are beloved of the Lord though hated of all men and though the whole body of the Beast and Antichrist and every Horn of his Head do set themselves to War against the Lamb and his followers and though all these sorts of People mentioned and some others do at this very day pour out their fury and malice against this People yet shall they not be confounded for their trust is in the living God and as sure as the Lord lives the fear that People have of the prosperity of this People shall come upon them and without Weapon or Arm of flesh or the multitude of an Host of men will their God dash their Enemies to pieces and all ye Sects whatsoever that are risen in opposition against us what do we regard your fury and madness against us What do we fear your revilings you uncircumcised Philistines we mock at your terrour and we reject your strength as the strength of a straw we dispise your Authority which is not of God as the Authority of so many Bryars and Thorns we can glory over you in the Lord what are you and from whence did you come is not Babylon your City and is not the great Whore your Mother and the Mother of Harlots your Nurse And what is your growth but even like the grass of a Summers growth that 's soon cut down and withered and like the leaf of a Summer tree that utterly perisheth in Winter The mighty day of the Lord is at your door confusion is begun amongst you and the sword of one may destroy another and the strength of one shall rear another and the remnant that is left shall be destroyed and we must overcome them without Sword or carnal Weapon and this shall come to pass in a day and the eye that is yet blind shall see it and the child that is yet undelivered shall be a Conquerour over the Beast and over his Image and over all you false Sects and over every Horn that is risen up in envy against the Lamb and his followers the time of the Lambs Kingdom is at hand behold behold ye mountains of the earth the sentence of Eternal vengeance will pass upon you ye Hypocritical Professors ye Pastors Elders Members and Ministers of Churches so called the Decree of the Almighty is coming out against you you have provoked him by your wickedness towards him and his People even to the destruction of your own selves wherefore tremble before the Lord for his dread and the weight of his hand shall be upon your Consciences Oh Nation mourn over thy iniquities which have provoked God against thee and if men turn not unto him his sore Judgment will be upon thee we are not for this party or the other neither do we justifie one side in opposition to another for we see the earth is corrupted and all sorts of men that are this day striving one sort against another are in a wrong way and in a wrong spirit and we cannot side with any of them but we rather mourn over the Nation who is torn in pieces by the Ambitious spirit of her pretended Rulers and we desire the repentance of all and not the destruction of any and we are for Gods part and not for men E. BVRROVGH THE END
Spiritual wickednesse and such as are not false Accusers of others but seeks the good of all men such will the Lord honour and exalt in his work and they shall perfect his praise So Friends You have been hasty to utter words before the Lord for which his Reproof justly comes upon you Therefore let your words be few and mind the fear of the Lord God which is the beginning of wisdom and that will slay your false fears from which unsavoury unsound words hath proceeded for your Religion is vain while your tongue is not bridled for it is better to be still and keep silence then to utter words from the line of Confusion that is stretched over you thereby to get a name in the Earth which Line all people walk in but those who are led by the Spirit of God to speak words that cannot be condemned for it is the Spirit of the Lord God and his Power which must slay the Enmitie in you which is the ground of your prejudice and hard Speeches against the Lambs of Christ which when that is slain within then those evil Fruits of the Lips will cease without and then the fountain of life will open in you which brings forth Fruits of another nature and when the Fruits of your Lips is Truth Rightteousness and Peace then will you have followship with the Father and the Son and with us who walk in his Light AND whereas to the said Declaration of the Baptists something was Written in Answer to part of it in short by another hand not knowing the one of the other but being found to be both of service as to return their wickednesse upon themselves it is thought meet that the same also be hereunto annexed And here is also something in Answer to some particular Positions drawn up by the Independants so called wherein their folly and weaknesse is also discovered and all may see what enmity lodges in the hearts of all men against the despised people called QUAKERS An Answer to a Declaration of the People called Anabaptists in and about the City of London wherein their weakness and ignorance is discovered under their own Hands to the City and Nation as hereby may appear FRiends Whereas your Declaration consisteth of Five Particulars four of which is not or so much concernment to me to Answer but as for one of them for the Nations sake and for the Truths sake and that you may be reproved even you the heads and Principal men of your congregations and because you are such under whose hands your Declaration passeth therefore in that consideration with many others this I return as an Answer to you and to the City and Nation in pursuit of yours that hath proceeded from a heart of Unbelief and unto evil and malicious intents against a despised People whom the Lord hath owned and will own though you and the whole world do reject them And whereas you say You are mis-represented to the Nation that you do countenance the People called Quakers in their Irregular Practice And to clear yourselves you say It is well known to all there are none more opposite to their Irregular Practises then we are say you nor are there any that they have exprest more contradiction to then against us though their provocation therein hath not put us on a desire say you of depriving them of their just Liberty while they live Morally honest and peaceable in the Nation c. Answ. Oh ye Heads and principal men and ye chief Pastors Elders and Members so called of Churches What have ye done and wherefore have you thus proceeded why have ye renounced an innocent People that never did you harm nor ever gave any offence unto you saving in crying against the deadnesse of your forms and traditions and seeming Religious practises and reproving evil in you Alas for you ye accounted wise men do you judge an advantage will be unto your selves in this thing Or do you think to work a disadvantage unto us by your Renouncing and denial of us I must tell you we are not troubled hereat for our own sakes neither is any part of our hope or confidence concerning you made void for we never looked upon some of you to be otherwise then our enemies in your hearts Oh ye Hipocrites whom God will judge because of your hypocrisie who now so much as in you lies if it were in your power you would leave us to the mercilesness of cruel men you would save your selves and leave us to the mercy of the Devil but though you renounce us yet the Lord hath owned us and will own us to your grief and what are you become our accusers are you become chargers of us with irregular practise are you endeavouring to make us more odious in the eyes of wicked men then we are for righteousness sake but wherefore have ye done this Is it to save your selves from reproaches Have you therefore reproached us and have you sought to make us vile that your selves might appear free and have you thought to gain the favour of the wicked to make a peace with your Enemies by reviling of us unto them Is this your end O ye Dissemblers to reproach us to the Nation and City behind our backs You Church Members so called and Teachers and Pastors and Principal men that would save your selves and gratifie the Devil and joyn in union with the wicked and make your selves friends with them by slandering and renouncing the peaceable people who are more so then your selves and none of them guilty of â—rregularitie as much as some of you though you would fawn upon the Nation and City by renouncing of us as if we were irregular and so and so But do you think the Nation and City have not taken notice or however hereby they may What if I say unto them and you that none of the Quakers ever were so instrumental by illegal opposition for the turning out of Parliaments and changing the Government of this Nation into confusion like as some of you Anabaptists have been and this the City and Nation may take notice of the irregularitie of some of your selves who have been instrumental even by illegal Opposition and perfect Tyrannie in mens account and Treacherie also to the turning out Parliaments and thereby wronging the Nation for their own advantages so that the practise of some of you hath been more unlawful and conâ—â—â—rie to Law then ours hath been and the City and Nation may take notice of it as your Declaration is to them so is this my Answer never any Quaker so called in War-like posture hath stood in Defiance and been instruments to turn out peoples lawful Representatives Did not some of your brethren even of the Anabaptists take Commission from the late Parliament and no lesse then vowing Fidelity to them and yet presently rising in opposition to them and turning them out of Doors and was not this treachery and hypocrisie and irregularitie And
can the Nation charge any of them called Quakers with any such work no they cannot but some of the Anabaptists they may even with this and other the like illegal dealing And more I might instance and not only charge behind your backs falsly as you have done of us but I may affirm to your faces and justly prove these and such things upon you but why have not you named what irregular practise the Quakers are guilty of I charge you you subscribers against us and accusers of us to prove your accusation I say I charge you before the Lord and this whole Nation and City to prove your accusation and to instance what particular practises performed and owned amongst us either in Relation to just Government in Church or State that are irregular and you shall have a Reply though you say There are none more Opposite to our irregular practice then you are Oh how fain would you flatter and fawn upon our Enemies to make peace with the Devil how would you creep by craft and joyn into a League with our and your Enemies And how fain would you be at peace with them and leave us even to their mercilesness if it were in your power Have we ever dealt thus by you Have we ever sought to render you Rebels and Traytors to the Nation as you in effect have done to us have we ever sought occasions against you and to present you to the Nation as vile as we could for to save our selves and leave you to the wil of your Enemies this have you done to us and we leave you to be rewarded even by the Lord who will never renounce us nor cast us out though you do in such a time as this a time of confusion and distraction wherein if the Lord did not appear to be our Defence more then men we should be swallowed up of our Enemies and must you even a Separate People Members Pastors and Ministers of Churches so called Renounce us at this season on purpose to have us destroyed so much as you may Well we have not dealt so with you neither do we desire to uncover your nakedness to the Nation you had not had thus much if you had not been the occasion of it your selves and surely what you have done in this particular some of your own Members will not accept it from you with thanks to you but I shall say more to you when I have under all your Hands the particular Practises which you charge to be irregular and though there hath been and is Contradictions between us and you in matter of Religion and difference in particular Practises about Church and Ministry and Orders c. Yet what is this This was amongst our selves though hereof you have no reason to boast as of any Victory that you have obtained over us in any such Controversie neither hath the Spirit of God so appeared in that Authority among you as that you have gained any from us to you but rather the contrary but what of these Contentions we have never so contended with you as that we have hated your persons or sought to betray you into the hands of devouring mouths the Lord is our witness in this though you have done contrary even sought to betray our persons in this your work and I must tell you dishonestly and undiscreetly have you done in this matter who never could unto this day in any contest between us about Religious matters Convince us of Error or Irregular practises though now you have accused us to the whole Nation and not as in a way of Debate about Religion but as in matter of State Irregularity whereby plainly appears that you seek to betray us even our persons into the hands of our merciless enemies and you would make peace with them and deliver us into their merciless hands and thereby shewed hatred not unto us as upon the account of Religion only but even hatred to our persons and hath accused us as of personal irregularitie and so hath not shewed love to our persons but rather sought our destruction Oh ye wicked men to whose charge God shall lay this iniquity of treachery and unfaithful dealing to us even as with brethren which is the most deceitful iniquity And alas for you what are your desires of depriving us of our just Liberty God shall give us Liberty and from him we shall enjoy it whether you will or no and for our just liberty we shall not be beholding to you though I must tell you if our Liberty were in your power it is greatly to be doubted and even your own dealing in this your Declaration gives occasion For it that our Liberty would be enslaved if it were in your hands but we bless the Lord it is in his hand not in yours for so much of Treachery towards us hath here appeared even in giving us up so much as in you is to the will of our Enemies and the Spirit is in you which would betray Brethren that for the time to come we can never Trust you but we do not give our Power to you to enjoy our Liberty from you nor ever shall And if we walk Moraly honest and peaceable in the Nation it is more then you do in this matter for this your practise is not Morally honest in Accusing of us behind our backs to the Nation and City and Authorities thereof of Irregularity c. though as I have said never any of us had so great a hand by open opposition tending to make war in the Nation as some of you in some things I might instance even for their sakes to whom you have accused us and that we are more peaceable then some of your selves the Nation and City knows Have we thrust our selves into Arms and sought Offices and Places and Commands as some of you Have ever any of us appeared in Actual Arms against Parliament Nation as some of you Have we given the City or the Nation by any visible appearance to fear a war from us as you have done Let the Nation City the witness in all mens Consciences judge so that we are known to be peaceable as much or more then your selves for we have never sought to you to take up Arms with us as some among you have sought to others which may demonstrate that we are as peaceable in the Nation if not more then you and so you needed not to have premised such a thing on our behalf And thus I have in short returned your secret Treachery upon {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} own heads and Answered that same part of your Declaration wherein I and the Truth and the whole flock of God was any way concerned and as for the rest of your Declaration I will not seek Occasions against it though in some other things also therein exprest I might search out your Hearts and discover the rottenness of them and where you say you declare Magistracy to