Justifie such an Enormous Fact Certainly none that truly fears GOD who shall come to the knowledge of these things will either own him to be a Servant or Prophet of the LORD until he come to Repentance for these and other his Wickednesses among the rest that of getting Persons to set their Names to his abusive Papers and Writings and also that of his villifying reproaching and belying those that oppose him how vertuous and innocent soever they be Can any parallel him herein with his and his Adherents late fawning flattering Address to the King and Parliament wherein are these words And the Oaths provided to testifie Allegiance to the King and denial of the Pope's Supremacy in Causes Civil and Ecclesiastical the Refusal whereof incurs a Premunire has been executed upon such whose Hearts and Hands could seal to the Substance thereof And yet their Consciences not allowing them to Swear at all because of the Command of Christ for that Only they have been the sole Sufferers thereby And towards the Close they say That if they be called to bear witness or any Office to or for she King or their Country and testifie their Truth or Faithfulness to one or both in which Cases Oaths are usually required and imposed They desire and request that an Act or Provision might be made That their Yea and Nay may be accepted and taken instead thereof c. Concerning which I shall say little more at present but conclude with a few words formerly writ by another concerning them viz. What will you do You Scribes Pharisees Hypocrites you that have been long making clean the outside of the Cup and Platter but inwardly are as Ravening Wolves your Fruits will make you manifest you Hypocrites your Name will be a stink among the Heathen for the LORD will find you out whose Glory He will not give to any other nor His Honour to any of your Graven Images My Soul loaths all your false Covers ye Hypocrites I cannot but declare against all your false ways J. P. The Days of Visitation are come the Days of Recompense are come Israel shall know it I will recompense them according to the Works of their own Hands They have sown the Wind and they shall reap the WHIRLWIND FINIS For the Preachers and Leaders of the People called QUAKERS YOUR Day into Darkness is turned the Sun is gone down over you You have had a large Day and Power given you to have done the Will of GOD but you have abused the Power and slighted your Day and have refused to do the LORD's Work and have sought your Selves and not the LORD therefore in Justice and Righteousness is the Day wherein you might have wrought for GOD taken from you and the thick Dark Night of Confusion is come upon you wherein you are groping and stumbling and cannot work The DECREE is gone out and it cannot be recalled You are not the Men as ye stand in whom GOD will appear to work Deliverance for His People and yet Deliverance shall come but as for You ye have rejected the Counsel of the LORD and grieved His Spirit and He hath long born you yea You are departed from the LORD and His Presence is departed from You Indeed He hath hewed with You and if you had been faithful to the End He would have honoured and prospered You and have been your sufficient Reward Ye were His AX but you have boasted your selves against Him Therefore as you have hewed and broken others even so must You be hewed and broken O ye Treacherous Wilful Proud Self-seeking People who have despised the Counsel of the LORD and would not take warning though He hath sent His Servants among you some of whom you have despitefully used What will ye do now Whom will you now flee unto for help Seeing you are departed from the LORD Remember your End which hastens greatly Breach upon Breach Division upon Division shall there be until HE come to Reign whose Right it is They that trust in or lean upon You for help it is as if they leaned upon a broken Reed which is not able to help it self nor others You have been made to do many good things but you would not go through with the Work which GOD will have accomplish'd and therefore are these things come upon you Therefore tremble and dread before the LORD Ye who have been as strong Oaks and tall Cedars for now shall your Strength fail you and you shall be weak even as the weakest of Men But if you would yet submit to GOD's righteous Judgments you might come to witness your Souls saved in the DAY of the LORD though many are to be thrown by because of grievous Backslidings as not counted worthy to be the LORD's Workmen There is a small Remnant yet among you for whom my Soul breaths who may be Winnowed out and if they will own the Judgments of the LORD and truly and throughly deny themselves and sollow His Leadings He will heal their Backslidings but they that will continue with you in your Sins shall partake with you of your Iudgments The foregoing Words excepting the Title were writ by another 1659. to the then Rulers upon whom they were fulfilled and so as certainly shall they be fulfilled upon you J. P. This was Printed and given them in April 1673. much of which being already fulfill'd and believing the remainder will in its appointed season causeth me to have it reprinted and placed here that whoever reads and considers it as also what W. R. F. B. T. C. W. M. and others have written concerning them may plainly see they have been warned of their great Apostacy and Downfal many years agoe SOME REMARKS Upon a Book entitled Christ's Lambs defended against Satan's rage c. Being the Quakers Answer to The Quakers Vnmask'd c. In a Letter to E. S. Esq SIR HAving had the curiosity and opportunity of reading The Quakers Vnmask'd Their Double dealing and False-heartedness discovered c. I thought it impossible for the Quakers to vindicate themselves from that Authors Charge which made me desirous to read their Answer and having perused it I can scarce forbear to Remark some few Passages which are clear Confutations of their boasted Innocency Plainness and Christian Charity In the Advertisement to the Reader G. Whitehead takes notice that The Quakers Vnmask'd c. was sent them in Manuscript in the year 1677. and that Liberty of Conscience being established by Law and placed upon the Book in writing is the cause of its now publication Which says G. W. looks as if he envyed our present Liberty Behold the Spirit of this Answerer Mr. Pennyman kept his Books unpublished for 13 years together lest it might be any occasion of the Quakers Persecution but when Liberty of Conscience is established by Law he publisheth 10 or 11 of them presuming there is now no danger of their being persecuted Does this look as if he envyed their present Liberty and
looking after Kings which turns from the Lord. This is to you Christians that would have another King You may see what work there was with the Kings of Edom and Esau And when the Children of Issrael grew into Esau's Nature they would have a King So the Antichrists they will have a King as other Heathenish Nations would have they will fight else and this is Esau's Nature Now David and Solomon there are Figures in their being Kings And see what work the Kings of the Midianites did and the Children of Isral's Kings who said Thou art our King Reign over us both thou and thy Sons These like our doating Christians would have a King And read what work the Children of Israel made when they were as Judges in the fear of the Lord with the Kings of the Earth the Kings of Canaan You may see what work the Children of Israel had with Sihon King of the Amorites and Sthon King of Heshbon and strange Kings of Bashan Josh 13 And you may see in the 12th of Joshua what work he made with the Kings c. And how God had hardned the Hearts of the Kings that they might be destroyed by them that had no King How they over-threw the Kings when they kept faithful to the Lord. Josh 11. And how the Lord fought for Israel and what work Joshua made with the Kings how he brouhht them out of the Care A fit place for them saith G. Fox for all Kings that be made in Mens earthly Wills The Rocks and Caves are their Shelter in time of Distress And you may see what Fear and Dread was in all Nations and People while the Children of Israel went on in the Name of the Lord and so it will be again when People go on in the Name of Christ what a dread they will be in all Christendom to all Kings and all such upon the Earth who are Kings and Princes made but not by Christ for all the true redeemed ones are Kings and Priests that reign upon the Earth that knew their Election before the World began You may see in the third Chapter of Deuteronomy How the Word of the Lord was fulfilled How they went over the Kings and smote them in the Power of the Lord God And as the Children of Israel dwelt in the Fear of the Lord the Kings fled before them So will they do before all them that live in the Power of God The Shout of a King was among the Children of Israel while they felt the Lord of Hosts was among them they trod down the Earthly Kings and all these Novice Christians that are crying up Earthly Kings and following Kings and fighting for the Kings of the Earth are not such as follow the Lamb. We know that these Kings are the Spiritual Egyptians got up since the days of the Apostles Josiah and such as feared the Lord in the time of the Law and the Prophets the Lord accepted which Kings was among the Jews but you never read of any among the Christians but among the Apostates since the Days of the Apostles All which and much more you may read in the fore-mentioned Paper of G. F. Pag. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 26 c. Observe Here by way of Interrogation he affirms That they who cry for an Earthly King do in this Crucifie Jesus and are Traytors against Christ and that true Christians will not have any more Kings among them but Christ That the fruit of Earthly Kings is to be mad at the Child Jesus as Herod was That they are Ignorant and Foolish People that would have a King and Kings since the Days of the Apostles That these Kings are the Spiritual Aegyptians c. G. Fox to the Protector and Parliament p. 62. 1658. AND now Oh Protector who hast tasted of the Power of God Take heed thou loose not thy Power but keep Kingship off thy Head which the World would give thee and Earthly Crowns under thy Feet lest with that thou cover thy self and so loose the Power of God ☞ 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 And ye Powers of the Earth take heed of making Earthly Kings or looking after Earthly Kings lest you hurt and undo your selves and others but mind the Witness of God in you that you may see what the Children of Israel went from when they set up Kings as other Nations Ye Heathens that set up Kings and know not the Lord c. From a Lover of your Souls and Eternal Good and Establishing of Righteousness G. F. Again A Word from the Lord c. p. 15 1654. he saith THE Word of the Lord God to you who are called Presbyterians and to you that read the Common-Prayer You are wholly in Darkness given up to it and so your dark Minds have the Common Prayer And such would have a King to Reign for there is that Nature that would have an Earthly King to Reign in which Nature lodgeth the Murtherer G. F. Obs But the Quakers Messages and Addresses to K. Ch. 2. and K. Ja. they are for having an Earthly King to Reign and consequently are by themselves judged to be in the Nature wherein lodgeth the Murtherer Of the Great Success that George For told Oliver he should have had if he had been Faithful in a Letter to him Dated 11th Month 1657. See Council and Advice c. p. 26 27. OH Oliver Hadst thou been Faithful and thundred down Deceit the Hollander had been thy Subjects and Tributers and Germany had given up to have done thy Will and the Spaniard had quivered like a Dry Leaf The King of France should have bowed under thee his Neck the Pope should have withered as in Winter the Turk in all his Fatness should have Smoaked Thou shouldst not have stood trifling about Small Things but minded the Work of the Lord as he began with thee at first Sober Men and true Hearts took part with thee Oh take heed and do not slight such lest thou weaken thy self and not disown such as the Lord hath owned thy Dread is not yet all gone nor thy Amazement Arise and come out for hadst thou been Faithful thou shouldst have crumbled Nations to Dust for that had been thy Place now is thy Day of Tryal c. G. F. Obs The Success here spoken of should have befallen him by means of his Armies wherein sober Men and True Hearts took part with him such he exhorts not to slight nor disown such as God had owned Suitable to this he saith in his Paper against Kingly Government pag. 27. Why did you put out such as fear God out of the Army which might have been a Blessing to the Lord in their Generation Obs This shews That in G. F's Judgment who pretends himself Infallible such as Fear God and Quakers might fight and that it was ill done to
put such out of the Army This following Letter shews that G. F. approved of Olivers Authority about which he gives him and his Souldiers Charge p. 36 37. Friend THou shouldst have invited all the Christians upon Earth in all Nations that are against Popery to thee to comein and joyn with thee against Popery for thou hast had Authority stand to it loose it not nor abuse it nor let any other take thy Crown and do not stand cumbring thy self about Dirty Priests and thou hast had Power over Nations for Nations begin to be on heaps and invite all them that profess against the Pope in all Nations to joyn with thee against him and do not loose thy Dominion nor Authority nor the Wisdom of God but with that thou may'st order all ☞ That will keep thee single in Heart and Mind to the Lord and let thy Souldiers go forth with a free willing Heart that thou may'st Rock Natious as a Cradle and keep thou in the Fear of the Lord and all the Soldiers and them that are under thee This is a Charge to thee in the Presence of the Lord God that thou nor them may loose the Dread of the Lord ☞ for that strikes a terror in the Hearts of all People c. I am a Lover of thy Soul and eternal Good an Establisher of Righteousness G. F. Obs Is not this a Just Authority which so great a Prophet exhorts him to stand to and not to loose nor suffer any to take his Crown And yet this Authority is to be defended and enlarged by Soldiers who are charged to go forth with a free willing heart and to keep in the fear of the Lord which argues they were in the fear of the Lord and so either Quakers or as good as Quakers In another Letter the same G. F. salutes Oliver thus p. 27. Dear Friend BE still and in the Councel of God stand and that will give thee Wisdom that thou may'st frustrate Men's Ends and calm Men's Spirits and Crumble Men under and arise and stand up in the Power of the Lord God ☞ The Lambs Authority and fear not the Face of Man but fear and dread the Lord God then his Presence and Wisdom and Councel thou shalt have to throw down the Rubbish and quell all the bad Spirits under thy Dominion therefore live in the Power of the Lord God and feel his Hand that is stretched out over the Nations for a Mighty Work hath the Lord to do in other Nations and their Quakings and Shakings are but entring So this is the Word of the Lord God to thee as a Charge to thee from the Lord God c. The same G. F. in the Name of the Church of Christ and Elect Assembly Known in the Nations by the Name of Quakers To Rich. Cromwel Protector p. 47 51. Friend LIve in God's Wisdom if thou wilt reign in his Power and Strength then none shall touch thee and all them that fear God will be on thy side and take thy Part and be one with thee in all thy Sufferings yea till death And G. For after six pages of Instructions to him concludes with these Words viz. The Lord God Almighty preserve thee in his Wisdom and Counsel and Strength over the Heads of his Enemies in thy self and in the World both And Friend take heed of putting of honest godly Men out of the Army ☞ or putting them out of their places being Iustices of the Peace In so doing thou wilt lame thy self and weaken thy Authority and remove thy self out of the Hearts of them that fear God G. F. Obs He approves of his Power and prays for his Victory over his Enemies in himself and in the World both And pray was not the King and his Party some of those Enemies and he warns him of putting honest godly Men out of the Army as he had done his Father before But when Richard was gone off the Stage and the Officers of the Army in Power then G. F. applies himself to them in these words OH Friends The Power of God ye have abused the Iust have been trodden under Foot who have been put out of the Army and Publick Services Now had you been Faithful in the Power of the Lord which once stirred this Nation needed not have been affraid of any Nation upon the Earth but your Dread would have sounded over the World But when you lost the Power of God with which you had brushed at the Out-side of Things then you turned against and put them in Prison meaning the Quakers that struck at the Root And had you been Faithful to the Power of the Lord God which first carried you on you had gone into the midst of Spain into their Land to require the Blood of the Innocent that there had been shed and have commanded them to have offered up their Inquisition to you and gone over them as the Wind and knock'd at Rome Gates before now and trampled Deceit and Tyrants under and demanded the Pope himself and have commanded him to have offered up all his Torture-Houses and his Wracks and Inquisition which you should have found as black as Hell and broke up the Bars and Gates where all the Just Blood hath been shed which should have been required and this you should have required and this you should have seen done in the Power when you had been the Dread of all Nations and you had been a Dread to them and should have set up a Standard at Rome and then you should have sent for the Turks Idol the Mahomet and plucked up Idolatry and cryed up Christ the only King and Lord and then People would have said you had gone on in the Cause of God and his Truth c. And so if you had gone to have made Inquisition for Blood and to demand all the Inquisitions abroad in the whole Christendom whereby the Innocent Blood hath been shed then all the People in the whole Christendont that feared the Lord God would have said with one consent These are the Men that are gone out for God's Cause Many valiant Captains Souldiers and Officers have been put out of the Army because of their Faithfulness to the Lord it may be for saying Thou to a single Person or for wearing their Hats c. Oh how are Men fallen from that which they were in at first when Thousands of us went in the Front of you and were with you in the greatest Heat c. Oh what a Sincerity was once in the Nation What a dirty nasty thing it would have been to have heard talk of a House of Lords among them Oh! how is the Sincerity choaked smothered and quenched by the Fatness of the Earth whereby they have forgot ten the Lord and his Arm and Power that once carried them on And if ever you Souldiers and true Officers come again into the Rower i. e. the Spirit of God which hath been lost never set up your Standard till you come to
Rome and it be a top of Rome then there let your Standard stand and look at the Power of the Lord God and never heed Gold nor Silver for the Power of the Lord will give you enough c. See To the Council of Officers pag. 2 3 5 6 7 8. G. F. Obs He saith it was the Power of the Lord God that first carried them on and had they been Faithful they should have required Innocent Blood of Spain and knock'd at Rome Gates and trampled Tyrants under and demanded the Pope himself and this they should have done as an Army in the Spirit and Power of God which they had lost setting up a Standard at Rome commanding the Turk and crying up Christ the only King then all that feared the Lord Quakers as well as others would have said These are the Men that are gone out for the Cause of God and his Truth Then he complains That many valiant Captains Souldiers and Officers have been put out of the Army because of their Faithfulness to the Lord that is for being Quakers as he intimates Then he crys out saying Thousands of us went in the Front of you This was a time of Sincerity when it would have been a dirty nasty thing to have talked of a House of Lords He counsels them not to stop till they have set up their Standard at Rome and never heed Gold nor Silver for the Power of the Lord will give you enough so E. Burrough says to the Army God will give their the Papists falslly consecrated Vessels and Treasures a Spoil and Prey to you if you be faithful Compare this with what they say in the other Column NOW I shall come to cite some Passages out of E. B's Books he was one of their Chief Preachers and in very great Esteem amongst them his Works they took care to reprint in Folio but withal to expunge some Passages and alter others which discovered too much of his Oliverian and their Fighting Spirit This Man is charged by Ieremiah Ives to have justified the late War against the King and is defended by Geo. Whitehead another of their chief Preachers saying Serious Search p. 35 36. Thou art pleased to tell the World twice or thrice over that we justifie the late Wars against the King And why so Because E. B. in severely warning the late Powers of their Downfal did by way of Reproof tell Oliver what God had done for him even in the same Letter to him wherein he plainly also telleth him of the Great Oppressions which the People of God suffered under him c. See saith he E. B's Works from pag. 551. to pag. 583. how plainly and faithfully he did warn Oliver and those Men then in Power of their Overthrow To be sure E. Burrough was no Temporizer Now we are to see whether E. Burrough doth not Justifie the late War against the King Counsel and Advice Printed 1659. In his Letters to Oliver Protector May 1657. he hath these Passages Pag. 4. THE Lord gave thee the Necks of Princes to tread upon and their Dominions to inherit and thou wast set a Ruler in much Dominion and hast savour in his Sight and in the sight of many People who wished well unto thee for a Blessing Many Victories honourable and remarkable was given unto thee over them who had exalted themselves against God and ruled in Tyranny over his People whom the Lord pittied and thou an Instrument in his Band wast ordained by him to lead forth a People whom he Blessed with thee against a cruel People and Generation of Oppressors who exercised Tyranny over the Lord's Heritage till they were taken away and cast out and are a Reproach unto the Lord and his People unto this day and even so shall all be that follow their Example and are Oppressors and Tyrants over the Seed of God as they were Note These Lines in Black Letter are all left out in his Works p. 552. In another Letter to him he writes thus dated September 1657. Pag. 16 17. Friend IT is upon me and also I am pressed in Spirit thereunto to give unto thee even unto the Oliver Protector the perfect measure of thy Dominions c. Many Enemies thou hast which watch over thee for Evil and not for Good who would rejoyce in thy overthrow And first there is a People scattered through all these Nations who are full of Wrath and ravening Envy towards thee Even of those known by the Name of Malignants Party in whose Hearts to this day there is continual hatred and evil surmising lodgeth against thee and all thy Off-spring and I believe that dayly advantage they seek against thee by subtle Conspiracies and secret Plottings of Maliciousness in their Evil Hearts seeking by all means if it be possible how to be avenged and not slipping any advantage how to revenge themselves and the Cause of their King I know the Lord hath Cursed them and their Endeavours to this day and thou hast had Dominion and Power given thee of God to bruise them and to break them to pieces and what thou hast done unto their King should not be reckoned against thée by the Lord if now thou wert Faithful to what he requires of thee c. Note And promote their Cause is put in instead of The Cause of their King p. 559. And the word blasted is put in instead of Cursed And all the Words in Black Letter are left out in his Works p. 560. Obs How he calls the Protector and his Party a People whom the Lord blessed against a cruel People and Generation of Oppressors that is those called the Malignant Party that were for the King he saith also The Lord hath cursed them and their Endeavours to this day and that if the Protector would own them the Quakers they would own him in the Face of all his Enemies p. 21. the chief of which were then the King 's Party How should they do that without fighting And in a Letter of his to the Protector and Council 12th Month 57. he saith p. 23. WHat Hath the abundance of this Worlds Glory and its Treasure quite overcome and stoln away your Hearts wholly from all sense and seeling of the unjust Sufferings of your Brethren meaning the Quakers who have in times past as faithfully as your selves served the Nation with their Lives and Estates to the purchasing of this Peace and Freedom out of the hands of Tyrants Tyrants is left out and the word Opposers put in its stead E. B's works p. 563. In another Letter to the Protector which was given to him the 6th Month 1658. about a Month before his Death he writes thus p. 33. ARise and stand up for the Lord and he will give thee strength and Victory and will make thy Horn as Iron and thy Hoof as Brass to push down and tread under the High Places of Idolatry in all the Apostatiz'd Churches both Papists and others And as concerning thy War and Armies
abroad in Spain something there is in it known to the Lord seek not thine own Honour in it but be Faithful and leave the issue of all things to the Lord make no Covenant with Idolaters but tread down their Idol-Gods that they have set up and hew down their Mountains in which their Confidence stands and Plow up their ground that the Seed may be sown after thee It 's Honour enough to be the Lord's Plowman p. 35. These foregoing Lines in Black Letter are left out in the reprinting of his Works p. 568. Obs How he exhorts the Protector to push down and tread under the High Places of Idolatry and where In all the Apostatiz'd Churches both Papists and others And this he intimates is to be done by his Armies and he would not have him to make any Covenant with Idolaters c. These are the Men that in their Declaration since the King came in deny both the Spirit Principle and Practice of them that use any Weapon to fight for Christ or his Government And yet hear in the following Passage how this E. Burrough declares to Governour Lockart and the Officers in the Name of the Lord that if they went forth as an Army in that Spirit that was among the Quakers they should then overcome their Enemies Take his own words as reprinted and not expunged and so owned afresh by G. F. G. Whitehead and their Party 1672. An Alarm sounded in the Pope's Borders 1659 E. B's Works p. 536. AND this lay upon me to declare in the Name of the Lord to Governour Lockart and his Officers That if they did enterprise any business as they were an Army in a Spirit in Opposition to us and in that Spirit that did reject us and deny us and gainsay us then should they never prosper in any Enterprise whatsoever But if they went on in any degree in the Fear of the Lord and in that Spirit that was among us then should they overcome their Enemies and none should have Power over them to overcome them Obs What was it they were to do as an Army in the Quakers Spirit See that in his Instructions to the English Army c. in and about Dunkirk viz. AND that there be no more a looking back till you have visited Rome and enquired after and sought out the Innocent Blood that is buried therein and avenge the Blood of the Guiltless through all the Dominions of the Pope the Blood of the Just crys through Italy and Spain and the time is come that the Lord will search it and seek it out and repay it and it would be your Honour to be made use of by the Lord in any Degree in order to this Matter And this also believe that the Lord will do it or make way hereunto even by you the Men of our English Nation if you be faithful c. p. 537. What are these few poor Islands that you have run through and laid many Mountains low they are but little in comparison of the great part of Christendom in which Idolatry and great Oppressions do abound which the Hand of the Lord is against and which he will take Vengeance upon p. 538. But there are many Mountains in the way wherefore hew down the Tops strike at the Branthes make way that the Ax may be laid to the Root of the Tree that your Sword and the Sword of the Lord may neither leave Root nor Branch of Idolatry Oppressions and Tyranny your Sword is to be lifted up against them It is the Lord's Work I know to make Men truly Religious but yet the Lord may work by you to break down the Bryars and Thorns and Hills that have set themselves against the Lord. P. 538. God will make their Riches and their falsly consecrated Vessels and Treasures even a Spoil and a Prey unto you if you be faithful c. p. 539. Your work hath been and may be honourable in its day and your Victory hath been of the Lord So be low in your own Eyes and seek the Glory of God and the Freedom of the Oppressed and in that you will be Blessed and prosper till you have set up your Standard at the Gates of Rome p. 540. I am a Lover of your Souls E. B. Obs That both the Army-Sword and the Sword of the Lord were not to leave Root or Branch of Idolatry In so doing he promises them Blessing and Prosperity The same E. Burrough to Rich. Cromwel chosen to be Protector See Council and Advice p. 53. AND as for thy Father the late Protector great things and honourable did the Lord do for him in raising him up and casting out his Enemies before him and giving him Victory and Power and Renown through Nations and we know the Lord shewed favour to him and gave him Strength Wisdom and Valour and a Right Spirit and he was called of God into that great Work to subdue the grievous Tyrannies once ruling over Tender Consciences and to break down the great Oppressions which for Ages had caused the Just to groan and the Lord was with him in Victory and went before him and was his Defence and preserved him from great dangers and from the Wills of all his Enemies and made him prosperous against them all And as for thee who art now set up in his stead we certainly believe that the Hand of the Lord is in this Matter c. Note Tyrannies is left out and the word Cruelty put in in his Works p. 574. As concerning the Armies abroad let faithful and just Men that will not seek themselves be put in trust for the Army is of great Concernment to thee to stand or fall through them as to Man's account and the War against Spain be faithful to God in it and let trusty Men have Authority the Lord may accomplish something by it to his Honour and to thine if thou be meek and humble and walk with the Lord and to say no more about it there is something in it known to the Lord and he may bring it to pass in its Season p. 64. London 18th 8th Month 1658. These Lines in Black Letter are all left out in his Works p. 580. Obs He saith that the Lord in casting out his Fathers Enemies and giving him Victory did not only do great things but honourable that he shewed him favour and gave him a Right Spirit Is it not plain the Quakers held that God commanded a Right Spirit to Fight and that Oliver was called of God thereto E. Burrough to the Protector 's Kind ed his Wife and Children p 37 38. Friends REmember that by the Lord you were raised from a low Estate he gave you the Palaces of Princes and threw out the High and Mighty before you because of their Wickedness which was great in the Sight of the Lord. Oh! remember this every one of you and be of a tender Spirit and exalt not your selves lest the Lord cast you down and make your Name and
Posterity a Reproach as he hath done many before you even for that cause was the Generation of the Stewarts cast out Note All these Words in Black Letter are left out in his Works p. 569. Obs That he saith for exalting themselves in Pride c. was the Generation of the Stewarts cast out and their Palaces bestowed on the Protector and his Family And pray G. W. c. was not White-Hall one of those Palaces Now let us hear what Francis Howgil saith in Justification of the late War See his Advice to the Army Committee of Safety c. 1659. p. 3 4 5 6 7. THE Long-Parliament against the late King which in Man's account could be looked upon to be no other than Rebellion yet God gave a signal Testimony to the one while they stood in the Power of God and against the other The antient Courtiers having found so much Ease and Profit by the late King turned all Cavaliers and cryed up the Prerogative of the King above Law and Equity c. Setting that aside wholly which all Good Government was intended for as the Safety of the People and fréedom from Oppression Tyranny and Vsurpation and that none might be embondaged in the Worship of God but when he to wit the late King and his Assistants sought to inthral all and Imbondage all both in Civil and Ecclesiastical things as they were called the Long-Parliament and People that aided them at that time counted it no Treason to oppose him seeing the End was not answered he should have satisfyed and God decided the Controversie in overthrowing the one and establishing the other for a season yet many are so blind to this day that they judge the Nation cannot be established in Freedom without a King as though such a Name were essential only to Freedom and without it could not be obtained but the Iudicious will see this Ignorance c. So now many are so doting on the Name of a Parliament as though it were Essential c. and cry up the Privileges of Parliament as the former did Prerogative and would fight about a Name and lose the Thing intended though they be the Representatives of the People to do good to the People and not hurt they are accounted as good Servants to God but if they would set up a particular Interest to the Imbondaging of the whole and then cry up their Privileges to do what they list Then it is no Rebellion in Gods Account neither in the account of Iust Men to call them away when they do not perform the Thing intended And as for the Long-Parliament by whom God did Good Things and Great Things in the overthrowing that Power which was deviated from the aforesaid End to wit the late King What they did they had the Approbation of God and Good Men yet they went not through with the Work purposed and intended Note All these Lines in Black Letter are left out in F. H's Works When a Company of greedy hireling Priests came from Leicester-shire to sound their Trumpet in the House and to tell you they had not ingaged with the rest of their Brethren in Cheshire and Lancashire with George Bâ—oth they were immediately called in and thanks returned as though they had done some great Service for the Nation that they joyned not in the Rebellion but them who were your real Friends called Quakers who gave you and the Army intelligence about the late Insurrection in Cheshire who were spoiled by the said Rebels of their Goods c could never receive any satisfaction or incouragement from you c. Note All the foregoing Lines in Black Letter are left out in F. H's Works Obs He saith God gave a signal Testimony for the Parliament against the late King That it is no Rebellion to call them who were in Power away when they do not perform the Thing they are intrusted for That God did good and great things by the Long-Parliament in overthrowing the late King wherein they had the Approbation of God and good Men that they who joyned with Sir George Booth joyned in Rebellion that at the same time the Quakers were the Parliaments real Friends and gave them and the Army Intelligence See also E. Burrough to the new Committee of Safety 1659. to the same purpose concerning Deposing Governors E. B's Works p. 593. AND though some of you present Rulers be looked upon as great Traytors and Tyrants in your dealing towards them i. e. the Parliament but alas this is nothing for the Lord doth not account as Men and if you were faithful to what the Lord requires of you in your Proceedings what you have done unto them i. e. in turning them out should not be reckoned on account against you neither by God nor Good Men. Likewise see the Declaration of their Faith touching Governours E. B's Works p. 442. Printed 1672. WE believe that all Governors and Rulers ought to be accountable to the People and to the next succeeding Rulers for all their Actions which may be enquired into upon occasion and that the chiefest of the Rulers be subject under the Law and punishable by it if they be Transgressors as well as the poorest of the People Note This Article of their Faith they also printed in the year 71. in their Book called The Principles of Truth p. 51. But as I was not so I am not willing any Observation should be made thereon and that for their sakes Now hear E. B's Advice to the Parliament of the Common-wealth of England c. against Heriditary Government 6th October 1659. But after K. C. 2. was restored then they left all this Paper out in the Reprint of his Works AND while thus it hath been in our Nation that our Kings have attained to the Throne of Government Hereditarily and by the Succession of Birth and thus it hath continued for many Ages and our Nation hath been under the Bonds of Slavery in this respect even because Men Govern'd that ought not and while Men for Earthly Honour in Birth an Breeding have claimed to be Princes over us successively and to be chosen our Rulers according to Custom and because of this the Free-born People have deeply suffered the cruel Oppressions of proud and ambitious self-seeking Men who have long Ruled for themselves and not for the Lord and have come into place of Authority otherwise than by Appointment and right Calling from the Lord And thus the Government of our Nation hath been out of Course while great Darkness hath remained upon the Hearts of the People which hath so blinded them that they have not known their own Bondage nor yet how to be redeemed into perfect Liberty while they have subjected themselves through Ignorance to be ruled by such Men as had no right from God to that Place of Rule and Government But now the Lord God our Deliverer hath begun to appear for the Freedom of the Nations and hath shewed us the Captivity and Bondage that our
Fore-fathers have lived under and we our selves been liable and subject to by reason of the Government standing in a single Person successively and we being forced to live under the Authority of such Men as had no right from God thereunto as I have said And now our Eyes are opened to see better things and we are in good Expectations that the Lord will Suddenly so appear as to free us from future Oppressions in this respect c. And these things we are waiting for to be brought to pass in their Season and the Hand of the Lord will accomplish it if not by you then even contrary to you Therefore take this my Council even as you hope to prosper for this I know from the Lord upon the rejecting or receiving hereof dependeth your Standing or your Fall your Renown or perpetual Reproach even your Blessing or your Curse and the time is at hand that many shall confess the Lord gave good Counsel to you by his Servant E. Burr Obs That in his Judgment it was through Ignorance that the People subjected themselves to Hereditary Governours or such as had no right to the Place of Rule or to the Government standing in a Single Person successively and he reckons it a piece of Slavery the Nation hath long been under that our Kings have attained to the Throne Hereditarily and yet G. F. c. of late tells the King and Parliament that their Hearts and Hands could seal to the Substance both of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy And G. F. saith If he could take any Oath at all upon any occasion he should take the Oath of Allegiance which Oath binds to the King and his Heirs and Successors Now if this be not Contradiction and Temporizing what is See moreover G. F's Paper taken out of the same Book that the Abstract against Kingly Government was taken p. 42. To all such as feed the Priests till they turn against them THE Black Presbyterians and Priests and Cavaliers which are stirring you being out of the Power which first had Dominion over them what now are Priests Cavaliers Presbyterians saying Curse you Meroz that will not come to fight against the Mighty meaning the Parliament and all the honest People in the Nation to destroy them And what are they now bawling against you as they have against the Quakers Will nothing satisfie the Priests and the rest but Blood Have they not been the stirrers up for War and Blood always What now are they so fat fed that they curse them that will not come to fight against the Parliament Have you fed them so fat that they kick against you like wild Horses that they snort that there is such a snorting among them against their Feeders Have you sed them like wild Bulls and Heifers that now they run against you with their Horns Surely the Fodderers of these have not well looked about them have not these been called Ministers of the Gospel But now how comes it that they preach up War These are bad Cattle Horses Heifers and Bulls that kick against their Fodderers And run with their Horns against their Fodderers I must tell you the Sun is set upon all the Priests in this Nation and such as be like minded and that is the Word of the Lord God to this present Age and many more G. F. Hear now Is Penington an Eminent Writer among them and one of good repute to the Parliament the Army and all the well-affected in the Nation who have been faithful to the Good Old Cause 1659. p. 1. THat there hath been a Backsliding and turning aside from the Good Old Cause even by the Army who formerly were Glorious Instruments in the Hand of God hath been lately confessed The Name of God hath been Blasphemed in the whole Earth and that Holy Spirit and Power which many Hearts can witness was the Beginner and Carryer on of this Work made a Scoff and Derision to the Enemies of Truth in these Nations and in the Nations round about who watched to see the Issue and Result of these things The Controversie was very great and eminent and drew many Eyes upon it the Lord was appealed to on both sides to decide it and many know that by his Presence and Power in the Army the Stale was turned even when they were very very low and cryed out for Prayers and made large Promises in the Days of their Distress yea the Lord did not desert the Army but heard their Prayers and the Prayers of his People for them carrying on the Deliverance until he had given a perfect Victory into their Hands c. Obs That by the Lord's Presence and Power in the Army the Controversie was decided and the Army made Glorious Instruments for the Good Old Cause was not then the Armies Cause once Just in the Quakers Opinion and their fighting lawful and approved of God Miles Halhead and T. S. two Eminent Men of their Ministry follow with their most plain Testimony Wounds of an Enemy c. 1656. p. 23. VVHen the Presbyterians saw the Army who were made the Sword of the Lord against Papists and Bishops would not submit to the Covenant they drew the Sword against them and not prevailing in a first War many of them joyned with the Papists and Bishops and the Common Enemy meaning the King And now an Oath of Abjuration is tendred to them to Swear who have been most faithful to the Common-wealth and its Army and have born the Brunt and Heat of the Day in the late Wars with the peril of their Lives in the Field and the loss of their Estates against the Popish Prelatical and Presbyterian Party Hath this Generation witnessed the Word of the Lord to be true above many Generations before whose Eyes and by whose Hands the Righteous God hath executed his Dreadful Judgments on the Enemies of his Elect hath he despised the Image of the King and Princes and Nobles and the great Ones and poured forth their Blood as Water on the Earth and made them a fearful desolation in the Cause of his People and of Justice and of Equity In the Iniquities that they have committed and in the Sins wherewithal they have Sinned hath He cut them off and made them the dreadful Examples of his Vengeance p. 75 76. Obs The Contents of this is plain to every capacity Take also George Roffs Testimony another of their Ministry TO thee Oliver Cromwel thus saith the Lord I had chosen thee among the thousands of the Nations to execute my Wrath upon my Enemies and gave them to thy Sword with which I fought for the Zeal of my own Name and gave thee the Enemies of my own Seed to be a Curse and a Reproach for ever and made thee an Instrument against them and many have I cut down by my Sword in thy Hand that my Wrath might be executed on them to the utmost See Righteousness c. p. 11. Obs Here the Lord is represented
fighting with Oliver's Sword against God's Enemies I think here is Justification sufficient of the late Wars enough to make George Whitehead and therest ashamed Hear again E. Burrough and F. Howgil pleading the Quakers Faithfulness to the Common-Wealth's Interest and bringing to Mind the utter Destruction of the Bishop's and King's Power as of a stone sunk into the Sea which riseth not again To Henry Cromwel and his Council The Visuation of Ireland c. p. 21 22. YOU have endeavoured to give sentence of Banishment of us out of your Nation who are free-born English-Men and have always been faithful and true to the Common-Wealths Interest from first to last even until now What became of all the Perseccutors of old What became of the Bishops What became of that Power that held them up are they not all sunk as a Stone into the Sea and become a Reproach Again E. B. to the Heads Judges c. p. 19. If such you uphold by a Law which act those things the Scripture speaks against God will lay your Honour in the dust and cast you out of the Seat of Judgment as he hath done the Power of the King and Bishops before you Note All the Lines in black Leter are left out in his Works p. 84 85 86. Let us now hear News out of the North c. A Book set out by G. F. and written as he saith from the Mouth of the Lord. 1655. DReadful is the Lord and Powerful who is coming in his Power to execute true Judgment upon all you Judges and to change all your Laws ye Kings All you Rulers must down and cease You must be cut down with the same Power that cut down the King who reigned over the Nation in whose Family was a Nurse for Papists and for Bishops Judges and Justices Beast and False Prophet the Lord God will pour out his Plagues upon you the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it and except you repent you shall all likewise perish and be consumed as the King was and perish with the same Power The Lord God hath sent his Prophets oft to tell you so p. 18 19 The World knows me not but I testifie the Truth c. G. Fox Obs What Man could have wrote more against a King and King ly Government than this G. Fox hath done and that in the Name and Authority of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings as he saith and yet no sooner was the King invested in his Fathers Throne but the said G. Fox through Deceit Fear and Flattery writes a quite contrary Language See the other Column p. 1 2 c. Again hear also what G. Fox and other Quakers tell us in the West answering to the North Writ 1656 the next year after News out of the North c. One Ier. Ives taking notice of their frequent Abuses to others about the late War cites a Paessage of theirs out of E. B's Works in Justification of the late Wars and further saith The Book in The West answering to the North p. 79 89 94 95 96 97. hath much to the same purpose which saith he I am unwilling to write out because I am not willing to expose you G. Whitchead replies thus in his Serious Search p. 37. I cannot but observe the Man's Dissimulation and base Insinuation in this implicite kind of accusing us hereby to render us more suspicious and obnoxious than if he had dealt plainly meaning than if he had printed those Passages some of which here follow by which the Reader may see somewhat of G. W's Disingenuity and Serpentine Nature TO what purpose have been the hangings by the Neck and other exemplary punishments executed on Judges Justices and Ministers of State for Arbitrary acting Why was Strafford's Head cut off and Canterbury's and Charles Stewart's as Traytors for endeavouring to subvert the fundamental Laws c. p. 78. Charles Stewart and his Lords committed Men as Canterbury aforesaid and early he heard of it in Parliament and for his other Arbitrary Actions and what followed thereupon and befel him in particular needs not be mentioned being recorded every where in the Blood and Misery of the late Wars and the Destruction of Him and his Family the dreadful and sad Examples of His Righteous Iudgments who reuders to every one according to his Deeds p. 79. Obs Because some of their Friends were committed and in the Warrant no mention made of the Protector or his Authority they farther write thus Doth not here appear from the Grave the Spirit that was in Christopher Love and his Fellow Traytors who being within the Jurisdiction of this Common-wealth took upon them to Commissionate divers Men to treat with Charles Stewart the proclaimed Traytor of the Government p. 89. Call to mind the former days and let the things that are past come into your Remembrance even what this Generation would have done their Synod and Accomplices to Conscience and to whom this Generation joyned in the years 1648. and 50. and so forwards even with the Common Enemy Charles Stewart c. p. 94. And forget not the wonderful Deliverances from them all which the Right Hand of the Lord effected c. p. 95. Multitudes of People flock'd out of the City to Westminster to complain of their sufferings which Charles Stewart called Tumults and by the Guard one of them was slain at the place of the shedding of whose Blood was Charles Stewart's Head struck off and his Blood poured forth on the ground A remarkable Record of the Righteous Iudgments of God p. 96 97. And this his Law Judge Nicholas standing in his own Will is less to be endured than in any of the Judges and Chief Justices that have gone before him whom Justice hath cut off for Arbitrariness or in Strafford Canterbury Charles Stewart or any of these latter Generations And the Legislative Authority that made him a Judge and the Righteous Ends of the Wars for Liberty and Law in which he appeared and these Innocent Servants of the Lord who have been all of them always faithful to the honest Interest of the Nation and many of them for it have drawn the Sword and fought in the Field from first to last p. 102. Obs Here that what they say concerning the King is said not only as the Opinion of others but as what they also approve saying That those things were remarkable Records of the Righteous Judgments of God With what strange kind of Confidence did G. W. write when he said that if I. Ives had printed the foregoing Passages they would not have rendred them so Suspicious and Obnoxious as his barely mentioning the Book and Pages did And though he may delude and blind their Proselites with such deceitful and Fig leaf covers yet certainly he will not dare to do so before Authority but rather down upon his Knees and beg Pardon for his Audaciousness and Insolence in speaking so slightingly of such strange and prodigious Sayings as are before cited
And I wish him no more harm for all his Faults and falacious Doings than an humble Submission and Acknowledgment for the same Now let us hear E. Burrough bemoaning Oliver after his Death A Testimony against a great Idolatry This also is owned by G. F. G. W. and their Party and is to be read in his Works 1672. IN the midst of my Considerations a Pity struck through me for once Noble Oliver that is now dead and I was grieved he should be thus abused being dead by such a stir about an Image made of him and I began to recal my former acquaintance with him and the former dealings of God towards him and what a gallant Instrument for the Lord he once was and how many Glorious and Noble Victories God once gave him and what good Parts and what a Gallant Spirit there was once in him and my Spirit run through many such things with a great deal of seriousness and pity and then said I Alas Alas is it ended all in this All his sormer good Service for God and the Nations all his Victories and good Actions and his beating down Superstition Is this the end of it all the making of an Image Is it all ended here And is this the End and final Farewel of once Noble Oliver p. 460. Alas for him who was once a great Instrument in the Hand of the Lord to break down many Idolatrous Images and did not once his Children Officers and his Brave Soldiers and Army pull down all the Images and Crosses and all such Popish Stuff where ever they met with it And shall we have no other Representation of once Noble Cromwel Is his Life and former Glory and Nobleness shadowed with the sight of a dead Image c. p. 461. Obs This might serve for a piece of a Funeral Oration for once Noble Oliver what a gallant Instrument for the Lord he once was And how many Glorious and Noble Victories God once gave him what good Parts and what a gallant Spirit there was once in him He had brave Soldiers and Army And I pray was not this Noble Oliver and his brave Soldiers of that one sort of People that profecuted War against the King Vpon such E. B. saith There is Guilt to be charged See his Visitation to the King c. p. 12. And notwithstanding the High Praises the Quakers gave of D. C. after his Death yet when K. C. came in then they compared him to Ahab Haman and Pharaoh * Truth 's Charactor of Professors c. 1660. p. 28 31 41. was not this done to flatter with the then Government and that too by speaking evil of the Dead Oh most disingenuous and unworthy Men This E. B. was not a greater Friend to Oliver and an Applauder of him and his Armies brave Exploits but he was as great a Decryer and Condemner of the Cavaliers and that Party See A Trumpet of the Lord Sounded c. 1656. p. 9. To all you who are and have been always Enemies to the very appearance of Righteousness who are called Delinquents and Cavaliers THus saith the Lord my Controversie is against you even my Hand in Judgment is upon you already and you are become cursed in all your Hatchings and Endeavours and from time to time my Hand hath been against you in Battel c. and though my Hand hath been evidently against you yet to this day you remain in Rebellion in your Minds in hatching Murder and Cruelty in your wicked Hearts and though your Kings and Princes and Nobles have been cut off in Wrath and your cruel desperate Inventions and Plots of Wickedness conceived in your cursed Womb have been broken and you cut short in your Desires yet you repent net nor will you see how you are given to be a Curse and a Desolation and a Prey in Houses and Lands and Persons to them whom I raised against you and gave power over you yet you are hardned and your Cruelty in the persecution of my Servants cannot be measured where you have any power you smite with the Fist of Wickedness and count it your Glory to despise my Name in the Vallies of Vain-Hopes you feed and on the Mountains of Foolish Expectation and conceive in your cruel Womb of Tyranny the overthrow of the Nations but in the bringing forth your selves are overthrown and it is not for well-doing that you suffer but my Hand is against you and my Iudgments are upon you and except you repent shall continue on Earth with you and follow you and pursue you to the Lake of Destruction where there is no Repentance and you and your Kings and Lordly Power by which you have thought to excrcise Lordship over my Heritage shall be enslaved by the Devil in the Pit of Darkness in everlasting Bondage where he shall reign your Lord and King for evermore Obs That the whole Paper out of which the foregoing is extracted is left out in the Reprint of E. B's Works p. 100. Notwithstanding he writ in the Epistle thus Given under my Hand and Seal'd by the Spirit of the Eternal God And in p. 90. the word King is left out And also in his Answer to the Apprentices Petition 1659. These followinging Lines are all left out p. 609. Would you bring in a strange Nation even Tyrants and their Adherents to devour the Land and even to destroy your selves and your City would you set up an oppressing Monarchy which the Land hath once spued forth these things are to be doubted that if your Designs did prevail the Fruit of your Work would tend thereunto And notwithstanding they in their Declaration given to the King Jannuary 1660. Testifie 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 Yet E. B. being moved of the Lord as he saith by his Spirit thereunto gives forth thus To the present distracted Nation of England c. 1659. VVE 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 Servants at this Day to fight in his Cause He might lead them forth and bring them in 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 Warfare with Carnal Weapons neither hath He chosen us for that end neither can we YET believe that He will make use of us in that way though it be his only Right to Rule in Nations and our Heirship to Possess the uttermost Parts of the Earth but for the present we are given up to bear and suffer all things for his Names-sake c. p. 8. We are Friends to any appearance of Good that may come forth in Truth and Sincerity and as Righteousness doth appear in any we are ready to joyn with it in our Prayers and Desires yea and
singularity in most things that were customary in England how innocent soever And under the notion of not Swearing they only refuse the Ceremony of an Oath as the laying the Hand upon and Kissing the Book Now I pray Sir what of true Religion or real Goodness is there in these things Suppose the whole World did observe them would they be at all the better for it However by these things they have cut off all others how religious and sincere soever And if any Man oppose what they say or do instead of meekly answering they are ready with the most virulent opprobrious and threatning Language and Writings that can be found in any sort whatever They will diligently seek out and take up any thing may reproach one and will insinuate Crimes that Men are most free from Thus have they changed the Meekness and Gentleness of Christianity into Fierceness and Churlishness Humility and Modesty into Arrogance and Self-conceit Peaceableness into Contentiousness Mildness into Clamour and Blessing into evil speaking and reviling Plainness and Simplicity into-Equivocation and Craft and all this under the Profession of the most unspotted Innocency and Sincerity Truth Righteousness and Holiness But I would not be understood to impute these Immoralities to the Quakers in general nor to all their Teachers and Leading Men but to the Foxonian Party that love to Govern and have the Preheminence who have endeavoured to suppress those who have at any time proposed any thing contrary to their Sentiments Thus in a few years instead of being led and guided and being obedient every one to the Light in himself they were obliged to submit to the sense of the greater number of the Governing BODY though never so contrary to their own sense Nay this Imposing Spirit proceeded so far at a Quarterly Meeting in Barbadoes where they did not act with that Caution and Cunning as here at London that they made and subscribed this following Order viz. I desire to give up my whole Concern if required both Spiritual and Temporal unto the Spirit of God in Men and Women's Meetings as believing it to be more according to the Universal Wisdom of God than any particular measure in my self or any particulars with whom the Men and Women's Meetings have not Unity The Actings Writings and Speakings of that kind I have spoken of being observed by some * W. Rogers T. Crisp F. Bugg W. Macklow J. Story J. Wilkinson Charles Harris J. Rance Tho. Curtis J. Ansloe and many more among them who were either too wise or too honest to be persuaded that those corrupt Fruits could proceed either from the Spirit of God or from the Light within that they griev'd and mourn'd to see that excellent Principle of Reformation The Light in every Man so grosly perverted and undermined that they were made to oppose and testifie against them Sir I might go on throughout G. W.'s c. whole Book and shew many more gross Equivocations Palliations and Deceits but I will not proceed farther lest I may seem to question your Judgment in not observing those things that are so evident But I think we that read Books have just cause of indignation against those Quakers who have the face to impose upon the World such abominable Stuff under the Notion of the Teachings of the Light of the unspotted Innocency and Christian sincerity But it may reasonably be thought they write not for vindication of themselves to those that are of the World as they call all that are not in their Form but for their own Party that are so blindly addicted to their Leaders that they swallow every thing they say without consideration Unhappy Men that have given up their Minds to the Glory of a singular Party in contempt of all others and can find no other way of vindicating themselves I may need your excuse for writing so much and therefore will now subscribe Sir Yours A. C. May 23. 1691. POSTSCRIPT SIR AND besides what I said about Fighting I am credibly informed that some Quakers have not only fought but that with great Courage and Magnanimity The first I shall mention is Mr. William Mead an eminent Person who being set upon by three High-way-men and having only a Cudgel or Staff in his Hand did not only bravely defend himself therewith but knock'd down one of the Robbers so wounded that the other were forced to carry him away whilst Mr. Mead escaped their Hands The next shall be one Matthew Renshaw Master of a Ship who fought both with great and small Guns till he was overpowered by the Turks Another one John Thompson who fought exceeding stoutly and killed a great many Men before he was taken by the Enemy These two Masters were not only Quakers themselves but their Owners generally if not every one such More might be named but these suffice to shew that the Quakers will fight in a just Cause and that stoutly too which puts me in mind again of G. Fox To the Council of Officers c. p. 5. who says of those that had been put out of the Army for being Quakers Of whom it hath been said among you that they had rather have had one of them than 7 Men and could have turned one of them to seven Men. And since my writing the above I have spoken with Mr. Pennyman touching the Accusation against Stephen Crisp mentioned in The Quakers Unmask'd folio p. 14. and which in their Answer p. 14. they say Steph. Crisp absolutely denies that he either forced him or that the Party did shew any dissatisfaction before he Signed and Sealed the said Paper Oh! what shall we say to these Men who not only use Equivocatious in their Writings but do absolutely deny matter of Fact to which Mr. Pennyman was an Eye and Ear-Witness and is ready to attest it if called thereto but would not then subscribe as a Witness being greatly dissatisfied with the unworthiness of the demand I will add here something concerning the Nature of an Oath whereby it may appear that the Quakers are mistaken about it Of the Nature of an Oath WHen the Author to the Hebrews says Ch. 6.16 Men verily Swear by the greater and an Oath for Confirmation is to them an end of all strife he plainly shews us that an Oath is the greatest and utmost Evidence of Truth and Sincerity that can be given for if a Man openly appeals to GOD who searcheth the Heart and therefore knows not only what is outward in Men's Words and Actions but their most inward thoughts that Man gives the utmost assurance he can possibly give for he that falsifies in the prefence of Men calling them for Witnesses who know the matter and whose office it is to ludge and punish incurs all that reproach infamy and other punishments which so great an offence and abuse deserves So he that falsifies in the presence of God calling Him for Witness incurs the greatest punishments of Divine Vengeance as one that makes God Almighty a Partner and Confederate to a Lie presumptuously and to his very face So that however God perhaps is not expresly invocated to do vengeance upon him yet in appealing to God as a Witness that is implyed because He is such a Witness as is also the Supreme Judge whose Justice and Truth is herein appealed to Therefore calling God to Witness is as much an Oath as any other form of Words as having as much evidence and assurance as any other Form whatever and as great Penalties attending it Now to assert any thing in the presence of Men expresly is all one as to call them for Witnesses So also to assert any thing in the presence of God expresly is all one as to call God for Witness Farther see several Forms of an Oath viz. I Do hereby testifie in the Truth of my Heart and in the Presence of HIM that knoweth all things and in the Presence of these Faithful Witnesses * The Quakers Form p. 25. c. Or GOD is my Witness I call GOD to record on my Soul The GOD and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ knows that I lye not GOD is Witness between me and thee Any of which or the like without laying the Hand on the Book or other Ceremony or more Words is not only an Oath but as saith a knowing judicious and worthy Person if Authorized by Act of Parliament is as much a Legal Oath as any now in use amongst us And as the Quakers have been mistaken about an Oath so they have been about their paying of Taxes in that they allow'd and paid the Royal Aid Tax and that of carrying on the Waragainst the Dutch and the like yet they would not pay towards the Trained Bands notwithstanding they are chiefly intended for a Defence and the other not only to Defend but to offend our Neighbours as the Government sees cause So that 't is plain the Tax they then refused was more justifiable than that they allowed and paid inasmuch as to Defend is more allowable and justifiable than to Offend FINIS