Pardon which he pretends so greatly to respect It appears that these Passages tending to clear us our Adversary designedly left out the more to recriminate and abuse us In p. 12. he cites a Passage out of E. B's Works p. 442. That all Governours and Rulers ought to be accountable to the People and to the next succeeding Rulers upon occasion and that the chiefest of the Rulers be subject under the Law and punishable by it if they be Transgressors c. No doubt when our Adversary writ this he thought he had a great advantage against the People called Quakers but he argues nothing nor infers any thing from the words If his Intention thereby was pursuant to his general charge against us to render us guilty of double Dealing false Heartedness and Temporizing this Passage cited by him against us proves no such thing but is a plain Indication to the contrary or if it was to render us obnoxious he hath missed his End It plainly concerns such Rulers and Governments as were Elective as E. B. his precedent words for choosing them by the Consent of the People do plainly intimate and it was first writ in the Days of the Commonwealth-Government And for Rulers or Representatives that are chosen being accountable to the next succeeding Rulers if there be Cause what has he against the matter it self What could be J. P's Design in this Citation before without Observation or Remark upon it If he tells us plainly and make his Objection I think it will be no difficult matter then to answer him both on a Religious Account and secundum Hominem which at present I find no necessity for Moreover Reader we find much of the same Stuff and envious Quarrels raked up against us in divers other Pamphlets as are in John Pennyman's Book particularly in Fr. Bugg another Apostate his Pamphlets though not so largely as in J. P's but as malicious which are elswhere answered In p. 13. he again charges us with baseness and temporizing and having out-done and even surpassed the Deeds of the Wicked that he says he is stopt for Words are too short to manifest us he saith Whereby it seems he wants Words bad enough for us in so much that he is stopt he saith But how is he stopt Does his Envy and Malice rise up to his Throat and like to choak him He has given us Language and Words hard and bad enough to render us as Infamous as he can as charging us with such Wickedness as can hardly be paralleld and as great Dissemblers Deceivers and Deluders as have appeared in our Age Lyers false Prophets Hypocrites c. But now he wants Words to manifest us The Railery he has belched out has not manifested us can he not study and invent some worse and harder Language against us However he is far louder in his Clamour and Revilings than in his Proofs In p. 13. he reflects upon a Book entituled Truth 's Character of Professors for laying open the Addresses and Applications which others had made to O. C. and R. C. with long Animadversions thereupon which he falsly saith was to stir up the Powers against them charging G. F. and his Friends as having been most highly guilty themselves of those very things Wherein he hath also dealt very unfairly and unjustly we do not believe there was any such Design in W. C's setting out that Character as either to defame others or to stir up the Powers against other Professors but that it was to shew their Priests c. their manifold Flatteries and Temporizing in their superlative Characters Applauses and Addresses which he cannot parallel from our Friends Applications either then or since In p. 14. our Adversary again deals very unfairly and unjustly by G. W. about some of our Friends saying They give forth Writings from the Immediate Eternal Spirit of God and by the same Spirit and Power that was in the Prophets Christ and Apostles unto which he falsly addeth viz. And their so speaking G. W. saith is of as great Authority as the Scriptures and Chapters are and greater His Words and their so speaking are J. P. his own Abuse and Perversion where did ever G. W. say That the Quakers so speaking of their own Books and Writings is of such Authority He denies the Comparison and Charge as stated and I the person concerned do solemnly declare It was never in my Heart Judgment or Intention to undervalue the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament but to esteem them not only as given by Divine Inspiration and to prefer them before all other Books and Writings extant in the whole World J. P. injuriously mistates the Case and leaves out the explanatory part of G. W's Answer in that Case and J. P. has been better informed therein than now he represents it Therefore Impartial Reader please to take our Answer in this Case as it is laid down in our Book Entituled the Christianity of the People called Quakers Vindicated p. 13. We always confess the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration and prefer them before and above all other Writings or Books and in no wise question the Truth of them yet we must needs allow the Holy Spirit from whence they came the Preference and its immediate Teaching and Speaking in the Soul as of greater Efficacy Power and Authority to that Soul than the bare Writing or Scripture without or only Reading thereof though it contain the same Words immediately taught And so Christ and his Apostles living and powerful Preaching in and from the powerful motion of the Holy Spirit as being of greater Efficacy Power and Authority than the outward Writing or Scripture it self simply or abstractly considered as distinct from that Spirit though the words preached and the words written may be the same For the Gospel as livingly preached came not in Words only but also in Power and in the Holy Ghost 1 Thess. 1. 5. For the real Authority Efficacy and Service the Holy Scripture has upon a Soul is from the Holy Spirit or word of Life giving the true belief and right understanding thereof Again our Adversary proceeds to give Judgment and Sentence against us as helping forward our own Destruction and presumptuously addeth these words and seeing there is no hopes of their Repentance or Forbearance all other ways or means that have been used proving ineffectual It 's now thought meet thus to expose them c. p. 14. Thus he has proceeded to give Sentence upon us and to justifie his manner of exposing of us and Printing his Invective against the People called Quakers His Self-contradiction is notorious where in p. 15. he saith I abhor that Practice that is to render us obnoxious to the Government when but in the Page before he concludes that there being no hopes of our Repentance it 's now thought meet thus to expose us as he has done though he seems to extenuate his own Fact and
added especially since it concerned a Man who is deceased and dyed a Prisoner for the Testimony of Jesus and at rest and who in his Life-time bore a faithful Testimony for Truth and Righteousness 'T is a most base and revengeful Spirit in J. P. to rake E. B. out of his Grave to bring Infamy upon his name his Gospel Testimony which he bore and Prophetical Spirit which was in him now he is not here to answer for himself and not rather have prevented both by Friendly Advice in his life time when they were in Society but instead thereof it may be rather questioned whether he was not in those Cases too much beset with such unstable Spirits as J. P. who now might have put more charitable Constructions upon E. B. and us than he has done namely that he feared the effects of a Monarchy and that he was so zealous against the great persecuting Whore that has made her self drunk with the Blood of the Saints that therefore he would have had the Beast that has long carried her so to hate her as to cast her off as being a Man who in his Spirit simpathized with the Martyrs of Jesus and those Souls under the Altar of them that were slain for the word of God who cryed with a loud voice how long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not Judge and AVENGE our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth Rev. 6. 10. And whatsoever in any of the Writings cited by J. P. may seem disgustful as to Monarchy we have still this cure for it all that John Pennyman has prescribed namely that these things were writ out of these Mens Zeal and Fear that Monarchy would be oppressive and cause more Burthens or Impositions to be laid upon the Nation than before And this excuse was pretty warily contrived for if he had flung all that former Zeal and Fear into the dirt 't is not unlikely but he might have highly disgusted his Friends the Presbyterians and Independents c. And therefore as a Person that appears rather affected with these former Passages which intimate a Fear concerning Monarchy than with our late Applications to the King c. he has taken the great pains to collect and transcribe them the more at large and sorely to chide us the People called Quakers for making Declarations and Applications to the King Council and Parliament to perswade them of our faithful and peaceable Intentions or for any Relief from the Imposition of Oaths c. for this we are sorely chidden not only as Temporizers but also for a late fawning flattering Address to the King and Parliament as he is pleased to call it We meet with no such chiding for these particular Passages that seemed to dislike of a Monarchy in Cromwel's days for the Fear and Zeal that was therein shall either cure all that or else John shall relinquish the Medicine of his own preparing and wheel about again and wholly desert his Friends the Nonconformists both Presbyters Independents and others of his private Abetters and Cabalistick Council As concerning that passage to the Officers of the Army where after they are reproved for abusing the Power of God and loosing it and putting them in Prison that struck at the Root meaning the Quakers saith he there is this passage viz. Had you been faithful to the Power of the Lord God you had gone into Spain to require the Blood of the Innocent that there had been shed and have commanded them to have offered up their Inquisitions c. and knocked at Romes Gates before now and trampled Deceit and Tyranny under And demanded the Pope and commanded him to have offered up all his Torture-houses his Racks and Inquisition c. Hereupon we have several questions put upon us viz. Could any People have declared themselves more for fighting How should the Army set up their Standard upon the top of Rome but by fighting How require the Blood that has been shed in the Inquisition but by fighting Here he may think he has sorely opposed and puzzelled us But 't is no very difficult matter to answer with clearness herein and safety to our Christian principle against killing and destroying one another for either these Passages must be spoken as from a Prophet of God or only as a Christian however conditionally First if as a Prophet then he speaks not always what is desirable or pleasant to him according to his Christian Principle nor within the compass of his Understanding as a Man nor from any Human contrivance but what 's commanded him of God as relating to Judgments or Calamities which may be of divers kinds and then he may Speak and Prophesie of Wars and Destructions c. and yet not at all be of such a Spirit or Principle in himself as to maintain or desire Wars and Fighting as the Prophet Isaiah who was an Evangelical Prophet and against Wars and Fighting and saw the end thereof Isa. 2. 3 4 5. and the Indignation of the Lord upon all Nations and his Fury upon all their Armies Isa. 34. 2. yet this Evangelical Prophet said O Assyrian the Rod of mine Anger c. I will send against an Hypocritical Nation c. see Isa. 10. 5 6. And further all yee Beasts of the Field come to devour Isa. 56. 9. And Christ Jesus himself who said my Kingdom is not of this World for if it were my Servants would fight yet prophesied of the sad and miserable destruction of Jerusalem and of those Murderers that slew the Heir and said to those Hypocrites fill ye up the measure of your Fathers Iniquities and this was that all the Righteous Blood shed might be required at their hands And several Instances of Gods Judgments might be brought out of the Revelation of John against the great Whore c. So that a Man may speak as a Prophet and be yet a Christian of divers Calamities and Judgments which he cannot be active in and yet not destroy his Christian Principle Secondly But if as a Christian only and within the compass of a Christian Freedom and understanding these aforesaid Passages are spoken then I may lawfully conclude that the design thereof was not to incite to Fighting Killing or Bloodshed but rather that it was writ from a Belief that if they had eyed the Lord and aimed at the removing Oppression and Persecution they might have been such a dread of Nations as is expressed in the same Paper that possibly they might not have met with such Resistance if any in that case for who knows not that they were formidable for a time And what success they might have had for such an end our Adversary cannot determine However to require their Inquisition and to knock at Romes doors proves no violence all this might have been done by Embassies as in the case of the D. of Savoy that persecuted the poor Piedmontors the Stock of the Waldenses For he proves not an incitation unto Bloodshed and Slaughter
Columns about Contradictions and Temporizing and this as relating to the several Revolutions and Governments since we were a People together with some Observations thereupon by another Hand as he saith but we have only Joh. Pennyman's Name to the whole Charge so that what other Hand soever it was that has helped him to compose this Piece of Malice he has espoused the whole Matter not only against particular Persons some dead and some alive but also against the People called Quakers in general wherein his deadly Malice hath exceeded all common bounds And yet upon his Paper against G. F. he has placed this Note in the Margent viz. But is this to render him obnoxious to the Government No I abhor that Practice but base and self ended Spirits are to be humbled saith he Now I affirm and it may be obvious to any unbyassed and intelligent Readers that John Pennyman hath shamefully lied dissembled and temporized lied and dissembled in pretending that he abhors that Practice of rendring us obnoxious to the Government for a very mean capacity may see that the tenour of his work is to render us obnoxious and particularly it is more apparent in certain passages as 1. from a Paper of one of our Friends he questions us all in these words viz. How dare these Men appeal to the King and Council's Consciences that they are harmless and would do them no harm c. p. 9. Now is not this to render us obnoxious as not being harmless but such as would do them harm And yet this is the Man that abhors such a Practice as rendring us obnoxious to the Government 2dly Whereas in the Quakers Plea 't is said on the behalf of the Quakers that though some that are now called Quakers were once in the Army against the King when their Knowledge and Judgment were not otherwise fram'd c. yet being altered in their Judgments to the contrary and that it is not lawful in the Administration of the Gospel to go to war with carnal Weapons and that there is now no danger of us and now we are all of that mind c. Upon this I pass this Note viz. that this pretended changed Judgment in the Men that are Quakers is not to be taken for a change of Judgment in the Quakers c. Oh Malicious Insinuation Is not this to render us obnoxious to the Government as to make them believe for all this that the Quakers count it lawful in the Administration of the Gospel for them to go to War with carnal Weapons Yea that themselves may take up Arms and fight against the King as some have done in the former Wars before convinc'd and brought under the Gospel Administration And what is all this but to render us the very People called Quakers as vile perfideous and obnoxious to the Government as he could possibly do And not only perfideous to the Government but to their own Gospel Profession and Principle and what 's the Nature and Tendency hereof but to influence and incense the present Government with an evil Eye and prejudice against us to ruin and destroy us as a People not fit to live in a Common-wealth or under any Government but that blessed be the Lord our God he hath raised a better perswasion and sense of us in the Hearts of many in Power with respect to our peaceable Conversations which loudly have all along proclaimed our Innocency and Clearness from such Faction and Perfideousness against the Government under which we live as this Apostate Adversary would maliciously insinuate so manifestly contrary to his own pretences as abhorring the practice of making us obnoxious to the Government 3dly Against the People called Quakers he observes that they formerly exhorted Men to fight and would fight themselves and now deny all fighting on any pretence is to be imputed to their temporizing and deceit See here again how base and contradictory he is to himself his objection lyes chiefly against their denying all fighting or to fight themselves for this he cries out of temporizing and deceit Is not this still to render us obnoxious Let the Impartial judge and see how he endeavours to invalid and bring contempt upon all our Declarations and Applications to the King and Council for our Innocency and peaceable Living under the present Government according to the practice of the Primitive Christians To his Accusation that they viz. the Quakers formerly exhorted Men to fight and would fight themselves I utterly deny it as a Slander and put the Question to him John wast thou of such a Principle whilst thou own'd the Quakers as to fight thy self and exhort others thereunto If thou wast it was time for thee to be gone as one not of us We know none such in our Society so it s most wicked and unjust to charge us as a People therewith Another Instance he has in his Obeservations of this kind viz. again touching fighting they have taken care to record what one of their Ministry saith we directed all People to the Spirit of the Lord God in them and if that led them to fight I had nothing against it for this he quotes Fol. 4. but tells us not what Book This I do greatly question for I never read it that I know of however I cannot believe without better evidence that any Minister of ours did ever preach such Doctrin to Friends or People as that the Spirit of the Lord might lead them to fight with carnal Weapons c. since our Testimony and Judgmment has always been to the contrary to wit that our Weapons are not carnal but spiritual and mighty through God and we wrestle not with Flesh and Blood but with spiritual wickedness and we war not after the Flesh nor with a carnal Sword but with the Sword of the Spirit which is the word of God And if any one hath writ to any in Power to this effect viz. That if they would walk with the Lord and preserve his People the numberless number of this now distressed People would be to them a Strength and stand by them in the day of Trouble and be a Defence unto them according to what is cited Howbeit this is not a Proof that the People called Quakers intended to fight for R. Cromwel or any in Authority seeing there are other and better ways of defence for a Government than fighting by carnal Weapons as Righteousness which exalts a Nation the Prayers and Faith of true Christians and Believers which was the Mind and Practice of the Primitive Christians for those in Authority not excluding their civil Contributions Taxes Customs and Dues which has been our Practice to pay since we were a People and that Nations and Governments are not always defended by fighting carnal Weapons c. but by a better way and means to wit the fear of the Lord according to his Law observe this instance in the time of King Jehosaphat's Reign when he sought to the Lord God
further appears I. First from his being cast into the Dungeon in Darby Goal in the year 50. where he lay six Months space because he would not take up Arms for the Commonwealth against the King II. From his and others refusing considerable Places in the Army when invited by the Committee of Safety III. From his Answer then that he abhorred it viz. to accept of such Place or Preferment in the Army as that of a Colonel proffered him and that he was in the Covenant of Peace that takes away the occasion of Wars for he knew from whence all Wars did rise even from Mens Lusts. Yet notwithstanding in the year 1654. he was brought up from Leicester to London being accused for a Plotter to bring in King Charles And in the year 1655. after Major Ceeley had cast him into Prison in Doomes-dale at Lanceston before Judge Glin at the Assizes there he brought a Man of Belial to swear that he could raise 4000 Men to involve the Nation in Blood and bring in King Charles Now considering his deep Suffering then as also that he was then suspected to be as much for King Charles as J. P. can suspect or insinuate that he was against him and yet now to own and honour him which is the great crime in this Adversaries evil Eye But that he was then guilty of Plotting for the King and now in his owning the King in the civil Government a Temporizer are both alike unrighteous Calumnies and Forgeries of his and our guilty and Persecuting Adversaries But that he and others refused Preferments in the old Army and to take up Arms in the Commonwealth's days against the King and his and our Testimony both then and now being to the Covenant of Peace and against even the very occasion of Wars to wit Men's Lusts these are true and still do plainly evince our constant Consistency with our selves and Christian Testimony from the beginning against all Plotting carnal Wars and Fighting Moreover be it remarked that after G. F. came to London and was brought before Oliver Cromwel he said That there was a People now gotten up or risen that he could not win with Gifts Honours Offices or places of Preferment as he could all other Sects To which G. F. answered viz. That we have forsaken our own and are not like to receive any thing of him nor the Glory of the World and so he was not like to choke us with such things as he had done all others c. Observe here his and our faithful Friends faithfulness to our Christian and Gospel Testimony and clearness from Temporizing or aiming at worldly Interests which is the character and design of Temporizers Again as to his hideous clamour against the Quakers as far more guilty and more abominable in these matters than any other Party what soever whilst they so contumeliously upbraid others and have done the same things themselves This is a plain lie against the Quakers considering that but a few lines before p. 20. he tells the Readers the Quakers reproach and rail on the Presbyterians and Independents for their joyning to and abetting the late War and approving the Execution done upon the late King and his Party Now that the Quakers have so done and joyned is an apparent Falshood before detected and that the Quakers have so done to wit approved the execution done upon the late King c. is a most aggravating Falshood to expose us to the severity of the Government who were not then in being Now Reader judge what 's the tending of all this our Adversaries inveterate work against us but to expose and render us obnoxious to the present King and Government as possibly he can to ruin and destroy us so directly contrary to his pretence of abhorring that Practice do but see the Man's gross Hypocrisie deadly Malice and most base Temporizing to bring us under into our Graves with contempt if possible Howbeit as we fear not him nor his Invectives nor the Devil that old Murderer that has set him on work So we doubt not but through divine assistance we shall still close to our Christian Testimony faithfully witnessing that Christ's Dispensation Kingdom and Government among his People is above Wars and Fighting for it is established in Righteousness and Peace and of the increase of his Government and Peace there shall be no end but God will make Wars to cease to the ends of the Earth and in Salem shall be his Tabernacle where he breaketh the Bow and the Spear and Weapons of War c. And we the People called Quakers can in defiance of all Envy and Malice stand up for Christ Jesus and his Kingdom and still plead the same things that J. P. quotes out of our Friends Declarations to the King of England c. and that with a good Conscience in the sight of God and Men both what he cites out of Quakers Plea 1661. viz. No better Testimony can be given of us and of our peaceableness and that we shall not Plot nor Rebel against the King than experience it self experience is the best witness that we are peaceable and free from Plotting and Rebellion for we have always been so since we were a People both before and since the King came in As also a Declaration quoted by him given forth in behalf of the whole Body of the elect People of God who are called Quakers and signed by G. Fox and Richard Huberthorn John Stubbs Francis Howgill Ger. Roberts John Boulton Leonard Fell Samuel Fisher Hen. Fell John Hind John Furley Junior Tho. Moore these Names he has mentioned to expose them to the World as Temporizers Appostates c. though Men far more Righteous than himself and I am perswaded most of them if not all more Conscientious in what they say than ever John Pennyman was since he entertained prejudice and envy Hear what he has against these Men as Temporizers viz. That they have suffered because they would not take up carnal Weapons to Fight withal against any and made a prey upon because they say we are the Innocent Lambs of Christ and cannot avenge our selves as he cites and further in the Postcript All Wars and Fightings with carnal Weapons we do deny who have the Sword of the Spirit Again this the People called Quakers do witness viz. and this is both our Principle and Practice and hath been from the beginning so that if we suffer as suspected to take up Arms or make War against any it is without any ground from us for it neither is or ever was in our Hearts since we owned the Truth of God neither shall we ever do it because it is contrary to the Spirit of Christ his Doctrin and the Practice of his Apostles c. Well this Testimony we stand by against all the contrary whatever and do affirm it was conscientiously writ and not from a Temporizing Spirit as our Adversary all along endeavours to insinuate to prejudice and cloud our
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
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