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A40340 Honest, vpright, faithful, and plain dealing with thee O army of the common-wealth (so called) without flattery, in true unfeigned love to thee with something more particularly unto the officers of the army, and those that join with them in the outward government of this nation : wherein truth, uprightness, and equity is declared for, and deceit, wickedness, oppression, and tyranny is declared against / by one who loves the prosperity of truth, and the good and well-being of all creatures, George Fox the younger. Fox, George, d. 1661. 1659 (1659) Wing F2005A; ESTC R37833 11,867 16

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of the outward peace of these Nations which are under your command And take heed of hearkening unto such who in the kings time cryed him up ran to him to give them a law to settle them in their Worship then again in the Parliaments time ran to them cryed them up begging a Law to settle Church-government as they call'd it then in the late Protectors time cryed them up petitioned unto them with many feigned flattering words and begged a law of them to settle them in their Worship now these are the deceitful workers who teach for filthy lucre are time observers who through covetousness and feigned words makes merchandize of the people these quench the spirit and despiseth prophesying and changeth with the times Governments let them be never so contrary and these are neither true to God nor man but are men pleasers and such serves not the Lord Jesus but their own bellies and these wanting the power of God runs to the Rulers for an outward power to uphold them these are whored from the life of God in their own particulars and these seek to stop the life of God where-ever it appears therefore take heed of upholding or setting them up by an outward Law lest you become the beast mark that which carrieth the Whore which is to be taken with the false Prophet and the old Dragon the Father of all unrighteousness and cast alive into the Lake Now the true Worship and Religion which stands in the spirit and in the truth must be set up and established and upheld by the Power immortal and not by an outward Law But let your Law stop that in all where-ever it appears which wrestles with flesh and blood and fights with the creature about Religion for this spirit could never make manifest the true Worship Religion neither would it suffer others to do it who had the spirit of God if it could stop them by an outward Law or force so that which fights wrestles and strives with the creatures about religion is not for Christ but is ante against Christ the Apostles who wrestled not with flesh blood but with the power of darkness with the spiritual wickedness in high places that so wickedness deceit might be destroyed in the creatures and that the creatures might be preserved and their Weapons were not carnal but spiritual But they that cryes out to the Rulers for an outward Law to uphold their worship religion they war not with the spiritual Weapons but with the carnal and these destroys the creatures but cannot destroy the wickedness these have quenched the spirit in their own particulars and these would quench it in others will not suffer him that hath something revealed unto him to speak but cryes to the Magistrates or to the rude multitude for help and so flees to their carnal Weapons and those being stirred up by their Teacher some of them oft times beats those that have the truth to declare in their Synagogues hales them out railes on them spits upon them and sometimes buffets stocks whips imprisons and mangles the creatures so mars defaceth the workmanship of God and this hath been the work of Antichrist in all ages when Truth hath appeared against deceit and such cannot truly say truth hath prevailed on their parts when they have thus beaten and haled and stocked and whipped and imprisoned the creatures but violence there at that time hath prevailed by which they that have had the truth to declare oft times have been stopped from speaking it So let none do violence to one anothers persons or estates but let your Law take hold on them that would do so but let them alone in their profession and then it will soon appear who is in the truth and who are Ministers of Christ and of the spirit for those that are in the spirit of truth will assuredly prevail over them that be in the spirit of deceit and this will be manifested soon if there be no violence done to them who be in the spirit of truth thereby to stop them from speaking the truth and then the truth wil reach unto the Witness of God in peoples consciences then many who could not discern the Truth whiles there was such strivings fightings with the creatures wil come to see and feel it and then Truth shall prevail and deceit shall fall where ever it be and what covering soever it have got it shall be ript off and he that is in the Spirit of Truth and abides in it shall overcome all false spirits Now I know ye are not altogether ignorant how that the lives and goods of several in this Nation hath been made a prey upon by the Priests who hath robbed and spoyled both the fatherless Widows others hath prisoned several unto death by a Law made by the Popish Kings and since strengthened by those that are called Protestants concerning tythes these before-mentioned hath suffered thus for not paying tythes Now tythes in the Law given by the command of God unto Levi the changeable Priesthood who was to have no inheritance among his Brethren was for the maintenance of that Tribe also for the Fatherless the Widows and the Strangers but Christ being come after the order of Melchisedech he is the everlasting unchangeable High-Priest not made by a carnal commandment but by the power of an endless life he offering himself up once for all put an end to the changeable priesthood who were made by a Law which gave them tythes so this Priesthood this Law was changeable this Priesthood could not continue by reason of death so this Priesthood being changed ended by Christ the unchangeable Priest made by the power of an endless life there was a necessity also of a change end of that law by which the changeable Priests who could not continue by reason of death were made which gave them tythes then Christ the everlasting High-Priest made by the power of an endless life by the same power he made Ministers freely gave them gifts for the work of the Ministry which was for the perfecting of the Saints in the power of an endless life sent he them forth saying Freely ye have received freely give and into what house soever ye enter and they receive you ye may eat such things as are set before you for the workman is worthy of his meat These were Workmen they first planted a Vinyard then eat of the fruit thereof first gathered a flock then eat of the milk thereof sowed spiritual things reaped of their carnal things unto whom they had sown spirituals preached the Gospel lived of the Gospel these were not made Ministers by the will of man nor by an outward Law neither received they their maintenance by an outward Law nor compelled or forced any to pay them neither robbed or spoyled or imprisoned they any that
Honest Vpright Faithful AND PLAIN DEALING With Thee O ARMY OF THE COMMON-WEALTH OF ENGLAND So called Without flattery in true unfeigned Love to thee With something more particularly unto the Officers of the ARMY and those that join with them in the outward Government of this Nation Wherein Truth Uprightness and Equity is declared for and Deceit Wickedness Oppression and Tyranny is declared against By one who loves the prosperity of Truth and the good and well-being of all creatures GEORGE FOX the younger LONDON Printed for Thomas Simmons at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate 1659. Honest Vpright Faithful and Plain Dealing with thee O Army c. AT your first going forth there was a true honest Principle which stirred in the hearts of many of you which convinced you of sin in the particular and it also shewed you the desperate wickedness cruelty tyranny and oppression which was upheld by unjust and unrighteous Laws and Rulers whereby the honest people were much oppressed and in several of you there arose a true zeal against this abomination and then I know your lives and what you had was not dear to some of you but was freely given up to do your Nation service in breaking down that oppression and tyranny which was brought upon it by the Enemies of God and it and then a mighty courage and boldness arose in many of you against oppression and oppressors and the Lord appeared with you against them because they were his Enemies and sought to destroy the very appearance of truth and then many of you were low and tender and the hearts of such people as had honest desires in them and breathed for liberty they were much affected with you and the cause you declared for and vowed and engaged to be true and faithful unto and then the Lord appeared with you in the field giving you mighty Victories over your Enemies that so he might make way for his living truth to be spread which was then stirring in his people and the Lord vveakned his Enemies before you and ye savv his mighty hand therein and his mighty Work in overturning those his Enemies prospered in your hands for he made you instruments therein until he had scattered his Enemies and then he gave you povver and opportunity to accomplish that you had vovved and engaged to do and vvhich his light in your hearts had shewed you that you ought to have done But you not keeping to that which first appeared in you and made you sensible of the oppression that was upheld by the unrighteous Laws Lawyers and Rulers an earthly selfish spirit got up in many of you which exceedingly increased covetousness and pride in you and then the greatness of your pay and the spoile of your enemies and idleness and the fulness of the creatures began to be more delightful to many of you then the liberty you once declared for and then some among you began to see how deceit and hypocrisie crept in amongst you and appeared against it but you whose hearts went after your covetousness and self-seeking soon stopt them either by threatning them or by advancing them into greater places or by turning them out of the Army and thus you began to back-slide and then deceit began to wax strong among you and several of you began to settle your selves in the earth and in your Enemies Estates and then you little regarded the oppression that others suffered under you being at ease your selves and thus the Enemy beguiled you and deceit wrought in you even as it did amongst some of the Sects and Opinions for in many of them there was a true Principle of God stirring once which convinced them of their own sins and also shewed them the cruelty wickedness and deceit of the Bishops and Prelates and others and caused them to witness against such but they not keeping to the measure of God in them a worldly carnal deceitful spirit increased in them and then they soon began to settle themselves in another form without the life and power of God which was as bad in the nature and ground of it as that they had witnessed against only it had another Name And in the same manner have ye acted for ye going from the measure of God in you which shewed you the cruelty of the oppressors vvhich ye had fought against ye soon began to settle the same thing in the nature and ground of it among your selves which you had fought against in others onely in deceit and hypocrisie you gave it another Name And then truly great Wickedness encreased among you which made the heart of the righteous sad even the same as abounded among your Enemies which God overthrew for their Wickedness yea for then many of you ran into hunting hawking bowling Horse-racing drinking and other vain Games and Sports and Lusts and Excess and Pride both in your Dyet and Apparel and your behaviour was grown so lofty many of you that you became a burthen to all honest-hearted people who once had an honest love going forth towards you but this your Wickedness caused their love to wax cold towards you and many who were your true friends became ashamed of you because of your backslidings And you raised up the spirit of enmity and bitterness in your Enemies more and more against you by these things which you ran into yea you gave them great advantage by your back-slidings and some of you saw these things many times with Gods Witness but ye not keeping to Gods Witness in you deceitful fears arose in you which stopt the mouth of truth in you when you should have witnessed against the Wickedness that was amongst you and your fears was lest you should have been turned out of your places and upon this account deceit was grovvn so strong among you and treachery that ye durst not speak your minds one to another for fear ye should be betrayed one by another and so turned out of your places And thus deceit and a slavish spirit possest ye even till you had lost your Dominion and Authority over your Enemies then many of you became afraid to do that vvhich vvas just many times lest your Enemies should be more displeased with you and in deceit ye bowed many of you even to your Enemies and sought more to please them then to do that you had engaged to do then you turned out many of your friends and took in many of your Enemies and mixed your selves with them yea you turned out many of your faithful friends onely for coming into the life and obedience of that which many of you professed in words and pretended once that you fought for the liberty of O ARMY this is plain truth to thee vvithout flattery and thus falshood overspread you until the honest principle that once stirred in you was almost destroyed and then ye little regarded the sufferings of the innocent nor the oppression that vvas in the Land but ye rather sought to
would not give them maintenance but they had a necessity laid on them to preach the Gospel and they did so and coveted no mans gold nor silver nor apparel these sought not peoples goods but them their diligence and care was not to make the Gospel chargeable for having food rayment they were therewithall content they received it of such also mark that as did receive them and their testimony and so oppressed no man But Paul foresaw that after his departure grievous ravenous Wolves should enter that would not spare the flock Christ prophesied of them also and these entered before John's departure and he warned the little children who had the annointing abiding in them to take heed of them for they were the Antichrists and went from the annointing in the particular and so from those that were in it then the murthering spirit got up in these the World went after these who spared not the flock but killed those that had the testimony of Jesus which is the spirit of Prophesie these Antichrists having lost the spirit being ravened from it in their own particulars and having killed those that were made Ministers by the spirit who had freely received freely gave then they set up their Schools Colledges there to make Ministers by the wil of man then made a carnal Law whereby they had tythes given them for these had not freely received neither would they freely give so tythes among the Gentiles was set up by the devouring murthering spirit by a law by which law they are yet upheld not by God they that yet receive the tythes are found in the devouring murdering spirit many of them who have devoured many peoples goods in this nation who could not for conscience sake pay tyths hath caused several others to be kept in prison until death for the same And this hath been the work of Antichrist who hath the sheeps clothing the good words but inwardly is the ravening Wolf And in this Work many of the Priests of England hath been found of late as is manifest by their fruits they have the same unjust law to oppress destroy the innocent stil notwithstanding some of you have pretended and declared much to the contrary long Now many of the Priests when we tel them of this their cruelty oppression they will say They are Ministers of the Gospel he that preaches the Gospel God hath hath ordained that he should live of the Gospel Well we say so too That we are Ministers of the gospel he that preaches the gospel ought to live of the gospel which is the power of God and ought not to have any outward Law to compel any to give him whereon to live So this is that which we who have learned to do unto all men as we would they should do unto us would have that he that preaches the gospel should live of the gospel and not on that which comes by the force of an outward Law but the Priests maintenance is contrary to the maintenance of the Ministers of the Law or Gospel Therefore first let there be no outward Law to hinder or restrain any people from hearing any whom they believe is a Minister of the Gospel nor yet to compel any to hear any one vvhom they believe is not a Minister of the Gospel for an outward Law can but restrain or compel the outward man but the heart none can restrain from evil nor compel to the good but the Law Power of God only in the heart therefore let there be a free liberty for all people to meet concerning their Worship provided that under pretence of meeting to worship they meet not to plot for the overthrowing of the outward Governors by an outward power for if that can be proved and made manifest truly then let such suffer by an outward Law And likewise let there be no law to compel any one to maintain any Teacher neither let there be any law to restrain any one from giving any thing to their Teacher for this is but equal so let the people have liberty herein that so this oppression about the maintenance of Teachers may cease And then it will soon appear whether these Priests be Ministers of the Gospel and whether their Gospel will maintain them yea or nay But many of the Rulers have said If we should not provide maintenance for our Ministers then preaching would soon fall and then many people would become heathens I answer He that is a Minister of Christ the Power of God which is the everlasting Gospel necessity is laid upon him to preach the Gospel and wo be unto him if he preach not the Gospel And he that is sent forth by Christ is not to take thought what he shall eat or what he shall drink or wherewithall he shall be clothed for his heavenly Father knoweth that he hath need of all these things and provides them for chose that he sends forth without an outward Law to compel it that so they lack not any thing Now that Ministry which the forcing an outward maintenance for it will uphold it the not forcing an ou●ward maintenance for it will cause it to cease mark this Min●●try never did any good or service for God not never can that is God's truth unto you at the furthest this Ministry hath but brought people to draw near unto God with their mouths and to appear to honor him with their lips when their hearts have been afar off but this Ministry could never bring any into the true knowledge of God and Christ whom God hath sent and freely given for a Covenant of light and without this knowledge all people upon the earth are without the life eternal and so are heathens whatever they profess in words though they may make long prayers and think to be heard in their much speaking as the pharisees hypocrites did whom Christ call'd Heathens therefore consider what a Ministry you have upheld and do uphold So let that Ministry fall which cannot stand without an outward Law for to compel an outward maintenance for it for the Lord regards it not but his hand is against it and against that which would uphold it and both must fall together So what is here declared concerning Religion and the maintenance of Teachers and the like it is in the equal royal Law of liberty which is To love thy neighbor as thy self and to do unto all as we would be done unto And so if the spirit which we are led and guided by who are called in scorn Quakers be not able to prevail over that vvhich vve oppose in others as error then let us be manifested to be in the error and let us fall onely let there be a fair tryal and let there not be such beating and haling tearing and mangling and stocking and imprisoning of the creatures as hath been for vvhere these things have been acted many