THE Standing Truth In which may be seen how every ones House is ordered and how their Families are provided and what Peace they have in their Dwellings and whether they be Christians or Infidels With some Directions to the Everlasting Rest ALSO A NARRATIVE OF Some Unjust and Cruel Dealings by William Pocklington of North Collington in the County of Nottingham against William Smith of Besthorp in the same County concerning Tythes And something touching Tythes in the Ground With several Cases stated concerning the Law and concerning the practice in the Law and how the innocent People of God called Quakers have and do suffer in some Cases contrary to the Law and in some Cases through the Illegal Practice in the Law And the Liberty of all that suffer in Bonds for Tythes justly claimed and demanded upon good and sound Grounds from the Law With many other Branches in Particular Cases Which are Published in Love to all People By WILLIAM SMITH LONDON Printed in the Year 1663. TO THE READER READER IN the first part of this Book thou mayest behold the Universal Love of God with the Work of his Power and thou mayest also behold how man comes to be regenerated and washed by the Everlasting Truth and what the state of man is in the Truth and what the state of man is out of the Truth and thou mayest see how Life is attained through Death and how Rest and Peace in Christ Jesus comes to be possessed In the middle part thou mayest behold a Testimony unto the Truth and Enmity and Deceit in opposition to the Truth In the latter part thou mayest behold divers Cases stated by which thou mayest perceive something of the Law and the practice in it and how deeply innocent people suffer for want of Right And these things thou reading over and diligently observing it may overcome thee to chuse the better part and in so doing thou wilt be kept out of all crooked and perverse wayes and not run with those that are wicked nor joyn hands with cruel men And as for the middle part of this Book coming to view it is through a necessity upon me to do good and that Warning may be taken by all who in such cases are concerned for I do not publish that part because I would lay open the faults of any neither to boast or glory over the weakness of any for I have received the Love of God and with that I can cover a multitude of Offences though in the same Love a Necessity is upon me to make such Practices manifest that whosoever is found in them may speedily repent and turn from them and that such as are yet free from them may be preserved out of them that so all may come to finde mercy with the Lord. And now let thy mind be to the Good in thy self and with the Light of Christ Jesus reade this Book thorow and learn of the meek Spirit of God for in that there is no envie so will it teach thee Truth and lead thee into all Truth where thou wilt feel the Everlasting Springs and the pure Streams of clensing and as thou waitest in the Spirit thou wilt feel the Effects of it to be Love and the Virtue of its nature Gentleness and Peace and if thou mindst it to obey it thou mayest do well in which my labour will be answered who desires the well-being of all men W. S. THE Standing Truth c. LOve is of God and by the Light of Christ Jesus the Love of God is shed abroad in the hearts of all that believe for the Light is a manifestation that beameth forth from the Love and in the Light the Love is tendered it is an universal Principle that in its own purity discovereth the world in mans heart for the uiniversality of its manifestation is not inclosed within the compass of any bounds but unto all men it giveth light and makes manifest with its light what is present in every man and in this manifestation the darkness cannot limit it for it is manifest in the universal love of God to give light to all that are in darkness that all in it might believe and come to everlasting Life Now here is the love of God first to man which love being received as in the Light it is manifested then man comes to be drawn with the love of God to love God again and this is perfect love with which love the sinner is sought and for sin reproved wherein the Lord God doth make known his own compassion to a sinner and doth manifest That he would not the death of a sinner but hath given his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life And with this light of Christ Jesus is every man enlightened that cometh into the world and by it there is an universal manifestation of the love of God and though the Lord God doth thus manifest his love unto man and hath given to every man a measure of the Light of Christ with which he is enlightened and with which he sees his sin yet man not obeying the Testimony of it he abideth still in darkness and so he errs from the way of Truth and Life and is a wanderer in desart places and takes up his abode in the dark corners of the earth and there sits estranged from God and alienated from his Life and there man suffers bondage and affliction in himself his pain and his sorrow is daily upon him and his anguish and his grief is continually about him for no man can have true peace in his own house untill he come to the Light of Christ with which he is enlightened and after he is turned unto the Light and come into obedience then he hath a war to make and a great battel to fight before he can come to feel his peace setled and sealed for with the Light the body of sin and the body of death is discovered and then mâ—n comes to see how many enemies doth compass him about and how by them he is separated from God then he comes to see what he must war against and what armour he must put on to stand in the battel and what weapon he must take to make way thorow his enemies and by believing in the Light and following the Light he receives strength against his foes and having received the Light he hath received the Love of God and then he stands clad with the whole armour of God and takes the sword of God with which he smiteth to the heart of his enemies and wounds them to death so sees his enemies fall before him and when they are fallen he casts them out and cleanseth his house and then Christ Jesus takes the possession and he brings everlasting peace in with him and this is a wise man whose eye looks to his own house and takes care of his own family such a man loves peace at home and delights to see his family
their apprehension of our transgression of the Law take occasion against us and persecute and spoil us whilst they themselves are the transgressors and that by their own Law which saith The Law of God is the Law of the Land And the Law of God saith Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self but he that will Imprison him and spoil his goods and persecute him doth not love him so is a transgressor but we are free and the Law of God doth not charge guilt upon us nor condemn us in the things we practise and therefore it must needs be that such as act against us are the transgressors and whatsoever stands for Law this day which doth condemn our practice and punish us for the using of it the same doth differ from the Law of God and so degenerates from that Conclusion which the Law it self makes and in plain words expresseth That the Law of God is the Law of the Land And through the miscarriages of men towards us whose wills have wrested the Law in divers cases we have through such things deeply suffered and yet the yoak is continued upon us and our Innocency is made a prey upon for we being a quiet People and disposed in the principle of Love towards all men and cannot seek revenge upon any therefore are our afflictions increased whether with Law or without Law or against Law it is not by many much regarded as in divers cases might be truly instanced which is at present waved And seeing that the Law it self doth make such a Conclusion of its own standing that it is the Law of God then to examine a little some particulars and places in it if in all things it have perfect agreement with the Law of God for the Law of God is pure holy just and good and as it hath been shewed that the practise in divers cases doth degenerate from the Law of the Land so it may come to pass that the Law of the Land may degenerate from the Law of God for the Law of God speaketh on this wise 1. Thou shalt not bow to any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing And whatsoever is set up and not by the Spirit of the Lord is graven out of an imagination and is an Image and to bow unto that thing is to bow unto a graven Image and if the Law of the Land do restrain from such a practice then it standeth right but if it do allow such things or rather compel people to practise such things then doth it degenerate from the Law of God 2. The Law of God saith Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain And to Swear by his Name is to take his Name in vain and if the Law of the Land do restrain people from all manner of Oathes then it standeth right but if it do allow such things or rather in some cases compel into such things then doth it degenerate from the Law of God 3. Christ Jesus the Lawgiver saith Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and thy Neighbour as thy self and to love God is to keep his Commandments and to love a Neighbour as to love a mans self is to do him good and not to harm him Now if the Law of the Land do encourage such things then it standeth right but if it do allow the breaking of God's Commands and teach men so or if it do allow one Neighbour to spoil the goods of another or in some cases rather compell such things to be done then it doth degenerate from the Law of God and from the Doctrine of Christ Jesus 4. Christ Jesus the Lawgiver saith God is a Spirit and must be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth Now if the Law of the Land do allow such a worship and protect it then it standeth right but if it do prohibit it or rather compel from it then it doth degenerate from the Law of God and from the Doctrine of Christ Jesus and in this case two things are very considerable to be minded and not to be practised 1. Not to bind Peoples Consciences into any Practice or into any Worship which in their own Conscience they are not perswaded into nor to compel a Conformity unto any Practice or Worship which standeth not in the Spirit and in the Truth for to use Force and Compelling-Laws in such Cases is but to force People to bow unto an Image or to the likeness of a thing which the Law of God doth expresly forbid 2. Not to prohibite or forbid People for meeting together in any place or at any time above such a number for this is to limit God if it were possible and to restrain tender Consciences from their holy Exercise in God's Spirit and to keep them from the pure Worship which standeth in the Spirit and in the Truth only and to stop them from that practice which the Father seeks them to perform for Christ saith the Father seeketh such to worship him and no Law of the Land ought to take place to diminish that Liberty which any People have in the Spirit nor to prohibit that Worship that is performed to God in the Spirit though in the practice there may be contrary minds amongst them for the Spirit of the Lord God is free and without limitation and all that are born of the Spirit they are a free-born People and their Worship stands singly to God in the Spirit and in the Truth and though there may be a difference in Worships outwardly and amongst the Worshippers in point of practice yet none ought by any outward Law either to compel or prohibit each other for that is peculiar to God alone and no man is to stand up in Judgment concerning it or to bind the Conscience of another by an outward Law either to observe the one or to deny the other for whoever hath outward Power to rule and would set that Power to judge in matters of Conscience Worship and Religion and from their own Judgment in such cases make Laws to compel to one thing and to restrain from another thing such Laws do degenerate from the Law of God and from the Doctrine of Christ Jesus and from his Life and Wisdom And therefore these things considered and weighed it will be found of great necessity to search well into the Laws and where any are found to oppose the righteous Law of God and yet stand in force in any such case to repeal them that so the Law of the Land may be reduced into the truth of its own saying and stand in Justice Equity and Mercy as doth the Law of God then Persecution would cease about Religion and there would be a stream of perfect Liberty to all tender Consciences and no Restraint would be upon any in case of Worship or Religion otherwayes living peaceably in the Nation so would hearts and minds of men come into Love into Peace and into Settlement and good Order and it would allay all the heat and heart-burnings amongst men and cool them and quiet them and then there would not need Swords and Spears to preserve Order for People coming to that of God in themselves and worshipping and serving God in the Spirit and in the Truth and every one standing in the Spirit 's Liberty then People would settle and be quiet and love one another and be at Peace one amongst another and there would be good Order through the Nation but this being wanting and Compelling-Laws ruling it makes Broils in the Nation and causeth Distractions amongst People which would be prevented if Liberty in matter of Worship and Religion was granted and tolerated And what harm would this do to any man or what prejudice could come to any man by so doing Surely none at all but rather happiness both to such as rule and such as are ruled and the comfort of it would be found to be very great unto all that truly fear the Lord And this is the Liberty which the King's Prerogative is to defend according to the Maxime of Charles the first But however it hath been or yet is with us in these cases outwardly our trust is in the Lord God and in him we do rejoyce and we desire that all people were like-minded with us and were as we are except our Bonds and Afflictions for the Presence of the Lord God is with us and by his Arm we are supported and through all these things the Truth standeth and that is the Word of the Lord to all people Truth standeth And if any yet think with themselves that with their strength they can prevail against the Truth then let them try their strength but let them also mind what will be the end of it for this I know in the Truth that whosoever rises against the Truth will toil themselves in vain and spend their strength for nought and in the end will lie down in sorrow for Truth standeth And how many have come up and have appeared in full strength and have been permitted to have a blow at Truth but how are they wasted and how are they passed away and perished yet Truth standeth Therefore all people fear the living God and in time be warned for no weapon formed against the Truth shall prosper for Truth standeth over all and Christ Jesus reigneth his Power and Glory and Dignity is set on high and in his Love all Wrath is swallowed up and here is the beginning known and here is the ending set for the Love of God was first and the Love of God is last and here is the finishing of the Work and the closing up in perfect Peace and with this Love all contrary Beings are comprehended and in its own Being it remains unchangeable and it is Truth and no lye and Truth standeth Glory to the Most High for ever and ever Amen W. S. Here is the Wisdom and Patience of the Saints Who have ears to hear let them hear THE END
passing from Death to Life and Christ Jesus is then known and Life in him and so an innocent birth is born of the Seed of God and man rises in Christ and becomes an heir of Life and blessing and then he knowes the Kingdom and the Inheritance and there he possesses the Peace and the Joy and then the Seed manifests its perfect beauty in its own perfect righteousness and perfect holiness and the glory of it spreads abroad and this is a state which can never be compassed nor attained but as in it self it is revealed for the strongest Reason of man is below it and the deepest of his Wisdom cannot fatham it nor compass it neither is there any other way to possesse it but through death to all that part which would compass it and comprehend it therefore every man to become a fool that he may be wise and if People would but come to such a state they might behold the son in his beauty and the glory of his incomprehensible Life and Wisdom which many are come to witness to his praise for evermore And all that would be answered with Peace must come to the simple state for the subtil searcher createth grief and trouble and therefore every man and woman to deny themselves and receive Christ Jesus in the despised way of the Cross that he may baptize them into his death and raise them again in his own Life and then his Life and Power and Wisdom spreads abroad and his kingdom over all is set and there is rest from labour and sitting down in perfect peace The Inheritance known in the Kingdom the Possession known in the Riches of it then man knows his portion in God who is the Fountain of everlasting good I thank the O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent of the world and hust revealed them unto babes even so Father because thy good pleasure is such A Narrative of some unjust and cruel Dealings c. I Having received the Truth of God and coming to walk in obedience to it and to live it I came to be convinced by it of the unlawfulness of many things that in times past I had practised and observed and amongst divers other things I was convinced in my Conscience of the unlawfulness of Tythes and being so convinced I duely considered them in the ground because I would not keep back any thing from another that might be his right And waiting in that which did convince me of the unlawfulness of them it was manifested to my understanding that the ground of them under the Gospel was wholly out of the truth and besides if any man had a due in such a part of my estate as was under the Law when such a part was due to certain People and for certain uses yet I found that the same use was not made of that part now neither were they such a People that now in divers places did receive them for under the Law they were paid into the Storehouse and the Levites had one part and the Fatherless and the Stranger and the Widows they were relieved with another part so that the Store-house did supply the necessity of many and there was not an Impropriator known in that day to have his own private Barn to gather his Tythes into and dispose of them to his own private use But besides this great disproportion betwixt Tythes under the Law and the use of them then and Tythes at this day and the use of them now I also was convinced that Christ Jesus was come to be the end of the Law and the end of that Priesthood and the Priesthood being changed there is of necessity a change of the Law and that by Christ Jesus Life and Immortality was brought to light through the Gospel and that a free dispensation was now to be enjoyed and lived in And still waiting to understand these things perfectly I came to know my own freedom by the power of Truth in my own heart and the Truth set me free from that state where I had been in bondage and so I was gathered by the Light of Christ Jesus manifest in my Conscience into the love of God where he opened his Fountain and I tasted the freeness of his grace and of his Mercy and in this dispensation the Son of God was revealed in me and then I knew the Law to be fulfilled by him and all the Types and Figures and Shadows and variable Things to pass away and come to their end then was my Understanding perfectly informed concerning the particular case of Tythes and I was clear in my Understanding that no Commandment stood in force for the continuing of them but by Christ Jesus the Law and the Commandment was fulfilled and that no man had any right either to give or sell to another any part of that increase which the Lord increased unto me and was truly the fruit of my own labour and charge And upon this ground I could not for Conscience-sake towards God observe that Practise or Custom of Tythes any longer though before I had done it with great diligence yet now I could not set out any part of that to another which I was satisfied was my own but I did mind to gather my corn as it came into order without taking notice of any man And William Pocklington of North Collingham was at that time the Farmer by Lease from the Impropriator of that part called Tythes within that place where I had corn growing but this is to be noted how that he had assigned the interest of his Lease unto Anthony Pocklington his Brother as the said Anthony told me himself and as there was sufficient cause to believe it for the said Anthony was in Possession and did gather the Tythes for his own use by which it did evidently appear that the present Possession after the manner of the Law did lye in Anthony and not in William Yet notwithstanding the said William caused a Sheriffs Warrant to be brought against me and sued me in his own Name and one John Taylor came into my dwelling house and did arrest my Body at William Pocklington's suit and I desired to see the Warrant and he shewed it unto me and I found the day of appearance to be past according to the Warrant and when I told the said Taylor of it he left me and went his way then the said William procured another Sheriffes Warrant against me and one John White came to my house and did arrest my Body and he gave me time untill the next morning to come to his house at Newark and when I came there I found William Pocklington who would have been drawing of me to Composition and said he would put it to me if I would but give him any thing but I could not consent to give him any thing upon that account whereupon he caused me to be sent to Nottingham Prison and it being mentioned
there were four concerned in that matter namely Sutton of Besthorp Daulton of South-Scarle Richard Light foot of North-Collingham and Pocklington's own Servant whose name I know not and I did let all these men know as I had opportunity to speak to them that they did me wrong and warned them to take heed what they did in that case and told them I did not give any consent for them to take away my Corn yet notwithstanding they proceeded so to do from time to time which doth amount on their part to a forcible taking though never opposed by resisting and besides the Law doth not give any such power to take Tythes but only binds the party to set them forth and not to carry them away therefore these persons aforesaid are no less than deep transgressors of the Law and have made themselves liable to the Law as there is freedom to make use of their own weapon and hereby all sober people may see how this man's house hath been furnished with envy and though he hath had so many years to empty it yet he hath not cleared it as by his practice is manifest but I desire his eyes may be opened and that he may see the end of those things and come to Repentance before it be too late for his glass is almost run and without Repentance his end will be bitterness and I would have him know that there is a righteous God that judgeth between him and me this day and into his hand alone I commit my innocent Cause Something touching the Ground of Tythes by which it doth appear that Tythes are not of right upon any account in any place or to any person at this day neither can any Law be truly grounded from the Scriptures of Truth either to give them or to sell them The Law was given by Moses and under that Law Tythes 〈…〉 and they were not to keep them back for in 〈…〉 was a complaint that they robbed God and they were to bring their Tythes into the Storehouse that there might be meat enough and that the Fatherless Strangers and Widows might be relieved and not want and here was the first Covenant with its Law and Priesthood and Tythes and Temple and Sacrifices and Offerings of divers sorts and Meats and Drinks and divers Washings all which was but a figure of him that was to come Christ Jesus for the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did and when through those figures and shadows the better hope was brought in then was Moses and his Administration fulfilled with all things that did pertain unto it and in fulness of time Christ Jesus came and Grace and Truth came by him which Grace and Truth is free and ends the first Covenant with all its Services and Ordinances and establisheth a new Covenant upon better promises in which Covenant Christ Jesus is known to be the High-Priest over the house of God and there is the Gospel free without money or without price and the Grace free which saveth and not the works of the first Covenant and it was never the practice of Christ or his Apostles to take Tythes or to sue people for them neither is the name of an Impropriator to be found in all the Scriptures and how these things are come to pass let people consider for Christ nor his Disciples did never receive Tythes neither gave any Commandment for any man to take them or for any man to pay them then such as now take them and sue people at Law for them do not walk either by precept or example from Christ or his Apostles and therefore their practice is altogether unlawful and out of the Truth and all Impropriators are wholly excluded throughout the Scriptures for Tythes under the Law were never appointed to any under that name therefore they cannot have any just right in them Object But some may say Surely they have the greatest right to Tythes because they have purchased them and the Law hath made Tythes to become unto them as an Estate in Fee Simple Ans There not being either precept or president from Christ nor his Apostles nor no such Institution under the Gospel it must needs remove this Objection wholly and that any man can have just power to sell the labour of another or any increase that rises from his labour and to give unto another person an interest in it as an Estate of Inheritance this will not stand with the reasonable part of a man for that which doth arise to one man through the labour of another man cannot stand for a certain Interest because it cometh through labour and charge and not through any thing certain so that if a man labour not then the party that doth claim an interest in his Increase is wholly disseized and dispossessed of that part which he claims as an Inheritance and the selling and buying of Tythes is come in of late years compared with the years since the Apostles time and both the buyer and the seller were under a vail of thick darkness at that time which the Light of the Lord doth now make manifest and it is now seen with a clear eye that such things are come to pass in the Apostacy and instituted after the Inventions of men and not after Christ the Wisdom of God and therefore they are now to be denied and the Root of them plucked up and destroyed and not to stand in any place nor unto any man for Grace and Truth is come by Jesus Christ in which Grace and Truth the Freedom is known and Tythes as now used in England are an invention of the Pope and who would know their rise and setting up must look into Histories for their ground for in the Gospel-Scriptures there is no ground for them to stand upon and Verstegen an Antiquary doth relate their very rise in England and doth declare that Pope Gregory sent over a company of his Priesthood and Officers into the Island of England who preached their Doctrine and turned many to their Faith and then the Pope sent them a Letter to take the free gift of such as they had converted and to live upon it which thing they at the first did as the History relates and those gifts were all brought into one place out of which the necessities of those were supplyed whom it concerned but after they had spread their Doctrine more generally and that there was an increase amongst people in their practice then they began to divide the whole into particulars and appointed to each man his place of Cure which he was to take the charge of and to receive their particular gifts but not to receive or take of any other but such as were of his Faith and owned his practice And here was the first institution of Parishes and Parish Churches in England according to History and when they were thus setled and that the gifts would not answer their particular ends some beginning to