THE Remonstrance OF THE Suffering-PEOPLE of GOD CALLED QUAKERS Clearing their Innocency from the many false Aspersions Slanders and Suggestions which are lately come abroad in the Nation causlesly upon them For among my People are found wicked men that lie in wait as he that sets snares They set a Trap they catch them As a Cage is full of Birds so are their Houses full of Deceit Therefore they are become Great and waxen Rich. Jer. 5.26 27. London Printed in the Year 1665. The REMONSTRANCE of the Suffering-People of God called QUAKERS clearing their Innocency from the many false Aspersions Slanders and Suggestions which are lately come abroad in the Nation causlesly upon them FOrasmuch as the everlasting God of all Truth hath visited us from on high out of his Everlasting Love unto us and hath revealed Jesus Christ the Light of the world and the Life of men unto us and in us who have waited and longed for his appearance unto our souls that we might be partakers of his Heavenly Power from on high and that we might know his Eternal Power made manifest to us and in us by which the Saints in former ages were led and guided into all Truth and to walk in the same to the honour of God the Everlasting Being from whom Eternal Life is conveyed through Christ Jesus unto all that do believe in the measure of his Eternal Spirit which he hath given to every one a measure of to profit withal even every man that is come into the world to that intent and end that every one who receiveth it and closeth with it in their hearts might be led from darkness unto Light from sin unto Righteousness from Satan's power to the Power of God and from death and him that hath the power of death which is the Devil unto God the Everlasting God of all Truth and to have fellowship with him in the mystery of the Gospel of his Son Jesus Christ by which remission of sin is obtained and an inheritance among the Sanctified Ones who were made meet to be partakers thereof who are gone before and rest in the bosom of the Father unto which high and great Calling God hath called us even to be partakers of the same Faith Hope Inheritance and Calling through the riches of his Love manifest to us in Christ Jesus in the end of the world Now and in the last times that hath yet been in being or ever appeared amongst the sons of men a necessity is laid upon us on the Lord's behalf in whom we have believed to speak the truth as it is in Jesus before God and all his holy Angels and before all men and to the Witness of God in every man in the world who yet doth not believe yet according to this in all Consciences will his Judgment be and unto that everlasting Testimony of God in all English-hearted-men and all men of every Nation Kindred Tongue and People upon the face of the whole Earth and to the Testimony in all Consciences who live and have a being according to Gods everlasting Witness in them we appeal and that shall bear witness to us that either before now or hereafter that we have do and shall speak the truth as it is in Jesus Christ and according to which we must all be judged and to receive Sentence from the hand of the Lord according to what we shall declare unto all in this particular for evermore We are a People who have enquired after the Lord and only desired to know Him and his Worship and that we might worship him in Spirit and in Truth and find acceptance with him and have fellowship with him in that which endures for evermore that our souls might live in his sight and that we might witness his Countenance and Favour manifested to us and the Evidence of his Spirit bearing witness to us and in us that we are accepted of him through Christ Jesus We are not ignorant of all the set and stinted Forms of Worship and Formal profession in our own generation and what it is and what the enjoyments of all are in respect of God and his Worship for we our selves have travelled those paths in diligent circumspection and much vigilancy in the observation of all those outward things which are accounted by some as Divine and Holy Institutions and Ordinances of God which generally the People take upon trust from their Leaders and Elders Tradition of time or Custom of Nations but alas we know how it was with us in that state and how it is with all such who are so busying themselves about bodily exercises which profit little while their hearts are not upright to that of God made manifest in them by which he shews unto man his thoughts and his evil and also that which is good and acceptable in his sight yet notwithstanding all such who are professing God and Christ in words and worship and yet be enemies to him and that which may be known of him in their hearts both in life and works And such were we in times past in ignorance and unbelief and yet had a profession and a zeal according to the times but not according to the true knowledge of God in Christ Jesus But God out of his rich Love and Mercy had compassion on us in this estate and knew the longing and thirsting of our hearts after him that we might obtain him manifested his Eternal Words of Life and Power in our hearts which became a Light unto our feet and a Lanthorn unto our paths by which we came to see our selves and our own estate and that all our righteousness were as filthy rags and that all the inventions traditions and ordinances of men which are repugnant unto the Will and Ordinances of Christ that all these were and are abomination unto the Lord and that he hath no pleasure in them neither in them that draw near unto him pretending honour and worship unto him while they offer up unto him in the darkness and ignorance of their minds with polluted hearts and lips and that which he never required These things are an Abomination we being made sensible thereof by the Spirit of God which discovers both words and works and knowing his Judgment to come upon us not only for sin but also for that which hath been and is by some yet counted for righteousness and worship who are still in the unbelief the Lord made a separation in our hearts betwixt the Precious and the Vile and called us out of the unfruitful works of darkness and out of the World and its wisdom which knows not God and out of the paths of those who are in the Fall and in the Apostacy and are erred from the Life and Power of God and the holy Injunctions of Christ not to have any more fellowship with them in the vain corrupt traditions of men nor them that would set mans threshold by God's threshold and not only so but would even overthrow
both the Life Power and Vertue of all true Religion and holy Exercise to set up the Constitutions and Decrees of man and Ordinances and Imaginations of men in a bodily shew of holy Worship when God requires no such thing of man moreover would impose the fallible Judgments and changeable Institutions of men upon mens Consciences and would be Lords over mens Faith such we cannot own neither have fellowship with but are clearly separated from such things in our hearts and cannot own such with the presence of our persons in conformity to that which we see no ground for neither themselves can give any out of the Scriptures of Truth or from the Examples of the Apostles and primitive Church so called For this thing we have been railed and slandred misreported defamed and evil-spoken of falsly accused evilly entreated reproached mocked stocked stoned imprisoned whipped buffeted our Goods spoiled and our Families sought to be ruined and we not counted worthy to live in our Country and Land of our Nativity Therefore Devices have been made and Engines formed against us and Laws and Acts made that we must either conform to that which no man as yet hath convinced us of either by discourse word or writing or else we cannot enjoy our Liberties as men in the Nation but must be banished as persons unfit to live among men or in our natural habitations separated from our Wives and dear Children in jeopardy of our Lives if we return in seven years nay in peril daily in loss of Goods Mulcts Fines long Imprisonments and he that doth the most mischief unto us thinks he doth God the most service and the Kingdom the best office But as the enemy of mankind the Devil and Satan ceaseth not to represent the best of the Lords works in a bad form even so doth his Instruments the Lords People and of their life and works to stir up a dislike in Peoples minds against them and therefore the greatest Truth by some hath been counted the greatest Heresy The Jews the alone Church of God in that age all the Gentiles hated and the Nations that knew not God whom God reproved Christ the Prince of Peace was said to be a Samaritan and to have a Devil and to cast out Devils by Beelzabub the Prines of Devils and to be an Enemy to Caesar and a Friend of Publicans and Sinners and a Blasphemer and a Breaker of the Law of Moses and a Transgressor of the Ordinances of the Jews and what not He was numbered amongst Transgressors and a Murderer preferred before him and he that was given for the Light of the Gentiles and the Salvation of Israel and of all to the ends of the Earth was counted as the Troubler and Disturber of their State and Government And so it happened to all his Followers and the Prophets that went before Elias was reckoned by Ahab his Enemy and the Troubler of Israel and likewise Micah and Jeremiah were reckoneo as men fallen away to the forreign Enemies viz. to the Babylonians in the the time of Zedekiah because he pleased not the Princes of Zedekiah they put him in the Dungeon his feet stuck fast in the mire Isaiah was counted a Troubler of the People and a Disturber of Jerusalem and the Country so that they said Speak no more of these things unto us for we will not hear them What should I speak of Paul of Peter of James of Stephen of Silas of John and of all the Holy Men of God of John Baptist of all the Believers among the Jews of all the Believers among the Gentiles and of the suffering Brethren in the Apostles dayes and of all the suffering Christians by the Romans and in the ten Persecutions in latter years in Europe where the Name of Christ was published so that the best of men have been in all ages reckoned by the Powers of the world and People thereof the greatest Malefactors and have been counted not worthy to live but Enemies to States and Governments Turners of the world upside down Seditious Pestilent desperate Wicked Ringleaders of Sects Setters out of strange gods Deceivers Deluders Despisers of Princes Enemies to Churches States to Common-Wealths and Enemies to all mankind Disturbers of Reace of Misbehaviout and what not In a word not one of the faithful People of God in any age or generation but they were condemned and censured as Evil-doers and were made to suffer as such the most by some publick pretended Law or if I may say perverted Law or other whereby they were judged or else by making some Law or other to suit their intended purpose to be a cloak and a cover unto them of some shew and seeming Reason why they so proceed in a seeming way of legality to blind the minds of People that it was done by the force of some Equitable Power and that all that were Transgressors of such Ordinances and Laws though never so repugnant to the mind of God yet all ought to obey them And they that suffered by them were reckoned as Evil-doers And so all the Saints have suffered and were condemned by the world But Christ is come for this very end to convince the world of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment and will condemn that Judgment which is acted by the power of the Prince of this world because he shall be cast out and must not for ever sit as Judge over the Heritage of God for then the Lord's Heritage would be laid waste and the Destroyer and his Instruments trumph in their wicked enterprizes We who are brought forth in this last age of the world and have been made to tremble because of the Word of the Lord and the dread of his Holiness that we have seen and known called reproachfully Quakers We have been a suffering People since the Lord hath called us and chosen us out of the world to bear witness to his Name and to that everlasting Truth by which freedom from Sin is witnessed which the Prophets and Holy Men of God of old the Apostles and Members of the Church of Christ were made Testators of and we are Members of the same Body and do believe no other things than that which all the Prophets bare witness unto and all the Apostles and Ministers of Christ and Members of the Church of Christ which is his Body believed and no other Hope or Faith have we or profess we than that which was once delivered unto the Saints of old in the pure and holy Plantation of the Gospel nor no other belief have we either as to Doctrine or Practice but that which is consistent with the Church of Christ and according to the Scriptures of Truth And though we have had greas opposition yet hath none convinced us of Errour or of Evil-doing in point of practice as walking in the societies of men but we have endeavoured with great diligence to make our Calling and Election sure and that we might have a Conscience void of offence
such there be to aid or assist any Forreign Enemy or to breed any Contention at home in the Nation and have not fellowship with such unprofitable works of darkness but do utterly deny them and all such contrivances 5. We deny all such as by any false insinuation or suggestions alienate the minds of any of the People from their duty to their Prince or Nation but rather do exhort all men To study Peace to be quiet and cease from Strife and Contention and to stop their ears from hearing or receiving that which tends to the hurt of the Nation or any particular man therein 6. We are not so void of reason and understanding but that we know and are sensible that any forreign Nation or People who are Aliens unto another People if at any time they should prevail in way of War or Hostility upon any Nation or part thereof we know it would imbondage the whole and make all greater sufferers as experience doth daily teach therefore knowing and being sensible of such things we cannot but judge and condemn all such desires in any much more their actions if any should attempt any such things in the discontent of their minds to be foolish treacherous and inhumane and whosoever are actors in any such things we utterly disown them to be so far void of truth that they have lost their understandings as men 7. And all such Meetings or Conventicles which are Seditious and Unlawfull in the sight of God we deny whose principal end is to confirm each other in Malice against the Government or do make any Collections to support any Party or raise any moneys for any listed men who appear in any desperate undertaking or any that have designed either time or place for any such end as to raise War or to yeeld to any aid either in our own Nation or to any Party if there be any such or to any Forreign Enemy we do utterly deny any such both their persons and practises 8. But we freely confess unto all and before all we have met together this many years for the Worship of God to pray together in the holy Ghost to exhort one another unto Righteousness and to build up one another in the most holy Faith as the Christians of old did and dare not forsake the assembling of our selves together unto this innocent and holy duty that God requires all Christian men to be exercised in neither do we limit the Lord to time or place as some do and would have us to conform to that which we are not perswaded of in our hearts neither are we convinced of by any but rather confirmed by the Scriptures of Truth and by our daily witnessing of Gods Presence amongst us Although we are liable to many sufferings therfore and have undergone great penalties meetly for the Worship of God for which end we ever met and no other as God knows and all that have been present at our Assemblies from time to time can bear witness who are not of us nor of our perswasion either as to doctrine or practice in many particulars Yet we freely confess before God and all men we have had Collections amongst us God having put it into our hearts that of what we have and what God hath blessed us with we have been and still are out of our small estates ready to maintain good works for it 's Christ and the Apostles Doctrine For if we say we love God and suffer our Brother to want how then dwelleth the Love of God in us Besides we have many poor Widows and Fatherless and many poor Prisoners who are sufferers for Christ and the Gospels sake unto whom we have ministred without being chargeable unto any Parish in the Nation for our Poor besides the Contribution for the Poor of the several Parishes in the Nation and other good and necessary works we have maintained and shall be ready while we enjoy any thing in this present world Besides these works of Charity God he knows and we are bold to chalenge all the whole World to prove that ever we collected any thing but for the aforesaid vertuous and pious uses according to the will of God 9. We deny all such if any such there be who make any such Collections in their Assemblies to maintain War or to buy any Weapons of War and to encourage or support any such desperate undertaking to carry on any design under any pretence whatsoever against the Peace of the Kingdom or Government of the same or to the disturbing or hurting of any man or men either in person or estate 10. We our selves know that Sion must not be builded with Blood nor the Church of God by Weapons of War nor Religion propagated by Violence and therefore we cannot strive with those Weapons nor with any Carnal Weapons of War either fight to defend or offend being redeemed out of those things and can forgive our enemies and bless them that curse us and pray for them that persecute us and do good to them that evil intreat us and have learned the Doctrine of Christ knowing if any do us wrong or injustice Vengeance belongs to the Lord and he hath wayes enow to recompence them so that we need not neither are we careful in this matter but have committed our selves unto the Lord the faithful Creator and Preserver of all that do believe and we cannot render evil for evil nor seek revenge nor reviling for reviling Yet knowing the Innocency of our own hearts and that the glorious Truth of our God is concerned with us we cannot but deny all false slanders and accusations that have been laid to our charge and speak the Truth and testifie it before all and unto all that it may be believed and Truth cleared before all 11. Whoever they be that have do or shall hereafter plot contrive consult levy War raise Arms joyn with any forreign or domestick Enemies under any pretence whatsoever against the King or Government or to the disturbing of the Nation or to bring it into any commotion in any hostile way or manner We in the presence of the Lord and before all men in the Nation do deny from our sincere hearts all such and their practices as to be out of the Truth of the Gospel and we have not nor cannot have any fellowship with them Therefore let none impute any such things unto us or trouble us any more with their groundless jealousies surmises or charges of this nature which we are innocent in And O that the inmost part of all our heart were open and bare before all in Authority in the Nation And O that you had no greater enemies at home or abroad than we are then might you all rest in peace and quiet without fear or jealousie of any harming you Last of all Be it known unto all men We are resolved into Suffering-Principles to bear all things endure all things and fuffer all things for Christs sake and if we must still