presentment comes before you whereby you may proceed and that you cannot act in proceedings without some matter for a ground unto which is answered That if you would but as diligently search and examine such things among our selves as you do other things among poor counâ—ry pâ—ople it is believed that you might find mâ—tter sufficient as a ground to set you upon motion and that is the proper place where you are to begin for such things are offences against God and his Truth and the Law very fitly takes notice of them as offences worthy of punishment and the Quakers are not against the punishment of evil-doers And if you would begin in your own house and make it clean then clean people would have some delight to dwell with you for they that are washed and sanctified by the Spirit of the Lord they cannot joyn to any unclean thing therefore observe the Law and its directions as to your selves before you be so busie to execute it upon others But you rather choose to take notice of such things as may increase your gain than of such things as may profit the soul. And because of these things the Land mourneth and is distressed for you have neither precept nor president from Christ and his Apostles for such proceedings neither can such as follow Christ own your practice and proceedings in such cases for it is below a Christians Life and they that be in the Christians Life do suffer by you that profess Christianity out of the Life And is it not below spiritual men to plead Laws and Statutes for their proceedings in cases of Conscience Have you no other Power and Authority in such cases but what is given you by Laws and Statutes if you have then shew plainly upon what ground your Authority standeth and if you have no Authority in cases of Conscience but what is given you by Laws and Statutes do you not thereby take away the Authority and dignity of Christ Jesus and do you not as much as in you lieth go about to unthrone him from this right For what Law can reach the Conscience but the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus And what Power is able to Judge the Conscience but the Power of Christ Jesus and what Authority can govern the Church and keep it in Discipline and Order but the Authority of Christ Jesus And would you take away his Right and give it to another or take it your selves Doth not this manifest that you want his Spirit Power and Authority and so the Magistrates must help you by their Power and Authority and their Laws in some cases must be the ground of your proceedings and in other cases your own Inventions without Law and that makes your Excommunications null and void for the Magistrates have not that power given unto them as to what they do for you in such cases though you or some before you may have urged them and drawn them to provide Laws for you yet they are all dead in themselves as wanting power to serve unto that end for which they are provided because the Conscience is not to come under the power of any man in things pertaining to God and though we that are called Quakers do own Magistrates as they are for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of them that do well which is their proper place as Magistrates and in such cases we are actively subject to their Power not only for fear but for Conscience sake yet wherein they extend their Power to the Conscience and thereby would give you power to exercise Lordship over the Conscience we cannot in that place be actively subject because in so doing they give you power to intrude into the Authority of Christ Jesus And as for Conscience sake we are actively subject to their Power in their right place so for Conscience sake we cannot be actively subject when they stretch their power unto spiritual things which is out of their place and both these are for Conscience sake unto us who are cal'd Quakers For as we dare not deny the one for Conscience sake we cannot own or submit to the other for Conscience sake And what more is to be expected from us as to active obedience to the Magistrates power but only in cases which pertaineth to civil things And have we ever refused or denyed obedience to their Power in any such case And as to your proceedings by the Magistrates Power in cases of Conscience it might be some satisfaction unto many People if you would openly declare by what Laws and Statutes you maintain your Courts and Proceedings and in what Kings time they were made For if you have not the temporal Power to warrant and maintain you then you only move as Birds in the air which have no certain Centre and this is the ground why we that are called Quakers deny your practice and proceedings in cases of Conscience as not being warrantable by the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus nor according to the Scriptures of Truth And we know that no temporal Power or Law can maintain your proceedings against the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus for it is he alone that hath Power and Authority to rule and govern the Conscience and not any besides him and so in cases of Conscience your proceedings are without Power and consequently void in Law for without Power there is not any offence can be truly tried or punished And herein you are found wrong doers by your proceedings and you pull down your own building by pleading Laws and Statutes for your proceedings in such cases and moderate people do see that you are not spiritual as you pretend but only in some things have the Magistrates Sword on your side by which many become subject more out of fear than for Conscience sake And because we cannot for Conscience sake be conformable in such cases therefore you proceed against us and inflict punishment upon us and that is contrary to Reason which is counted the root of the Law For it is not a reasonable thing that the exercise of our Consciences should come under your power to be punished whilest as to Civil things we are not found guilty of any offence and this we do maintain against you to be a truth And therefore as to us your proceedings are of no more force than as you drive them forward in the strength of your own wills and yet there is a great noise that we will not obey the Laws nor be subject to Government and that we are a willful People and deserve to suffer Now we would have our Accusers to shew us plainly what Law we disobey and in what Kings time that Law was made and also shew us wherein we are a willful People and deserve to suffer for we do not know any thing by our selves in such matters neither can such an accusation lye upon us for as to all things which the Law requireth which
for the Quakers you have never yet shewed any such cause upon your proceedings and therefore as to them your Excommunications are void and such falsly Imprisoned who suffer upon that account forasmuch as you have not at any time proved them offenders against God and his Truth which is the cause of Excommunication and they that tryed judged such cases in the true Spirit they proceeded to Excommunication upon such cases as were proved to be an offence against God and his Truth but they did not proceed to imprison any by the power of temporal Laws nor by their own power though such offences were proved against them as might bring them under Excommunication neither did they proceed against those that were without but if any that was called a Brother was a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner they were to put away from among them such wicked persons so mark they were amongst them against whom they proceeded to Excommunication and those that were without they left to be judged of the Lord 1 Cor. 5. For a man is first to be within before he be cast out and when he is within as to profession and then walketh not according to the Rule of Truth and will not receive Admonition to be reformed from his abuses then he is to be cast out as a wicked person So the Apostle did not say If any will not come to our Worship and hear our Service or will not have their Children Baptized or will not receive the holy Communion as now commonly used or be in Error in matters of Religion or Doctrine allowed in the Church or pay not their Tythes or Tenths that then they shall proceed to cast out such as wicked persons He did not lay these things down as a ground for such proceedings but he took notice of the wickedness which was an offence against God and his Truth and so laid down the most principal matters upon which they were to proceed for the casting out such offenders from amongst them and this was their Practice who judged in the true Spirit and cast out offenders by the power of the true Spirit But you cast out such as are not offenders in any such matters and count them unworthy of common dealing and society among men and cause them to be cast into prison by the Temporal Power and so you cast out sober and righteous and godly people whereas they cast out drunkards and fornicators and such as were in transgression but they did not Imprison them and you are doing both and that to a people who are neither drunkards nor fornicators noâ— any way offenders against God and his Truth but live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world and you have not any thing further against them but as to things pertaining to their Consciences of which you are not able to judge so that if you did not first make causes you could find none in the Quakers to give you any occasion to proceed in such a manner against them and besides they are not of you but are separated from you and those causes you make are in themselves so slender and weak as that they cannot any way bear the weight of such proceedings neither ought you to be judgâ— in the case forasmuch as the cause is your own and the Law of the Nation excludeth men from being Judges in their own Cause as supposing that men in their own Cause will eye their own Interest more than the common good and therefore it excludes them from trying or judging in that case and yet you go much further by taking upon your selves the whole matter as in these particulars 1. There is no Cause but what you make 2. There is no Evidence but your own Conclusions 3. There is not any to give Judgment or Sentence besides your selves Now every Cause is to be of that nature as the Law properly in it self will take hold upon by which it cometh under the power of the Law to be determined and every such Cause is to be proved by such Evidence as are not related to it and also to be determined by such Judge or Judges as are no way concerned in the matter and so all parties which may stand any way related unto the Cause either in Evidence or Judgment are excluded But your Proceedings are wholly left unto your selves and your own Interest is involved which makes you parties and what plea can be held against you in such a case to obtain right from you For it is to be understood that you have not made such Causes and gotten power to act in such proceedings as to give judgment against that which you have made or to determine the matter against your own Interest and so it may well and safely be concluded that you are resolved in the beginning how the matter shall end and not any plea though never so good and sound that will help the Defenddant in his Case And here you are beside the Law of the Nation again for every good and sound plea is to be admitted on the Defendants behalf in all Courts of trial and the Defendant is to have the benefit of his Plea so far as it will hold good against the Plantiff and hereby many Plantiffs are overturned in their Cause and all Judges standing equal in Judgement as to the Cause of both parties do suffer the matter so to be tried and proved before them as that they may from a good understanding do right unto the party grieved But you will not admit of any Plea though never so good and sound according to Scripture which is the chief plea on the Defendants part against you yet you will not admit of it to the Defendants benefit by doing him right accordingly but with confidence proceed to Excommunication if there be not Conformity given and so your proceedings are found to be against the Law of the Nation in these particulars 1. In destroying common Dealings and Society among men 2. In Excommunicating and Imprisoning without shewing sufficient cause 3. In being Judges in your own Cause 4. In not admitting the Defendants Plea And as these things are the very foundation or ground of your proceedings and being found to be against the Law it self so the Law doth not properly stand by you neither can you properly stand by the Law for the Law doth not properly stand by any thing that is against it but rather takes hold upon it to suppress it and if this were well minded you would not be admitted to sit in the highest seat of Judgment concerning Spiritual things Now you first cause People to be presented for not going to their Parish Church and then you proceed to Excommunicate and Exclude them and no Plea will be admitted by you in the Case And is the first an offence in your account and is not the latter of as high a nature Surely if there be an offence in the first it
as he is chief in outward Government and so in general tearms he includes his Interest and good in theirs and their Interest and Good in his own and do not you proceed to Excommunicate and Imprison such People and do you not make them uncapable of common dealings and society amongst men and do you not make them uncapable of having any benefit by the Law as complainants and do you not judge them unworthy of the Kings Protection and is not this to make a distinction between the King and his People for no common good as to outward things can arise to the sufferers and as the King concerns his own good in the good of his People by a joynt Interest do you not wrong the King by intruding upon his Interest Surely the mind of the King as it is manifest and your proceedings which you practise are at a great distance and much contrary one to the other for you plainly endeavour to blot out that known Truth which he would have imprinted forasmuch as you destroy the common good of his People in which it so nearly concerns his own And now upon what Foundation will you have your building to stand and by what will you uphold your work in which you are so busie for your work is found contrary to the Law of the Nation and contrary to the Spirit of Truth and contrary to the Scriptures of Truth and contrary to Christianity and contrary to Reason and contrary to the Law and the Prophets and contrary to the Doctrine of Christ Jesus and contrary to what is manifest to be the Kings mind and where will you have a Foundation to build your work upon for as it is found contrary to all these weighty things so by their Authority your work in cases of Conscience may well be questioned yea the Law of the Nation may justly question you and the Spirit of Truth may justly question you and the Scriptures of Truth may justly question you and Christianity may justly question you and Reason may justly question you and the Law and the Prophets may justly question you and Christ Jesus may justly question you and the King may justly question you and what can your Foundation be but the love of money which is the root of all evil And these things are opened thus fully and largly that you might see your selves as in a glass others might see you with open face And what sad effects have ensued the execution of temporal Laws which have related to Spiritual things was not such a Law pretended when the Lord of Life was condemned and was not such Laws pretended when the Martyrs suffered and are not such Laws now pretended by which the Innocent and Guiltless are punished and hath not the prosecuting of such Laws been the occasion of destroying the natural Life of many innocent People at this day and doth not this fill your hands with blood and how can you say that you wash your hands in innocency and so approach to God's Altar if your hands be full of Blood And that is the end of your Laws and proceedings in cases of Conscience for such Laws never brought prosperity in their execution but alwayes have been destructive and so brought calamity and misery and it need not be declared what hath hapned by the execution of such Laws both as to years past and the time present for the blood of many declares it and the loss of Estate declares it and the long suffering Bonds and Imprisonment declares it and the sound of this Declaration is higher and louder than Tongue or Pen can declare and will not the Lord make inquisition for these things yea surely he will find out the work of every one and the guilty he will by no means clear therefore love Mercy before you offer Sacrifice for until you love Mercy and live in it all your Sacrifices and Prayers are but as empty shadows and though you may offer and make many of them yet whilst you mingle them with violence and oppression they never reach the Throne of Grace to find acceptation and so the showrs fall not down upon you with a blessing and that makes Briars and Thorns spring out of the ground unto persecution And as for the Quakers you may as easily force the Sun to go backward as force them into your practice and observation or you may as easily restrain the showrs from falling as restrain them from worshipping God in his Spirit for as they fulfil the mind of God by yeelding their obedience and service unto him so they cannot fulfil or satisfie your minds by yeelding their obedience and service unto you and if you were spiritually minded you would never endeavour to force and compel them by the power of temporal Laws but the wrong being greatest to your selves even so they pitty you as well knowing the terror that will come upon you and therefore they labour to perswade you for your own good and do not count them your enemies because they tell you the truth in plainness but be warned to forsake the evil of your doings and live in love and peace as becometh Christians for Christ Jesus must Reign and have the Glory THE END
you have set up Courts and Proceedings which are not to be found in the Scriptures And your first work is to enquire of the Town-Officers who are your Intelligencers if there be any people within their Parishes that do not go to their Parish-Church and hear Divine Service and if there be any such then they must present their Names and Dwellings into the Court and then your next work is to send a Paritor with a Summons from the Authority of your Court unto such parties so presented and to require them to appear before you and when many have simply appeared according to your Summons you commonly ask them If they go to their Parish-Church and hear Divine Service or something to that purpose And though they give you an Answer according to the Scriptures of Truth you will not be satisfied with it but excect they will conform to what you would have them you proceed to Excommunication and so return it to the Temporal Power to cast them into Prison and if they do not appear to your Summons you also proceed in like manner and so you make the Magistrates your Servants and the Sheriffs your Bailiffs For upon the return of your Excommunication to the Magistrates they direct their Writ to the Sheriffs and the Sheriffs arrest the partie or parties by their Warrant and so cast them into prison and keep them in prison upon your account and here you are the cause of laying heavy burdens upon some mens shoulders for you address your selves to the Magistrates and procure their Writ and they issuing forth their Writ to the Sheriffs in answer to your minds the Sheriffs are thereby forced unto Execution though they well know that such upon whom the Writ is to be Executed do not at all deserve such corporal punishment as Imprisonment for as to People in Corporations they well know one another as being Neighbours together and for Sheriffs of Corporations to be forced to execute a Writ upon their Neighbours which unto them are well known to be honest and well-disposed men and such as are of good report and also serviceable in their places and callings doth not this bring a burden upon their Consciences in so doing and yet being compelled and forced to it they do not see how to avoid it as wanting strength to gainsay it and by that means there are many of them brought to do such things in such cases as are against their own Consciences and thereby draw burdens and trouble upon their Consciences And is not this a heavy state which you plunge People into by your proceedings as to cause them to do that which is against their Conscience and so bring them into trouble of Conscience And there may be a question whether any Law in force do bind the Sheriffs to execute a Writ of that nature in such a manner but that is left to their own examination and finding out And now are these things either like Spiritual Men or Judicious Temporal Men And is this your Church Censure to cast out honest People and cause them to be Imprisoned because they cannot for Conscience sake conform unto you do you not believe your selves that there is good cause to object against your proceedings in such cases by which honest People are so exposed to sufferings for you do not only Excommunicate them and cause them to be cast into Prison but you also judge them unworthy of common dealings and society amongst men And if any have to do with them by way of dealing or come in their company by way of society then they must become lyable unto the same Judgment and Cesure of your Court And so your proceedings tend to destroy common dealings and society among Neighbours which the Law of the Nation taketh care to preserve for the Law hath great regard unto common dealing and trading and would not have any man to be discouraged in it because it is a principal upholder of the Nation by supplying all outward wants from one hand to another And you judge and censure this which the Law of the Nation encourageth and so your proceedings are found to be against the Law of the Nation and consequently destructive to the Nation And are not such proceedings worse than the Jews against the young man whose eyes Christ opened for they did but cast him out and all they had against him for so doing was only because he would not deny him by whom his sight was restored to own their sayings And what have you more against those People called Quakers save only that they dare not deny Christ Jesus to own your practice and yet you proceed further against them than did the Jews against the young man for you cause them to be cast into prison and we do not read that the Jews did so by him so you are found in a worse spirit than were the Jews who only cast the young man out and no more but that will not satisfie you except the body be cast into Prison And was it not the Jews that Crucified the Lord of Life Now if your Church was a true Church and your service Divine then you would seek to gain people by Love and not proceed against them in such a manner But your fruit makes your Church and service manifest what they are who persecute honest harmless people that dare not defile their Consciences with polluted things and may not people go to the Church and hear Divine Service except they go to your Steeple-house and hear your matter And may not people perform Divine Service without they hear what you have to say for Service standeth in performing and not only in hearing for many may hear the true Spirit in its reproof and yet not obey it to become servants to it and such are not in Divine Service though they may hear the Divine Spirit And may not people meet with the Lord and hear his Divine Spirit and perform Divine Service in no other place but where you would appoint them Would you be limiting the Holy One and keeping people in bondage by your limitations for if they cannot conform unto you then you cast them out from you and so cast them into prison And is not your limitation the very ground of this Bondage And is the not-going to your Steeple-house a Fact of so high a nature as to be Excommunicated and cast into prison for refusing If it be then shew the offence against God and his Truth or otherwise you cast people into prison without shewing any cause and that is against the Law of the Nation for no Free-man is to be Imprisoned without cause shewed and the Quakers are Free-men and you Imprison them by your proceedings without shewing cause for the cause must be some offence against God and his Truth and the Offence is to be proved by two or three Witnesses or otherwise it is not an offence of that nature as to come under Excommunication and consequently a Prison And as
is much greater in the latter forasmuch as you exclude from that which you cause to be presented as an offence for not going to and then if People were willing to go they are excluded and being excluded they may not be received until they have purchased your Absolution and this maketh an offence on your parts and that according to your own conclusion For if not going be an offence then exclusion must needs be greater and that falleth upon you as the Actors and here you draw a guilt upon your selves in your own work And what neccessity is there for you to cast out and exclude People for that which they are not in is not this a high degree of confusion in your proceedings For if you would have People go to your Steeple-house and Service then overcome with Love and convince them by sound Doctrine and if you judge them unworthy then let them alone where they are and do not run your selves into such confusion as to cast such out as are without before and then judge them unworthy of coming in without your Absolution But if you should do so then you would lose your gain after which you seek and your Diana would fall and your Craft be spoiled and indeed to speak plainly that is the main thing you strive to uphold for your Courts draw sees from such as cannot withstand you and your Absolutions bring money from such as fall under you and so your proceedings end in money by which it is manifest that you are not so much for the honour of Almighty God as the love of Lucre and if that was not to be obtained there is good cause to believe that your Courts would soon dissolve of themselves but whilest there is any hope of gain or profit you will keep them up if the Magistrate will but help you and you have found out so many devices to compass your gain besides that device for not coming to your Steeple-houses and Service as it is a hard matter to escape your Snares especially such as be of a tender Conscience and for the sake of such here are some of your devices opened and with the Scriptures of Truth compared by which trial you are found much wanting 1. You have devised to bring people into your Courts for not Baptizing their Children as you call it and where doth the Scripture command Baptizing of Children after your manner as to sprinkle water in their Faces and to sign them with the sign of the Cross and to have Godfathers and Godmothers to undertake for them For though Christ in his love and tenderness towards little Children would have them suffered to come unto him and not forbidden and that he took them in his arms yet we do not â—â—ad that he sprinkled water in their faces and signed them with the sign of the Cross or that they had Godfathers or Godmothers to undertake for them but he said Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.14 by which he shewed their Innocency and his love to them in that state And now you have gotten a Law to compel people to Baptize their Children as you commonly use it though Christ used it not and if People refuse to use it then you have a snare for them And was it not above four hundred years after Christ before sprinkling Infants came in Read Eusebius And Christ did not mention water when he sent forth his Disciples to Teach and Baptize all Nations but commanded them To Baptize in the Name or into the Name of the Father Son and holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 And the Apostle said That by one Spirit they were all Baptized into one Body 1 Cor. 12.13 and this is beyond your outward sign which you are commonly using and it standeth by the Authority of the Spirit and of the Scriptures without the help of any Temporal Law And do you not say the Scriptures are your Rule and yet you are using such things as are not to be found in them and have a Law to compel or punish those that cannot use the same things with you 2. You have devised to bring People into your Courts concerning your Communion as you commonly use it and call it holy and it is believed that the Communion of the Saints and Apostles was as hoâ—y as yours and yet we do not read that they Excommunicated and cast such into Prison as would not be partakers with them And was not the Communion which they used the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ See 1 Cor. 10.6 And did not the Apostle put people upon the Examination of themselves before they ate of that Bread and drunk of that Cup which was their Communion 1 Cor. 11.28 So mark He did not say If there be any that will not receive this Bread and this Cup as we commonly use it that then we will Excommunicate them and cast them into Prison They did not proceed in such a manner who had the true Communion amongst them but said Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. So see what your Communion is who proceed to punish people that cannot receive it as you commonly use it for the Apostle bids People Examine themselves and so let them eat and you bid People either come and eat or you will proceed to punish them and here is a great difference between your minds and the mind of the Apostle 3. You have devised to bring people into your Courts for Error in matters of Religion and Doctrine by you allowed and do you not believe your selves That the Religion and Doctrine which Christ and the Apostles allowed was as sound and true as yours And we do not read that they Excommunicated and cast such into Prison who differed from that Religion and Doctrine by them allowed for the Apostle bid people examine themselves whether they were in the Faith He did not say You are in Error as to the Religion and Doctrine which we allow and we must Excommunicate you and cast you into Prison and we have a Temporal Law to do it but he saith Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith prove your own selves know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 And by that Examination and proof he would bring people to know Christ Jesus in them and so bring them out of the Reprobate State in which is the Error And this was sound Doctrine by which he laboured to bring people to the knowledge of the Truth that they might be saved and that was to Christ Jesus in them who is the Salvation of God And so the Apostle would not that people should be Reprobate concerning the Faith and live in Error and therefore he preached sound Doctrine to them that he might open their Understandingâ— to know the Truth And the Doctrine that he preached was Christ Jesus in them And this was the Religion and
own perswasion concerning your proceedings you would seemingly clear your selves from persecution But this Covering will not hide you though it be the largest that can be spread over you and if you would clear your selves by it as not being the constitutoâ—s of such Laws then you must needs make the Magistrates guilty and you have no cause at all to do so seeing you reap the Profit and if you would lay it upon them to excuse your selves you requite their pains for you after the worst manner for they are your principal Upholders and Supporters and that breath you live by as to such things you draw it from them and that strength you stand by you receive it from them And have not you or some before you propounded and prescribed such wayes unto them before they have enacted Laws for such purposes And doth not that make you stand originally guilty of the matter And doth not your prosecuting such Laws draw the guilt more upon you though as to what the Magistrates do for you in such cases they are not clear and in time they may come to see it and be weary of it And would you wholly lay your proceedings upon the Magistrates Power and so make them bear the burden of all your work And will that power stand by you in all things you practice or do you not act in many things without their power and do you not thereby plainly do them wrong Now concerning your Steeple-house which you call a Church and bring People into your Courts that cannot pay money towards Repairing it What Law have you in that case And is your Church of that Nature as it must be Repaired with money Will it decay and fall and come to nothing if it be not repaired and upheld with money If that be the nature of your Church as by your proceedings seemeth then People have good cause to absent from it and you have no cause at all to compel any to come unto it for the Church is the Pillar and ground of Truth and it needeth not to be repaired with money because it standeth in the eternal Power and Life which decayeth not and Christ Jesus is the Head and Ruleth over it and is a Husband to it And this is not like an old House that will fall if it be not kept up with money And that is the Church and Church-Government which the Quakers own and submit unto and there needs no outward Law to compel them for the day of his Power hath made them willing and his Love constrains them and so you can neither compel nor restrain them by your Laws for they cannot be compelled to observe that which they know is not true nor restrained from that which they know to be true and whether you proceed against them according to your Law or without Law in such cases it is all one unto them For they do not so much take notice of the outward Law in cases of Conscience as they mind to keep their Consciences void of offence towards God and men So that your proceedings are little unto them whether you render them guilty by a Law or without Law For as their Consciences are void of offence towards God and men so no man can charge an offence to make them gâ—ilty And that wipeth off all your sentences and censures as fast as you give them forth And what Law have you to proceed against people â—or not repairing the fence about the Steeplehouse-Yard and for following honest labour upon those dayes you call Holy-dayes have you not heaped up devices like a Mountain and do not every device bring you some gain and profit and is not that the principâ—l ground why you proceed in them and might their not be a good and sound plea held and maintained against you according to the Scriptures of Truth and might not all your devices be overturned if such a plea could be admitted yea surely your mountain might sâ—on be thrown down if Justice and Equity could but enter therefore you have no cause so highly to lift up your horn seeing you stand upon a slippery place But some may say What is there in all these things which is of concernment as to Life and Salvation for Life and Salvation standeth not in such things but by believing in Christ Yeâ— There is great concernment in these things as to Life and Salvation and they that would come into the true Faith and be a believer in Christ they must deny these things and come out from among them For they that believe in Christ for Life and Salvation they do not yield their obedience to another Power because all Believers obey his commands and not another so here is something of concernment as to Life and Salvation for who are observing such things as Christ doth not command they have not Life and Salvation in him as Believers therefore people are to mind what they obey because they become servants unto that thing and who are obeying any of these things they are certainly in bondage by them and doth not that separate from Life and Salvation in Christ Jesus And unto what do you bring people by your compulsion do you bring them unto Christ or into your own observation And if they cannot bow to your observation then you excommâ—nicate them and cast them into Prison And what command have you for such things according to Scriptures Let us see your Scriptures if you be spiritual men and do not presumâ— above what is written but keep to that which you say is your Rule for the Quakers are noble and search the Scriptures and they find that those things you practice are not so according to Scripture And have not people good cause to be separated from you who erre from the Scriptures and the Power of God And how will you stand by these things in the day when you must give account of all your deeds Will not these deeds appear as evil deeds and will not you appear as evil-doers and what Law will then appear to justifie you before the Judge of Heaven and Earth for you will find him to be a Judge more righteous than your selves and you will not have a plea to hold against him but must bear his Judgement because you have sinned therefore repent whilst you have time and learn to do well And why do you act so furiously against others by the power of the Law and take no notice of your selves by the same Law Is there not a Law for you as well as others Is there not something which the Law taketh notice of as to your selves which properly falleth under the sentence of Excommunication Doth not the Law take notice of Incontenency Usury Simony and Perjury in the Ecclesiastical Courts or Idolatry And doth it not properly relate unto you and brings such things under Excommunication See 5 Eliz. 23. But you here stand silent or rather dead as to any motion and if you say that no such