Chapter IX (3)

“What ado hast thou made to take away the righteousness of the
righteous from him, and to cause us to suffer further, whom thou knew
to have been so long wrongfully in prison contrary to law? Is not
liberty of conscience a natural right? Had there been a law in this
case, and we bound up in our consciences that we could not have obeyed
it, was not liberty of conscience there to take place? For where the
law saith not against, there needs no plea of liberty of conscience;
but the law have we not offended, yet in thy will hast thou caused,
and dost thou yet cause us to suffer for our consciences, where the
law requires no such thing; and yet for liberty of conscience hath all
the blood been spilt, and the miseries of the late wars undergone, and
(as the Protector saith,) this government undertakes to preserve it;
and a natural right, he saith, it is; and he that would have it, he
saith, ought to give it. And if it be a natural right, as is
undeniable, then to attempt to force it, or to punish a man for not
doing contrary to it, is to act against nature; which, as it is
unreasonable, so it is the same as to offer violence to a man’s life.
And what an offence that is in the law thou knowest; and how, by the
common law of England, all acts, agreements, and laws, that are
against nature, are mere nullities; and all the judges cannot make one
case to be law that is against nature. But put the case, had our
standing with our hats on been an offence in law, and we wilfully, and
in contempt, and not out of conscience had stood so (which we deny as
aforesaid), yet that is not a ground wherefore we should be denied
justice, or be heard as to the wrong done to us. ‘If ye will not
offend in one case, I will do you justice in another;’ this is not the
language of the law, or of justice, which distributes to everyone
right; justice to whom justice is due, punishment to whom punishment
is due. A man who does wrong may also have wrong done to him; shall he
not have right wherein he is wronged, unless he right him whom he hath
wronged? The law saith not so; but the wrong-doer is to suffer, and
the sufferer of wrong to be righted. Is not to do otherwise a denying,
letting, or stopping of even law and execution of justice, and a
bringing under the penalties aforesaid? Mind and consider.

“And shouldst thou have accused, when no witness appeared against us,
as in the particulars of striking Peter Ceely, and dispersing books
(as thou saidst) against magistracy and ministry, with which thou
didst falsely accuse one of us? Saith not the law, ‘the judge ought
not to be the accuser?’ much less a false accuser? And wast not thou
such a one, in affirming, that he dispersed books against magistracy
and ministry, when as the books were violently taken out of our
chamber (as hath been said,) undispersed by him, or any of us? Nor
didst thou make it appear in one particular, wherein those books thou
didst so violently cause to be taken away, were against magistracy or
ministry? or gave one instance, or reply, when he denied what thou
charged therein, and spoke to thee to bring forth those books and make
thy charge appear. Is not the sword of the magistrate of God to pass
upon such evil-doing? And according to the administration of the law,
ought not accusations to be by way of indictment, wherein the offence
is to be charged, and the law expressed against which it is? Can there
be an issue without an indictment? Or can an indictment be found
before proof be made of the offence charged therein? And hast thou not
herein acted contrary to the law and the administration thereof, and
thy duty as a judge? What just cause of offence gave George Fox to
thee, when, upon thy producing a paper concerning swearing, sent by
him (as thou said) to the grand jury, and requiring him to say,
whether it was his handwriting? he answered, ‘read it up before the
country, and when he heard it read, if it were his, he would own it?’
Is it not equal, and according to law, that what a man is charged with
before the country, should be read in the hearing of him and of the
country? When a paper is delivered out of a man’s hand, alterations
may be made in it to his prejudice, which, on a sudden looking over
it, may not presently be discerned, but by hearing it read up, may be
better understood, whether any such alterations have been made
therein? Couldst thou in justice have expected or required him to do
otherwise? Considering also, that he was not insensible how much he
had suffered already, being innocent, and what endeavours were used to
cause him further to suffer? Was not what he said, as aforesaid, a
plain and single answer, and sufficient in the law? Though (as hath
been demonstrated) thou didst act contrary to law, and to thy office,
in being his accuser therein, and producing the paper against him. And
his liberty it was, whether he would have made thee any answer at all,
to what thou didst exhibit, or demand, out of the due course of law;
for to the law answer is to be made, not to thy will. Wherefore then
wast thou so filled with rage and fury at his reply? Calmly, and in
the fear of the Lord, consider, wherefore didst thou revile him,
particularly with the reproachful names of juggler and prevaricator?
Wherein did he juggle? wherein did he prevaricate? Wherefore didst
thou use such threatening language, and such menacings to him and us,
saying, thou wouldst _ferk_ us, with such like? Doth not the law
forbid reviling, and rage, and fury, threatening, and menacing of
prisoners? Soberly mind, is this to act like a judge or a man? Is not
this transgression? Is not the sword of the magistrate of God to pass
on this as evil-doing, which the righteous law condemns, and the
higher power is against, which judgeth for God?

“Take heed what ye do, for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who
is with you in the judgment. ‘Wherefore now, let the fear of the Lord
be upon you; take heed, and do it: for there is no iniquity with the
Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts,’ said
Jehoshaphat to the judges of Judah. Pride and fury, passion and rage,
reviling and threatening, are not the Lord’s; these, and the principle
out of which they spring, are for judgment, and must come under the
sword of the magistrate of God; and it is of an ill savour, especially
such an expression, as to threaten to _ferk_ us. Is not such a saying
more becoming a schoolmaster with his rod and ferula in his hand, than
thee, who art the chief justice of the nation, who sittest in the
highest seat of judgment, who ought to give a good example, and so to
judge that others may hear and fear? Weigh it soberly and consider,
doth not threatening language demonstrate an inequality, and
partiality in him, who sits as judge? Is it not a deterring of a
prisoner from standing to, and pleading the innocency of his cause?
Provides not the law against it? Saith it not, that irons and all
other bonds shall be taken from the prisoner, that he may plead
without fear, and with such freedom of spirit, as if he were not a
prisoner? But when he, who is to judge according to the law, shall
beforehand threaten and menace the prisoner contrary to the law, how
can the mind of the prisoner be free to plead his innocency before
him? or expect equal judgment from him who, before he hears him,
threatens what he will do unto him? Is not this the case between thee
and us? Is not this the measure we have received at thy hands? Hast
thou herein dealt according to law? or to thy duty? or as thou wouldst
be done unto? Let that of God in thy conscience judge.

“And didst thou not say, there was a law for putting off the hat, and
that thou wouldst show a law? and didst not thou often so express
thyself? But didst thou produce any law, or show where that law might
be found? or any judicial precedent, or in what king’s reign, when we
so often desired it of thee, having never heard of, nor known any such
law, by which thou didst judge us? Was not what we demanded of thee
reasonable and just? Was that a savoury answer, and according to law,
which thou gave us, viz., ‘I am not to carry the law-books at my back,
up and down the country; I am not to instruct you?’ Was ever such an
expression heard before these days to come out of a judge’s mouth? Is
he not to be of counsel in the law for the prisoner, and to instruct
him therein? Is it not for this cause that the prisoner, in many
cases, is not allowed counsel by the law? In all courts of justice in
this nation, has it not been known so to have been? And to the
prisoner has not this been often declared when he demanded counsel,
alleging his ignorance in the law, by reason of which his cause might
miscarry, though it were righteous, viz., ‘the court is of counsel for
you’? Ought not he that judgeth in the law, to be expert in the law?
Couldst thou not tell by what act of parliament it was made, or by
what judicial precedent, or in what king’s reign, or when it was
adjudged so by the common law (which are all the grounds the law of
England has), had there been such a law, though the words of the law
thou couldst not remember? Surely, to inform the prisoner when he
desired it, especially as to a law which was never heard of, by which
he proceeds to judge him, that he may know what law it is by which he
is to be judged, becomes him who judgeth for God; for so the law was
read to the Jews by which they were to be judged, yea, every
Sabbath-day; this was the commandment of the Lord. But instead thereof
to say, ‘I am not to carry the law-books at my back up and down the
country; I am not to instruct you:’ to say, ‘there is a law,’ and to
say, ‘thou wilt show it,’ and yet not to show it, nor to tell where it
is to be found; consider whether it be consistent with truth or
justice?

“Have not thy whole proceedings against us made it evidently appear,
that thy desire was to cause us to suffer, not to deliver us, who,
being innocent, suffered; to have us aspersed and reproached before
the country, not to have our innocency cleared and vindicated? Doth
not thy taking away our books as aforesaid, and perusing them in such
haste before our trial, and accusing us with something, which thou
said was contained in them, make it to appear, that matter was sought
out of them, wherewithal to charge us, when the Et Cetera warrant
would not stand in law, by which we stood committed, and were then
upon our delivery, according to due course of law? Doth it not further
appear, by thy refusing to take from our hands a copy of the strange
Et Cetera warrant, by which we were committed, and of the paper for
which we were apprehended, to read it or cause it to be read, that so
our long sufferings by reason of both might be looked into, and
weighed in the law, whether just or righteous, and the country might
as well see our innocency and sufferings without a cause, and the
manner of dealing with us as to hear such reports as went of us, as
great offenders, when we called upon thee often so to do, and which
thou ought to have done, and said, thou would do, but did it not; or
so much as take notice before the country that we had been falsely
imprisoned, and had wrongfully suffered? But what might asperse and
charge us, thou brought in thyself, contrary to law, and called to
have us charged therewith. Is not this further manifest, in that thou
didst cause us on a sudden to be withdrawn, and the petty jury to be
called in with their verdict, whereupon Peter Ceely’s falsely accusing
George Fox with telling him privately of a design, and persuading him
to join therein, it was by G. Fox made so clear to be a manifest
falsehood, and so plainly to be perceived, that the cause of our
sufferings was not any evil we had done, or law that we had
transgressed, but malice and wickedness?

“And is it not abundantly clear from thy not permitting us to answer,
and clear ourselves of the many foul slanders charged upon us in the
new-found indictment, of which no proof was made; but when we were
answering thereunto, and clearing ourselves thereof, thou didst stop
us, saying, ‘thou minded not those things, but only the putting off
the hat’ when as, before the country, the new-found indictment,
charged us with those things, and the petty jury brought in their
verdict, ‘guilty of the trespasses and contempts mentioned therein;’
of which (except as to the hat) not one witness or evidence was
produced; and as to the hat, not any law, or judicial precedent, upon
the transgression of which all legal indictments are only to be
grounded? Now the law seeks not for causes whereby to make the
innocent suffer, but helps him to right who suffers wrong, relieves
the oppressed, and searches out the matter, whether that, of which a
man stands accused, be so or not, seeking judgment, and hastening
righteousness; and it saith, ‘the innocent and the righteous slay thou
not.’ But whether thou hast done so to us, or the contrary, let the
witness of God in thee search and judge, as these thy fruits do also
make manifest.

“And, friend, consider how abominably wicked, and how highly to be
abhorred, denied, and witnessed against, and how contrary to the laws
such a proceeding is, to charge a man with many offences in an
indictment, which they who draw the indictment, they who prosecute,
and they who find the bill, know to be false, and to be inserted
purposely to reproach and wound his good name, whom with some small
matter which they can prove, they charge and indict; as is the common
practice at this day. Prove but one particular charge in the
indictment, and it must stand (say they) for a true bill, though there
be ever so many falsehoods therein, purposely to wrong him, who is
maliciously prosecuted: this is known to the judges, and almost every
man who has to do with, and attends, their courts. How contrary is
this to the end and righteousness of the law, which clears the
innocent, and condemns the guilty, and condemns not the righteous with
the wicked! Much it is cried out against; but what reformation is
there thereof? How else shall clerks of assize, and other clerks of
courts, fill up their bags (out of which perhaps their master must
have a secret consideration), and be heightened in pride and
impudence; that even in open court they take upon them to check and
revile men; men without reproof, when a few lines might serve instead
of a hundred? How else shall the spirit that is in men, that lusteth
unto envy, malice, strife, and contention, be cherished and nourished
to feed the lawyers, and dependents on courts, with the bread of men’s
children, and the ruin of their families, to maintain their long suits
and malicious contentions! For a judge to say, ‘I mind not these
things; I will not hear you clear yourselves of what you are falsely
accused: one thing I mind in your charge, the rest are but matter of
form, set there to render you such wicked men before the country, as
the thing that is to be proved against you is not sufficient to make
out.’

“O! abominable wickedness, and perverting of the righteous end of the
law, which is so careful and tender of every man’s peace and
innocency. How is the law in the administration thereof adulterated by
lawyers, as the Scriptures are mangled by priests! And that which was
made to preserve the righteous, and to punish the wicked, perverted to
the punishing of the righteous, and the preserving of the wicked! An
eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth; life for life; burning for
burning; wound for wound; a stripe for a stripe; he that accuseth a
man falsely to suffer the same as he should have suffered, who was
falsely accused, if he had been guilty; this saith the righteous law
of God, which is agreeable to that of God, in every man’s conscience.
Are not such forms of iniquity to be denied, which are so contrary to
the law of God, and man? which serve for gendering strife, and
kindling contention? and of this nature was not that, with which thou
didst cause us to be indicted? and this form didst thou not uphold, in
not permitting us to answer to the many foul slanders therein; saying,
‘Those things thou mindest not.’ Will not the wrath of God be revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who
hold the truth in unrighteousness; who are so far from the power of
godliness, that they have not the form, but the form of iniquity,
which is set and held up, instead of, and as a law, to overthrow and
destroy the righteousness of the righteous, and so to shut him up, as
by the law he can never get out? Is not the cry, thinkest thou, gone
up? ‘It is time for thee to set to thine hand, O Lord, for thine
enemies have made void thy law!’ Draws not the hour nigh? Fills not up
the measure of iniquity apace? Surely the day is coming, and
hasteneth. Ye have been warned from the presence, and by the mouth of
the Lord; and clear will he be when he cometh to judgment, and upright
when he giveth sentence. That of God in every one of your consciences
shall so to him bear witness and confess, and your mouths shall be
stopped, and before your Judge shall ye be silent, when he shall
divide you your portion, and render unto you according to your deeds.
Therefore, whilst thou hast time, prize it, and repent: for verily
‘Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour
before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall
call to the heavens from above, and to the earth that he may judge his
people; and the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is
judge himself. Consider this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you in
pieces, and there be none to deliver.’

“And, friend, shouldst thou have given judgment against us (wherein
thou didst fine us twenty marks a-piece, and imprisonment till
payment), without causing us, being prisoners, to be brought before
thee, to hear the judgment, and to move what we had to say in arrest
of judgment? Is not this contrary to the law, as is manifest to those
who understand the proceedings thereof? Is not the prisoner to be
called before judgment be given? and is not the indictment to be read?
and the verdict thereupon? And is not liberty to be given him to move
in arrest of judgment? And if it be a just exception in the law, ought
not there to be an arrest of judgment? For the indictment may not be
drawn up according to law, and may be wrong placed, and the offence
charged therein may not be a crime in law; or the jury may have been
corrupted, or menaced, or set on by some of the justices; with other
particulars, which are known to be legal and just exceptions. And the
judgment ought to be in the prisoner’s hearing, not behind his back,
as if the judge were so conscious of the error thereof, that he dare
not give it to the face of the prisoner. But these privileges of the
law, this justice, we (who had so long and so greatly suffered
contrary to law), received not, nor could have at thy hands; no, not
so much as a copy or sight of that long and new-found indictment
(which in England was never heard of before, nor that the matter
contained therein was an offence in law, nor ever was there any law,
or judicial precedent, that made it so); though two friends of ours in
our names and our behalf, that night, next day, and day following,
often desired it of the clerk of the assize, his assistants, and
servants; but they could not have it, nor so much liberty as to see
it. And it is likely not unknown or unperceived by thee, that, had we
been called, as we ought to have been, or known when it was to be
given, three or four words might have been a sufficient, legal arrest,
of the judgment given on that new-found indictment, and the verdict
thereupon.

“Therefore, as our liberties, who are innocent, have not (in thy
account) been worth the minding, and esteemed fit for nothing but to
be trampled under foot, and destroyed, so, if we find fault with what
thou hast done, thou hast taken care that no door be left open to us
in the law, but a writ of error; the consideration whereof, and the
judgment to be given thereon, is to be had only where thyself art
chief; of whom such complaint is to be made, and the error assigned
for the reverse of thy judgment. And what the fruit of that may be
well expected to be, by what we have already mentioned, as having
received at thy hands, thou hast given us to understand. And here thou
mayest think thou hast made thyself secure, and sufficiently barred up
our way of relief, against whom (though thou knew we had done nothing
contrary to the law, or worthy of bonds, much less of the bonds and
sufferings we had sustained): thou hast proceeded as has been
rehearsed: notwithstanding that thou art (as are all the judges of the
nation) entrusted, not with a legislative power, but to administer
justice, and to do even law and execution of right to all, high and
low, rich and poor, without having regard to any man’s person; and art
sworn so to do, as has been said: and wherein thou dost contrary art
liable to punishment, as ceasing from being a judge, and becoming a
wrong-doer, and an oppressor; which what it is to be, many of thy
predecessors have understood, some by death, others by fine and
imprisonment. And of this thou mayest not be ignorant, that to deny a
prisoner any of the privileges the law allows him, is to deny him
justice, to try him in an arbitrary way, to rob him of that liberty
which the law gives him, which is his inheritance as a free man; to do
which is in effect to subvert the fundamental laws and government of
England, and to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical government
against law; which is treason by the common law; and treasons by the
common law are not taken away by the statutes of 25 Edw. III. 1 Henry
IV. 1, 2, m. See O. St. Johns, now chief justice of the common pleas,
his argument against Strafford, fol. 65, in the case.

“These things we have laid before thee in all plainness, that (with
the light of Jesus Christ, who lighteth every one that cometh into the
world, a measure of which thou hast, which showeth the evil, and
reproveth thee for sin, for which thou must be accountable,) thou
mayest consider and see what thou hast done against the innocent; that
shame may overtake thee, and thou mayest turn unto the Lord, who now
calleth thee to repentance by his servants, whom, for witnessing his
living truth in them, thou hast cast into, and yet continues under,
cruel bonds and sufferings.”

EDW. PYOT.

From the Jail in Launceston, the 14th
day of the 5th Month, 1656.

By this letter the reader may observe how contrary to law we were made to suffer; but the Lord, who saw the integrity of our hearts to him, and knew the innocency of our cause, was with us in our sufferings, bore up our spirits, and made them easy to us; and gave us opportunities of publishing his name and truth amongst the people; so that several of the town came to be convinced, and many were made loving to us. Friends from many parts came to visit us; amongst whom were two out of Wales, who had been justices of peace. Also Judge Haggert’s wife, of Bristol, who was convinced, with several of her children; and her husband was very kind and serviceable to Friends, and had a love to God’s people, which he retained to his death.

Now in Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire, truth began to spread mightily, and many were turned to Christ Jesus and his free teaching; for many Friends that came to visit us, were drawn forth to declare the truth in those counties; which made the priests and professors rage, and they stirred up the magistrates to ensnare Friends. They placed watches in the streets and highways, on pretence of taking up all suspicious persons; under which colour they stopped and took up the Friends that travelled in and through those counties, coming to visit us in prison; which they did, that they might not pass up and down in the Lord’s service. But that by which they thought to stop the truth, was the means of spreading it so much the more; for then Friends were frequently moved to speak to one constable, and to the other officer, and to the justices they were brought before; and this caused the truth to spread the more amongst them in all their parishes. And when Friends got among the watches, it would be a fortnight or three weeks before they could get out of them again; for no sooner had one constable taken them and carried them before the justices, and they had discharged them, than another would take them up, and carry them before other justices; which put the country to much needless trouble and charges.

As Thomas Rawlinson was coming out of the north to visit us, a constable in Devonshire took him up, and at night took twenty shillings out of his pocket; and after being thus robbed, he was cast into Exeter jail. They cast Henry Pollexfen also into prison in Devonshire for being a Jesuit, who had been a justice of peace for nearly forty years before. Many Friends were cruelly beaten by them; nay, some clothiers that were going to the mill with their cloth, and others about their occupations, were taken up and whipped, though men of about eighty or a hundred pounds a year, and not above four or five miles from their families.

The mayor of Launceston, too, was a very wicked man, for he took up all he could get, and cast them into prison; and he would search substantial grave women, their petticoats and their head-clothes. A young man having come to see us, who came not through the town, I drew up all the gross, inhuman, and unchristian actions of the mayor (for his carriage was more like a heathen than a Christian,) to him I gave it, and bid him seal it up, and go out again the back way; and then come into the town through the gates. He did so; and the watch took him up, and carried him before the mayor, who presently searched his pockets and found the letter, wherein he saw all his actions characterized. This shamed him so, that from that time he meddled little with the servants of the Lord.

Now from the sense I had of the snare that was laid, and mischief intended, in setting up those watches at the time to stop and take up Friends, it came upon me to give forth the following, as—

“_An Exhortation and Warning to the Magistrates._

“All ye powers of the earth, Christ is come to reign, and is among
you, and ye know him not; who doth enlighten every one of you, that ye
all through him might believe in him, who is the light, who treads the
wine-press alone without the city, and whose feet are upon it.
Therefore see all, and examine with the light, what ye are ripe for;
for the press is ready for you.

“Before honour is humility. You that would have honour before ye have
humility (mark, before ye have humility), are ye not as the heathen
are? Ye would have honour before ye have humility; did not all the
persecutors that ever were upon the earth want this humility? They
wanted the honour, and yet would have the honour before they had the
humility, and had learned that. So ye that are out of the humility,
are out of the honour; and ye are not to have the honour, who have not
the humility; for before honour is humility; mark, before it.

“Now ye pretend liberty of conscience; yet one shall not carry a
letter to a friend, nor men visit their friends, nor prisoners, nor
carry a book about them, either for their own use, or for their
friends. Men shall not see their friends; but watches are set up to
catch and stop them; and these must be well-armed men too, against an
innocent people, that have not so much as a stick in their hands, who
are in scorn called Quakers. Yet by such as set up these watches is
pretended liberty of conscience; who take up them, whose consciences
are exercised towards God and men, who worship God in their way, which
is the truth; which they that are out of the light call heresy. Now
these set up the watches against them, whom they in scorn call
Quakers, because they confess and witness the true light, that
lighteth every one that cometh into the world, amongst people, as they
pass through the country, or among their friends. This is the
dangerous doctrine which watchmen are set up against, to subdue error,
as they call it, which is the light that doth enlighten every man that
cometh into the world—Him, by whom the world was made; who was
glorified with the Father before the world began. For those whom they
in scorn call Quakers, have they set their watches, able men,
well-armed; to take up such as bear this testimony either in words,
books, or letters. So that is the light you hate, which enlightens
every man that cometh into the world; and these that witness to this
light you put in prison; and after you have imprisoned them, you set
your watches to take up all that go to visit them, and imprison them
also; so that by setting up your watches, ye would stop all relief
from coming to prisoners.

“Therefore this is the word of the Lord God to you, and a charge to
you all, in the presence of the living God of heaven and earth; every
man of you being enlightened with a light that cometh from Christ, the
Saviour of people’s souls; to this light, all take heed, that with it
you may see Christ, from whom the light cometh, to be your Saviour, by
whom the world was made, who saith, ‘Learn of me.’ But if ye hate this
light, ye hate Christ, who doth enlighten you all, that through him
(who is the light) you might believe. But not believing in, nor
bringing your deeds to the light, which will make them manifest and
reprove them, this is your condemnation, even the light. Remember, you
are warned in your life-time, for this light is your way to salvation,
if you walk in it; and your condemnation, if you reject and hate it.
You can never come to Christ, the Second Priest, unless you come to
the light, which the Second Priest hath enlightened you withal. So ye
that come not to the light, ye go to the priests that take tithes, as
did the first priesthood: and hale out of your synagogues and temples
(as some call them), as that priesthood did that took tithes; which
they that were of the second priesthood did not. Was there ever such a
generation! or did ever such a generation of men appear, as in this
age, who are so full of madness, envy, and persecution, that they
stand up in watches, with weapons against the truth, to persecute it,
as the towns and countries do declare; which rings as Sodom, and like
Gomorrah! And this hath its liberty, and truth is stood against; and
to reprove sin is accounted a breach of the peace, as they say who are
out of the truth, and set up their watches against it.”

G. F.

Besides this general warning, there coming to my hand a copy of a warrant issued from the Exeter sessions, in express terms, “for apprehending all Quakers,” wherein truth and Friends were reproached and vilified, I was moved to write an answer thereunto, and send it abroad, for clearing truth and Friends from the slanders therein cast upon them, and to manifest the wickedness of that persecuting spirit from whence it proceeded; which was after this manner:—

“Whereas a warrant was granted last sessions, held at Exeter, on the
eighteenth day of the fifth month, 1656, which warrant is ‘for
apprehending and taking up all such as are Quakers, or call themselves
Quakers, or go under the notion of Quakers; and is directed to the
chief constables, to be sent by them to the petty constables,
requiring them to set watches, able men with bills, to take up all
such Quakers as aforesaid.’ And whereas in your said warrant, you
speak of the Quakers spreading seditious books and papers; I answer,
They whom ye in scorn call Quakers, have no seditious books or papers:
but their books are against sedition, and seditious men, and seditious
books, and seditious teachers, and seditious ways. Thus ye have
numbered them, who are honest, godly, and holy men, that fear God,
amongst beggars, rogues, and vagabonds; thus putting no difference
between the precious and the vile. You are not fit to judge, who have
set up your bills, and armed your men, to stand up together in battle
against innocent people, the lambs of Christ, who have not lifted up a
hand against you. But if ye were sensible of the state of your own
country, your cities, your towns, your villages, how the cry of them
is like Gomorrah, and the ring like Sodom, and the sound like the old
world, where all flesh had corrupted its way, which God overthrew with
the flood;—if you did consider this with yourselves, you would find
something to turn the sword against, and not against the lambs of
Christ;—you would not make a mock of the innocent, that stand a
witness against all sin and unrighteousness in your towns and
steeple-houses.

“Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, was grieved
with the filthy conversation of the wicked; so are we now. So likewise
just Lot was grieved with their unmerciful deeds, and the filthy
conversation of Sodom. And were not these hated of the world, and of
them that lived in filthiness? And whereas you speak of those, whom
you in scorn call Quakers, that they are a grief to those whom you
call pious and religious people, and their religion. To such as are in
the religion that is vain, whose tongues are not bridled, I believe
the Quakers are a grief; but they are not a grief to such as are in
the pure religion, which keepeth unspotted from the world; which sets
not up bills, nor watches, to maintain it by the world; for they are
not of the world who are in the pure religion, which keeps them
unspotted of the world; mark, the ‘pure religion, which keeps
unspotted of the world.’ But to such as are in the religion that is
not pure, who have a form of godliness, and not the power—to such as
you call pious, the truth itself was always a grief; and so it is in
this age. And now your fruits appear, the end of your religion and
profession, and what you possess; but you are in the error, and have
been but in the profession, out of the possession of the Spirit, who
are not in the Spirit of truth. For where did that ever set stints and
bounds, and number the just and innocent with the wicked? But the
wicked set stints, and bounds, and limits to the just, and number them
among the wicked; yea, they spoke all manner of evil of them, as ye
are doing now of us. Nay, according as it was foretold in the
Scripture, such as tremble at the word of God, you cast out and hate,
you that have your temple-worship.

“You say, the Quakers come to disturb you in your churches (as you
call them,) was it not the practice of the apostles to go into the
synagogues and temples, to witness against the priesthood that took
tithes, and was it not the practice of the Jews to hale them out,
persecute and stone them, that witnessed Christ the second priest, and
went to bring people off from the first priesthood? Was it not the
practice of the prophets, to go and cry against the high places? And
was it not the practice of the Jews, when they were backslidden, and
of the heathen, to imprison and persecute the prophets, and send after
them into other countries? And is this not the practice of you now,
who are holding up your high places, which the Papists erected, which
ye now call your churches; where ye beat and persecute? What kind of
religious people are you, that are filled with so much madness? Did
not Paul confess he was mad, while he was in your practice, haling,
beating, imprisoning, putting out of the synagogues, having his
authority from the chief priests? And are not the chief priests the
cause of this? Was there ever such a cry made in any age past, as
there is now in the pulpits, railing against an innocent people, whom
in scorn ye call Quakers, who lift not up a hand against you; but who
are indeed the pious, that are of the pure religion, who fear God,
worship him in Spirit and in truth, and cannot join with you in your
religion? And do not the ministers of God say, that the Scriptures are
a declaration, which you call the word? Do you not rob Christ of his
title, and of his honour, and give it to the letter, and show
yourselves out of the doctrine of the ministers of God, who call the
Scriptures by the name of writings and treatises, and declarations;
and who said, Christ’s name is called the Word of God? Are not you
here in the error you speak of, which is your common talk among you?
There was talk among some of you of your gospel-shining; doth your
gospel which you profess persecute? Did ever any of them, that did
possess it, cast into prison and not suffer others to go to visit
them? Are you like Christians in this, or like heathens, who set
bounds and watches over the land, that they should not pass to visit
them that are in prison? Was ever the like heard in any age? Search
and see, if you have not outstripped them all in your watches, in your
persecution, and imprisonments. O! never talk, that we are a grief to
them that are in the pure religion.

“And whereas in your warrant we are represented as disaffected to
government; I say, the law, which is a terror to the evil-doer, we
own, the higher power to which the soul must be subject; but we deny
the evil-doer, the malicious man reigning, and the envious man seeking
for his prey, whose envy is against the innocent; who raiseth up the
country against honest men, and so becomes a trouble to the country,
in raising them up to take the innocent; but that we leave to the Lord
to judge. Your false accusations of heresy and blasphemy we deny. You
should have laid them down in particulars, that people might have seen
them, and not have slandered us behind our backs. The law saith, the
crime should be mentioned in the warrant. Then for your saying, ‘we
deny the godly ministers to be a true ministry of Christ,’ that is
false; for we say, that the godly ministers are the ministers of
Christ. But which of your ministers dare say, that they are truly
godly? And your charging us with seducing many weak people, is false
also; we seduce none; but you, that deny the light, which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world, are seduced from the anointing
which should teach you; and if ye would be taught by it, ye would not
need that any man should teach you. But such as are taught by the
anointing, which abideth in them, and deny man’s teaching, these ye
call seducers, quite contrary to John’s doctrine, 1 John ii. 26, 27.
You speak quite contrary to him; that which is truth, ye call
seducing; and that which he calls seducing, you call truth; read the
latter part of the chapter.

“Beware, I warn you all from the Lord God of glory, set not any bound
against him; stint him not; limit not the Holy One of Israel; for the
Lord is rising in power and great glory, who will rule the nations
with a rod of iron, which to him are but as the drop of a bucket. He
that measures the waters in the hollow of his hand, will dash the
nations together as a potter’s vessel. And know, you that are found in
this his day blaspheming his work, that God hath brought forth,
calling it blasphemy, fighting against it, setting up your carnal
weapons, making your bonds strong; God will break asunder that which
your carnal policy hath invented, and which by your carnal weapons ye
would uphold; and make you to know there is a God in heaven, who
carries his lambs in his arms, which are come among wolves, and are
ready to be torn in pieces in every place, yea, in your
steeple-houses; where people have appeared without reason, and natural
affection.

“Therefore all ye petty constables, sheriffs, and justices, take
warning; take heed what ye do against the lambs of Christ; for Christ
is come, and coming, who will give to every one of you a reward
according to your works, you who have the letter, which speaks of
Christ; but now ye are persecuting that which the Scripture speaks of;
as your fruits make manifest. Therefore every one, sheriffs, justices,
constables, &c., consider what ye do possess, and what a profession ye
are now in, that all these carnal weapons are now set up against the
innocent, yea, against the truth; which shows that ye have not the
spiritual weapons, and that ye want the counsel of Gamaliel, yea, ye
want the counsel of such a man among you, who said, ‘Let the apostles
alone; if it be of God it will stand; if it be not, it will come to
nought.’ But ye may see yourselves on the contrary, in the spirit of
them that came with Judas, with swords and staves from the chief
priests against Christ; still it is against Christ, where he is made
manifest. Paul (while Saul) went against him, though he professed a
Christ that was to come; and the Jews professed a Christ that was to
come; yet Paul persecuted him, where he was manifested in his saints.
So ye profess a Christ that is come, but persecute him where he is
manifest. You that have the letter, the high places, the synagogues,
you persecute him, where he is made manifest in his saints, as the
Jews did. They who were in the letter, out of the life, persecuted
them that were in the life of that which they profess in the letter;
so now do you persecute them that are in the life, and are yourselves
strangers to it, as your fruits make appear. You have numbered the
people of God amongst transgressors; but have you imprisoned any of
the rogues and transgressors you speak of? You have imprisoned the
innocent, and let the others go free.”

G. F.

When I had sent abroad the foregoing, so great a sense came upon me of the veil of darkness that was over the priests and professors of Christianity, that I was moved to give forth the following, as an awakening warning to them:—

“Blindness hath happened to the professed Christians of the letter
now-a-days, as blindness happened to the Jews, who professed the
letter, but owned not the life which the letter speaks of; as the
Christians now, to whom this blindness hath happened, who profess the
Scripture, but own not the life, which the Scripture speaks of. For
against the life the Jews stood, who professed the letter of the
Scripture, but they were blind; they gathered counsel against the
life; they were in an uproar when the babe was born in Bethlehem,
Herod and all the chief priests. And Herod sought to destroy all the
young children in Bethlehem, yet missed the babe; Herod, that fox,
though he put John to death. You may here see how the literal
professors stood up, not for the truth, but quite against it.
Furthermore, the chief priests consulted together how they might take
Jesus by subtilty, and put him to death; mark, by their subtilty. The
professors of a Christ that was to come, preached of a Messiah, of a
Christ, of a Saviour; but denied the life, when he was made manifest.
The chief priests, when they were assembled with the elders, and had
taken counsel, gave large money unto the soldiers, to declare that
‘his disciples came by night, and stole him away.’ Likewise in the
day, when the children of Israel were in Egypt, and they with their
children began to spread and multiply, ‘Come,’ said the Egyptians,
‘let us deal wisely with them to afflict them, and tax them;’ which
held, until the Lord overthrew their oppressors, and brought out his
seed by his mighty power from under the oppressor, and exalted his Son
above all, though the heathen raged, and the people imagined vain
things. He made his power known, that all might see that there was no
God upon the earth but himself. This power now hath brought forth the
work of the Lord! Many who are turned to Christ, the light, have
received the power of God, and are thereby become the sons of God.

“Now this birth, that is born of God, are all the powers of the world
joined together to crucify; to put to death those Jews in the Spirit,
as they put Christ to death in the flesh formerly. This is the birth
that all the wicked world is enraged against; against this they set
their watches,—this birth, brought forth by the Mighty God of Jacob,
who rides upon the high places of the earth. This is the birth that
the professed Christians without the life in our days rage against,
and lay out all their wisdom about. Are not the chief priests and wise
men of the earth consulting together how they may destroy this birth?
Is not this the birth, that is banished out of your hearts, you that
profess the Scripture, and are talkers of it, but do not own the light
and life which the Scripture speaks of, as the Jews would not; and so
you will not have Christ to reign over you, as they would not? Do you
not hale out of your synagogues, and before magistrates? Do you not
herein fulfil Christ’s words, who said to his disciples, They should
be haled out of the synagogues, and before rulers? Do you not
persecute them from city to city? Do you not almost fill your prisons
with them? And now set your watches, that none may visit them, whom ye
have put into prison? Is not this an unchristian spirit? How can you
for shame say you are upholders of truth? Or how can you for shame say
that truth hath been professed among you? Yet we grant that you have
talked of it. And how can you for shame say the gospel shines among
you, when you will not own the life of it; when you call it error, and
the evil seed? Yea, the very truth, the very life of truth ye have
blasphemed against now, as the Jews did against Christ, calling him a
devil; you now call it error, and the evil seed, and stand up against
it, and turn the sword against it. As in the days of the Jews, it was
the Jews outward in the flesh, not the Jews in the Spirit, who turned
the sword against Christ; so in these days it is those Christians who
profess the Scripture, but are out of the Life of it. And is it not a
shame to all the ministers of the Gospel (as they are called,) that
they can find no better way to maintain that which they call the truth
and their Gospel, than by carnal weapons, stocks and prisons, whips,
watches, and wards, and powers of the earth? Were these the apostles’
weapons? Carnal watches and wards, stocks and prisons, and haling out
of the synagogues, when they came to speak? Judge yourselves, what an
antichristian spirit you have. Never talk of defending truth with that
which is against truth. For are you not setting up the rabble of the
world against it? Do they not join with you with swords and staves
against it? Is this the life of Christians? Is not this the life of
error, and of the evil seedsman?