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<DATE>11-3-09</DATE>
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<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<STC T="W">S4327</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">43078147</BIBNO>
<VID>151725</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="treatise">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>A &s;hort Manife&s;tation of the Main End of Outward Government.</HEAD>
<P>OH <HI>England,</HI> how great is the Love which the Mighty GOD of Heaven and
Earth doth manife&s;t towards thee! how doth he withhold his Judgements
from thee for his own Names &s;ake! Surely he would not that thou &s;hould&s;t
utterly peri&s;h, but graciou&s;ly waits that thou mighte&s;t come to Repentance,
and turn from the evil of the doings, that he might &s;hew thee Mercy; for the Love
which he hath towards thee is in &s;paring thee, and not in delighting in thee, be|cau&s;e
thy wayes are grievous to him, and thy Abomination provokes him daily, and
he hath rai&s;ed up his Seed within thee to bear witne&s;s unto the Truth, and all that are
born of it they travel for thy good and welfare, that thou might&s;t be a Land of Righ|teou&s;ne&s;s,
Ju&s;tice and Equity, and bear the name of <HI>Chri&s;tianity</HI> in the nature of it a|bove
all Nations in the World; this is the kindne&s;s of the Lord towards thee, who
for the&s;e &s;everal years hath warned thee to for&s;ake thy &s;ins, and to put away the evil
of thy doings, but thou kicke&s;t again&s;t his Coun&s;el, and growe&s;t wor&s;e and wor&s;e: and
though he hath beheld the deep Sufferings and Afflictions that his People have endured
under thy Cruelty, and how thou ha&s;t made thy own Natives the Object of thy Seve|rity,
yet he hath not &s;peedily executed his Judgments to the full upon thee, but unto
this day had rather that thou would&s;t turn from thy wickedne&s;s and live; O there|fore
be not &s;till rebellious again&s;t &s;o gracious a God, but hear and obey his Coun&s;el,
that thou maye&s;t <HI>love mercy, do ju&s;tly, and walk humbly with God;</HI> for whil&s;t thou art at
enmity again&s;t his Light, thou exerci&s;e&s;t thy &s;elf in cruelty, and walke&s;t proudly,
&s;cornfully and di&s;dainfully, and with that &s;pirit art &s;triving to bani&s;h Truth out of thy
Dominions, and to rid the Land of Innocent People, who&s;e holy Conver&s;ation in all
things is <HI>blamele&s;s towards thee;</HI> for we that are called <HI>Quakers</HI> have a Witne&s;s in the
Con&s;ciences of many that bears a &s;ure Te&s;timony to our peaceable life; and did not
the Execution of the late Act manife&s;t the Intention to be <HI>again&s;t &V;S,</HI> we could not
have believed it from the expre&s;s words of it, neither are our Meetings any more con|cerned
in it, according to the form of it, than the children that are yet unborn; but
&s;eeing that the Execution is laid upon us, by which it appears that it is Intentionally
again&s;t <HI>Us,</HI> we have clearne&s;s in the power of God to manife&s;t our own <HI>Innocency,</HI> that
the <HI>Cruelty</HI> of &s;uch as put it in execution again&s;t us may lie upon their <HI>own heads;</HI> and
for this end it is that we are moved thus to write, that all people may &s;ee and under|&s;tand
that our Meetings are free from any guilt according to the form of the &s;aid Act,
and that we ought not in Rea&s;on, Truth or Righteou&s;ne&s;s to be &s;uppre&s;&s;ed or bani&s;h|ed,
or any way di&s;turbed in relation to our Meetings, being that no manner of evil
can be proved to have ri&s;en from them at any time, but contrariwi&s;e very much good,
as many are witne&s;&s;es; and who&s;oever &s;et them&s;elves to act again&s;t us in this mat|ter,
they out-run the form of their own Law, and tran&s;gre&s;s the Righteous Law of
God, and unto God they mu&s;t give account for &s;uch their doings: therefore let none
reject Coun&s;el which tendeth to their eternal good, for they that would be regula|ting
others before they be regulated in them&s;elves, and clearly under&s;tand by the In|&s;piration
of the Almighty, what they ought to &s;uppre&s;s, and what to encourage, they
may in their undertakings &s;uppre&s;s the Truth and encourage Error, and &s;o run them|&s;elves
into irregular actions and proceedings, and yet count them legal; therefore
to con&s;ider the ground which fir&s;t cau&s;ed the nece&s;&s;ity of outward Laws is of great
concernment, for if all people were guided by the principle of God in them&s;elves,
then they would not need any outward Law to govern them, but the Principle of
God being tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed, then the Enmity got up and governed, and <HI>becau&s;e of tran&s;|gre&s;&s;ion
the Law was added;</HI> and <HI>Cain</HI> who was of the wicked one he tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed the
Principle of God, and &s;lew his brother about Religion, and the ju&s;t Law of God took
hold upon him as a tran&s;gre&s;&s;or, and his puni&s;hment was greater than he could bear;
and think you to e&s;cape who&s;e hands are doing the &s;ame work? do not deceive your
&s;elves with your Law, for the righteous God is ju&s;t in all his ways, and your Law will
not be a defence unto you, when the Law of the Spirit of Life takes hold upon you in
Judgment. Now Religion is not a thing that falls within the compa&s;s or power of
Nations Laws, but wholly belongs unto God, to order as he &s;eeth good, and man is
only to extend his power unto &s;uch things as he is in a capacity to under&s;tand, and
that which appears to be tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion in Civil things he is to lay the Law upon it for
the terror of evil-doers; for what&s;oever is ordained of God there is an end for which
it is ordained, and the End is only to be an&s;wered; and &s;o Outward Government
hath its End, and if it keep in its place, and an&s;wer its end, it is good, and ought to
be &s;ubmitted unto for Con&s;cience-&s;ake; if it relieve the Oppre&s;&s;ed and judg the cau&s;e
of the Widdow; if it pre&s;erve the Nation in peace, and the People in their well-being;
if it do right to tho&s;e that are wronged, and keep down vanity and profane&s;s,
which is in the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, then it an&s;wers its End, and is to be &s;ubmitted unto:
And as this is the main End of Outward Government, &s;o it is to be faithfully an&s;wer|ed
by all that are entru&s;ted with it, and they are not to intrude into any thing be|yond
it, for where any do &s;o, either in making Laws or executing them, they do that
for which they were never ordained of God; and &s;o unrighteous Decrees come to be
made and executed, and that again&s;t an Innocent People, that an&s;wers the End of the
Law without the force of the Law, and again&s;t whom there is no Law; for <HI>the Law was
not made for the Righteous, but for Sinners,</HI> (mark) for <HI>Sinners:</HI> but to wor&s;hip God in
his Spirit is not &s;in; to live peaceably, righteou&s;ly and &s;oberly is not &s;in; to &s;peak
the Truth and not to &s;wear is not &s;in; the Law was not made for &s;uch as &s;o live, but
for &s;inners; (mark again) for Thieves, Murderers, Drunkards, Adulterers, Swearers,
Lyars, Sporters, Players, Rioters and wrong-doers, proud, heady, high-minded, vain,
and prophane people, here are the &s;inners for whom the Law was made; and have
you any thing of this na<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">ure again&s;t us? or, doth not the Witne&s;s of God in your own
Con&s;ciences clear us? Now where doth your Sword fall, do you not mi&s;s the Sinners,
and &s;mite the Righteous? Is not your Sword in your left hand, that makes you &s;trike
&s;o far wide of that which you &s;hould hit? mu&s;t our peaceable Meetings be &s;uppre&s;&s;ed,
and we afflicted and puni&s;hed, and &s;uch as meet to exerci&s;e vanity and prophane&s;s
e&s;cape and go free? if you govern not over &s;uch things, what do you govern over?
Truth governs it &s;elf, and all that live in it are well governed by it; therefore go|vern
over the Evil, and let not it govern over you, for thereby you are drawn to de|light
in it, and &s;o cannot &s;mite it, but &s;mite the Righteous, that are well-governed
in the Power and Wi&s;dom of God. O it is a &s;ad thing that &s;uch as repre&s;ent the
Nation &s;hould act again&s;t the Body of their Repre&s;entation, and &s;uch as are in power
in the Country &s;hould put &s;uch Acts in execution, and thereby endeavour to bani&s;h
out of the Nation their own Neighbours, and &s;o leave Wives Widows, and Chil|dren
Fatherle&s;s, and Families de&s;titute of outward &s;uccour! Surely God never or|dained
you to do &s;uch things, neither doth God or good men approve you in it, and
you are happy that have or do avoid the evil of it: O return to your places all you
that are out of them, that you may be found doing &s;uch things as are well-plea&s;ing un|to
God; and let your care be to an&s;wer the End of your places in things that you
under&s;tand, that the Nation may be kept in peace by your means, and do not run
things into di&s;traction and confu&s;ion under pretence of Reformation and Regulation.
Now look over your proceedings according to your own Law, Can you proceed to
Judgment in any offence criminal, or in any ca&s;e of difference, without &s;ome Evi|dence
to make proof unto you of the matter in que&s;tion? and is not every Witne&s;s
engaged to &s;peak the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth? and are
not all Juries engaged to try all Cau&s;es according to their Evidence? Now con&s;i|der
whether this can be done in a Ca&s;e of Con&s;cience, being that no Evidence can
&s;peak from a true knowledge or under&s;tanding of the matter; and though the Act
be brought forth in &s;uch terms as &s;omething may be taken notice of as an offence,
that is to &s;ay, <HI>Sedit<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">ous Conventicles;</HI> but no Evidence can prove a <HI>Peaceable Meeting</HI>
to be a <HI>Seditious Conventicle,</HI> if they &s;peak the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing
but the Truth; and &s;o a Peaceable Meeting to wor&s;hip God in tenderne&s;s of Con|&s;cience
is not an offence which the Act takes notice of, neither is it tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion a|gain&s;t
it, for no Evidence can prove &s;uch a Meeting to be a <HI>Seditious Conventicle;</HI> and
the matter not being proved, no Jury is in a capacity to find it, nor Judge to con|demn
it. O therefore con&s;ider, and be &s;erious in your places, who are concerned in
Authority this day; for the main End of Outward Government is to <HI>&s;uppre&s;s evil,</HI>
and to be a <HI>terror to evil-doers, and a prai&s;e to them that do well:</HI> Now if you &s;ay, <HI>We
look upon you not to do well, in that you will not be conformable with us unto the Wor&s;hip
which we ob&s;erve, but meet together contrary to our di&s;cipline, and in that &s;en&s;e we do &s;uppre&s;s
you as evil-doers:</HI> Well, this is your per&s;wa&s;ion; but God hath otherwi&s;e per&s;waded
us: and if it &s;hould be an evil in us in this ca&s;e, yet it is not for you to condemn,
but to leave it unto God who is a righteous Judge of the Con&s;cience: but we are
fully per&s;waded in the Lord, that our not-conforming with you, and al&s;o our Meet|ings
in that way wherein we wor&s;hip God, is according to his mind; for he hath
opened our under&s;tandings by his Light, in which we &s;ee that your Wor&s;hip is not
grounded upon a true foundation; and he hath called us to Separation: and though
&s;eparated from your way, yet we truly wor&s;hip God in his living Spirit, which is his
own way; and he hath called us &s;o to do; and in obeying the Lord we do well, and
not evil: and therefore it is not what you may be per&s;waded concerning us in this
ca&s;e, that makes us Evil-doers in the &s;ight of God, neither are you to force us into
your per&s;wa&s;ion, or from our own, but to &s;uppre&s;s every manife&s;t Evil, as before is
mentioned, and not to make a thing evil from a &s;uppo&s;ition according to your own
per&s;wa&s;ions, and then to make a Law again&s;t it to &s;uppre&s;s it, this is be&s;ides your pla|ces,
and doth not belong unto you: therefore if you will do that which properly be|longs
to your places, cut down the &s;in that abounds this day before your own eyes,
and then you will an&s;wer the End of the Law in Truth; for we de&s;ire that all in
Power may be kept out of this great Evil of <HI>Per&s;ecution for Con&s;cience-&s;ake,</HI> or being
in it, may be plucked forth through Information to their under&s;tandings, which is the
main End why we write after this manner; for if it was not in pitty unto &s;uch as are
herein concerned, we could be &s;ilent, and in patience lie down, knowing the deter|mination
of God concerning our Cau&s;e: And as for &s;uch who&s;e Re&s;olutions are to
carry it on to the height again&s;t us, unto &s;uch I &s;ay, Let not Enmity over&s;way Ju|&s;tice
and Equity, and we are ready to make our Defence; but if in Enmity you will
pro&s;ecute contrary to Ju&s;tice and Equity, then I &s;ay unto you in the Word of the
Lord God, That when you have filled up your mea&s;ures, the dregs of your own Cup
you mu&s;t drink, yea, and drink them off, and none &s;hall pitty you; for the Lord God
is on our &s;ide, and his fre&s;h-Springs are our Con&s;olation, and from his Pre&s;ence you
cannot bani&s;h us: though you may be permitted to force &s;ome out of their Native
Land, yet when you have done, they will be at home with the Lord, and in the Land
of the Living po&s;&s;e&s;s un&s;peakable Joy; therefore let all your thoughts cea&s;e concern|ing
us, for we are of good courage in our Innocent Cau&s;e, and knowing that in this
matter we have not wronged any man, we can boldly appeal to the Witne&s;s of God
in all men for Ju&s;tice and Equity; and with him alone we leave our Cau&s;e, who is
our Helper and Deliverer, in whom we tru&s;t, the Lord God of Heaven and Earth,
the Righteous Judge of all the Earth, who&s;e living Spirit is our weapon, and his
Salvation our walls and bulwarks.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>W. S.</SIGNED>
<DATE>The beginning of the 7th month, 1664.</DATE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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