A Declaration from the Harmless and Innocent People of God, Called Quakers
A printed declaration against plots and fighting, presented to Charles II after the Fifth Monarchy rising in London. In it Friends deny all outward wars and fighting with outward weapons, for any end whatever.
Fox’s Journal says that he and Richard Hubberthorn drew up a first declaration, which was seized at the press, and that a second was then written in haste, printed and sent to the king and council. Its heading says it was presented to the king on the twenty-first day of the eleventh month, 1660. The English year then began in March, so the eleventh month is January and the date is January 1661 by modern reckoning.
The text answers the suspicion that Quakers were plotters. It argues from the sayings of Jesus to Peter and to Pilate that Christ’s servants do not fight, and it says that the Spirit by which Friends are guided will never move them to fight against any man with outward weapons. See George Fox and the Quakers.
Cited in
- 1652, firm date