Samuel Allinson (WWP100+):
[I]f we are forbidden by him who has a right to our obedience in heaven and on earth, personally to engage in war, it seemeth of consequence to follow that we ought not mediately to promote it by actively giving our money for that use; for can we so effectually bear our Testimony against any thing as to withhold an active compliance with that which facilitates the carrying it on.
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Because we are accountable stewards for what has been given us. “The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalms 24:1). And ought we to apply his goods to that which we are led out of as displeasing to him?
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[For his answer to the what-about-Caesar & the temple tax & Paul, see 101; in short: "if tribute is demanded for a use that is antichristian, it seems right for every Christian to deny it, for Cæsar can have no title to that which opposes the Lord’s command." Furthermore, he asserts that the Caesar in question was ruling a peaceful government, so the war tax issue didn't come up.]
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It is alleged, that our Society have always owned and honored government, paid their taxes of all kinds, apprehending it to be their duty so to do and supposing that they were not accountable for any erroneous applications of them though they know it before hand.
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[I]t is said, taxes are due to government, as much as the payment of a debt on performance of a contract is obligatory upon the party engaged; that we receive a consideration therefore, and this debt therefore must not be withheld on account of the use it may be put to though fixed and the payer cannot approve it.
Answer.—The cases do not appear parallel; Every valid contract is voluntarily entered into, and as it is the duty of every one previously to see that his engagement is innocent, so when his promise is purchased by a consideration given it would be dishonest and deceitful not to perform it, the other party having, as it were, deposited so much effects in his hands, which he is to render back according to agreement and when received the receiver has a right to apply it as he pleases without any account to the payer, but in the case of taxes he who gives has a right to call to such an account and therefore seems himself liable for and privy to the application. Every man has or has not given his assent to the government he lives under, in the first, he has formally declared his allegiance thereto, in the latter, that allegiance is implied in consideration of his receiving the protection and benefit of it in the safety of his person and the security of his property, in both, it is no more than to be “true and faithful” which can never mean a compliance with every requisition, for we owe a superior allegiance to the King of Kings, and whenever the requisitions of man run counter thereto we “ought to obey God rather than men” ... we desire not war or any of its consequences, nor do we apprehend any benefit arising from it, but the reverse to mankind in general is, we think, very evident; hence a refusal to pay taxes for war and tithes (which latter are demanded of our brethren in England) ought not to exclude us from any advantage of civil government, so especially as we quietly suffer the distraint of our effects for these uses also, government taking the load of thus spoiling us for endeavoring to preserve a consistent conduct and a conscience void of offense towards the almighty, upon themselves; yet we desire no guilt to be laid to their charge but that they may see the error for their own sakes. ... We have never entered into any contract, express or implied, for the payment of taxes for war, nor the performance of anything contrary to our religious duties, and therefore cannot be looked upon as disaffected or rebellious to any government...
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[O]ur conduct even in time past has appeared inconsistent, the illiterate poor Indian, the foreigner, the wise men of this world, and others, not of us; when they have been told that we have a testimony against War, have answered, but you pay others for fighting, alluding to our payment of taxes for that purpose; and this has been taken to proceed from our attachment to our outward substance, from our desire for its increase and outward preservation, and a reliance on the arm of flesh for our liberty and property...
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