To all Justices of Peace, or other Magistrates to whom this may come.  
Friends,  
The Lord God that made Heaven and Earth, hath given you a day, and hath put Power into your hands for this very end and purpose, To try you, and to see whether you will exercise your Power for or against him; Therefore be wise, O ye Rulers, Come to God's fear, and that will teach you wisdom, come to his living witness, and that will give you a sound understanding: For he that is placed in authority for God, bears not the sword in vain: For the Law was added because of transgression, and it was made for the lawless, and for the disobedient, and was to be a Terror to the evil Doer, but a praise to them that doth well: But, O! my friends, is not Justice turned backward, and is not Equity fallen in your streets? And is not, (or hath not) your Prisons and Dungeons been filled with the innocent people that fear the Lord God, and tremble at his Word, while the Wicked is at liberty, and the ungodly acting and exercising themselves in all manner of wickedness, (as Stage Plays and other filthy abominations) whereby the name of the God that made heaven and earth is greatly dishonoured; and the precious Light of his Son undervalved, and cast behind their backs: Oh, Will not the Lord visit for these things, surely yea,; and when he hath tried his people to the full, he will then bring an overflowing scourge upon this Nation. O, England, England, a necessity is laid upon me to cry in thy ears; And woe be unto me if I keep silence. I am like a drunken man, or one whom Wine hath overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the Word of his Holiness. O England, thou that persecutes God's Prophets, and imprisonest those that in love is sent to call thee to repentance, Wilt thou yet remain hardened for all that ever the Lord hath done, and is a doing in this the day of his power? Will neither Mercy allure thee, nor Judgement affright thee, nor awaken thee out of thy sins? Will not the men of Niniveh rise in Judgement against thee? They had but one warning, but O England, thou hast had many. Ah my heart is troubled for thee, and my spirit is moved with compassion, and I am constrained to say as a servant of the Lord said in former days, O that my head were as waters, and my eyes as a fountain of Tears, that I might weep day night for the misery that is coming upon thee: What Madness and Folly hath possessed thee? that thou shouldst thus requite the Lord: Can he ever have done more for a people than he hath already done for thee O Nation: First, he sent his servants, then saith he, I will send my beloved Son, they will reverence him; and now the Son is come, glory to him for ever: yea the Son of God is come who hath brought life and salvation, and we look not for another; and though the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things, yet in vain do they strive, for the Lamb must have the victory: therefore hast ye, hast ye out of Babylon, for behold the days come, that Tribulation and Anguish shall be upon every soul that doth evil: so that they shall cry to the rocks and to the mountain● fall on us, and hid us from the face of him that fits upon the Throne, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand:  
the 27. day of the 11. month 1667. Judith Bowlbie.   

Some OBJECTIONS answered.  
Object. I. MAY some say, The Quakers are a refactory people, they are not obedient to the Laws of the Nation.  
Answer, To this I answer; The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the Law of sin and death; and as for the outward Law, that would again bring us into bondage, and would have us to deny the Lord that hath done so great things for us, which we cannot do, but are resolved in the strength of the Lord to suffer whatsoever the powers of the earth are permitted to inflict upon us.  
Object. II. But may some say, if the Law be of no force unto you, how do you expect to live in the Nation? Would you be banished from your Country and Kindred into a foreign Nation amongst a people of a strange language?  
Answer. I answer, If it were so, that they should banish us from our nearest and dearest relations, yet can they not banish us from the presence of our God: no verily, his presence will go with us; and in his presence there is fullness of joy, and at his right hand there is rivers of pleasure for evermore.  
Object. III. May some say, if it be so, That neither the Law, nor Banishment can prevail over you, what remains, but even the sentence of death and condemnation to be passed upon you?  
Answer, To this I answer, There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. O death and hell do what ye may: For we do fight the good fight, we have kept the faith, (and through the Lord's strength which hath hitherto assisted us) shall finish our Course, henceforth there is laid up for us a Crown of righteousness, and not for us only, but for all those that love the Lord Jesus, and expect his appearance; and though our bodies be laid in the dust of the earth, yet this birth shall never die, this birth which God hath raised up and brought forth in this Nation, it shall never go into captivity any more: Therefore ye Rulers of the earth, O cease, cease your persecution; for ye may as well say to the sea, be thou dried up, or to the Sun in the firmament, stand thou still at noon day, as to think to hinder the Lords work in this the day of his power, yea his strange work: Behold ye despisers, and wonder, for I will work a work in your days, that ye shall in no wise believe, though one declare it unto you, and now the work is a working, and God hath many witnesses: Glory! Glory! endless praises, saith my soul, be unto him and to the Lamb for ever, and for ever more.  
the 14. day of the 12. month. 1667. Judith Bowlbie.