In October 1646, in the context of increasingly bitter political and religious conflicts within Norwich, the anonymous author of Vox Norwici defended the presbyterian ministers of the city against Independent claims that they had been neglecting their responsibilities towards the poor:

The passage, associating religious and political legitimacy with the proper exercise of charity, opens up a number of important themes in understanding poor relief during the English revolution. Most obviously, given its intent, it highlighted the role of ministers in exhorting their congregations, and rested their authority in part on their alliance with the magistracy, Sword and Word. It presented a puritanism actively pursuing policies to relieve the poor. Moreover, it took it as given that charitable obligations could be exercised through the formal mechanisms of parish relief: implicit is the congruence between the duties of charity and local taxation.