layes none and for Meeting together which they that feared the Lord often did and spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard and a Book of Remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my Jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him And this was when the Proud were called Happy yea when they that work'd wickedness were set up and they that tempted God were even delivered Mal. 3. 15 16 17. Read the Place and your selves and them therein And not forsaking the Assembling of Your selves together as the manner of some is said the Apostle to the True Church of Christ which is in God but Exhorting one another by how much the more as you see the day approaching Heb. 10. 25. And they met every first Day of the Week at Corinth And at Troas on the first Day of the Week And the same Day at Evening being the first Day of the Week when the Doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them Peace be unto you and when he had so said he shewed them his Hand and his Side Joh. 20. 19 20. And they withdrew from the Temple after Jesus was risen and met together from house to house and denyed the Temple which was commanded of God And those among the Gentiles that were converted denyed the Idols Temples and met not in them Yet were not the One or the Other fined and after such a manner as ye have done to the Servants of the Lord and for speaking one to another as aforesaid and for meeting together ransacking their Estates breaking open their Houses carrying away their Goods and Cattel till ye have left none then their wearing Apparrel and then as in Plimouth Government their Land and when ye have left them nothing sell them for this which ye call Debt Search the Records of former Ages go through the Histories of the Generations that are past read the Monuments of the Antients and see if ever there were such a thing as this since the Earth was laid and the Foundations thereof in the VVater and out of the VVater But it is first found on you to a People who are harmless who are Innocent who defraud not nor oppress nor do others wrong Your Brethren of Your selves of the same Nation and Country at the same distance from your Native Country Inhabitants long together in the Country where ye are known one to another and to be of unblamable Conversations Fellow-sufferers and in the same Condemnation O Ye Rulers of Boston Ye Inhabitants of the Massachusets What shall I say unto you whereunto shall I liken ye Indeed I am at a stand I have no Nation with you to compare I have no People with you to parallel I am at a loss with you in this Point I must say of you as Balaam said of Amalek when his Eyes were open Boston the first of the Nations that came out thus to war against to stop Israel in their way to Canaan from Egypt but your latter end shall be that ye Perish for ever So is your Judgment from the Lord. And now I have done with You as to this only I shall declare the Execution of your Warrant on the said Daniel Southick and Provided whom Edmond Batter a bloody wicked man one fit for your purpose who hath hunted haled and ransack'd the People of the Lord with the highest Cruelty sent your Marshal for who fetch 't them accordingly and sought out for Passage to some that were bound to Barbados to send them there for Sale as men sell Goods to fill his Purse who was your Treasurer but the Man to whom he spake would not carry them on that account a thing so horrible and One of them to try Batter said That they would spoil all the Vessels Company saying that as an Argument why he would not carry them Oh no said Batter you need not fear that for they are poor harmless Creatures and will not hurt any body or words to this purpose Will they not so said the Ship-master and will ye offer to make Slaves of so harmless Creatures So Batter sent them home again to live of themselves as he used to let their Cattel which he took for Fines feed upon them all the Winter till the Spring when they should make benefit of them to answer their chargeable being in the Winter till he could get a Convenient Opportunity to send them away And whilst I am hereupon let me give you the Instance of Two more viz. Edward Wharton and Samuel Gaskin who were Arrested for not coming to Your Meetings and had to Ipswitch Court and fined the One Five pounds Ten shillings and the Other Eight pounds One of which being a young man and having no Visible Estate appearing VVilliam Hathorne advised though he was but an Assistant in the Court and gave Judgment against him That if he had not to nor would pay they must send him to Barbados and sell him to pay it and this was when the Court knew not on what to levie the Fine And this the said Hathorne of whom I have before spoken who turn'd from the Tenderness that was once in him to please you to get an Imployment whereby to live and having got it thus turn'd against his tender Principle and his Friends to whom once he was tender to sell them for Slaves as he did in other Particulars One of which I shall instance in a Warrant under his Hand sent to the Constable of Salem in these words You are required by Vertue hereof to search in all suspicious houses for Privat Meetings and if they refuse to open the Doors you are to break open the Door upon them and return the Names of all ye find to Ipswitch Court VVilliam Hathorne But at this time he mist though he shall not miss his Judgment from the Hand of the Lord who will assuredly meet with him and give him his Portion with the rest of those who persecute his Truth who once had a Tender Principle in them and now turn against it the Case of all you at this day yea it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for You. So take your Judgment together ye who have been together in causing the Innocent to suffer Thus have I traced you through this Long and Crooked Path of Cruelty and Blood as well for the clearing of the Innocent viz. those among you who have not consented to but in their Place have opposed and withstood and testified against your Proceedings unto Blood That the Righteous may be separated from the Wicked in the Great Day of the Lord which is near at hand who will render to every man according to
hands Or That Ye were or could be well assured either by Your own Experience who had none or the Example of those Ye mind in Munster that their Design was to Undermine and Ruine the Peace and Order establisht among You in the way of Munster Or That they at Munster are their Predecessors Is a heap of Lies and Calumnies forged out of Your own and the Brains of Your Priests on purpose to asperse the Innocent whose Blood Ye have spilt and to cover Your Guilt For First They may have Owned and do Own themselves to be such whom the World and Ye in scorn call Quakers and so they do and did Profess themseves to be such Esteeming the Reproaches of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt for that they have respect unto the Recompence of Reward But that they professed themselves Quakers so Owning the Brand which Ye put upon them that 's Your Own and I must return it to You again to be laid up in the Treasurie of Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the Righteous judgement of God which shall destroy the Adversary Secondly That Ye did only secure them to send them away as Ye say the first Opportunity and that Ye sent them away the first Opportunity without Censure or Punishment is of the same nature with the former and with the former must be turned upon You. For First before Ye had seen them viz. Mary Fisher and Ann Austin the first that came or heard them or knew them or any of the People called Quakers for those were the first that came among You or what they had to say or had sent to know what was their Errand and wherefore they came into Your Parts Before that they had sent to You or that Ye by them had a Certain Information of their Business or Principles before they were come on shoar or had signified to You for certain that they would there land Yea before Ye had a Law or any Court sitting that could make a Law against those People Did not Richard Bellingham Your Deputy Governour much unlike a Man much more a Christian a Christian Magistrate as You would have him and Your selves to be accounted cause them to be rifled for Books and Papers on board the Ship after that he had Commanded Them Prisoners there until he had sent for them And took not your Officer forcibly away about One Hundred Books from them their Proper Goods And did he not detain such their Goods and refuse to re-deliver them though they sent to him for that purpose Or hath he or You given Them any Satisfaction to this Day for such their Goods which are as Properly Theirs and as Protectible by the Law as the Cloaths they had upon Them Nay Did not a Council of You afterwards assembled at Boston instead of doing them Right against the Rape of the Deputy-Governour do them Wrong and cause the said Books their Goods to be burnt in the Market-place of Boston by the Common-Hangman And did Ye not the same to Them who came afterwards that is to say Did Ye not cause their Boxes Chests Trunks c. to be searched and risted before they came on Shoar and after And were not such their Books as were found taken away and burnt the Spanish Inquisition Yea did not your Jaylor rob them of their Bible and so debarr'd them the use of the Scriptures And were not these things done by Order by Order of some of You bearing Date the 11th of July 1656 and the 27th of September following the first being an Order in the General the second in Particular to the Jaylor to do it as oft as he should see meet Again After Your said Deputy-Governour had Commanded Them on Shoar and to be brought in Custody before him and had Committed Them to Prison by a Mittimus as Quakers against whom Ye had No Law and upon this Proof only that they were such viz. The saying of One of them to him Thee which is the Natural Distinction in Word of One Man from Many and as Proper as is the Name of One Man to Distinguish him from Another and as Generally used Thou and Thee to a Single Person in all Languages and the Scriptures of Truth and to the Lord the Maker of all in the most Solemn Addresses For Languages are but the Demonstrations of Natural Distinctions which whosoever Opposeth doth what in him lies Overthrow the Order of Nature and he that Overthrows the Order of Nature brings in Confusion and Natural Distinction is the Ground or Measure of Demonstration or Speech Not Demonstration or Speech of Natural Distinction Whereupon he said He needed no more now he saw they were Quakers an Ignorant Speech and a shameless of a Magistrate who should uphold the Order of Nature and not make it a Ground of Punishment in such as Do I say after he had commanded them on Shoar and Committed them and upon the Ground as aforesaid Did Ye not haste together in Council such of You as were near and being met together before the time of the Court General Did Ye not Order them and their other Friends aforesaid to be kept close Prisoners and none to come at them Or to have Communication with them in Express Words without Leave from some of You until such time as they should be delivered by Authority on board some Vessel to be transported Oat of the Country as are the Words of Your Order to the Keeper July 18. 1656. Yea are not the Words of Your Order to the Keeper August 18. 1656. to keep their said Friends close Prisoners and not to suffer them to speak or confer with any Person Nor to permit them to have Paper and Ink And in Your Order Septemb. 17. 1656. Do Ye not impower him to search their Boxes Chests c. for Pen Ink and Paper Papers and Books and take Them away And did not Your Jaylor Execute Your said Warrants precisely And further Did he not take away their Candle and not suffer them to have Light in the Night-season lest as himself said they should see to Write And did Ye not lay a Fine of Five pound on any one that should otherwise come at or speak with Them though but at the Window than by your Leave and gave Ye Leave to any that Ye thought might be Convinced by them Or that were not of your Own Spirit and Principle Yea Did Ye not Order the Prison-Yard to be made close and was not a Board nailed up before the Window that looked out to the Door of the Jayl where people used to come at them that none might visit them With many more Cruelties which were Ordered and done for the present Distress as ye call it of Two Poor Women arriving in Your Harbour which so shook ye to the Everlasting shame of you and of your Establish'd Peace and Order as if a formidable Army had Invaded Your Borders and made You not this Order to be in
City viz. at Heidelberge where his Palace was and the Convocation of the Priests I shall find that he sent two of his Servants one after the other for him to come and dine with him the said Prince and when he came that he told him that he knew not of his being in the City before That the Priests had not so much Power as to send for him nor should have such Power That he had reproved the Priests for what they had done and bad him if ever they sent for him againe not to obey them That he rebuked one of the chiefest of the Priests of that Council for saying That they viz. the Priests would give out Queries in Writing to him to Answer and that he charged the said Priests in the presence of the said W. Ames that they should give forth none though William was as ready to answer as the Priests to give forth That the Prince used much Moderation as did also his Sister That she received very friendly what was spoken by him in way of Exhortation to her That neither of them were offended at what was spoken by him to them nor at the Hatt nor with plain Language Thou and Thee I shall there also Understand that when about the space of a year after he and another friend viz. John Higgins came to Visit him that he very lovingly received them That the Captain of the Prince his Life Guard told the said William that his Prince was very glad that he the said William was come into the Countrey again That he had given him the said Captain order to supply them though they neither wanted nor asked nor received with what ever they wanted either Money or Clothes in which his Love was seen and accepted That he very sriendly received divers Books from them both then and at times before And that when at another time Samuel Fisher and John Stubbs were there from England and had given notice to the said Prince his Secretary that they had something in Writing to present the said Prince That he the said Prince sent for them into the Presence Chamber where was also his said Sister and received it gladly from them and a Book enclosed their Hatts being on Expressing much Desire after Friends Books and receiving at another time a Great Book of George Fox's and a Letter from William Ames by the hands of John Higgins and charging him the said John to thank the said William for that his Book Moreover I shall find that he had much Discourse with them That he told them that he took their coming in Love That he believed they spake in love to their Souls That he gave them thanks for their Love That after a while being called to Supper he took them with him that he shewed them his House that he stayed them by him whilst he did eat That they had Discourse with his Chaplains and divers of his Great Men whilst they did eat That neither He nor any of them during all that time though it was a season of greater Pomp and State than ordinary the Prince and his Nobility being met about the Choice of a New Emperor manifesting any Offence at their Discourse or at their Hatts or at their standing Covered though according to their Custom the Prince and his Nobles sate with their Hats off but on the contrary the Prince mauifesting much satisfaction with what they said and enquiring after William Ames who also had the same liberty with him at his time of eating and with and before his great Men and how he did saying he was not well when he was last with him That in friendliness and love they departed That they had free Liberty to Meet in any part of his Dominions in the very heart of which there is a Meeting of Friends gathered into the Truth by the said William as aforesaid who Meet together with the said Prince's knowledge Whose Meetings are Peaceable Lastly I shall there find That when John Stubbs and Samuel Fisher were afterwards in Germany that the Land-Soriver the next Officer in Power under the Prince and divers of their Ministers sent to them to give Him and the said Ministers a Meeting That Samuel Fisher Met them alone John Stubbs not being well that he had much moderate Discourse with them and Liberty a pretty time and that he quietly passed away after that the Land-Soriver and Ministers had expressed much thankfulness to him for his Love who were not offended at his Hat nor plainness of speech All which make ye manifest Shall I journey hence into Lower Germany the United Provinces and into the Cities thereof and make an Inquisition through some of the Principal of them as Amsterdam Schedam Leiden Rotterdam Zutphen Middleburgh In Amsterdam I shall find a People gathered Meeting in Peace and free Liberty of Passing up and down in those Provinces for the Declaring of Truth And at Middloburgh in Zealand I shall find a Friend speaking in a Steeplehouse after their Minister had done and a quiet Reasoning there for the space of half an hour in the presence of one of the Heer 's or Lords of that place who was very Moderate and in English Discoursed with that Friend for some space of time without offence taken at his Hat or plain Language and then desired further Discourse with him at the Ministers house and went with him to the said Ministers house he the said Heer on the one hand of him and the said Minister on the other to conduct him and I shall also find that there they had very moderate Discourse in the presence of many Persons of Quality who neither were offended at his being Covered nor with his plain Language but were very courteous to him and when they had done sent two with him to accompany him to his Lodgings And in the same City of Middleborgh another Friend being in Prison C. Brickhead of Bristol in England by Name an Information being given thereof by some Friends to the States General Lord Ambassador Newport then Resident in England I shall find that the said States General Lord Ambassador wrote to the Magistrates there and the Magistrates thereupon setting him at Liberty thus Condemning Ye Shall I take shipping from Flushing and pass to Calais on the one hand and return back to Holland and so to Geneva and Switzerland on the Other and foot it through some of the chief Cities of France viz. Lyons Paris Valence Orange Rochel Morliax and to Tyrole in the Alpes and so into Italy to Legorn in Tuscanny to Venice and to Rome time would fail me to instance all There I shall meet with Friends Possing and Repassing Safely continuing in divers Cities sometimes and passing through them even in Italy the most Complemental of any and returning into England though they were Examined before divers in Authority in those complemental Places who neither scrupled at their Pussage nor at their Hats At Paris one of them being in
the Bastile in Prison was served daily with the same Provisions as was a Noble Man of theirs then in the same Prison at the Kings charge and afterwards set at Liberty At Morliax another of them being in Prison for reproving their Maskings which are tollerated by Law and his Life vehemenely sought after by the Bayliff of that Town for so doing I shall find the King upon Information thereof by the Engilsh Ambassador Lockart by means of a Merchant of that Town whom the Lord stirred up in the thing I say I shall find the King sending a Letter under his hand and seal to set him presently at Liberty taking notice in the said Letter that he was Imprisoned for so Reproving of Maskings tolerated by the Law and when the King was informed that he was not yet set at Liberty I shall find him sending another Letter to the Duke of Meillerai to see it effected and that upon it he was free he being as it were become but as the Shaddow of a Man thorough the hardship of his sufferings At Rochel I shall find the Judge of the Criminals working the Liberty of another after he had been examined by the Bishop and continued a pretty space of time against the Judge of the Civels and Discharging him though he both spake and wrote against the Popish Religion At Legorne in Tuscany John Perrot and his Companion John Love being had to the Inquisition otherwise called the Popes Holy-Office and examined there by three Friars I shall there find That upon John Perrots giving an Account of his Call and Service and of the Books that he had sent to the Governour One of which was to the Great Turk which he had wrote in that place and another to the Jews and of what they had further to say to them that they set them at Liberty and discovered to them a Plot that some English had to Murder them and bad them beware of their Country-men That the Governour of that City not only received willingly several Books and Papers which they sent him by an Ancient Merchant there One Origine who was very friendly but expressed much tender regard of their safety saying That he would not have them come to any hurt in that Land And making no question at their Gesture nor finding any dislike at their not being conformable to their Customs when they were brought before them And that the English Agent there Resident for England was very friendly to them and off-times became himself Interpreter in the Disputes between them and the Jews at whose Synagognes they were and there reasoned with them whom to their Chamber from the Synagogue some of the Jewes followed where they were some of them Convinced and some Confounded At Venice I shall also find several of them Discoursing and reasoning on the Exchanges and having much Entercourse and freedom in that City where none were Imprisoned and this with men of all sorts Jews and Papists and I shall find John Perrot speaking there with the Duke of Venice in his Palace and delivering to him several Papers and so departing with his Friend John Love from thence to Rome being sent from Smyrna by the English Ambassador as were divers others who would not suffer them to pass to Constantinople from thence whitherto they were moved of the Lord for fear of the Great Turk At Rome I shall find some of them viz. Samuel Fisher and John Stubbs to have been there for certain days and to be departed Others of them viz. John Perrot and John Love to be Imprisoned and one of them viz. John Love to be dead there and the other well entreated as a Prisoner of whose welfare we have lately by Letters under his own hand understood All which pass sentence upon you Shall I take upon me a long Journey from Rome to Constantinople from the Pope to the Turk and wade through the difficulties of such an Undertaking Shall I Traverse the Morea or that part of the Tarks Dominion which is called Grcece from Patra on the Sea shore towards Zaunt to Vestreetshaw and from thence to Corinth Eneca and Athens where Paul preached Shall I cross the Hellispont to Egrippa in the Island Negropoint and so to Sco and the other Isles to Smyrna in Asia and so back again to Venice Shall I return to Zaunt and the Morea again and Travel about 600. Miles from the Morea shoare to Adrianople and from thence to the Turkish Army Encamped near it and through the Army to the Grand Seignior himself and tell you of one Passage for all to Conclude ye for Ever Mary Fisher a Servant of the Lord a Maiden Friend being moved of the Lord to go and deliver his Word to the Great Turk who with his Army lay Encamp't near to Adrianople went thitherwards to Smyrna but being hindred in Her Passage that way by the English Ambassador who sent her back to Venice passed by Land from the Sea Coasts of the Morea to Adrianople aforesaid very Peaceably without any abuse or injury offered her in that long Journey of about five or six hundred miles Being come to Adrianople near unto which was the Great Turk and his Army she acquainted some of the Citizens with her Intent and desired some of them to go with her but when none of them durst to go fearing his Displeasure she passed alone and coming near the Camp procured a man to inform at the Great Viziers Tent or chief General of the Army that there was an English woman had something to declare from the Great God to the Great Turk Who soon sent her word that she should speak with him the next Morning So she returned to the City that night and the next morning came to the Camp and so to the Great Turk who being with his great Men about him as he uses to be when he receives Ambassadors sent for her in and she coming before him he asked her Whether it was so as he had heard sc That she had something to say to him from the Lord She answered him Yea Then he bad her speak on having Three Interpreters by him and when she stood silent a little waiting on the Lord when to speak he supposing that she might be fearful to utter her mind before them all asked her Whether she desired that any might go forth before she spake She answered Nay Then he bad her speak the Word of the Lord to them and not to fear for they had good hearts and could hear it and strictly charged her to speak the Word she had to say from the Lord neither more or less for they were willing to hear it be it what it would Which she speaking what the Lord had put into her mouth to say They all gave dilligent heed with much soberness and gravity till she had done and then He asking her Whether she had any more to say She asked of him Whether he understood what
To put Man who was made after the Image of God of whom God saith He that sheddeth Man's Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed for after the Image of God made he Man into the state of a Beast who is known by his skin but a Man is not but by the spirit that is in him nor by that neither so as to judge unto Suffering but by the Effects or some Overt Act as the Law of England termeth it and it is a good word upon something done as is the Interpretation and that upon Proof To make a Man as a Beast as a Beast of Prey whom any Man may kill and it is lawful so to do To judge of Fact by Hereafter and of what a Man may do for time to come but as yet it cannot be said of him To kill a Man for hereafter and for Ages to come Yet this is Priest Chansey's and the Doctrine of your Priests and the Practice of You as the Sequel makes manifest for You had a great Consultation again and your Priests were put to it how to prove them as your Law had said And Ye had them before you again and your Priests were with you every One by his side so came ye to Your Court and John Norton must ask them Questions on purpose to ensnare them that by your standing Law for Hereticks you might condemn them as your Priests before consulted And when this would not do for the Lord was with them and made them wiser than your Teachers Ye made a Law to banish them upon Pain of Death Even all such as having suffered your Law should offend again that is to say Come into your Jurisdiction or be such a One as is called a Quaker whom ye so distinguish by the Hat in that Law viz. The not observing the Laudable Custom of the Nation that is the putting off the Hat and the Contempt of Authority that is keeping it on in the Court and these having suffered your Law again and again and that without Cause or legal Proceeding ye banish'd after all this ado whilst Ye could have nothing against them either to justifie what ye had already done by vertue of your Law which said not so or for what ye did so do unto them under colour of a Law made by you whilst they were under your hands by a Law a Postea made after they were Prisoners because they had wrongfully suffered your Law twice before What Abominable Injustice is this and hard to be parallel'd And so they suffered whose Names are Lawrence Southick Cassandra his Wife their Son Josiah see a Man and his House yea a Man and his Heritage Samuel Shattock Nicholas Phelps and Joshua Buffum of which more hereafter when I come to your Law of Banishment After this the Constables of Salem by the Instigation of William Hathorne made diligent search after their Meetings sometimes on Horseback sometimes on Foot for Money ye wanted with Power to break open Houses where they should not be let in who resisted not and Twelve more of them were had to your Court at Salem and fined Forty pounds Nineteen shillings for absenting from your Meetings which as the Spring grew on your Marshal gathered up for your Treasuries by Attaching Cattle and Land and great Fines ye took of some Men for their Wives absence though they themselves came to your Meetings of which I have touched to the Impoverishing of many Families who had but little in the Outward the Fines then taken amounting to One Hundred Pounds and upwards And VVilliam Maston of Hampton in your Colony for Two Books found in his House viz. John Lilburn's Resurrection so intituled and VV. Dusberies mighty Day of the Lord was fined Ten Pounds and the Books took away and for not coming to your Meetings Five Pounds and for your Priest Three Pounds for which certain Barrels of Beef were seized on and You took to the value of above Twenty Pounds And because whilst the aforesaid were in Prison coming through Salem he took some Provisions for Lawrence and Cassandra Southick of their Children and for Josiah of his Wife he was sent for by your Governor and Committed to Prison and continued there about Fourteen dayes in the Cold Winter season though aged about Seventy years Thus have you made a Prey of the Innocent and added Affliction to their Bonds and stopped your Ears at the Cry of their Oppression Therefore the Lord will not hear your Cry in the Day of your Calamity which shall suddenly come upon you nor deliver you His Eye will not spare you but ye shall fall and never rise again the Mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it But to return to your House of Correction and to lay in Order before you the Sufferings of the Strangers as well as of the Inhabitants and to relate what ye did unto them and the Ears ye cut off as saith Your Declaration viz. The Penalty was increased by the loss of the Ears of those that offended the second time that is to say that came into your Jurisdiction for that was the Offence and so to seal up your Sum. About the beginning of the Sixth Month 1658. Christopher Holder and John Copelan̄d were moved of the Lord to go again to Boston where they had suffered so cruelly before and on the Third of the said Month went thitherwards and came as far in their way as a Town called Dedham where they lodged that Night intending the next Morning to move to Boston but they were prevented of so doing as of themselves for the Constables came early in the Morning and told them that they had a Warrant to carry them to Boston whither they brought them before your Governor who being tormented in spirit said in a Rage Ye shall be sure to have your Ears cut off and after asking them many Questions sent them to Prison and the next day had them before the Court where he sought to ensnare them but they told him They should not answer him because he sought so to do Whereupon he had the Impudence to say That they sought to ensnare them sure enough And so at the Motion of Rawson your Secretary they were committed to Prison and ordered to be kept close at Work with Prisoners Diet only till their Ears were cut off which your Jaylor sought to put in Execution though your Law of Cutting off Ears spake no such thing and threatned them with your former Law of whipping them twice a week and every time to encrease Three from Fifteen stripes the first time to Eighteen and so forwards and shewed them the Order whereby Four of Ten Friends were so used and would have reasoned them into the thing and why they would put their Bodies to such Torture he asked them as if he had pitty of them who sought to destroy them But they could not answer him whose Demand was as well besides your Law as it was against the Lord.
it not to me And these shall go away into Everlasting Punishment but the righteous into Life Eternal And so I have sealed up your Summe THE END A Few Words to the KING and both Houses of PARLIAMENT and the Rulers and People of these Nations as a WARNING from the LORD AND now Ye Inhabitants of these Nations Ye Princes and Rulers thereof and Thou King CHARLES and Thy Two Houses of Parliament be ye all warned in the Word of the Lord Whose Word and Warning it is how ye tread the steps of these or of the Men that have gone before you Medling with Conscience the Dominion of God Persecuting Men for their Conscience to God and causing them to suffer for their Consciences as hath been in these Nations For if you do and Forget the Lord and be Unmindful of Him that formed you of the Rock that begat you who hath done great Things for you and Wonderful Things and Terrible and change your Glory into the Similitude of an Oxe that eateth Grass and persecute His People Who are Innocent as to you and have suffered with you and Desire your Welfare Against whom ye have no occasion of fault but as to the Law of their God which they may not transgress lest Evil come upon them from the Lord and his Hand be upon them Who are Meek and Patient and Resist not Evil because of Him that said it but bear All things and suffer all things and you have tryed and found it so as have those that went before you whom the Lord hath Plucked up much because of what was done unto them of which they were warned in the Day of their Deliverance which was fulfilled upon Them viz. That which they were warned of as of that which should come if they took not Warning And hath made way for you and hath done for you as it is at this Day beyond what ye could ask or think Without your Sword or Bow or Spear or your Habergeon When your Hopes were almost gone and you were Disappointed in your Stratagems and Overthrown in your Power and even at a stand to Consider Whether ever a Return of your Captivity should be Which He hath turned again as the Streams in the South and you are as it were in a Dream now that the Lord hath turned again your Captivity and as those who are so filled with the Apprehension of the thing they have and which they long desired to enjoy and were long kept out of that they are in Doubt whether it be a Dream or the Thing Thus hath the Lord done for you and He that hath done it can undo it again and overturn you as He hath done them that have gone before you and that without Sword or Spear even by the Spirit of the Lord Who hath moved Me to write to You and to warn you of these things For if you do as from the Mouth of the Lord I have said and meddle with Conscience the Dominion of God and impose upon it in Matters of Religion the Worship of God who will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth and the Father seeketh such to worship Him who is Lord of the Conscience and so intrench upon his Dominion which is an Everlasting Dominion and His Kingdom which shall never have end His Hand will be against you and his Fury will come upon you and He will visit you and your Day He will turn into Night and your Joy into Sorrow and your Rejoycing into Heaviness and you shall know that the Most High ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will So in Bowels of Love and Tenderness of Heart as One that desires your Prosperity for ever and the Wel-being of you and your Posterity after you I beseech you take heed of striking against the Rock of Ages or medling with His Kingdom which is an Everlasting Kingdom or with His Dominion which is for ever and ever or persecuting His People for if ye do Know assuredly from the Lord It will dash you to Pieces and by how much the more his Kindness hath exceeded towards you will be your Judgment Therefore my dear Friends Take heed what ye do be Advised and Cool Refuse not the Counsel of One that is your Friend On whom the sence of these things lies Who would not have God your Enemy Who would have it well with you For here have splitted All that have gone before you and here You will be split the Lord hath spoken it And so I have Discharged my Conscience of what the Lord hath laid on Me and manifested my Love and Good-will to You If ye take it well it will be the better for you if otherwise I am Clear Bristol 11th day 4th Month 1661. GEO. BISHOP AN APPENDEX To the BOOK Entituled New England Judged BEING Certain WRITINGS never yet Printed of those Persons which were there EXECUTED Together With a SHORT RELATION of the TRYAL SENTENCE and EXECUTION OF VVILLIAM LEDDRA Written by Them in the time of their Imprisonment in the Bloody Town of BOSTON LONDON Printed for Robert Wilson at the sign of the Black-spread-Eagle and Windmil in Martins Le Grand 1661. An Appendex To the BOOK Entituled New England Judged This concerns all such Rulers Priests and People in New-England who have joyned hand in hand to Persecute the Saints but especially the Rulers and Priests of Masachusets Bay in New-England who are become more Bloody and Cruel Bold and Impudent in their Wickedness than the rest of their Brethren who have attempted to make a Bloody Law and Unrighteous Decree to Banish the Children and People of God upon Death out of their Jurisdiction and by an unrighteous Decree have made a Law to put the Servants of God to Death if they return again into their Patent Therefore mark the Cruelty which is the fruits of New-England's Professors all you that Read this Paper HEarken and give Ear thou Town of Boston lend an Ear O ye Rulers chief Priests and Inhabitants thereof Listen all you that dwell therein Rich and Poor Small and Great High and Low Bond and Free of what sort so ever Give Ear be attentive to the Words of my mouth which proceed from the Spirit of the Lord and from the Power of the Almighty within me I have often considered your Conditions and your Actings have often come into my remembrance which hath caused me often to Lament because of the hardness of your hearts who do thus slight the Almighty and requite the Most High Oh foolish and unwise ye who do not regard the Lord that made you who hath often sent to you his Servants to give you warning of the mighty day of the Lord of Hosts of the terrible day of the Lord God Almighty which draweth near it hastens apace the Lord hath said it for His Elects sake and for His own Names sake will the Lord arise and plead with all His Enemies in this the day of His Eternal Power Oh