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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48454	The Christian mans triall, or, A trve relation of the first apprehension and severall examinations of Iohn Lilbvrne with his censure in Star-chamber, and the manner of his cruell whipping through the streets : whereunto is annexed his speech in the pillory, and their gagging of him : also the severe	Lilburne, John, 1614?-1657.; Kiffin, William, 1616-1701.; Lilburne, John, 1614?-1657. Work of the beast.	1641 (1641)	Wing L2089; ESTC R1513	44,603	44

being a guiltie person himselfe and a prisoner and did that which he did against mee for purchasing his owne libertie which hee hath by such Judasly meanes got and obtained who is also knowne to be a lying fellow as I told the Lords I was able to prove and make good But besides all this there was an inquisition-oath tendered unto mee which I refused to take on foure severall dayes the summe of which Oath is thus much You shall sweare that you shall make true answer to all things that shall be asked of you So helpe you God Now this Oath I refused as a sinfull and unlawfull Oath it being the High-Commission Oath with which the Prelates ever have and still doe so butcherly torment afflict and undoe the deare Saints and Servants of God It is an oath against the Law of the Land as Master Nicholas Fuller in his Argument doth prove And also it is expressely against the Petition of Right an Act of Parliament Enacted in the second yeere of our King Againe it is absolutely against the Law of God for that Law requires no man to accuse himselfe but if any thing be laid to his charge there must come two or three witnesses at the least to prove it It is also against the practice of Christ himselfe who in all his examinations before the High Priest would not accuse himselfe but upon their demands returned this answer Why aske you me goe to them that heard me Withall this Oath is against the very law of Nature for nature is alwaies a preserver of it selfe and not a destroyer But if a man takes this wicked oath he destroyes and undoes himselfe as daily experience doth witnesse Nay it is worse than the Law of the Heathen Romanes as wee may reade Acts 25. 16. For when Paul stood before the Pagan Governours and the Iewes required judgement against him the Governour replyed it is not the manner of the Romans to condemne any man before he and his accusers be brought face to face to justifie their accusation But for mine owne part if I had beene proceeded against by a Bill I would have answered and justified all that they could have proved against me and by the strength of my God would have sealed whatsoever I have done with my blood for I am privie to mine owne actions and my conscience beares mee witnesse that I have laboured ever since the Lord in mercy made the riches of his grace knowne to my soule to keepe a good conscience and to walke inoffensively both towards God and man But as for that oath that was put upon mee I did refuse to take it as a sinfull and unlawfull oath and by the strength of my God inabling me I will never take it though I be puld in pieces with wilde horses as the ancient Christians were by the bloody Tyrants in the Primitive Church neither shall I thinke that man a faithfull Subject of Christs Kingdome that shall at any time hereafter take it seeing the wickednesse of it hath been so apparently laid open by so many for the refusall whereof many doe suffer cruell persecution to this day Thus have I as briefly as I could declared unto you the whole cause of my standing here this day I being upon these grounds censured by the Lords at the Star-chamber on the last Court day of the last Terme to pay 500. pounds to the King and to receive the punishment which with rejoycing I have undergone unto whose censure I doe with willingnesse and cheerefulnesse submit my selfe But seeing I now stand here at this present I intend the Lord assisting me with his power and guiding me by his Spirit to declare my minde unto you I have nothing to say to any mans person and therefore will not meddle with that onely the things that I have to say in the first place are concerning the Bishops and their calling They challenge their callings to be Iure Divino and for the oppugning of which those there renowned living martyrs of the Lord Doctor Bastwicke Master Burton and Master Prin did suffer in this place and they have sufficiently proved that their calling is not from God which men I love and honour and doe perswade my selfe that their soules are deare and precious in the sight of God though they were so cruelly and butcherly dealt with by the Prelates and as for Master Burton and Master Prin they are worthy and learned men but yet did not in many things write so fully as the Doctor did who hath sufficiently and plentifully set forth the wickednesse both of the Prelates themselves and of their callings as you may reade in his Bookes that they are not Jure Divino which noble and reverend Doctor I love with my soule and as he is a man that stands for the truth and glory of God my very life and heart-blood I will lay downe for his honour and the maintaining of his cause for which hee suffered it being Gods cause As for the Bishops they used in former times to challenge their jurisdiction callings and power from the King but they have now openly in the High Commission Court renounced that as was heard by many at the censure of that Noble Doctor And as you may fully reade in his Apologettcus and in his Answer to Sir John Bancks his Information Now I will here maintain it before them all that their callings is so far from being Jure Divino as they say they are that they are rather jure Diabolico which if I be not able to prove let mee be hanged up at the Hall gate But my brethren for your better satisfaction reade the 9. and 13. Chapters of the Revelation and there you shall see that there came Locusts out of the Bottomlesse Pit part of whom they are and they are there lively described Also you shall there finde that the Beast which is the Pope or Romane State and government hath given to him by the Dragon the Divell his power and seate and great authoritie So that the Popes authoritie comes from the divell and the Prelates and their Creatures in their printed Bookes doe challenge their authoritie jurisdiction and power that they exercise over all sorts of people is from Rome And for proving of the Church of England to be a true Church their best and strongest argument is that the Bishops are lineally destended from his Holinesse or Impiousnesse of Rome as you may reade in Pocklingtons Booke called Sunday no Sabbath So that by their owne confession they stand by that same power and authority that they have received from the Pope So that their calling is not from God but from the Divell For the Pope cannot give a better authoritie or calling to them then he himselfe hath but his authority and calling is from the Divell therefore the Prelates calling and authority is from the Divell also Revel. 9. 3. And there came out of the smoake Locusts upon the earth and unto them was given power as

shined very hot upon mee and the tipstaffe-man at the first would not let me have my hat to keepe the vehement heate of the Sunne from my head Also hee many times spake to the Cart-man to drive softly so that the heate of the Sunne exceedingly pierced my head and made me somewhat faint But yet my God upheld mee with courage and made mee undergoe it with a joyfull heart And when I came to Chearing Crosse some Christian friends spake to me and bid me be of good cheere so I am said I for I rest not in mine owne strength but I fight under the Banner of my great and mighty Captaine The Lord Iesus Christ who hath conquered all his Enemies and I doubt not but through his strength I shall conquer and overcome all my sufferings for his power upholds me his strength enables mee his presence cheeres mee and his Spirit comforts me and I looke for an immortall crowne which never shall fade nor decay the assured hope and expectation whereof makes mee to contemne my sufferings and count them as nothing for my momentany affliction will work for me a farre more exceeding crowne and weight of glory And as I went by the Kings Palace a great multitude of people came to looke upon me and passing through the gate unto Westminster many demanded what was the matter To whom I replyed My brethren against the Law of God against the Law of the Land against the King or State have I not committed the least offence that deserves this punishment but onely I suffer as an object of the Prelates crueltie and malice and hereupon one of the Warden of the Fleets-officers began to interrupt inee and tols me my sufferings were just and therefore I should hold my tongue whom I bid meddle with his owne businesse for I would speake come what would for my cause is good for which I suffered and here I was ready to shed my dearest blood for it And as wee went through Kings-street many encouraged mee and bid mee be cheerfull others whose faces to my knowledge I never saw before and who I verily thinke knew not the cause of my suffering but seeing my cheerfulnesse under it beseeched the Lord to blesse me and strengthen me At the last we came to the Pillorie where I was unloosed from the Cart and having put on some of my clothes wee went to the Taverne where I staid a prettie while waiting for my Surgeon which was not yet come to dresse mee where were many of my friends who exceedingly rejoyced to see my courage that the Lord had enabled me to undergoe my punishment so willingly who asked mee how I did I told them as well as ever I was in my life I blesse my God for it for I felt such inward joy and comfort cheering up my soule that I lightly esteemed my sufferings And this I counted my wedding day in which I was married to the Lord Jesus Christ for now I know hee loves me in that hee hath bestowed so rich apparell this day upon mee and counted mee worthy to suffer for his sake I having a desire to retire into a private roome from the multitude of people that were about mee which made mee like to faine I had not beene there long but Mr. Lightborne the Tipstaffe of the Star-Chamber came unto me saying the Lords sent him to me to know if I would acknowledge my selfe to be in a fault and then hee knew what to say unto me To whom I replyed Have their Honours caused mee to be whipt from the Fleet to Westminster and do they now send to know if I will acknowledge a fault they should have done this before I had beene whipt for now seeing I have undergone the greatest part of my punishment I hope the Lord will assist me to goe through it all and besides if I would have done this at the first I needed not to have come to this But as I told the Lords when I was before them at the Barre so I desire you to tell them againe that I am not conscious to my selfe of doing any thing that deserves a submission but yet I doe willingly submit to their Lordships pleasures in my censure Hee told mee if I would confesse a fault it would save mee a standing in the Pillorie otherwise I must undergoe the burthen of it Well said I I regard not a little outward disgrace for the cause of my God I have found alreadie that sweetnesse in him in whom I have believed that through his strength I am able to undergoe any thing that shall be inflicted on me But me thinks that I had very hard measure that I should be condemned and thus punished upon two Oathes in which the partie hath most falsly forsworne himselfe and because I would not take an Oath to betray mine owne innocencie Why Paul found more mercy from the Heathen Romane Governours for they would not put him to an Oath to accuse himselfe but suffered him to make the best defence he could for himselfe neither would they condemne him before his accusers and hee were brought face to face to justifie and fully to prove their accusation but the Lords have not dealt so with me for my accusers and I were never brought face to face to justifie their accusation against me it is true two false Oaths were sworne against me and I was thereupon condemned and because I would not accuse my selfe It is true said hee it was so with Paul but the Lawes of this Land is otherwise than their Lawes were in those dayes Then said I they are worse and more cruell than the Lawes of the Pagans and Heathen Romanes were who would condemne no man without witnesses and they should be brought face to face to justifie their accusation and so he went away and I prepared my selfe for the Pillory to which I went with a joyfull courage and when I was upon it I made obeysance to the Lords some of them as I suppose looking out at the Star-chamber window towards me And so I put my necke into the hole which being a great deale too low for mee it was very painfull to me in regard of continuance of the time that I stood on the pillorie which was about two houres my backe also being very sore and the Sunne shining so exceeding hot and the Tipstaffe-man not suffering mee to keepe on my hat to defend my head from the heate of the Sunne so that I stood there in great paine yet through the strength of my God I underwent it with courage to the very last minute and lifting up my heart and spirit unto my God While I was thus standing on the pillorie I craved his powerfull assistance with the Spirit of wisedome and courage that I might open my mouth with boldnesse and speake those things that might make for his greatest glory and the goood of his people and so casting mine eyes on the multitude I began to speake after this manner My Christian

Brethren to all you that love the Lord Jesus Christ and desire that he should raigne and rule in your hearts and lives to you especially and to as many as heare me this day I direct my speech I stand here in the place of ignominy and shame yet to me it is not so but I owne and embrace it as the Welcome Crosse of Christ and as a badge of my Christian Profession I have beene already whipt from the Fleete to this place by vertue of a censure from the Honourable Lords of the Star-Chamber hereunto the Cause of my censure I shall declare unto you as briefly as I can The Lord by his speciall hand of providence so ordered it that not long agoe I was in Holland where I was like to have settled my selfe in a course of trading that might have brought me in a pretty large portion of earthly things after which my heart did too much runne but the Lord having a better portion in store for me and more durable riches to bestow upon my soule by the same hand of providence brought me backe againe and cast mee into easie affliction that thereby I might be weaned from the world and see the vanity and emptinesse of all things therein And hee hath now pitched my soule upon such an object of beautie amiablenesse and excellencie as is as permanent and endurable as Eternity it selfe namely the personall excellencie of the Lord Jesus Christ the sweetnesse of whose presence no affliction can ever be able to wrest out of my soule Now while I was in Holland it seemes there were divers Bookes of that noble and renowned Doctor Iohn Bastwicke sent into England which came to the hands of one Edmond Chillington for the sending over of which I was taken and apprehended the plot being before laid by one Iohn Chilliburne whom I supposed and tooke to be my friend servant to my old fellow soldier Master Iohn Wharton living in Bow-lane after this manner I walking in the street with the said Iohn Chilliburne was taken by the Pursevant and his men the said Iohn as I verily believe having given direction to them where to stand and hee himselfe was the third man that laid hands on mee to hold mee Now at my censure before the Lords I there declared upon the word of a Christian that I sent not over those Bookes neither did I know the Ship that brought them nor my of the men that belonged to the Ship nor to my knowledge did I ever see either Ship or any appertaining to it in all my dayes Besides this I was accused at my examination before the Kings Atturney at his Chamber by the said 〈◊〉 Chillington Button-seller living in Canon-street neere Alchurch Lane and late prisoner in Bridewell and Newgate for printing ten or welve thousand Bookes in Holland and that I woud have printed the Vnmasking the mysterie of Iniquitie if I could have gotten a true copy of it and that I had a Chamber in Mastor Iohn Foot 's house at Delfe where he thinks the Books were kept Now here I declare before you all upon the word of a suffering Christian that hee might as well have accused me of printing a hundred thousand hookes and the one been as true as the other and for the printing the Vnmasking the Mysterie of Iniquitie upon the word of an honest man I never saw nor to my knowledge heard of the Booke till I came backe againe into England and for my having a Chamber in Master Iohn Foot 's house at Delfe where he thinks the Bookes were kept I was so farre from having a Chamber there as I never lay in his house but twice or thrice at the most and upon the last Friday of the last Terme I was brought to the Star-Chamber Barre where before me was read the said * Edmond Chillingtons Affidavit upon Oath against Mr. Iohn Wharton and my selfe the summe of which oath was That hee and I had printed at Rotterdam in Holland Doctor Bastwicks Answer and his Letany withdivers other scandalous Bookes Now here againe I speake it in the presence of God and all you that heare mee that Master Wharton and I never joyned together in printing either these or any other Bookes whatsoever neither did I receive any money from him toward the printing any Withall in his first Oath hee peremptorily swore that wee had printed them at Rotterdam unto which I likewise say That he hath in this particular forsworne himselfe for mine owne part I never in all my dayes either printed or caused to be printed either for my selfe or for Master Wharton any Bookes at Rotterdam neither did I come into any Printing-house there all the time I was in the Citie And then upon the Tuesday after he swore against both of us againe The summe of which Oathes was that I had confessed to him which is most false that I had printed Doctor Bastwicke● Answer to Sir Iohn Bancks his Information and his Letany and another Booke called Certaine Answers to Certaine Objections and another Booke called The Vanity and Impiety of the old Letany and that I had divers other Bookes of the said Doctor Bastwicks in printing and that Master Wharton had been at the charges of printing a Book called A Breviate of the Bishops late proceedings and another Booke called sixteene new Queries and in this his Oath hath sworne they were printed at Rotterdam or somewhere else in Holland and that one Iames Oldam a Turner keeping Shop at Westminster-hall-gate dispersed divers of these Bookes Now in this Oath he hath againe forsworne himselfe in a high degree for whereas he tooke his Oath that I had printed the Booke called The Vanity and Impiety of the old Letany I here speake it before you all that I never in all my dayes did see one of them in print but I must confesse I have seene and read it in written hand before the Doctor was censured and as for other Bookes of which he saith I have divers in printing To that I answer that for mine owne particular I never read nor saw any of the Doctors Bookes but the forenamed foure in English and one little thing more of about two sheets of paper which is annexed to the Vanity of the old Letany and as for his Latine Bookes I never saw any but two Namely his Flagellum for which he was first censured in the High Commission Court and his Apologeticus which were both in print long before I knew the Doctor But it is true there is a second edition of his Flagellum but that was at the presse above two yeeres agoe namely Anno 1634. and some of this impression was in England before I came out of Holland And these are the maine things for which I was censured and condemned being two oathes in which the said Chillington hath palpably forsworne himselfe and if hee had not forsworne himselfe yet by the Law as I am given to understand I might have excepted against him

the Scorpions of the earth have power to hurt and undoe men as the Prelates daily doe and also Revel. 13. 2. And the Beast which I saw saith Saint Iohn was like unto a Leopard and his feete were as the feete of a Beare and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion and the Dragon that is to say the Divell gave him his power his seat and great authoritie and verse 15. 16 17. And whether the Prelates as well as the Pope doe not daily the same things let every man that hath but comon reason judge For doe not their daily practises and cruell burthens imposed on all sorts of people high and low rich and poore witnesse that their discent is from the Beast part of his state and kingdome So also Revel. 16. 13 14. all which places doe declare that their power and authoritie being from the Pope as they themselves confesse therefore it must needs originally come from the Divell for their power and callings must of necessitie proceed either from God or else from the Divell but it proceeds not from God as the Scriptures sufficiently declare therefore their calling and power proceeds from the Divell as both Scripture and their owne daily practises doe demonstrate and prove and as for that last place cited Rev. 16. 13. 14. If you please to reade the second and third parts of Doctor Bastwicks Letany you shall finde hee there proves that the Prelates practices doe every way suit with and make good that portion of Scripture to the utmost For in their Sermons that they preach before his Majestie how doe they incense the King and Nobles against the people of God labouring to make them odious in his sight and stirring him up to execute vengeance upon them though they be the most harmelesse generation of all others And as for all these officers that are under them and made by them for mine owne particular I cannot see but that their callings are as unlawfull as the Bishops themselves and in particular for the callings of the Ministers I doe not nor will not speake against their persons for I know some of them to be very able men and men of excellent gifts and qualifications and I perswade my selfe their soules are very deare and pretious in the sight of God Yet notwithstanding this proves not their callings to be ever the better as it is in civill government If the King whom God hath made a lawfull Magistrate make a wicked man an officer hee is as true an officer and as well to be obeyed comming in the Kings name as the best man in the world comming with the same authority for in such a case hee that is a wicked man hath his calling from as good authoritie as the godliest man hath and therefore his calling is as good as the others But on the other side if hee that hath no authority make officers though the men themselves be never so good and holy yet their holinesse makes their calling never a whit the truer but still is a false calling in regard his authority was not good not lawfull that made them and even so the Ministers be they never so holy men yet they have one and the same calling with the wickedest that is amongst them their holinesse proves not their callings to be ever the truer seeing their authority that made them Ministers is false and therefore they have more to answer for than any of the rest by how much the more God hath bestowed greater guifts upon them than upon others and yet they detaine the truth in unrighteousnesse from Gods people and doe not make knowne to them as they ought the whole Will and Counsell of God And againe the greater is their sinne if their callings be unlawfull as I verily believe they are in that they stil hold them and do not willingly lay down and renounce them or they do but deceive the people and highly dishonour God and sin against their own soules while they preach unto the people by vertue of an Antichristian and unlawfull calling and the more godly and able the Minister is that still preaches by vertue of this calling the more hurt he doth for the people that have such a Minister will not be perswaded of the truth of things though one speake and informe them in the name of the Lord but will be ready to reply Our Minister that preaches still by vertue of this Calling is so holy a man that were not his calling right and good I doe assure my selfe he would no longer preach by vertue thereof And thus the holinesse of the Minister is a cloake to cover the unlawfulnesse of his calling and make the people continue rebels against Christ his Scepter and Kingdome which is an aggravation of his sinne for by this meanes the people are kept off from receiving the whole truth into their soules and rest in being but almost Christians or but Christians in part But Oh my brethren it behoves all you that feare God and tender the salvation of your owne soules to looke about you and to shake off that long security and formality in Religion that you have laine in For God of all things cannot endure Lukewarmnesse Rev. 3. 16. and search out diligently the truth of things and try them in the Ballance of the Sanctuary I beseech you take things no more upon trust as hitherto you have done but take paines to search and find out those spirituall and hidden truths that God hath enwrapped in his sacred Booke and find out a bottome for your owne soules for if you will have the comforts of them you must bestow some labour for the getting of them and you must search diligently before you finde them Prov. 2. Labour also to withdraw your necks from under that spirituall and Antichristian bondage unto which you have for a long time subjected your soules lest the Lord cause his plagues and the fiercenesse of his wrath to seize both upon your bodies and soules seeing you are now warned of the danger of these things For he himselfe hath said Rev. 14. 9. 10 11. That if any man worship the Beast and his Image and receive his marke in his forehead or in his hand the same shall drinke of the wine of his wrath which is powred out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall he tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lambe and the smooke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night who worship the Beast and his Image and whosoever receiveth the marke of his name Therefore as you love your owne soules and looke for that immortall Crowne of happinesse in the world to come looke that you withdraw your selves from that Antichristian power and slavery that you are now under even as God himselfe hath commanded and injoyned you in Rev. 18. 4. saying Come out of her my people