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cause_n	good_a	just_a	law_n	2,761	5	4.7834	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90861	Innocencie appearing, through the dark mists of pretended guilt. Or, A full and true narration of the unjust and illegal proceedings of the commissioners of Berks, (for ejecting scandalous and insufficient ministers) against John Pordage of Bradfield in the same county. In which he is justly vindicated from the unjust and horrid aspersions of blasphemy, divelism or necromancie, scandal in his life, and all things else falsly objected against him by his enemies. Published for the clearing of truth, and the detecting of malice and subtilty, and for the prevention of all mispprehensions that may be caused by any scandalous pamphlets, and false relations of the proceedings in his case. As likewise for the information of all sober-minded Christians touching his judgement in many things of high concernment, and particularly concerning chastity, virginity, apparitions of spirits, visions, communion with the holy angels, the invisible worlds, magistracy, &c. / Written by the said John Pordage.	Pordage, John, 1607-1681.	1655 (1655)	Wing P2967; Thomason E1068_7; ESTC R210422	152,492	125

ready to entrench upon the just freedom and liberty of others is neither safe nor reasonable 2. In that you have made an Ordinance for the Ejecting of Scandalous and Ignorant Ministers which by the abuse of it hath been and still is made an Engine of persecution to condemn Saints and throw them out of their Estates and livelihoods and really I cannot see what else was like to come of it it being intrusted into the hands of many fierce rigid narrow spirited men who have in some things a kind of unlimited arbitrary power as in their Judgement of Ignorance and Insufficiency and this without any Appeal for the redress of those who may be unjustly condemned and ejected by them Now what sad inconveniences may yet flow from this Ordinance thus established is apparent by considering the rigid temper of those Commissioners who are most active and the late prastices of some of them against those who in spiritual knowledg and a holy conversation are beyond themselves And in truth you will find by experience that the Commissioners who are most active will as they now do and have done already I say will turn the edge of their power against those that enjoy any glorious discoveries of God above and beyond their systemes and forms of Doctrine and judge those Scandalous and Ignorant that differ from them in judgement though they be of ever so holy a conversation And thus many pretious Saints will lie under the misery of Ejectment pretended scandal and ignoaance because they see not by the same measure of light nor believe in one proportion of faith nor give such interpretations and glosses of Scripture as suit to their darkness And thus the civil power received from God for the punishment of evil doers is and will be used against the more spiritual administrations of God and the all-glorious Spirit of Revelation pure Wisdom and Prophecy must be made subject to the Laws Ordinances Forms Measures and Wils of men And is not this to limit the holy one of Israel And will not the establishment of such Laws left to the arbitrary use of such Judges without any further appeal destroy that due Libeity both civil and spiritual which is the best Interest of States and Nations How much then doth it concern you who are entrusted with the Government of this Nation seriously and speedily to reflect upon and consider the Ordinance and those in whose hand it is put being it hath been is and is like further to be made use of against the Saints of the most high I say how much doth it concern you by reflecting upon these things to make some speedy redress either by limiting the arbitrary Power of the Commissioners and granting an Appeal or breaking and nulling the Ordinance And that there is great reason for the speedy performance of some such thing will appear by looking into the subsequent Relation of my Tryal in which you may see envy and subtilty meeting in my accusations partiality and prejudice appearing in managing the Examinations with injustice and cruelty concurring in sentence and condemnation And I really believe had you seen this true Narration of my Case before I had appealed for a re-hearing it would have been so different from these false and abusive insinuations of my enemies by which they have subtilly endeavoured to prejudice you and all others against me and so much tending to clear my innocency that certainly you would have favoured a righteous Cause and me so much as to have granted are-hearing But my addresses have yet been frustrate and my Petition rejected but upon what grounds is best known to your consciences I must here therefore take the boldness being pressed in my spirit by reflecting upon the cause of God the just interests of many Saints and your own good to put you in mind of those solemn protestations and engagements made before this present Government and of that solemn and publick Oath taken at the beginning of this Government to see Law and Iustice equally administred and the Saints due Interests and Liberty preserved and of some passages in your Highnesses late Speech viz. That you desired not to keep the Government any longer then you may preserve England in its just Rights and may protect the people of God in a just Liberty of their consciences And that b p. 20 21. it is your glory that you know a cause which yet you have not lost but do hope you shall take a little pleasure rather to lose your life then lose which Cause your Highness had before expressed to be the interest of those who have an interest in a better world and their liberty to worship with the freedome of their consciences and freedome in their Estates and persons Now these Engagements Protestations and Declarations are eminently good and righteous and worthy to be recorded in Characters of Gold to be seriously reviewed by you and I hope may prove instrumental to stirr you up to the taking of some course in reference to the Ordinance for Ejecting of Ministers made by you which may be suitable to and correspond with all these open protestations and solemn ingagements For whether the leaving it as now it is established without any appeal though in point of the greatest injury I say whether the leaving of it so be not contrary to the former protestations I appeal to your own consciences For when subordinate Governors shal turn the edge of it against the meek lambs of Christs Fold who walk faithfully before God and righteously toward their neighbour and make use of it to ruine them and their Families against the Law of this Nation the rule of equity and the just liberty of mens consciences and persons I say when these things are so and yet no Appeal admitted by the higher Powers for redress 't is clear that Iustice is not equally administred and neither the Spiritual nor Civil right of Christians preserved And truely if this should continue some of the dear Saints of God would find their conditions more sad as to this particular then it was in the time of the Bishops Persecutions when there were Courts of Appeal for those that were oppressed and injured and would be driven as in those times c His Highness Speech p. 18. to seek their bread from strangers and live in howling Wildernesses and be otherwise abused and made the scorn of the Nation And truely there be some already who are of sound Principles and an unblameable conversation that are persecuted as Blasphemers and evil doers and so oppressed by those who in the Bishops times cryed out for Liberty as then oppressed themselves The baseness and evil of which practice your Highnese condemns in your late d p. 18. Speech Except then that you and your Councel either break the power of those fierce men or grant an Appeal to some of more large and tender spirits all the evils and hainous sins which cannot but be committed in the

INNOCENCIE APPEARING Through the dark Mists of Pretended Guilt OR A full and true Narration of the unjust and Illegal Proceedings of the Commissioners of Berks for ejecting Scandalous and Insufficient Ministers against John Pordage of Bradfield in the same County In which he is justly vindicated from the unjust and horrid Aspersions Of Blasphemy Divelism or Necromancie Scandal in his Life And all things else falsly objected against him by his Enemies Published for the clearing of Truth and the detecting of Malice and Subtilty and for the prevention of all misapprehensions that may be caused by any scandalous Pamphlets and false relations of the proceedings in his Case As likewise for the information of all sober-minded Christians touching his judgement in many things of high concernment and particularly concerning Chastity Virginity Apparitions of Spirits Visions Communion with the Holy Angels The Invisible Worlds Magistracy c. Written by the said JOHN PORDAGE Mat. 5. 11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Mat. 16. 2. They shall put you out of the Synagogues yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God good service Mat. 10. 22. And ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake Isa 66. 5. Hear the word of the Lord ye that tremble at this word your prethren that cast you out for my names sake said Let the Lord be glorifyed but he shall appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed Rev. 17. Behold he cometh with clouds and every Eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him even so Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Hom. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem Hom. 18. London Printed for Giles Calvert at the Black Spread-Eagle at the West-end of Pauls 1655. To his Highness the Lord PROTECTOR and to his Honourable Council My Lord and you of the Councel I Am moved here humbly to present you with one piece of the Councel of God which concerns the disposing of the external condition of his Saints who of all people are most near and dear to him For they are his anointed ones his first-born his blessed seed in the midst of States and Kingdoms what are Christians but the parts and members of Christ They are as the very apple of his eye his Jewels his Prophets and Royal Priesthood And hath not Gods care and protection of his people in all ages been most eminent though few for number though weak for power and contemptible for their outward state and condition Yet by his omnipotency hath he preserved them in the midst of devouring Lyons And hath not Gods proceedings with all States Nations and Kingdoms with all Kings Emperors Rulers and Governors been according to their dealing with his people and their Families If they have dealt gently with them and have suffered them to dwell quietly amongst them their Thrones have been established in mercy but when they have dealt unkindly and rigidly with them it hath been their ruine It is not simply the having of Gods Saints nor the multitude of them nor the best of them amongst you but it is your using of them kindly and your countenancing of them which is your best and most considerable interest Even as it is the greatest danger to Rulers and to the interest of Government to deal cruelly and unjustly with them who being as the salt of the earth keep it from corruption and ruine Now this truth you shall find clearly held forth throughout the whole Scripture that as States and Kingdoms have prospered by their care and protection of the Saints so have they been broken in pieces through their cruel dealings with them Remember the four Kings overthrown by Abraham remember Edom and Tyre with the Assirian Grecian Persian and Roman Empires was it not for their Tyrannies cruelties oppressions persecutions and for their rigid and cruelly severe usage of Gods Saints that they were destryed I beseech you consider what a great body of Saints is committed to your care in this Nation by these I mean not one party of men for I could not express the title of Saints to any one Sect or Society of men but apply it to all that are called chosen and faithfull who shew their interest in Christs death and resurrection by their conformity to his pattern and example these are your richest treasure and your highest interest If then the Saints of England are the best strength and interest of England O then maintain defend and preserve this interest by cherishing and countenancing of them by suffering them in their various waies and appearances freely and comfortably to serve and enjoy God Be like Cyrus Gods anointed Chirub stretching your wings of tenderness and protection over all good people that none may have cause to complain or mourn through oppression Consider that it is the will of God that the Saints should live a godly and a peaceable life under Magistrates This they are to pray for and this is their due according to the Law of God and the light of nature the first of which commands us to love our neighbours as our selves the second to do to others what we would have done to us again In what these two meet they make up but one Law which is the will of God which ought to be the only rule both of your publick and privat actions for in the performing of this only you will find the true peace and tranquility of spirit For a Christians will is perfected no where but in the will of God and nothing creates perplexity and disquietness of spirit but the contrariety of motion betwixt the will of God and the will of man For when mans will runs cross to Gods will he fights against his Maker and brings trouble guilt and misery upon himself How cautious then ought you especially who sit in the high places of Government to be in the creating and making of Laws which are of publick influence and concernment lest you publickly oppose the will and interest of God especially in reference to the freedom and just liberty of the Saints which is a thing of very great moment and that which is tenderly eyed by our most wise God Now these things I have been pressed in my spirit to present to your Highness and your Councel first in regard there have been and still are so many parties on foot who designe and carry on their own particular interests some of which make it their work to insinuate and creep into the favour of the Highest Powers to draw them to countenance their particular interests and discountenance others whom they have an antipathy against though it may be far more innocent and righteous then themselves and really to give such men much power and liberty who are so much confined to people of their own stamp and model and so

persecuting condemning and ejecting some of Gods precious Saints must unavoidably revolve and bring guilt upon you all because they act from your power and may be strained when you please But whatever you shall hereafter act in reference to this though many cannot but expect either the nulling or limiting the Ordinance by an Appeal I have discharged my conscience in presenting these things to be considered of in reference to your own happiness and the good of others who may by sufferings be concerned in it as also performed my duty as to my own Case in appealing to you and presenting my grievance in expectation of redress but whether the present necessity and justness of my cause did not call for more then a rejection of my due request let all sober Christians and your own consciences judge And I pray God this denial be not laid to your charge in the day of visitation And if you yet persist in the resolutions of granting me no Appeal and giving me wholly up to the oppression and cruelty of my enemies I shall appeal to the great Iudge of men and Angels resigning my self and Family into his hand who I hope will deal more mercifully with you in the time of his Iudgement then you have yet with me and mine in the time of our distress Which is the cordial and sincere desire of Your Servant in the love and under the Cross of Christ JOHN PORDAGE To my Judges the Commissioners and their Assistants the Ministers Gentlemen REmember Christs command Judge not that ye be not judged But ye have judged already and therefore must be your selves judged The same measure you have given me shall once be retaliated to you your selves when their unjust sentence and proceedings come to be weighed in the just ballance of the Lord who hath certainly a great controversie with those who pretend Iustice and call upon his name yet deal unjustly and persecute his nature appearing in his children I shall desire you therefore to forbear your persecutions as much for your own sakes as for those who do and may lye under the scourge of it for they will assuredly draw judgements upon you and cry aloud in the ears of Jehovah for due vengeance You know God did not bring that last and utter desolation upon the Nation of the Iews until they had filled up the measure of their sins by conspiring against and murthering Christ and his Disciples after his death under the pretence of zeal and Gods-service Now what is done to the least of his is done to Christ himself And are not you found doing the same work with those who killed the Prophets and stoned those who were sent to them For as much as in you lay you have slain those who are the annointed of Christ and so have condemned him in his members and overclowded him with all manner of reproaches and railing-accusations Remember the four Kings overthrown by Abraham and was it not because they had led captive one Saint even righteous Lot The Heathen Princes little thought what a prisoner they had they took him in the croud amongst the most wicked of People yet God was so tender of him that he was delivered and they that took him ruined being forced to part with his person and goods which they had unjustly taken away and many of them with their own lives For the Lord knows how to deliver the righteous and reserve the wicked to the day of vengeance O remember this you that drive so furiously against the pure Life of God imbodiea in his Saints Take heed lest this your persecution proves a National sin and brings guilt upon all who thorow mistakes or otherwise permit or countenance it how was Abimelech and his Family punished for his unjust though involuntary prejudicing of Abraham and how had the whole Nation suffered had he not repented and returned Sarah How graciously did God deal with Joseph after the execution of his Brethrens malice in preferring of him and making him a preserver to those who had dealt so cruelly with him And certainly the time is at hand when the Saints who have been judged and condemned for their Testimony to truth as Hereticks and evil doers shall judge the world and possess the kingdom and shall have power over the Nations to execute judgement and righteousness in the earth but I mean not in a fleshly way of force and violence with the material sword but in a spiritual manner by the power and Majesty of Gods Holy Spirit which must destroy Antichrist that man of sin that hath so long sate in the Temple of God as God This day will destroy and break your power by and from which you have unrighteously sentenced me And I may ask you for which of my good works have you condemned me Though I know you are ready to answer me as the Iews did Christ Not for thy good works but because thou art a Blasphemer Was not Christ thus judged as an evil doer though he never committed any evil Was he not condemned as a blasphemer and a Conjurer And was not the Civil and Ecclesiastical powers combined in his condemnation Pontius Pilate and the High Priest with the Scribes and Pharisees consenting to it Though the Magistrate was excited and drawn to it by the Ecclesiastical men and their adherents even as it was now And have you not said to the Civil powers O ye Ministers that it was expedient for me to be civilly put to death by Sentence and Ejectment or else the whole Nation and Tribe might perish and be brought into contempt And have you not followed the steps of your forefathers in thus arguing that if the Magistrate let me alone many would follow me and my Doctrine and so your Ministry and names would be eclipsed and disappear and did you not cry out to the Magistrates that if they let me go they were not Gods nor Caesars friends But you will say to me Do you make your self Christ God forbid I mean not so But this I say that every Saint being a member and so a part of Christ what is done to the least of his is done to him and therefore what you have acted against that life of Innocency purity and simplicity which by the grace of God dwells in me you have acted against the Christ the Son of God And therefore what can be said but that ye are the children and followers of those who killed the Prophets and slew those that were sent to them from God not sparing his onely Begotten Son who came to save them from their sins and transgressions But these persecutions brought judgements and desolations upon the Authors according as the Prophets and Christ himself praedicted and the event shewed and let me tell you to whom I write that if you follow this trade if you persevere in this way of persecution if you thus lay your hands on your fellow-servants and abuse them by scandals reproaches censures Ejectments and illegal

insufficiency as a distinct head from scandal and Heresie which in time may prove very prejudicial to that Liberty of Conscience which of late years hath been and is still preserved and asserted by the Rulers of this Nation In the second place to the Articles themselves I thus reply Ans 1. As to the four first I know not how or what positively and directly to answer to them till I see them first proved by Oath and that by such persons who are without just exceptions and then I shall be capable of returning a more full and compleat Answer Ans 2. Neither do I see that seemingly to maintain and argue by way of dispute only the unlawfulness of Mrs. Lewins having children by her husband for the sifting forth of truth from error could it be proved that I did so could argue or evince my ignorance and insufficiency for the Ministry For this though it were evinced to be my crime cannot in justice and equity be referred to that Head of Insufficiency but to scandal except ignorance and insufficiency be resolved into the boundless liberty of the wills of the Judges that what they deem ignorant and insufficient must be ignorant and insufficient whether ignorance and insufficiency be real in such a Subject or not As to the fifth Article which concerns my giving entertainment in my house to one Everard reputed a Conjurer and to one Tawny reported to hold unsound opinions I thus answer As to the first part of it I confess that one Everard about four years since was received into my house at Bradfield for the space of almost three weeks and no longer and that after this manner He came in Harvest-time with a new pair of Harvest-gloves on his hands to shew his willingness and readiness to work and asking to speak with me told me That if I pleased to employ him in Harvest-work he came to offer his service Hereupon I entertained him as a workman And thus you see both the manner of his coming and the cause of his entertainment Whereas it is said he was generally reputed a Conjurer 1. Ans I answer I never heard any the least intimation from any that he was ever suspected to be a Conjurer till after his departure from my Family if he was a Conjurer before he came it was more then I knew or had heard of but after his departure I confess there arose a general report up and down the Country that he was a Conjurer But from that time to this I have never seen him nor known what is become of him 2. Ans After his absence I do further affirm That I was strongly enclined to believe according to the general rumor that he was a Conjurer Hereupon I was in a great strait in my own spirit whether I should prosecute him or not my zeal for Gods glory and my obedience to the command of God that saith Suffer not a Witch to live giving me some impulsions to do it But after serious debate and consideration within my self I resolved this case or scruple of conscience thus that my own perswasions and jealousies though they had some ground of probability yet being not certain afforded me not a sufficient ground of prosecuting him as a Conjurer or of swearing positively he was such Now I leave it to your serious considerations whether this tenderness of conscience keeping me from prosecuting of him or swearing against him for fear of that hainous sin of perjury makes me either ignorant or insufficient for the Ministry As to the second part of the fifth Article which concerns my entertainment of one Tawny reputed as it is there expressed to be one that holds unsound Opinions Ans I answer It is well known as I invite none so I turn away none that come to visit me though their Principles in matter of Doctrine Worship and Discipline be different from mine I will here shew you briefly my grounds and ends My grounds are these I look upon it as my duty according to the Gospel of Christ to entertain all strangers that be in want and necessity professing the name of Christ If enemies hunger we are to feed them if they are naked we must clothe them and as for strangers we are to lodge and entertain them Heb. 13. 2. And as in the practice of this I break no Law of God so no Law of man And you may remember that in the 37. Article of Government it is expressed That all such as profess Faith in God by Jesus Christ though differing in Judgement from the Doctrine Worship or Discipline publickly professed so as they abuse not this liberty to the civil injury of others nor to the actual disturbance of the Publike Peace shall be protected and then surely their hungry bellies may be fed their backs clothed their wants supplyed and their persons lodged and entertained And further my ends are these which are pure and Evangelical That I may prove all things and hold fast that which is good that I may try the spirits for many false spirits are gone forth into the world Now how are they to be proved and tryed Not by carnal weapons as by penalties mulcts imprisonments and other external punishments but by convincing of them with sound Doctrine Christian discourse spiritual arguments and by the example of a good conversation And thus Gods glory and the good of others are my only ends in giving entertainment to all strangers that come in civility to visit me Now the cause of many strangers coming to me as Guests from all quarters of this Land ariseth from these lying printed Pamphlets which have hardly a word of truth in them these draw all seeking enquiring minds to visit me for divers ends best known to themselves Let it but be proved that ever I gave entertainment to any common swearer or to any open drunkard Sabbath-breaker or to any known prophane person and I shall judge my self obnoxious to your Censure but all that I give free entertainment to appear clothed under some shew of Godliness or other but if they have not the power it will be their own misery In a word the strength of this Article doth but amount to thus much That as Christ was supposed to be a friend of publicans and sinners so am I supposed to be a friend to all people that profess Religion and walk orderly be their opinion in matter of Doctrine or Discipline never so much differing from mine own or from those commonly received yet this doth not argue my ignorance or insufficiency for the Ministry but if in it any thing be culpable it is to be referred to the head of Scandal but here being no Law of prohibition I cannot see any transgression in it either against the Law of God or man To conclude I cannot give a more direct Answer to these Articles being matter of fact till I see them proved and each Article referred to its proper place either of Scandal or Heresie or Ignorance and

Parliament to put out and to put in Ministers and that Objection which through ignorance or craft some of them made against the discharge viz. That the cause was but dismissed and so I not legally discharged is looked upon by judicious Lawyers to be a meer cavil arising from ignorance of the Law or envy to my person or both Now the proceeding of the Commissioners in this against former Laws and Statutes unrepealed especially that weighty one of Magna Charta Nemo bis punietur pro uno delicto is of dangerous consequence and much against the Liberty of the subject and fit to be taken notice of by the highest power of this Nation that so future inconveniences by the infringing of Laws and the exercise of Arbitrary power to the prejudice of tender Consciences and the Liberty of the subject may be prevented 3. That not one of the Articles of this Charge comes within the Cognizance of that Act against several blasphemous Atheistical opinions according to the litteral and so the legal sense of the Act to which the Commissioners are limited as the rule to judge of scandal for first That of Christs Imputative Righteousness being sapless which is the onely Article they can pretend to come within the Act is not justly within the reach of it for though the Act speaks against those that deny the Righteousness and Holiness of God yet certainly by the scope of it it doth not concern the former Position of Imputative Righteousness for this Act being purposely made against the Ranters who entituled God to all unrighteous and evil actions confounding good and evil righteousness and unrighteousness saying that all was good and all God and so made God as unrighteous as themselves I say considering this the words before exprest cannot without unnatural wresting of them come within that of denying the righteousness of God for though one should be so mistaken as to deny the Imputation of Christs Righteousness yet it did not follow that one denyed Gods Righteousness for one might believe God and Christ to be righteous eternally righteous nay to be righteousness and holiness in the abstract Though one should deny the Imputation of this righteousness which is onely a relation of that righteousness as to Saints and not the righteousness it self abstractly considered and further if the Commissioners should wrest every reserve the forementioned Clause to Imputative righteousness as they did in my case they might judge any one scandalous that differed any way from themselves in point of Justification and Application of this righteousness alleadging their denyal of Christs imputative righteousness which might prove a dangerous snare to many tender Consciences But secondly none of these Articles are within the cognizance of the Act because all that are judged criminous by that Act must avowedly maintain profess or affirm the things there prohibited as you may see in pag 980 and 982. where the term avowedly is thrice exprest now I never avowedly maintained the particulars of these Articles as they are there presented but have solemnly and publikely avowed the contrary as you may see before and as my protestation will shew which I gave in before the Commissioners now how contrary is the practice of the present Commissioners to the intent and scope of the judicious composers of that Act who judge none criminous but those that avowedly hold or maintain c. whereas these endeavours to make men offenders for a word and so to deprive them of their estates though against Law Scripture and pure Reason 4. That this Act was first made August 9. 1650. and the Articles pretended to be delivered by Mr Tickles Confession in August 1649. a year before the being of the Act now how unreasonable and illegal it is for me to be tryed and accused from a Law for words spoken or pretended to be spoken a year before the original birth of it let all sober persons judge 5. According to the conclusion of that Act p. 934. no persons are to be punished molested impeached or troubled for any offence mentioned in that Act unless the same persons be accused presented indicted or convicted within six months after such offence committed now Mr Tickle confesseth in his Answer to my General Interrogatory touching the time when the particulars of this Charge were uttered that according to his best remembrance it was about five years since now I was not accused within six months after that for these Articles which therefore are not within the cognizance of the Act nor of the Commissioners by that Act for their Ordinance p. 613. runs thus such Ministers shall be accounted scandalous in their lives and conversations as shall be proved guilty of holding or maintaining such blasphemous and execrable opinions as are punishable by the Act entituled An Act against several Atheistical Opinions c. Now these Articles are not punishable by that Act for the Reason before expressed and therefore the Commissioners cannot legally though they were clearly proved judge me scandalous for or by them 6. According to the Ordinance by which the Commissioners are to act they can adjudge those onely scandalous who p. 613. shall be proved guilty of holding or maintaining such and such blasphemous opinions by which you see they are limited to the present time in reference to any ones judgement and opinion How unjustly then have they adjudged me scandalous for things pretended to be spoken so many years since whenas I gave in a solemn and cordial protestation to them in which I denyed and renounced those Opinions they accused me of and owned the contrary as my real avowed judgement which h How clearly doth this evince their unjust prejudice and great partiality and cruel dealing with me protestation though made from the integrity of my soul they would not suffer openly to be read but consulted of it in private and afterwards seemed not at all to regard it 7. That the Act of General Pardon dated Feb. 24. 1651. takes away all legal guilt from these Articles according to the judgement of all judicious Lawyers which also clearly appears by that of page 1547 in that Act in which it is expressed that all offences and trespasses committed or done before the third of September in the year 1651 in that Act not afterward excepted nor foreprised are pardoned which extends as well to words as deeds as may be seen in the said Act now the particulars of these Articles were pretended to be uttered long before 1651 and are therefore ineffectual legally to prejudice me And I seeing the bitterness and cruelty of my Judges by their unjust proceedings against me to stop their mouths and to leave them altogether inexcusable craved the priviledge of this Act of General Pardon though in my own Conscience I stood free from the guilt of those things they alleadged against me But now having passed over my first Charge and having reeapitulated some particulars which may serve to clear the Case in hand I shall

in my Conversation Depos Roger Laughton of Heston in the County of Middlesex Lock-smith sworn and examined deposeth That about nine years since or upwards Dr Pordage brought to the You may see in my answer to this Article the reasons of her private retirement being by the advice of Councel as also of her keeping privat her second marriage and that I did no more in this then what a faithfull friend might in justice and honesty do Deponents house Mrs Flavel behind him under the name of Mrs Fruin and that both the Dr and the said Mrs Flavel did ask for entertainment for her and that they did ask what they should give for her board and her son Stevens and that they did bargain for eight shillings a week and then he carried her away and she came not till after Christmas but he saith how she then came whether in a Cart with her Trunk and Clothes or otherwise he knoweth not but the Doctor did not then come with her and after she had been there awhile the Deponents wife conceived she was with child which she b This crosseth his own confession at another time denied saying it was a Tympany and that she remained there till betwixt Easter and Whitsontide where and when she was brought to bed of a daughter and she did not desire any store of company to come to her labour though the Deponents wife did desire it and after she had been a short time delivered the Dr came and baptized the child in the Deponents Chamber and named it Hannah and after that the Dr called the Deponent aside into his Orchard and prayed him to find out a private place two or three miles from the Deponents house where the said Mrs Flavel might come now and then to see her child The Deponent said it would be inconvenient because it was a time of Souldiers and the Corn was high and thereupon the Deponent did not look out as he desired And he further saith when the Nurse did bring the child oft-times to see the said Mrs Flavel she would not permit her son Steven to call her sister saying Steven it is Nurses child Afterwards the said Mrs Flavel departed from the Deponents house to Kensington where she remained about a month and that the Deponent having occasion to go to London called at Kensington by the way to speak with her but she was gone whereupon the Deponent said her child was not well Then two Gentlewomen of the house told the Deponent that b They that do know and have known this Gentlewoman for many years past are so assured of her integrity and watchfulness over her words and actions that they cannot but look upon this and such other relations as mistakes or wilful scandals she denied unto them that she had any other child but her son Steven And the Deponent further faith That the Dr came to the Deponents house three or four times in term-time only and that both the Dr and the said Mrs Flavel did inform the Deponent that she was married to one Mr Fruin a Minister but was now a widow as both of them said when they came to the Deponents house For the clearing of truth in reference to this Deposition I shall here annex the Confession of the same person as subscribed by him and owned before two sufficient Witnesses which is as follows THat about nine years ago Dr Pordage brought a Gentlewoman by name Mrs Fruen behind him from London as he said to one Roger Laughtons house a Smith in Heston Parish that the said Mrs Fruen agreed with him her self for her boarding c c How much doth this particular thwart that in his former Deposition That she told his wife at her first coming she knew not certainly whether she were with child or not but thought she was That her first husbands name was Mr Flavel and that she had had a second husband by name Mr Fruen who also was then dead That the cause of her private living there was in that her brother in Law threatned he would have her body if it were above ground she being then in Law with him That at the same time the Dr owned that he dwelt at Redding and that he was Minister of St Lawrence Church and that he knew the Gentlewoman to be sober and godly That she told him for his security he might enquire at the Bulwark by the Tower of London where he might know that she had there an Estate in houses That after she had been in the said Roger Laughtons house about four months she was brought to bed of a girl which was christned by the said Doctor and named Hannah that the time of her continuance with him was about three quarters of a year in which time the said Dr visited her some three times or four at the most and that in Term-time when he went to London That by enquiry he came to know she was in great troubles at Law That the said Dr never agreed with him nor paid him for her board This contradicts the former nor removed her so far as he knows to Kensington from his house R. L. This was delivered into the Court after Laughton had finished his deposition but they would not suffer it to be enrolled among the depositions it in some particulars crossing Laughtons present testimony and in others tending to clear the truth in reference to the occasion of Mrs Flavels being there But the accuser asking him whether he would not stand to his present Deposition He said yea Whereupon the Clerk returning me the Paper again wrote this at the bottom of it Mr Laughton acknowledgeth the two Letters R. L. to be his writing but will stick to what he hath now deposed There was not a word altered after he had subscribed the Paper as two Witnesses then present could attest by Oath Now the particulars in which he crosseth himself cannot be all true And if a man will solemnly own and subscribe an untruth he may after swear an untruth But the confession here wrote last is much to be regarded being he owned and subscribed it before the other being then in a calm sober posture But the other he deposed after my adversaries had been a whole day tampering with him at the Bear in Redding and possessing him with prejudice against me which he openly shewed in the Court by bitter expressions and by those circumstances in the former Deposition which tend to blast the Gentlewomans good name and reputation But for further satisfaction 1. I refer you to my Answer in which I have largely shewed the reasons of her privat retirement there which may in justice clear me from that undeserved aspersion my enemies have cast upon me 2. Consider that this as to me is no legal proof of any crime but a meer circumstantial thing brought to raise suspitions and prejudices against me being but of the nature of a Libel and so unfit to have been received

the Fiery Deity of Christ be in the center of our souls burning up our lusts corruptions which is but equivalent to that Scripture He that hath not the spirit of Christ is none of his Now whether the absolute positive proof of this witness be not stronger in Law then the proofs of the other two which are not positive and absolute let the wise judge But secondly Admit I spake even as my enemies pretend yet the Commissioners had no power to retrospect to words spoken six yeers since for the Ordinance by which they are to act judgeth onely those who shall be found HOLDING OR MAINTAINING c. Now they cannot say that I hold or maintain this being I have declared otherwise in my Protestation Thirdly What I did then speak was some years before the being of the Act of Scandal of which I was not accused within six months after it was spoken and therefore it is not within the reach of that Act. Fourthly This was long before the Act of Oblivion Fifthly The discharge I received from the Committee of plundred Ministers takes away all legal guilt from this Article and puts it past the Cognizance of these Commissioners And although the late railing abusive pamphleteer pretends that in the Order of the said Committee There is not the least mention made of discharging Named M. L. Clerk to the Commissioners though t is certain the paper was not of his composing me from the fact and that it doth onely dismiss the cause out of that Court The Reader must know this vail and pretence comes either from ignorance or subtilty for it is not there expressed that the cause was dismissed out of the Court but Ordered that the Cause should be dismissed which is general and it is there added The same is hereby dismissed Now the dismission of the Cause on the Defendants part doth really discharge from the fact as those that have knowledge in the Law and are acquainted with the proceedings in Chancery and other Courts known very well and if you read the discharge pag. 4. you will finde it very full for 't is there expressed That upon hearing the Cause in presence of parties and Council on both sides and upon a full Hearing what could be said by both parties This Committee order the said Cause to be dismissed c. And though it be pretended the reason of dismission was because they had no proper cognizance of the cause and were not invested with power to Eject It is a great untruth for the reason was because they could prove nothing worthy of ejectment against me for had they found sufficient ground I had as surely been ejected as I was acquitted as it is well known to those who were at the tryal But to conclude the thirty two members of Parliament who were of that Committee at my tryal many of which came much prejudiced against me by the false reports of my adversaries knew better their own power then to receive such a formal tryal of a cause they had not proper cognizance of and to give such a serious and full dismission of it Thus much I thought fit to add to this last particular to shew the vanity and error of their exceptions against my discharge which as able Lawyers tell me is undoubtedly firm Sent. And several other hellish Opinions and is otherwise scandalous as by the said Depositions may more fully appear Obs Here their bitterness manifests it self in thus Arraigning me without cause Why are not those other hellish Opinions expressed And why is it not mentioned in what I am otherwise scandalous For I am sure the Depositions shew no such thing as they pretend nor give instance of one act which may be truly called scandal Sent. And it is likewise declared that upon the matter proved against him The said Doctor Pordage is ignorant and very insufficint for the work of the Ministry Obs The Commissioners never proceeded to examination in reference to this of ignorance and insufficiency contrary to their own Ordinance pag. 624. for they have not the priviledge of that exception made in m 624. where this disjunctive proposition is Upon such examination or proof made upon oath the same page as to me notwithstanding their pretensions in this part of the Sentence For 1. if they ground this their judgement upon the Opinions before mentioned their ground is not firm for we see those Opinions have not been legally proved against me and besides this is a confounding the distinct heads of scandal and ignorance c. against the tenor of their own Ordinance 2. If they bottom it upon n He was brought to witness to that Article viz. That I was ignorant and very insufficient for the work of the Ministry Hastlets Deposition it is a notorious piece of o Qui statuit aliquid parte inaudita altera aequum licet statuerit haud aequus fuerit Sen. injustice 1. In regard he was not examined till the day of Sentence I having no time given me to make my defence 2. In that he was objected against as a Common Drunkard and so an insufficient witness 3. In that his testimony was single without any concurrent evidence and so not legal Whence it appears that my Judges in thus aggravating my guilt with the terms of ignorant and very insufficient c. aggravate their own condemnation in the eye of the Righteous Judge of all things Sent. It is declared under the hands of six of the said Commissioners and seven Ministers their assistants c. Obs I shall conclude my Observations on this Sentence with some things it is requisite for me to discover and lay open touching the Qualifications and Dispositions of some of those Ministers and Commissioners which agreed to this Sentence of Ejectment Here I shall begin with the Ministers ANd first with Mr Tickle who some yeers since hath shewed himself a bitter and professed enemy against me in a Pamphlet Entituled The bottomless pit smoaking in Familism put forth by him 1651 In which he bedivels me all over calling me Familist pag. 49. There is one Pordage a Familist who cares neither for Scripture nor Reason and pag. 81. The God of the Familists whom they generally serve is the Divel The sink of sin and in his Epistle brands me for one that will say and unsay any thing giving a mistaken instance in these words And at the same time at Redding could call in all with o These men will not permit me to explain my meaning when by speaking either short or obscure I am mistaken by any I meant not so This he speaks in reference to that dispute about the Deity of Christ and here confesseth that I did not stand to the ownment of what he then and hath since accused me of about the Deity of Christ How then durst they Sentence me for denying it when in the discourse I said I meant not so as he here confesseth Now whether this person

so much imbittered and prejudiced against me was was fit to be both Judge-assistant witness and as far as I knew Accuser I never seeing any other name to his Articles nor any one so much sustaining the person of Accuser in managing the first Articles as he himself I say whether in Law or Equity he was fit so to be let moderate Christians judge The second I shall present is Mr Fowler whose bitter and fierce spirit against all that he calls Sectaries is well known to the inhabitants of Redding and in truth can scarce be exrpessed in words now what terrible Invectives undue slanders and passionate Revilings he doth ordinarily use against many Christians he doth not approve of though I could under the hands of some that can attest it yet I will not here relate Onely I shall give you a short hint of his ungodly dealings towards me which he hath expressed with all manner of slanders and revilings both in his Pulpit and out of it labouring to perswade all he meets with I am a Familist a Blasphemer a Conjurer one that practiseth uncleanness and can say and unsay any thing and that I am as wretched a creature as ever was now by these wretched scandals and monstrous untruths which he and others of his spirit have with much industry blazed abroad many are perswaded that I am not onely unworthy to keep my place where I am and to have due mercy shewed me by those in power but unworthy of Life or Being in the world Now was it not a sad thing that a man of this spirit should be one of the assistants acting the part of a Judge all the tryal with great influence upon the proceedings and be also witness and accuse altogether Which is against all Law and Reason But thus it was and to this I was fain to submit A third was Mr Woodbridge who I confess is a man of a more sober spirit and of a more wise carriage then the two former yet one who was wonderfully prejudiced against me not by p As he expressed in the Court when he was sworn knowledge but by the horrid abusive reports of others as you may see in his Deposition where he by oath attests some fearful and ungodly expressions which one told him came from me though the Lord knoweth and my own Conscience witnesseth I was never guilty of any such thing But whether he being a witness could properly be a Judge as in consenting to the Sentence he was I leave it to those who understand Law to judge of Now besides these three who had been Witnesses and Accusers there were but four more who are not a sufficient number according to the Ordinance to subscribe a Sentence and to say nothing of the other being strangers to me one of the four was Mr Hughes a man very bitter who oft shewed the evil frame of his minde by ejecting of scoffs and taunts against me Now the Ministers some of them being professed enemies and others prejudiced persons or swayd by those that were so what could I expect from them but what I received even Sentence against me But now I come to the Commissioners who were in number six as the Sentence expresseth FIrst I shall begin with Mr. Dunch who was Chair-man being a man exceedingly prejudiced against me by reports as the instances of his telling me I was worse then a Felon and asking me passionately How I durst deny the Godhead of Christ the first time of my appearing before them clearly shew which is yet more apparent by another instance which was this At Abbington Sessions being some considerable time before my tryal he threatned me that at the sitting of the next Parliament he would throw me out of my Living This he spake in the hearing of two witnesses who can attest it by oath which I objected against him before Sentence as a reason why he ought not to be judge having designed to condemn me before he had heard my cause And as the Councellors tell me this was sufficient to have put him past the capacity of Being a Judge both in equity and Law yet he was Chair-man at Sentence and was very industrious and rigid a-against me thorowout the tryal and to speak my Conscience of him I believe that thorow the over perswasions and prejudicing insinuations of some Mr Fowler Mr Hughs Mr Tickle. Ministers before named who made it their business to represent me to the Court as some monstrous person on whose judgement he much relyed He was carryed in the managing of this business out of that path of Justice Mercy and Righteousness which in other things many say he walks in Secondly I shall present Mr Trapham whom if we impartially reflect upon and consider either in relation to his intellectuals or affections we shall finde him unfit to have been a Judge in my case As to the first Let his own words uttered with much zeal in the open Court speak for him which were these I never heard of any other death or Resurrection of Christ but what was at Jerusalem Which shewed he had never read or at least understood these Scriptures Heb. 6. 6. Gal. 3. 2. Ephes 2. 5. Secondly As to the temper of his affections that hath been cleerly discovered by his saying He q could as willingly run his sword into the bowels of such as I as b This was spoken four yeers since before a Committee related again by himself at my tryal at least three several times into the bowels of a common enemy as likewise by his practise since the tryal in which he hath continually endeavoured to possess all he discourses with that I am so monstrous as scarce worthy to live upon the earth But besides these things he was a witness against me and so upon that account unfit to be judge according to the common course of Law Now besides these two there were not enough to make up a Court according to the Ordinance there being but four more Thirdly One of which four vvas Mr Cook of Wallingford of vvhom I shall say no more but this that his late action of supplanting and outing of Mr Wyer by subtilty vvho is a godly honest man shevvs vvhat he is vvhich business is very vvell knovvn to the godly party about Wallingford being much resented and condemned by them A fourth vvas Mr Nutkins vvhose blinde zeal and rigidness of spirit is vvell knovvn to tender moderate Christians and vvas clearly discovered by his carriage to me and bitterness against me in my last tryal The inconsistency and contradiction of vvhose actions shevv his unfitness to be a Judge in such cases of vveight and concernment for some four years since being of the Committe of Berks and after a Sermon preached before the said Committee I had vindicated my self from that of denying the Godhead of Christ he gave me his vote to clear me of that Imputation confessing he vvas satisfyed after he had asked me a question

subtilty and deceits of such come to be laid open to all that so none may dare to speak the words of life without the eternal word of life speaking in and through them But because there are very many such t is uncharitable to conclude that all are so and to those that judge me as one of those I shall only return the answer of Paul to the Corinthians chap. 4. 3. With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of mans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judgement or day yea I judge not mine own self For I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified For he that judgeth me is the Lord. v. 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time till the Lord come End 2. Another End which is excepted against both in my appealing and writing is the vindicating of my own person and cause from dark and false aspersions as though it argued weakness and irresignation in me in not being able to suffer the scandals censures and reproaches of the world without such endeavours to vindicate my self and the truth which God in his time as they say will clear But to this I answer To every thing there is a season Eccles 3. 1. There is a time to keep silence and a time to speak v. 7. Some years last past have been a time of silence to me in which I have suffered under all manner of scandals and reproaches through the malice of the Devil without any endeavours of vindication but the enmity of my enemies growing to such a height as not to contain it self within the limits of railings revilings slanders and reproaches but that also breaking forth into a formal accusation tryal and illegal condemnation and Sequestration of that external livelihood which the Lord hath bestowed upon me and that under the pretence of justice merit and desert I say considering this I esteemed it just and righteous to appeal for a re-hearing that truth inocency might not lie wrapt in the vails of unjust condemnation and lying reports and that malice subtilty and illegal proceedings might come to be detected and no longer blind the eyes of many who judge both of my enemies and my self according to the false glass of their reports which I believed might tend much to the glory of God and the shame of him who is the father of lies who hath ever endeavoured to strengthen his false interest by raising undue prejudices against the truth and the sincere owners of it so that the endeavouring a re-hearing and the publishing the truth of things for the ends before expressed is according to the rules of pure wisdom and Christian prudence being according to Pauls practice who after he had appeared two or three times to answer for himself before the Roman Governors and seeing Festus swayed by the Jews and upon that account willing to try him at Jerusalem amongst them where he believed they would have condemned his innocency and made him suffer as an evil-doer I say on that account Acts 25. 10 11. he appealed to Cesar desiring to be tryed at his Judgemenseat hoping there to have his innocent cause and person cleared And 2 Cor. 10. 2 3. we find Paul vindicating himself against the unjust aspersions of those who thought he walked according to the flesh So that where these things are done from a good and sincere principle they are good and not justly to be excepted against And whereas it hath been objected that we should leave those things to God I answer Our performing these things for his glory and in obedience to his will doth not take them out of Gods hands for what good we do in obedience he doth it in and through us Ephes 2. 13. who are but his instruments and obliged to use lawfull means for the accomplishing of lawfull ends 1 Cor. 11. 24. And having now exhibited the grounds and ends of my Appeal and demonstrated the reasonableness of it in reference to both I shall proceed to shew the issue and event of my appealing You must know then that after I had waited about seven weeks my Petition was delivered by Mr After it came into his hands he suddenly delivered it Sadler one of the Masters of Requests to his Highness the Lord Protector who granted a reference to the Councel on Friday morning Feb. 9 and shortly after my Petition with the Reference subscribed was delivered by a worthy friend into the Councel which after a great debate though some of the greatest eminency were for it rejected it and would by no means grant a re-hearing of my Cause Now this was the issue of my eight weeks waiting in London which I confess though in submission to providence I with many others looked upon as very hard and unreasonable because in point of wrong and injury it is according to the Law of Nations and the rule of pure reason and justice that there should be an Appeal granted from inferior Courts of Judicature to that Power which gave them being especially in a thing of so great concernment as the Ejecting and throwing men out of their Estates and Livelihoods But here I cannot but inform the Reader how subtilly and cruelly my enemies have dealt with me not only in condemning me against Law but likewise in using all means possible to prevent the granting of an Appeal for the re-hearing of my Cause for t is very well known that they have industriously laboured to possess all in whose power it is and who ought in this sad and extraordinary case to relieve me and grant a re-hearing with unspeakable prejudices insinuating into them that I am so guilty and vile as unworthy to be regarded in my addresses to them Now to a discerning eye this course of theirs in labouring so much to prevent a re-hearing of my Cause speaks thus much That they are afraid their unjust and illegal proceedings will be detected by it and many of them proved great lyars and slanderers for reporting I am guilty of such horrid crimes as they commonly say they proved against me Now if they did not fear this why should they be so much ingaged in striving by these insinuations to prevent the granting of an Appeal For if I were really as they represent me all that I should get by a re-hearing would be to be twice condemned and that with double disgrace and an open justifying of their sentence against me whereas now I have this to say That they condemned me unjustly steering their proceedings neithey by Law Reason nor Scripture But being as yet rejected of men and deprived of the just priviledg of an Appeal on earth I shall appeal to heaven from time to eternity from the double eye of the Creature to the single eye of God O Eternal Majesty thou art that high and holy one who seest clearly and judgest truely thou searchest my heart and tryest my reins pierceing into my inmost thoughts and most secret motions with the